Dual 2.0GHz G5 as a server?

[patseguin]

I listed my Dual 2GHz G5 on ebay and hope to sell it. In the event I can't, would it make a good server if I throw Mac OS X Server on it? Would a server be of any benefit since my network consists of my Mac Pro, Mac Book,a nd Xbox 360?

[7on]

pfft, it'd probably be overkill for a server in your situation.

You probably don't need a server unless you want storage... but your MacPro already handles that...

And you wouldn't need OSX Server. The only difference between server and client is that server has a few GUI apps that are already on the Client computers but in UNIX terminal form. Just looking them up and doing server-side things manually should be fine.

[gman71882]

One of the great things about OSX is that you dont really even need OS X Server to use it as a Server. Many of the broadcasting features are already built into OS X.
OSX Server gives you many more management tools but if your using it just in a Home network its not worth the Price.

Check out this program called SharePoints (http://www.hornware.com/sharepoints/), which adds Volume sharing management software into your Sys Prefs. which makes it very easy to Share External drives, or other Folders across a network easily.

[MacsRgr8]

Any Dual G5 would make an excellent server.... too good really, so yes.. pretty much overkill in a Home network. :o

But it really all depends on what you want to do with it.
A 10-user license still is € 499, so it's pretty expensive just to be toying around with.

[ehurtley]

And the '10-user' vs. 'unlimited user' licenses only refer to using Apple's tools and AppleTalk. For the underlying UNIX tools and networking protocols, it's 'unlimited user' even on the non-server edition of OS X. (So, for example, the 10-user license will limit a server to allowing 10 clients to connect using the 'afp://' style, but unlimited using the 'cifs://' style; or unlimited web connects, SMTP, etc.)

Yeah, there are decent tools for 'server' functions built into the non-server version of OS X. If all you want to do is serve up files, though, getting a 'Net Disk' might be better. (An external hard drive that has USB and Ethernet ports.)

[scottlinux]

Linux runs quite well on the G5. Faster than OS X Server. Lots of companies use powermac G5s as Linux servers. Look at yellowdog linux's client list on their webpage.

But yes this is quite overkill for a home server. A Pentium 2 would suffice for a home server. Dual PM G5 is good for a LARGE company or LARGE university department.