Win Web Hosting

You’re own domain name isn’t going to happen unless you pay for it. The good news is that it’s REALLY inexpensive… less than $11 US if you go with GoDaddy.

Once you’ve got the domain name, get your free hosting account here (no advertisements) and then point your domain name to the name servers they give you…

http://HesitantRhino.com/free-web-hosting

As to running your own server… well, Ubuntu is better than Windows in that respect… just add Apache and perhaps PHP and MySQL (if you’re going to be doing dynamic sites).

Here’s the problem with running your own server… (1) it’s probably against the terms in your agreement with your ISP, and can get your account suspended, (2) setting up your own domain servers is a highly technical endeavor… you need to know networking and your OS inside and out, and (3) your compute will have to be on 24/7 and you’ll need an ironclad disaster recovery plan with frequent and regular backups, and preferably a RAID system… and if your computer ever goes down or your power goes out (you have a backup battery, right) then your entire web site is out of business until it’s up and running again.