[MAC] newbie smb question

Hi
I am setting up xmbc to mainly act as media library between 4 computers in house (all mac). I used a Macbook Pro to do all the filecleaning/adding to library. I then exported the library to individual files (files are stored in folders). The files are on a external firewire.

My question : will it be ok to setup a g4macmin as server with firewire drive shared ? I presume that I have to use smb, and setup the drive as source on all the macs.

I have read about sharing the library in the forums, and it gets complicated with syncing, so I will rather use my mac to add new media, and then copy over to share. Because the nfo files will be in the folders, it will go quick to update other macs libaries.
Added advantage is keeping "safe" files in seperate shared folder for kids.

Is anyone using old macmini for server ?

I think you'll be fine with the old mini serving out the files. I have a friend using an old Sawtooth and it's working fine for him.

One tip though, use 10.5 Leopard on your mini as it's much easier and cleaner to use SMB. With 10.4 I had to use a 3rd party and in 10.6 Apple did something to SMB which completely broke all my connections, although others have said it works. YMMV.