[AKSoapy29]

What do I need to know? I have a question also. If I am going to send mail via php, do I have to install a mail server to, or can I send if from gmail?

[2 minutes later]

Like what kind of computer, computer specs, OS, etc. How would I get my own domain to?

[tpolis]

Originally Posted by AKSoapy29

Like what kind of computer, computer specs, OS, etc. How would I get my own domain to?

Yes, you can buy your domain and make it point to your server.
Here you are a useful guide to get started http://www.labnol.org/internet/turn-...b-server/9111/ . You can also get XAMPP as your software solution. http://apachefriends.org Opera Unite is not the only thing.

About the specs it depends on what site you are going to host, are you going to use cPanel or not, etc.

[AKSoapy29]

If I install a name server, how does that work? Will that give me a domain? Or would I still have to purchase a domain online?

[Jordan]

You still need to buy one. A name server just routes the request to a name server Spec wise, it really depends if you are doing to have a high number of people will be viewing your site and how much memory the scripts you wish to run use. You can make a web server out of anything. For example, routers with a web interface run a web server, it has a small amount of RAM and has a slow processor but it is still enough to provide a fast control panel Webmin is a good place to start when it comes to controlling the server. There is a big community around it and the software is free. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a good place to start without having to purchase any new hardware. A Ubuntu micro instance (or what ever distro you prefer) on a spot instance is incredibly cheep and gives you an experience of maintaining servers

I assume you aren't going into selling web hosting though? because unless you are specialised in something, the market is so flooded that it is near impossible to make money.

Good luck

[AKSoapy29]

Darn. I am not going to have my own hosting company, just a personal website: http://aksoapy29.comoj.com

[Jordan]

You don't need a particularly power machine then Name servers are a bit over rated to be honest as well. You might as well just set an A record in your domains settings, if you had a domain :P You could get a free sub domain that doesn't look too bad... http://co.cc for example. The more visitors you get, the better the computer/internet you will need though.

[echo442]

sorry posted on wrong one

[Doug Lochert]

Originally Posted by AKSoapy29

What do I need to know? I have a question also. If I am going to send mail via php, do I have to install a mail server to, or can I send if from gmail?

[2 minutes later]

Like what kind of computer, computer specs, OS, etc. How would I get my own domain to?

As posted above, XAMPP is your one stop solution. It will install Apache webserver, PHP, MySQL, PHPMyAdmin, SSL and PERL. The only thing missing is a Mail Server (if you plan on using any email forms). For this I prefer Pegasus Mail www.pmail.com but there are many other mail programs available.

As for a machine to install this on, ANY basic desktop PC with an internet connection will work, also you should obtain a static IP address (doesn't change or refresh).

From there, go register a domain name and point it to your static IP.... It's as easy as 1.. 2.. 3!

[Leder678]

If it's only supposed to be a homepage, just go to a hosting company and buy some cheap space. (e.g. underhost.us has prices as low as $1.35/mo if you have your own domain)

But if you are going to use your own PC, install a Linux Server, thus, with lighthttpd, you'd only need about 16mb (normal computers has a lot more than that tho) of ram to run the server, install PHP, mysql and phpmyadmin (in most cases you'd never need SSL nor PERL for a personal website)

If you want to do everything the easy way, you could install LAMPP (XAMPP for Linux), this requires a tiny bit more resources, but with a normal 4 years old lappy with 512mb-2gb ram (even 256mb ram is enough if you run a Linux CLI Server) and a 1.3-2.1GHz processor, you'd get pretty far with a personal website (as long as your internet bandwidth is good enough)

As for the mail, I'd drop installing my own mail server and set the MX to the gmail ones and send the mail from there.

[tpolis]

Here you can get hosting for even 0.50 dollars: http://radihosting.info