[OSM-talk] rendering with mapnik, what do I need?

[Jo]

Hi,

Say I would like to set up a server myself. I want to:

* show highways more with the colours used on Michelin maps
* show a bicycle map as three overlays (transparent, with a possibility 
to switch them on and off)
* show bus routes for each bus separately as overlays (transparent layers)

1. Is this possible?
2. What do I need? PostgreSQL? Python? What else?
3. What kind of server would be good for this? Would an AMD64 with one 
core be able to do this? Do I need more cores? Does 64 bit processing 
help? Or would I be just as well off with a Core2Duo or even a Pentium 4?
4. For the disks I was considering to set up a RAID1 mirror with 2 disks 
of 750 GB. I guess that would be sufficient?

About these transparent overlays. Do they take as long as generating the 
base layer? Or are they easier on the processing?

I would like to do this from 'home' with a connection that has a fixed 
IP address and 1 or 2 Mbps upload. I'll probably be shaping the traffic 
to limit it and make my own internet connection still usable.

Polyglot