Vanity: FReeper TechnoGeeks-Computer Advice Needed!

We're looking to considerably expand our home network and I've been toying with the idea of a "thin client" setup, not only for the sake of expense but also for ease of upkeep and administrative supervision.

I've spent many hours in the last several weeks reading about how to build a server for small business/educational settings, and I'm starting to get information overload. One article will seem terrifically informative -- but written 5 years ago. Another will have some great cutting edge ideas, but little of the "how to" specifics I need. My kids are more ready than I am to get this project from the "theoretical" to the "practical" stage, so that's why I'm coming straight to the experts. Thus, here's my query to you geniuses who are familiar with such things:

Would you help me design a system to use in our home for work, internet, education (we homeschool, so this is a big part), and multiplayer LAN gaming? Your professional advice would be most appreciated.

(1) Right now we have a desktop and a laptop both running Windows XP, networked through a Linksys router/gateway (desktop is wired, laptop is wireless) with broadband. The laptop is my husband's and I'd pretty much leave that as is. The desktop is one we built four or five years ago using an AMD Athlon 1700XP processor (1.4 GHz) and an Epox 8K3A+ motherboard w/ 80GB hard drive, 768MB DDR, 350w PSU, a Radeon 9600 graphics card, and the usual CD/DVD peripherals. Can we use this old system we have to build a decent server to host all our programs and applications? Any suggestions on better components or additional components to morph this unit into a server? (e.g., Would a dual-socket mb be preferable considering the multitude of tasks five or six users may be asking for at once?)

(2)As I say, I'm leaning toward thin-client network rather than a bunch of $800 loaded-to-the-gills workstations. Considering that I've also had to wipe clean and reinstall XP at least a half-dozen times this year alone, I'm also favoring Linux as the OS. Using Wine or CrossOver we could use the majority of games we already have. And before we obtained MS Office, we got along fine for years with OpenOffice Suite, so I'm quite familiar with those programs. So what OS, in your experience, would provide a stable platform for, say, a 6-client network? I've been looking at Debian-based Ubuntu and Edubuntu, SUSE, Mandrake/Mandriva, and Fedora. Like the Mac vs. PC debates, each has its own diehard fans. So what about your Unix comments, preferred distros, miscellaneous brickbats?

(3) I want the boys to each have their own unit so they can simultaneously be working on research, writing a paper, practicing typing, doing math drills, making PhotoShop spoofs, surfing the internet, or playing a game. Two have expressed an interest in laptops -- since I'm hoping this can be a server-client based network, can I get some old laptops on eBay for dirt-cheap that would work in this type of setup, or are we better off with desktop units? From what I've read, the thin-client machines are practically irrelevant; it's the server's capabilities that are important (i.e., the necessary processing power and system memory for running the various programs). Would the video cards and processors of old laptops have the ability to let the boys play games like Half-Life 2 or the Battlefield series in an LAN, if the programs themselves were run from the server? I'm not too worried about the math or typing or other interactive educational software, as it's not as graphic-intensive as their games are.

(4) Would a server/thin-client setup be adequate for tasks such as burning a CD or DVD, watching streaming files such as HotAir or YouTube videos on the internet, playing multiplayer games, etc., or would it be best to have one dedicated computer for these kinds of CPU-hogs?

Thanks for your input. The sooner we can get this thing up and running, the happier my children will be. I wouldn't mind having my own FReep Machine, either. (15-year-old wants to use this to help him earn his Boy Scout computing merit badge, as well. So the more specific you can be as to hardware, software and system needs, the better we'll both be able to utilize your suggestions. We're not exactly computer noobs, but neither are we IT savvy! So thanks for your patience.)

Actually, for my primary removable backups, I use a hot swap Addonics SATA adapter and only Seagate drives.

Addonics Snap-In SATA Mobile Rack for 3.5" SATA

I also have a second external USB drive for backups of my critical accounting files semipermanently hanging off the Windows box that runs my accounting software. That box gets backed up twice - daily full backups to that USB drive and just the key accounting files to my Linux file server, which then backs up to rotating hot swap removable SATA drives.

That's the key to reliability in my view - belts, suspenders and clean underwear. One way or another, you're covered. Multiple PC's, multiple diverse backup mechanisms and reasonably reliable hardware.

I used to have a minor problem with power supplies going out, but since I upgraded to an adequate UPS (uninterruptible power supply - external batteries), that problem has gone away. I suspect overloaded, lower cost UPS's put out some seriously nasty looking electricity - better not to use anything than to do that.

I tend to upgrade my power supplies when I am adding hardware to a box, and to use a bigger power supply than is minimally needed. Any key box has a fairly new and hefty power supply. It has been a while since I lost a power supply on a system that mattered to me.

I was having problems on one of the gaming systems, freezing in video intense parts of the game -- either a marginal power supply and/or a marginal video card. Not sure which. I changed both, and it's been rock solid since.

The problem with mirroring is that if you delete or corrupt a file, you've lost it on both drives. It is only useful for mission critical environments when you can't afford to be without a working hard drive. Even if they were using thin clients, they are playing games and using a word processor. Nothing stated is mission critical that can't allow them to be down at least for a couple hours.

A decent backup method, ideally to a separate drive (their old environment would need a USB 2.0 PCI card to make an external USB worthwhile).

For backup, I'd recommend USB external drives. Have at least three of them, and rotate them every week or three. Then even if one goes out once a year, it won't cost you too much lost data. Keep the ones not in use a fair distance from the computer, so that thieves, fires and other natural disasters that get to one don't get to the other.

To protect myself against malware, I've been thinking it would be nice to have a backup system where one computer does nothing except run a backup server (and should thus be immune to nasties). The backup server should enforce versioning of files in certain directories, so that if a file gets changed the backup server will keep old and new versions indefinitely; it should not be possible to overwrite the old version from the network.

I would think that such a system, properly configured, would provide considerable protection against malware and such. Anyone know of any software to help implement such a thing?

Also, are there any good programs for inventorying the contents of hard disks, including hash values for files, so as to allow a comparison of contents?

Anyone know of any software to help implement such a thing?

Eh ... well, yes. But I wrote it for my own use. It's too weird to be generally usable. For example, when I want to do a restore, I have to custom write a restore script on the fly. And it relies on intricacies of the SCCS file format that few people on the planet will ever want to rely on. It keeps all versions forever, using a crypto strong checksum to identify any change. I can recover old compuserve files from over a decade ago, and restore any portion of my file system, to any point in time. It is very economical in resource use while backing up. I have it running a backup a couple times a day, and without looking at the cron script, I don't even know when these times are anymore.

One thing I do differently from what you describe. Instead of backing up to a separate dedicated server, I backup to an online disk partition, then replicate that backup partition using rsync, to a second backup on a removable SATA drive, that is only mounted briefly during the backup.

It is a big time saver to have near real time backups, online, whenever I need them. Given the multiple file copies, stored by non-obvious names (their hex check sum) in non-obvious places, I am at very low risk of some malware figuring this all out and corrupting all my backups including the copies rotated offline.

The best bet I know of that's generally available and usable is rdiff-backup. I use it myself on one system.

Another one that looks promising, but that I haven't tried, is RSyncBackup.

Also, are there any good programs for inventorying the contents of hard disks, including hash values for files, so as to allow a comparison of contents?

I think you are describing Tripwire here. From the site Tripwire.com:

Open Source Tripwire and Tripwire Enterprise

If you need to detect changes made to your Linux and UNIX servers, you have three choices - Open Source Tripwire, Tripwire for Servers and Tripwire Enterprise. Although they all share a common heritage, these solutions have significant differences that make them appropriate for different IT environments:

Open Source Tripwire is suitable for monitoring a small number of servers where centralized control and reporting is not needed and professional support is not a requirement.
Tripwire for Servers is the solution for IT organizations requiring only server monitoring, with detailed reporting and optional centralized server management across Linux/UNIX/Windows platforms.
Tripwire Enterprise is the best choice for IT organizations needing to securely audit changes across Linux/UNIX/Windows servers, databases, network devices, desktops, and directory servers.

I think you are describing Tripwire here.

Sounds like it, though I'm running XP (may well switch to Linux before Vista, though).

One of my goals is to inventory some of my old hard drives to ensure that the data that's been copied to new hard drives through a few generations is still the same. At the moment, I'm keeping the old hard drives as a backup, but I don't think I really need my 120MB drive anymore--just want to ensure that everything on it correctly made it to the newer systems before I get rid of it.

Also, are there any good free utilities for recovering files from a hard drive that's been repartitioned but hasn't had a whole lot written to it? I have a 1GB FAT32 drive from a few years back that probably has some stuff I'd like to get off it (I had a decent but not great backup when I took my system in for service, and the service place repartitioned the second drive instead of the first. A demo version of a file-recovery program shows the files still seem to be there, but it doesn't allow recovery).

I see you've had replies suggesting you not do thin-client. Honestly, that would be my suggestion, but that's just me. If you're considering buying lower-end PCs and putting the hard work on the server, I would consider building another couple. I'm sure you've heard of Anandtech (may have used it for your last build?), but here's their value PC building guide: Building a Better Budget PC.

We build new PCs every 3 or 4 years in our house and keep the old, figuring they will be our hand-me-downs when we have kids and do the homeschooling thing. The one thing I would recommend with your current server is to get a new power supply. 350 is pretty small and could easily get overloaded if you connect a lot of peripherals (seeing this is your server, you're gonna end up with a lot connected probably).

It seems to me that you're looking for far more solution than you actually need. There's a hell of a lot of system admin work in your future if you really decide to go this route -- what a waste of time.

What you really need is this:

1. A machine for each person who needs one, running its own suite of software.

2. Multi-user internet access ... I'm pretty sure that the wireless network stuff handles this pretty well.

3. A common storage area, which can be a node on your wireless network.

And that's it. No need to re-create a network sized to support a mid-sized office building.

Also, are there any good free utilities for recovering files from a hard drive that's been repartitioned

I think there are such, as I've used such in the past for situations such as yours. But I don't recall offhand what they are, and I seem to recall it took a bit of poking around to find stuff. I might well have paid $50 or $100 for something, if it looked well done, so I would not recall if good free stuff was available or not. And I'm feeling a bit too lazy to research it again -- a situation that will likely remain until the next time I scrog a partition table.

Thanks so very much for your input -- I knew I could get some non-PR-biased info here.

I suppose what we'll end up doing is having each boy build his own computer (nix the server/thin-client idea, which although being touted as the 21st-century salvation for cash-strapped schools and non-profits sounds like more headaches than it's worth), and simply network new desktops into our current setup.

I guess I need to evaluate each system's program needs to determine if it should be Windows, Linux or dual. On one hand I've had Red Hat on CD-rom for years and never installed it, so I'm itchin' to try. On the other, although I think the educational software will do fine on Linux, the PC games might require some serious tweaking to run very well, so Windows needst to at least be available. Perhaps my own little FReepMachine can be the experimental Linux baby. Frankly, I have too much going on in life to start on yet another career path as a dedicated IT professional, so trying it one system at a time is probably not a bad idea at all.

Thanks also for the supplier links. I tend to peruse pricewatch and have gotten most of our parts from newegg; I appreciate the additional resources.

The boys will be thrilled to know that I have now moved out of analysis paralysis and we can start to order parts for our new systems this week. Many thanks to all of you for your contributions, suggestions and advice.

On one hand I've had Red Hat on CD-rom for years and never installed it

A multi-year old Linux CD isn't worth a tinkers damn, in my book.

You can even get a free CD shipped to you of one of the better desktop Linux's of late - Ubuntu. Go to the web page http://www.ubuntu.com/ and click on the "Shipit - Free CDs" link.

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