Choosing Distro: A Download Server

[stephen_wq]

Short Version:
Many may think a download server being a server to serve downloads. I actually want the oppisite. I want a server which is designed specifically to download things. It will not be interacted with apart from over network to send jobs and pickup downloaded files and remote desktop (vnc maybe)
Computer specs:
Intel Celeron 600mhz
Ram: ~256mb
Small MicroATX motherboard (unsure of model)
Onboard graphics
~10gb hard drive (not sure, may get new one)

Long Version: In New Zealand there are data caps on almost every broadband plan. I have one which has data caps, and an on/offpeak allowance. Onpeak is 10am-2am and offpeak is obviously 2am-10am. I have a 10gb offpeak and 5gb peak allowance, and i keep going over peak in my lazyness not using it overnight and downloading in the day. I want to have a linux box which i can send jobs to over the network from windows and fedora to download, and pick them up in the morning, without worrying about it. Downloads have to obviously start at 2am and end at 10am, pausing if its too large to finish in one night.
It will be connected via network only, so i think i'll use remote desktop software to control it possibly once its all setup.
So really, i need to somehow give it jobs remotely, and remote desktop remotely(not to add jobs, only to change settings and things), and network to windows using samba and to fedora to pick up the files once downloaded.



I dont know if this is all possible at all, but could someone point me to a suitable distrubution and appropriate programs to use?


Bit of unrelated detail:
The system is compact inside an old chunky scanner thats around 5 years old, so its about right size. I have gutted it and cut and drilled holes in it for ventillation and rigged up the scanner LED to system LED, it all works fine, i booted DSL on it, but it needs a new cmos battery.

[Sam Liu]

I've never heard of doing something like this, but you can achieve self scheduled downloads on this computer alone with cron. Install a linux (I love Ubuntu 6.06 for its easy installing and everything)

then

for ubuntu, sudo. for others, su root

sudo crontab -e

add a line in cron with this format

minute hour dayofmonth month dayofweek wget http://downloadsite/download.ziporwhatever

example:

* * * * * wget http://yoursite.com/whatever.zip

will every minute download that file to your compy.

note: you edit crontab in vi probably, so hit "I" on your keyboard to initially edit the file, "esc" when you're done and then type ":w", hit <enter> and then ":q"

no quotes of course.