Ideally, I want the following to happen:
- Services (such as Samba) should be available without keeping my desktop session alive.
- The computer should go in a suspend like mode when idle in order to minimize noise and power consumption.
- Naturally, the computer must power up again when its services are requested from other computers.
I would be grateful, if you would help me achieve the goals above!
Have a nice day
NB: I made my decision and I'd prefer that this thread does not turn into a discussion about which Linux distro to choose. I am fairly indifferent as to whether the core is Ubuntu/Debian/Mint etc - but I need a graphical desktop user interface (or I get confused), a java runtime environment for my AltDrive* cloud backup software and full root control. A pre-designed NAS web-interface and/or putty command line is not flexible enough for me. I'd just like some advice on how to solve the issues at hand ...
* http://altdrive.com/