I do not like to keep a computer running unless it is absolutely essential.
I have a small HP-MINI that I use without a monitor and connect to it using SSH.
The OS was XUBuntu 13.04 and I was using Samba for filesharing.
root is a small 120GB SSD drive and then attached some large 2TB drives to the USB ports.
This way I could quickly access the large usb drives over the network using Windows mapped drive+File sharing.
I also used the 120GB for files, but that is only for small stuff.
It was my Samba/NAS file server.
I had some ASIC USB chips. I decided to just add them to the HPMINI. I added BFGMINER and it saw all 3 usb devices.
I know the USB devices will never make much money, so it was just for the experience of trying CGMINER and BFGMiner.
I had it configured to miner BTC on Slush. Yes, I know a waste of time. I will switch to an scrypt later.
Anyways just added a fan to keep the USB devices cool.
You have to cool them USB ASICMINERS, without cooling they will surely melt.
Far to hot for any ASIC to be, without burning out quickly. A $10 personal fan works great.
Then I check my SLUSH account to see how they are doing. So I can check them remotely.
So my Xubuntu 13.04 is both my samba fileserver and ASIC bitcoiner miner at the same time. No cpu load, no heat and quiet.
No that it matters but hopefully I will have some KNC hardware to replace them with soon.