mac server?

im planning to set up a network in my new house, i plan to buy a cheap computer to use as an internet/file server+media player. given the amount of time i spent setting up a linux box to do this previously(and i plan to switch from dialup to broadband as soon as a get the satellite installed), ive decided to use a mac server. can anyone tell me how hard it is to set up a mac to share files+an internet connection with 3 other computers through a wireless hub?

 

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!=

:bugeye:

 

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p.s. Try Mandriva Linux, it's GUI control panel is easy!

 

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i quite liked mandrake, but mandriva wont recognise any of my SATA drives so i havent used linux in over a year. do you know if theyve patched it since?

 

Sorry, I have no idea, haven't had such a problem, I suggest you try asking at mandrivausers.org
Or try Ubuntu (although I scorn it, for many people it is the deal).

 

the only help i got from those forums was to download 2005le(after id just spent a month downloading the 2006 version). i think ill try a OS X this time.

 

Well, your connection must really suck.
Ubuntu will send you physical cd's for free.

btw, can't you ask someone to download the latest Mandriva 2007 for you?

 

Mac Mini Core Duo with FrontRow would be about $600 new. I wouldn't recommend the older PPC Mac mini; while it can be had used for as little as $350, the ATI 9200 graphics SUCK HARD.


AppleTV has alot of media-server features, and can be setup to run a full OSX install (with some hacking). It's basically a core-solo Mac mini FAIAP, but with the default OS install, it is limited to serving up files from machines running iTunes only, using the FrontRow interface.
http://www.apple.com/appletv/
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/appletv.ars


But I'd have to say, a cheap Linux box might be better off. Depends on how much you want to fiddle with it, and what kind of machines you already have available.

edit: As far as the Internet Serving options go, I'd vote for a Mac. You set up your website, turn WebSharing on in the System Preferences, and you're done. As long as that machine has an externally available IP address, it's serving webpages. If it is behind a router, then you'll need to setup port forwarding on the router, but no changes need to be made on the Mac. On the backend, it's an Apache server, but with a nice and simple GUI interface.
Haven't tried this lately in Linux, though; I don't know if it's just as easy now or not - Avatar, how is the GUI interface for Apache in that Mandrake install?