Old System, New Server - use an old PC as a network server - Industry Trend or Event

Home Office Computing, May, 2000 by Dave Johnson

Give that old PC new life as a no-hassle network server

ODDS ARE, YOU'VE GOT AN OLD 486 OR Pentium PC gathering dust in a corner of your office. It's too slow to run today's office applications, let alone your kids' games--that's why you probably can't even give it away.

Well, instead of stripping it for parts or dragging it out to the curb, if you've got a home network, you can bring that old system back from the dead as a dedicated network server. Of course, you'll need to install a network adapter to bring it online, but once you do, here are six tasks your old workhorse should be able to handle.

BACKUP FOR ALL

You don't need a tape backup or a fancy removable or optical drive on every PC in your office--with a network, you need only a single solution, such as a CD-RW or tape drive installed in the server. Configure your backup software to automatically archive all of the data on PCs throughout the office. If you're backing up several PCs at once, you might want to try the 30GB OnStream tape drive ($299; OnStream, 800-759-4621, www.onstream.com).

COMMUNICATIONS HUB

Equipped with a fax/modem and communications software such as Symantec's WinFax Pro ($120; 800-441-7234, www. symantec.com), your new server can receive voice mail, e-mail, and faxes for every member of the office. And if you connect a scanner to the computer, you can send outgoing faxes, too.

DOCUMENT DROP

Between you, a once-a-week intern, and a single employee, your home business generates lots of shared documents. Direct everyone to save shared files to a set of folders on the server and you'll always find what you need.

GRAPHICS CENTRAL

Digital camera shots, scanned photos, drawings, clippings, and office-suite clip art can add up to a mountain of image files. Centralize them and free up space on your local system so you can easily find what you need. You can scan paper images, download your digital camera images, and even install the clip art from Microsoft Office or Corel WordPerfect Office onto your server.

THE OFFICE INTRANET

Every office--no matter how small--has some files that everyone needs: calendars, to-do lists, invoice templates, address books, and documents containing guidelines, for example. Although a true Web-based intranet isn't easy to set up, you can approximate the experience by placing the shared data on the network server. Or if the server has an Internet connection, you can use Microsoft FrontPage 2000 ($149; 800-426-9400, www.microsoft.com/frontpage) and its Personal Web Server to host the files on a real Web site that you can access from any browser.

LINUX LAB

Intrigued by Linux, but loath to try the trendy operating system on your primary PC? A bundled package like SuSE Linux 6.3 ($50; 510-835-7873, www.suse.com) includes productivity applications like Corel WordPerfect 8 for Linux, so you can evaluate the operating system while still getting real work done. Although you can download Linux from the Internet for free, we recommend you buy a boxed copy, which includes installation instructions and documentation. And, conveniently enough, Linux runs swiftly on 486s and Pentiums that are too sluggish for Windows 98 or Windows 2000.