Server plus Desktop Opinion

[DarkSotM]

Hello fellow ubuntinites, I am setting up a computer in the basement for my mother and father in the basement. My mother makes jewelry, and my father plays guitar and this is also his wood shop. They both want a computer down their for research. They also want in to be the local file server, example my dad's guitar tabs, mp3's, movies, home dir's(maybe). I've already converted them to linux and they like it. So my question is What do you guys recommended for a server/desktop? Do I go go with server and install desktop? Or should I go with desktop and install the server packages as needed? Or is ubuntu not suited for this setup? Thanks! DarkSotM(at)gmail(dot)com

[infinitejones]

More than likely you'll be fine just installing the standard Desktop version and setting up a network using NFS or Samba (lots of info on how to do that elsewhere in these forums, eg here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=249889))

A 'server' edition of something, including Ubuntu, is designed for really really high volume serving of files, for example if you're running a big website or database accessed simultaneously by thousands of people or something. That's what it's optimized for.

For a "storage space" for a relatively small number of files that only a few people are going to access, one or two files at a time, there's nothing wrong with the normal desktop edition - it'll work absolutely fine (it certainly does for me!) plus you don't have to go through the extra work of manually installing Gnome or whatever.

[HermanAB]

I second that. Install regular Ubuntu and add what you need.