best linux

I'm new to linux, but am looking to go at it. I am looking to use it as a web server and to program in it. Can someone please tell me what is the best distribution of linux with these abilities and is not terribly hard to use?
Thanks,
Recker

 

I'd say try fedora core 3. It's stable. It comes with an installer and all the programs you'd need for what you want are included in the distro. You'd just have to select them during installation. Of course you could install diffrent later if you want. It's a pretty good starting place for newer linux users who already know there way around a computer.

Another one people seem to like is debian. Which would most likely be fine for you too. If you want you can get knoppix, which is a live boot CD version of debian, and you can boot off it to try a few things before hand. It will boot up into a fully functional linux environment without having to be installed. It's great for trouble shooting broken computers and just taking a quite look at linux.

Of course there are tons of decent linux distros but I really think fedora is a good way to go.

 

I'm not quite sure what to download on the Fedora website. I thought maybe you could help me with what to download. The FC3-i386-disc1.iso links do not work, but the FC3-i386-SRPMS-disc1.iso do. I don't know the difference. I just need help on which files to download. Please let me know where I can get them.

Thanks,
Recker

 

I love debian Install is easy as anything, as long as you can give it internet access while its installing (a LAN is invaluble here).

Go grab the Minimal CD : http://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst
You'll probably want to get the i386 ISO files from here: http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian-minicd/
Boot up, once its installed the core OS you'll then be asked what packages you want. I'd go for apache and mysql (I can't remember if thats on the install list).

If you need to add anything after it's installed, just use apt-get, which is easy as 3.14.

 

Well, I suppose I could always try both. I understand that there are many distributions out there. Finding the right one might take a while. Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming! Oh, and I'm downloading Fedora 3 as I type this. If I don't like it, I can always install Debian!

 

Try a different mirror, as sometimes one your are trying to DL from may be down. FC3 is a good stable distro. Has a nice GUI installer.

 

Or just go here. Personal favorite.

http://www.linuxiso.org/

 

Well, I downloaded the Fedora Core 3 DVD ISO. During the installation there was a bug thing that kept popping up . Maybe there is something wrong withe DVD ISO, and that is why the Fedora website does not have it on it. Has anyone installed Fedora Core 3 using the DVD successfully? If so let me know what happened. I'm sure the CDs work...

 

I've always used the CD's. I've heard some complaints about the DVD, did you chech the ISO with the MD5SUM.

 

In theory 64Tb, I've ran it on systems with 512Mb, and others use it on more recent hardware and it runs happily. I'm currently running Fedora Core 2 on a ADM Antholon 1.4 with 256Mb of sytem ram, with a Stealth S540 AGP card with 32Mb of Video Memory and it is running faster than my WinXP Pro on a P4 1.8 with 512Mb ram and a nVIDIA RIVA TNT2 M64 (Asus AGP-V3800M) Video Adapter with 32Mb of Video Memory.

But you know I just may test the physicall memoray limit, The Mobo is the system will take 2Gb maybe I will buy some RAM and test it out.

 

If you want to check it out try the Knoppix Live CD. That way you can give 'Linux' a test run without installing it on your system.

 

I've been playing with knoppix since 3.6-- it's up to 3.8 now. So, not too terribly long. But it's made some leaps and bounds since then. 3.8 is really good about auto detecting hardware. I'm thinking about installing it to my hard drive sometime soon. What's great is Knoppix is a very quick OS off the cd. Think of how much better it would run on a hdd when it doesn't have to decompress files on the fly! I installed it to a roommate's hdd and it runs very nicely. Of course he's running probably a 1ghz pentium with 256mb of ram. One thing to note, Knoppix is based on Debian. As soon as you install it to a the hdd, technically it is no longer linux, but a specialized install of Debian. Give it a try! You'll be amazed at how much faster browsing the internet is. Stupid windows restricting your bandwidth.

BTW, Knoppix has a variety of text editors and programming tools for a variety of languages. I can't remember if it has apache or not-- which would be for web servers... eh, check into it.

 

Just for clarification. 'Linux' is a kernal. Debian, Knoppix, Redhat, Suse, Madrake, Gentoo, Fedora Core, etc are distributions. 'Linux' is applied a generic term when refering to the OS in general.

 

Yeah I didn't check the DVD MD5SUM, but there is no need. It is screwed up. I'm going to have to download the 5 CD's. Oh well.

 

Best of luck to ya

 

When I actually install it, I might need some help. So I'll keep in touch. Probably gonna dual boot it for now. If I really like it, then I'll just go all linux.

 

If you are going to dual boot, it works best when you use 2 HDDs. Windows on the 1st HDD and Linux on the 2nd HDD.

 

I wish I had 2 hard drives. They are cheap I know. But, currently I'm thinking about getting a new computer all together, so I don't want to spend money... yet. So for now, I'm going to dual boot with one and just partition it. I have an 80GB hdd so it should work fine for now. And like I said... might just say screw windows and go all linux.

 

Make sure windows is on the first partition

 

Recker!
Good luck to you.

And, to all: Nobody brought up MEPIS. I think MEPIS is one sweet first-timer newbie
GNU/Linux distro!!! I put it on my Mom's machine (dual boot with her XP), and she was taking to it like a duck to water! And Mom is no real computer enthusiast, either, she just uses the machine, you know.

Yeah, the Debian Way is so cool, with the APT! Yes.

 

Well, installed linux... For some reason the internet wasn't working. I know it had something to do with the router. It kept saying the ip address was 192.168.0.100. I don't know what to do. Can someone help? This is in Fedora Core 3.

 

Do you have a cable modem or DSL?

 

Yep, I have cable, running through a router.

 

I should have asked this the last time. What router are you using and did you configure it for a second PC?

Turn the Modem off, unplug it. Then plug it back in and turn it on. Sometimes you need to reset the modem for it to pick up the other PC.

 

Thanks a lot, never thought of doing that... It worked. Now on linux, and on the internet. Yay!

 

Yeah! Rock-n-Roll!

 

Good deal

 

ClarkConnect is about the best that I have found for straight WebServer. http://www.clarkconnect.com