I heard that old computers can be recycled and used as Linux servers. I have an old computer that still works fine. I would like to turn into a server but I am not sure which way to go about doing it. If I get it working, I mainly will use it for web/file hosting and maybe a firewall.

40MHz 486 CPU
8MB SIMM RAM - I will probably upgrade that.
400MB SCSI Hard Drive (plenty of web space)
Still needs needs an ISA network card

I dont know that much about networking (I am still learning), but I know I need one of those cards that have a port that looks like an oversized phone jack (does someone know what thats called?).

What distros/versions of Linux would work well with this machine? Also, I need a network card that will work with this computer and Linux.

Any suggestions?

Please keep in mind that I will not upgrade much.

slackware is the most unix based distro and doesn't need that much system requirements.... and umm the oversized telephone stick is a rj45 cable

Thanks for the info, I will check out slackware. Know of any good ISA network cards that will work with Linux?

http://www.freesco.org

a single floppy router/firewall package with apache/php etc etc etc addons... can be transferred to the HD