[OSGeo Africa] Geodatabases ( again ! )

[Chris]

    Greetings all ,  ( those still checking their mail )

    OK So here I am  -- my HP Microserver with 16Gb of RAM and 8 TB RAID 
    storage is nearly ready to go.

    I know nothing about it , but would like to learn about Geodatabases -- 
    what do I install ?

    SpatialLite
    PostGIS
    MS SQL Server 2012 Express
    ArcGIS Server for Workgroups  
    ( I am at an Tertiary Educational facility )
    ??????

    I like the idea of a server-client setup ( I have my own network )
    My client will be ArcGIS 10.2 / QGIS 2.x

    I do not mind the blood , sweat and tears of new experiences / 
    experimentation -- as long as I have some good documentation.

    As far as I can work out there is still no direct support that enables 
    the ESRI storage types ( geometries ) to work with other FOSSGeo 
    databases ? ie read AND edit.

    Ideally I would like the database to reside on it's own dedicated machine 
    and the client likewise and then communicate / pull data over the Gig 
    network. I only need the capability of a few connections / users ( a 
    workgroup type setup )

    I know Gavin runs courses with UP for this type of thing but I am in KZN. 
    ( and after spending all the bucks on the hardware not much left over )

    Any suggestions ( with plusses and cons re the different options )

    Thanks


    Chris