which version of linux is used?????

[weel]

hi, im new to this forum and linux in general. necessity has brought me here
i am trying to resurect a old mirra backup server to help me with my new found love of photography. i was hoping to use this automatic backup system that my company has long put out to pasture. now im stuck trying to get in to the linux software, well just looking for now, but not sure where to start.
im trying to add aditional drive to the system but is seems there is somthing in the software keeping me from doing so. all usb and other drives are disabled in the bios, and ofcourse the bios password is not able to be cracked. at least not by me. however i can reflash the bios to load the factory bios to acess other ide and usb controlers. but i seem to be at a point where the linux software is looking back at the bios to look for the original password protected version.
my qusetion is.... first how do i find out what linux version is running and get started. second can i edit the software to eliminate this problem of looking bact to the bios to load the software. I know right now im out of my league right now but i need a couple of you pros out there to point me in the right direction
maybe there is an application out there that will do what i want. so here is what im going to do with this box
at local high school sports functions i will be taking still pictures and video of events. i will need a server top be able to back up all the photos from the compact flash cards from the cameras. thesr photos will be available for all people to vied within 5 minutes of each event/quarter/inning/half, depending on the sport. later i would like to use the box to hook to the internet to be used for customer viewing online and storage for the future.
mirra currently sells this product with larger harddrives but i spent so much money on this thing just a few years ago that i dont want to have to drop another grand, and hoping i could use this for part of my setup

i have searched but did not find any info...

if anyone has any other software that i could use please set me strait..
thanks in advance
newbie/ day 1 of my linux life....
weel

[devils casper]

first of all we need to know which distro are you using.
execute this

ls /etc/*release*

check the contents of all the files that are listed by 'ls' command.

[weel]

well here is where is gets tricky. as im not familiar with linux commands, but it seems that when i have the keyboard connected it becomes disabled it seems just after i see the lines

lilo 22.5.9
welcome to the mirra personal server...
boot:
loading linux............................................. ...............................
bios data check bypassed

i can hit pause and see only thses lines before the above line completes loading then keyboard is disabled

not sure where to go from here

can i load another harddrive with somthing like knoppix dvd and maybe look around on this drive to get information

with my lack of knowledge in this area it may be easire to talk realtime with someone via skype or xfire type of program because i know im only going to be making a fool of my self

[weel]

also once the keyboards becomes locked there are a lot of lines that go by, but i cant read them, or stop them from scrolling until it finally stops with the line

Kernel panic: attempted to kill init!