I have been looking for a light Linux distribution to be installed on old hardware, and I have read several independent reviews, comments and recommendations and LXLE seems to appear in almost all of them. But I haven't found anything that specifically mentions LXLE as a Server.
I have an old HP Compaq Persario 4410us desktop computer that is still in good working order and I would like to re-purpose this machine as a Linux Network Home Server..
I don't particularly care if it has a desktop (Window Manager) after the Server is installed and configured, because in most cases that is the bottleneck of low resource computers. After the server is setup it will become a headless machine tucked away somewhere out of the way and managed by a client machine through something like a PuTTy SSH client.
Any ideas, suggestions, input and/or recommendations are greatly appreciated.
I'm sorry 'lxle', I don't think I understand. Are you saying to install the Ubuntu Server packages to the LXLE install or just install Ubuntu Server instead of LXLE?
Looking back over my post's I can see that I wasn't as articulate as I should have been and it resulted in making me sound like an idiot.
To clarify. I realize that LXLE is only a Desktop environment and not the OS itself.
The way that I should have ask the question is, if I installed something like Ubuntu 12.04.4 LXLE, can I then install the Linux Server packages, i.e.(linux-server 3.2.0.69.82? ETAL) to that installation essentially adding to the Desktop distribution and therefore making the machine perform the tasks of a server?
I had Ubuntu Server 14.04 installed and after 2 weeks of hair pulling, nail bitting, and a lot more gray hair, I decided to look for another approach. Because, Ubuntu Server does not install with a Desktop environment.
The reason...as I understand it, is the server installation is just the barest of bare bones. It strips out all the GUI to minimize system resource usage and potential security flaws? At least this is what I read in the Ubuntu Forums.
So, that is why I came here. Looking for another option. If this won't work then I suppose my search will continue.
Just a simple Home Network file server. Nothing more. And there are no Windows machines in this network. The idea is to have a simple Linux file server. There will be an external USB 1TB drive that I assumed would have to be attached to the server so that the two (2) client machines could both have access to it.
Nothing special really needed for that, you could simply put the machine on the network and enable and or setup samba using gigolo which is already installed.
I see Samba under >System Tools but I don't see gigolo anywhere in the Menu. It is a simple task though to install it if it is in the repository.
Is there any documentation that you would recommend to perform these tasks? Bare in mind, I really don't know anything about Samba so I'll be learning as I go.:-S Man, it really is the pits being new at something and struggling to understand it. Especially if security is involved.
Thanks lxle. You've been a great help and I appreciate it very much.