building cheap linux box

[omegalpha]

I am looking to build a really cheap computer out of some recent parts. I already have a case, monitor, keyboard and mouse lying around. I do have a 200W power supply, but i dont think it will be enough for new hardware.

Any suggestions on what to buy?

[nomo_green]

what are your plans for linux? servers, Xwindows, games?

find yourself a cheap mobo with sdram (cheaper) only $25 for 128 megs (probably going to need an ATX power supply for the mobo)

cheap hard drive or bum one

PIII-500/Athlon/Duron or higher

dig up a soundblaster live card

cheap nvidia card (mx series are cheap-nvidia has excellent linux support unlike some others)

cdrom, floppy

that should give you a somewhat enjoyable machine to play with, however gaming, serving may require more.

good luck

[fancypiper]

Cheap Linux Box (http://www.ls.net/CheapBox.html)
The Ultimate Linux Box (http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/ultimate-linux-box/ulb2001.html) - update (http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/ultimate-linux-box/update.html)

[omegalpha]

I was thinking of using the box just for basic linux stuff so i could tweak stuff without compromising my data (which is on my newer computer). I just need to know if i need a bigger power supply (200W sounds a little mediocre to me)

[CrashTestDummy9]

If you are going to use a 1g+ processor and be running multiple drives you might want to get a 300 watt . If you have a CD-Rom , Floppy , 500mhz proc , 1 hard drive and light weight video card 200 watts will get you by. Ive got a 340 watt with a 1.5 g proc , 2 hard drives and cdrw,dvd , Radeon 7500 vid and I get some voltage drop on heavy use .