What to do with a PC on my Mac network?

[DTphonehome]

Hey All,

I'm getting a Dell Optiplex (eww, I know) as a tertiary computer for the house...mainly as a PC to tinker with, use with specialized hardware (Tivo, etc), and for my daughter to use her toddler keyboard and programs (not Mac compatible). It's a pretty decent machine spec-wise, so I wanted to know what further use I could put it to. I plan to set up my network with my new (forthcoming) Time Capsule attached to the PC (all my Macs will backup to the TC), and I'm thinking of centralizing all my iTunes stuff on the PC as well, and set the Macs to access the PC's library. Any other ideas? I don't want all that horsepower (Core2Duo 2.2Ghz) to go to waste.

Thanks!

[techound1]

Folding! (or any other project that makes use of your computer's downtime to work on The Great Problems)

[DTphonehome]

Folding! (or any other project that makes use of your computer's downtime to work on The Great Problems)

Agreed, I'll definitely do that, but what other useful things can I do with a PC on a Mac network?

[ziwi]

File server, media server, web, server, print server, additional storage...some ideas...

[wh!plash]

Based on what you said, i'd think twice about using it for a file server, itunes server, etc.

You said you have several macs, and all are being backed up to a time capsule. That being the case, why would you want your repository of important stuff you dont want to lose being hoarded on a machine excluded from your main backup regiment?

Of all the machines to be backing up, your file server is #1.

If people want a machine for 'home server' use, i think a mini with a huge firewire drive is unbeatable. You can get a FW800 drive enclosure that holds two SATA drives for about $120. Get a huge drive for your files, and a huge drive for time machine. Slap it in there, and you're good to go.

(this is coming from an IT guy with an itunes library >800GB)