Trogdor:
I just caught this thread and I've tried to skim enough to give some info/help. I wasn't able to determine if you are going to the WinXP or Linux route but in either case... I've run different setups to achieve something similar to you and I'll explain a couple of things I've done.
On Win2K
1) I used to use and still do recommend having a NIC card that also acts as a hub. Initio is the manufacturer of a card that I have. One port is used to connect to my DSL modem, the other ports are used to connect to other PCs on my network. Very easy to set up.
2) Obviously, you need your domain. I've been using godaddy.com to act as my registrar for the last 4 years. $8.95 a year to handle your domain name registration and notify you when you need to update. When you register, you'll need to provide a secondary DNS. This is what is used as a backup in case your server is down, requests for your domain will be redirected to another server somewhere is backup. To handle requests on your own computer, you need to set up a DNS file if you're going to run a server OS. In Win2k server, that would be a file stored in this location: C:\WINNT\system32\dns. There's a lot of information on setting up DNS at
http://support.microsoft.com/.
3) I've used DSL for a long time for my web site. I don't get tons of traffic and I run my email server: Mdaemon:
http://www.altn.com/ Works really well. The downside that I've found to try hosting yourself is that the software costs money that although isn't REALLY expensive, may not save you a lot of money unless you try to go the Linux route. The BIG thing though is that the 128kbs upspeed that I get is incredibly slow for trying to stream mp3's of my own music which I find incredibly annoying. People that try to listen to my music invariably have to download the songs because my upload speed is incapable of streaming to anyone. Its kind of a drag for those people that are not REALLY computer savvy. I've gotten quite a few emails from people saying that they can't get the files, songs are cutting out while they're trying to listen to them, etc. So, I've been looking into keeping my website up and putting my music in another location where it can be streamed. Now that mp3.com is offline (for who knows how long) I've been strongly considering garageband.com. They have a pretty good deal on lifetime hosting. They will give your band a home page that also will give info to your gigs, etc. The site is run by employees as it was resurrected from the dot.com dead. I have some inside info that makes my believe that it will be around for a long time and I think what they're doing is really cool.
http://www.garageband.com
4) On another note, if you're going to set up a server on a Win machine, I strongly suggest looking for PHPTriad. You can probably find it at
http://www.php.net. Easily sets up your server, a database, and a php interpreter on your system. Its so easy to set up and you can easily do upgrades from there on each component. I highly recommend that if you go for Linux, you still consider this combination. You will invariably want to set up some dynamic something or other to handle a forum or guestbook etc., and PHP is way easier to learn and handle than PERL. Plus there are lots of books out on the market to guide you down this path.
I think that's it. I hope something in here helps you.
Peace
earthcub
http://www.rhythma.com