You don't need an expensive Web-hosting service to share pictures o your toddler with a few relatives online or to sup port a flood of visitors to your custom fly-tying business's Web site. You can turn an old, idle Mac into a server that will give you the ultimate control over your personal Web site. Serving Web pages doesn't require much CPU power, RAM, or hard disk space, making it a perfect use for an older Mac.

In the first article in our "Old Mac, New Tricks" series (How-to, June 2001), we told you how to get an old Mac up and running again. Now we'll show you how to turn it into a Web serve. The process is fairly simple--and depending on your raw materials and what you want to accomplish, you can do it for little or no money.

STEP 1 Choose Your Web-Server Hardware

Before you dive into this project, you'll need to make sure your old Mac gathering dust on a shelf is a suitable candidate for Web serving. Also consider what hardware upgrades your elderly Mac might need to bring it up to snuff.

Recommended Models For reasonable performance, I recommend a Power Mac or a PowerPC-based PowerBook or Performa (those with four-digit model numbers, such as the PowerBook 5300 or Performa 6400). A 68040-based Mac-those in the Centris or Quadra line, for example-will also work, albeit slowly. Many of these Macs have on-board Ethernet, but if your Mac lacks it, you'll need an Ethernet card to connect your server to other computers. The tricky part is finding the appropriate Ethernet card for your old Mac; the possibilities vary widely. See Farallon's LAN Product Selector (www.farallon.com/products/selector/) for information, and check for deals on eBay.

RAM and Disk Space Make sure your Mac has at least 32MB of RAM-enough room to run Mac OS, the Web-server software, and perhaps a few utilities. More is be, but since buying new RAM for older machines is expensive, ask around to see if anyone will give or sell you unused memory cards that will work with your Mac. You can check www.gurulounge.net if you're not sure what type of memory to buy, and www.ramseeker.com to find the lowest prices.

As for hard-disk space, you will need between 75MB and 150MB for the System Folder-plus whatever your Web-server software and site files require. Unless you're serving QuickTime movies, MP3 music files, or a lot of large images, almost any hard drive with a capacity of over 300 MB will suffice.

Monitor, Keyboard, and Mouse An old monitor will work fine with your Web server. Or you can use your main monitor during setup, then switch to a VGA adapter and control the server Mac remotely over the network with a utility such as Netopia's Timbuktu Pro or the free VNC. (The VGA adapter--a small plug that lets older Macs use monitors with VGA-style connectors--fools your Mac into thinking it has a monitor and enable the remote-control software to work.) The...