Windows or Linux?

[Android2005]

We (the clan) are going to buy a dedicated server in the next week or so. Pentium 4 3.2Ghz 1GB 400Mhz RAM.

We want to host at least 2 16slot CSS Servers, 1 20Slot Natural Selection server and at least 1 other 16slot server on either CSS or CS1.6. We then also want other games and mods installed so we can use them whenever we feel like playing them, but not have them always running.

If we choose the Linux server we get SSH or VNC on Windows Server 2003.

We may also want to put a BF2 server on it when that is out but we will see.

I don't know alot about Linux but think I may be able to set it up however I dont really know where to start beyond the tutorials page. I know I would be able to set everything up on windows without a problem but what are the performance differences and which would be best?

Thanks

Android

[tskiller]

you can also VNC on linux. linux is more stable, secure, and its dare i say, fun to learn! and, i recommend gentoo as a distro, its the best learning tool for linux becuase you have to do everything by hand, but there is GREAT documentation and a great community out ther eto help you!

[cryotek]

i would say Gentoo as well, but if its a dedicated server, if something SHOULD go wrong hes SOL. Unless the datacenter supports Gentoo.. but thats VERY rare.. most people don't see the power gentoo has. Another reason why datacenters do not support Gentoo is because most those servers they rent out most people would use to resell webhosting. unfortunatly the big places like plesk and cpanel don't support Gentoo, which i find to be very sad really. As tskiller said, its an awesome distro. I use it for personal use, i currently dual boot between Gentoo and windows xp, but soon im going to wipe out the drive and use it for Gentoo only.

Moving from my rantings and back on to your server. The CPU might be enough. Try to get a XEON if you can. The memory on the other hand, you might want to try and double that. if not triple.