Convert Ubuntu desktop install to file server

I'll be moving across the country shortly but my desktop computer will be staying put here with power and internet hooked up. I want to be able to connect using my laptop to get or stream files, and run virtual machines.

Ideally I want to run it as energy efficient as possible. That's priority one. What are some things I can do to achieve this? (ie: remove the video card? Underclock the CPU?)

Right now I have a great and slightly modified install of Ubuntu 10.10. I'd like to avoid disrupting the system and add as few packages as possible.

Will it be possible to sleep/wake remotely?

Are there any good articles you can point out to get me started?

winchendonsprings

Posted 2011-04-18T02:02:11.213

Reputation: 1 848

Answers

You can always use VNC or a remote desktop viewer to log into your computer from afar.

As for power consumption you don't need your screen, and you can remove your GPU once everything is set up. Also, you can remove any hard drive you wont be using.

I would just make sure I had a backup plan if the computer got shut off for some reason. Maybe make it automatically boot at 7:00am or something (can be set in BIOS) just in case it crashes.

n0pe

Posted 2011-04-18T02:02:11.213

Reputation: 14 506

Thanks. I was thinking of using a simple remote desktop application, but that seems like it might be a bit much if I'm only trying to stream music or movies. No? I mean I want to go as lightweight as possible on the laptop that's going to be connecting as well. – winchendonsprings – 2011-04-18T02:38:26.050

You should be fine with a remote desktop even if you only have a laptop. I can do it with my ipad very smoothly and its much less powerful than your laptop. – n0pe – 2011-04-18T12:15:07.780

The answer before probably answered your hardware related questions; I am not sure if you were also asking about how to setup a nice FTP server. If you were:

General FTP server setup on Linux:

http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/wiki/index.php/Quick_HOWTO_:_Ch15_:_Linux_FTP_Server_Setup

FTP server setup on Ubuntu specifically:

http://www.wikihow.com/Setup-vsftpd-FTP-on-Ubuntu-Linux

Both links provide help with setting up vsftpd which from my research is the all around best.

Ibn Ar-Rashid

Posted 2011-04-18T02:02:11.213

Reputation: 265

He wants to run VMs along with access files. FTP might not be the best solution for VMs. – n0pe – 2011-04-18T02:35:30.843

Oh yeah, sorry completely missed that part... – Ibn Ar-Rashid – 2011-04-18T02:41:49.917

This was my original thought since I had used Filezilla server/client years ago. Maybe this is the way to go for music and movies, but I think it wont qualify for virtual machines. I guess I could use it to keep the machines synced, but I would like to try not to have to run the virtual machines locally. Desktop has tons of cpu+ram, and laptop has... well,.. less. – winchendonsprings – 2011-04-18T02:43:30.553