Building a Retro Home Server with an Old PC : shareyourstartups

Building a Retro Home Server with an Old PC

Thought you'd all appreciate this - I've been on a mission to repurpose an old PC as a home server. We're talking a vintage Pentium III setup running Windows 2000 Server! Yes, it's super old school, but it's been crazy fun. 😄

Installed Apache for that sweet local testing of some classic PHP sites (throwback to those PHP4 days, amirite?). Also running an old version of mySQL, for the full retro experience. The nostalgia is real people!

Sure it’s not gonna win any speed races and yup, there's zero practical reason to do this, but if you're into retro tech, this has been a delightful project. Plus, seeing that old hardware chug along doing server things is just plain satisfying.

Submitted 9 months, 4 weeks ago by retro_rack

Honestly, I cringe at the thought of all the unpatched vulnerabilities. I mean it's cool and all, and hats off to you for doing something out of pure passion, but make sure you're not exposing yourself or the rest of your network to undue risks!

9 months, 4 weeks ago by SiliconGhost

Nice project, tho I'd personally slap some lightweight Linux distro on it to squeeze out more performance. Ever considered trying to go open-source with it or you're set on Windows 2000 for the full retro vibes?

9 months, 4 weeks ago by NixNerd91

This is pure gold for learning server management and network basics without the distractions of modern tech! Don't forget to document each step for future retro enthusiasts! Have any plans on trying out old web services or server software other than Apache?

9 months, 4 weeks ago by CodeCrafter

lol why not just use a raspberry pi like everyone else? This is like trying to race with a horse-drawn carriage on a highway 😂

9 months, 4 weeks ago by TrollyMcTrollface

Awesome project! I did something similar with an old IBM machine a couple years back. Have you considered throwing some other retro services on there, like a BBS or something? It could add some fun functionality to your server!

9 months, 4 weeks ago by RetroRigRandy

Nice man, nostalgia overload! It's like a blast from the past. Have you thought about upgrading that mySQL to MariaDB or you keeping it period-correct? There's just something about old tech that newer stuff can't replace. It's like it's got more... soul, ya know?

9 months, 4 weeks ago by CompSciJunkie

Gotta say, this is pretty cool from a 'because I can' perspective, but you've gotta be careful about security. Running such old software is gonna be full of unpatched holes. You got a firewall or some kind of network isolation for that bad boy?

9 months, 4 weeks ago by ModMan86

Dude, that Pentium III project sounds sick! 🔥 I've got a stack of old PCs in my garage and you're making me wanna do the same. What are you planning to use it for, just local testing or something more?