distro for low spec server

[nk3a]

Hi all, a bit of a long question so apologies in advance!

I'm living in college accommodation, internet connection is via a single ethernet socket.

I can use a second network adaptor on my desktop, connect it up to an old router and run internet connection sharing to get internet access on more than one PC (no accommodation terms are violated in doing so :P )

But I cant leave that running 24/7, my desktop is not exactly quiet...

I do have a spare laptop, celeron 1.8 GHz with 512 mb ram lying around. It runs very quiet if its not under load. I've had it running for 9 months non stop back in 2005 so that shouldn't be a problem.

So is there a Linux distro I can use on that? All it needs to do is carry out internet connection sharing (masquarading?) I have all the hardware necessary (2 ethernet ports). Preferrably no GUI, I'd like to administer it via SSH or something maybe I'll look into bit torrent clients too but that's a secondary option for later.

Thanks all!!

[elija]

Apparently, Semplice will run on a mere 486. It's based of Debian (SID) so you have a huge amount of available software. It is SID so you may have the occasional *hairy* update. Again based off Debian (Stable), Crunchbang blitzes my old Pentium 4 laptop but if you don't want a GUI and are prepared to build it yourself, go for a Debian net install and add just the things you need.

[nixblog]

Debian, Arch or even one of the BSD's would do fine.

[jayd512]

I agree with all of the above.
And a minimal Slackware install would be pretty light on your system, as well.

[nk3a]

I'm gonna give Arch Linux a go first, it looks like it might do what I need.

Thanks all