Getting 500mhz PC..Some Questions
 

So I'm getting a 500mhz windows 98 tower for free. Still unsure how much memory it has, believe its around 15-20 gigs.. I'm probably going to turn it into a server, not 100% sure yet. To do this what should I do? I plan on using "clarkconnect", but should I install windows 2000 first? Guessing it probably can't handle XP. Should I add another HD? Ram? And more importantly, anyone have any general tips on this whole deal?

It could handle XP but is more suited to 2000. Max out the RAM in it if you want it to serve anything, hell max out the RAM anyway. A PC that old prolly will max at 512 at most. By 15-20GB I'm sure you mean hard Drive space, and I would say get more if you think you'll need it. When you trim down teh services 2k will take less then 50 MB of RAM or so.

What kind of services do you plan on running on it? I agree that maxing out the RAM would be your best bet for 2000 (which would be a better OS than XP if you want to run a server, IMO). Would you be averse to giving a Linux distro a try? That's what I did with an old 800mhz I had that was doing nothing but collecting dust, and it was a great learning experience.

The only thing I'll add to this thread is that a 500 MHz PC will run Windows XP flawlessly. Make sure it has at least 64 MB of RAM though...preferably 128 MB or 256 MB.

-Lasereth