PANDA requires a server running Ubuntu 11.10. Whether you want to run PANDA in a virtual machine or on the old Compaq under your desk, as long as it can run Ubuntu 11.10, you should be fine. (Performance, of course, may vary widely depending on the hardware.)
SSH into your server and run the following setup commands:
wget https://raw.github.com/pandaproject/panda/master/setup_panda.sh
sudo bash setup_panda.sh
Note that the setup script must be run with sudo.
An installation log will be created at /var/log/panda-install.log in case you need to review any part of the process.