Ask HN: What to do with a spare linux box?

[manny]

So I have a spare Gentoo box.

I want to turn it into some sort of practical utility machine, but I am having trouble with some ideas.

So far I have set it up to stream my MP3 collection, which is quite nice.

Any other ideas? What have you guys done with spare linux boxes?

[liangzan]

There're many things you can do with a spare linux box. I do keep a few 'project ideas' links just in case I got some spare time on hand.

Home file server with ZFS - http://breden.org.uk/2008/03/02/a-home-fileserver-using-zfs/

Proxy Server - http://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/macvittie/archive/2008/10/0...

Map-Reduce fun with Hadoop - http://www.michael-noll.com/wiki/Running_Hadoop_On_Ubuntu_Li...

Donate bandwidth with a Tor Server - http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2007/08/31/how-to-run-a-tor-serv...

More good ideas - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2007/09/17/put-that-old-comput...

A Dial-In server - http://www.howtoforge.com/linux_dialin_server

[inimino]

You could give it away to someone who really needs it.

A lot of low-income families and kids don't have computers, and there are organizations (Free Geek is one) that accept and distribute donated machines.

[rw]

Donate.

[ichverstehe]

Get a VoIP account, set up Asterisk, throw in Adhearsion, do fun stuff. I rickroll random incoming calls. People recently stopped calling me.

[manny]

I was also thinking of maybe doing that Folding@Home stuff.