20 year old 32 Bit Dell Tower as a Headless Dedicated Web Server

[rockedge]

I have in the basement an operational Dell OptiPlex GX260 Tower from 2004 that I have setup in the basement. This 20 year old machine is still fully functional and has been retro fitted to the maximum allowable RAM from 512MB to 2G and the hard drive was replaced but with newer one of the same type that is around 18 years old but with low mileage.

I needed a platform to experiment with phpBB extensions and these tests do not need the latest PHP8.3 or newest MySQL/mariaDB servers and here is an unused machine. The machine is outfitted with Bionicpup32 which runs very well on this computer and is what replaced Tahr-6.0.5.

Dell OptiPlex GX260 Tower -Intel Pentium 4 2800MHz -512MB of RAM Installed -Two (2) DIMM slots -40GB IDE Hard Drive -IDE CD Rom Drive Installed (Various speeds) -1.44 Floppy Drive Installed -Windows XP Pro installed with COA, book and media -Integrated Video and Audio Installed -Four (4) PCI Slots and (1) AGP Slot -Two (2) PS/2 Ports -Six (6) USB Ports / 4 Back and 2 Front -One (1) Serial Port and One (1) Parallel Port -Onboard Network Installed

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With the Devx SFS loaded, I compiled the Dropbear SSH server on the 32 Bit environment and installed it. The most excellent Hiawatha web server is builtin to Bionicpup32. Using the PPM installed the mariaDB database server and PHP7.2

Installed the very latest stable phpBB-3.3.14 and now with the Dropbear SSH server running, I can control the Dell OptiPlex GX260 from the upstairs "office" and use the machine as a web server across the entire LAN in the house.

This machine I bought 14 years ago with 4 other similar models from a company that was replacing their workstations. Got all 5 for $100. All of them were upgraded to the max RAM and hard drives wiped clean as part of the deal.

This is a really good use for this old computer to teach, practice PHP programing and advanced web site/web presence construction. Does Node.js, PERL, HTML PHP, AJAX and javascript.

So some encouragement not to count out even 20+ year old computers......

A look at an extension that converts phpBB3 into CMS web site:

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[Wiz57]

@rockedge If you want to trial a web browser on this 20yr old Dell 32 bit, I would appreciate your review of the
SFS I built based on Fenyo's New Moon build of Palemoon 33.6.1 32 bit! Download link in this post in S15Pup32 discussion
viewtopic.php?p=144796#p144796

[wizard]

@rockedge

Nice save , have a 3ghz hyperthread CPU that needs a home if you want it

wizard.

[mikewalsh]

@rockedge :-

Which just goes to prove what I've always maintained.......and that is, if computer hardware is still fully-functional - regardless of age - then there WILL be a use for it. Somewhere.....sometime.....somehow.

Ya got a good deal on those Optiplex's!!

Mike.

[rockedge]

With Bionicpup32 the system is very fast and responsive. Running as a HAMP server showing excellent network performance with the Hiawatha server.

It renders web pages as well as the 64 Bit equivalent, which coupled with the speedy performance of the Bionicpup32 operating system makes for fast server responses on the LAN.

Would make a great file server as well if another hard drive internal or external were added......still has only the 40G HHD installed.

@wizard uhhhh, ya I could use that CPU (Wayne's World reference!)

Especially for compiling 32 BIt packages which this system seems to be doing quite well.......

[d-pupp]

Yep I must agree. If the computer works and does what you need it to do it's good enough.

I have one only a few years newer from 2009.
Dell Vestro 220
dual core 64 bit
4 GB ram

It's running the latest Vanilladpup 11 wayland version. It's my daily driver and it works great. Very fast.

Just because it's old doesn't mean it isn't useful.

[rockedge]

monitor and keyboard my neighbor was throwing away.

Screenshot(20).png (414.16 KiB) Viewed 109 times

Mostly run remotely with pUTTY from a Dell PowerEdge R210 II ->

Screenshot(10).jpg (77.83 KiB) Viewed 109 times

@Wiz57
Newmoon SFS works! Very nicely so far I might add........

Screenshot(19).png (188.75 KiB) Viewed 109 times

[wizard]

@rockedge

Just to double check, should be a socket 478 CPU and pata ribbon cable only hardrive connect, yes?

wizard

[rockedge]

@wizard
Yes, it is so.