Linux and Video on Demand

[Firebeast]

Hey all, first off if i posted this in wrong topic apologies.

Ok so basically i would like to know the following.

I want to install Ubuntu on a pc that will network (LAN only) with more than 5 other Win XP pc's. I want to then have the Linux pc working as a sort of Video/MP3 player server where by using Video On Deman (prefferably not streaming) the other Win XP pc's then can access various video files (avi / mpeg etc...), using a html based playlist or any free application.

How and can this be achieved? What do i need?

Any help is appreciated, thx in advanace.

[GNU-Fan]

Check out lighttpd.
It is used by sites like Youtube and such.

[Kieren]

You could set up an FTP server which would allow you to upload and download files using any FTP client on the Windows computers. You can also set user permissions so only certain users can upload or restrict access to certain folders. For this you can use vsftp (Very secure FTP)

If you want users to have a view through their browser then you will need to run a HTTP daemon such as Apache.

One thing to make sure is that you do not allow access to the server from outside of your network or you will find people all over the internet will start to download from your connection (unless this is what you want)

[Firebeast]

THx for advice, been looking at the lighttpd option but i think using hte FTP server one is more feasible.

So in both cases i can assume a windows based OS pc will be able to connect to the Linux server pc?

[Kieren]

Yes, simply install and configure the FTP server on the Linux machine and then install FTP clients to each Windows machine which will allow you to connect to the FTP server