Linux

Piranha

I am about to install a Linux server for the first time and wonder what Linux distribution you recommend. Here are what it will have to run and other information needed:

I will only use it at home, so it does not need a 100% secure installation.
I don't know how to handle a Linux system, so I need a distribution that is as easy as possible to get started with.
It will be a server that will run a web server (probably apache), MySQL, PHP and Java. In the future I will probably add a FTP and a mail-server to it as well, but that is not important right now.

I hope that the persons here that have experience with Linux can point me in the right direction and tell me why I should use that distribution.

Edit: Answers to thorpe's questions. I will use it mainly as a server, but will probably take the opportunity to learn more when I have Linux installed. But it is the server part that is the main thing and it should run as a server normally.

I don't know if I need a desktop, but it would be good if there were one. Especially since I find it easier to use a graphical interface than a command one.

The machine is pretty old and slow, 400 MhZ and 128 MB memory. I know it is damn slow for a server, but since there will be no load to talk about I hope it is possible to use it anyway.

The time for maintaining and configuring should hopefully be as little as possible in the beginning before I know what I'm doing. When it is set up and I learn more and more I don't mind if there are a bit of maintaining, but it would still be good if I don't have to spend hours maintaining the system.

thorpe

Probably going to need a little more infomation than what you have provided. Is this thing only going to be used as a server? Do you need a desktop? How fast is the machine? How much time do you want to spend maintaining / configuring?

My home servers all (bar one) run Gentoo, which is a highly customizable meta distrobution where everything is built from source and YOU decide what is installed. The reason one of my servers does not run Gentoo is because it is an old 333Mhz iMac and compiling on it is a nightmare time wise. For this machine I use Debian which is another highly customizable distro, this time with pre-built packages available so I don't have to worry about compile times.

However, if your here asking this question, and you dont have a great deal of experience with Linux, Gentoo and Debian both require a fair bit of upkeep, and the learning curve could be quite steep. You might really wont to go with something a little simpler like ubuntu, Ive never used it myself but its a pretty simple setup and maintaining it should be the same.

bpat1434

Ubuntu is easy to use, and has a great user-base. So it's good in that respect. I played with it for like 10 minutes, and couldn't stand it. I had too many issues with my computer (all of which are solved now, but I'm still not using ubuntu).

I personally started using SuSE a while ago, and have liked it. It's under the RedHat umbrella, so it's almost as high a grade security wise, but it is very easy to get in and do things too (almost too easy). Coming from Windows, it can keep a familiar interface (KDE) or likewise with mac (Gnome). Setting the Server (Apache) and all up is another story. I've had issues trying to do it, but that's due to me being a moron when it comes to Linux and compiling (I still have yet a lot to learn).

Mandriva (formerly Mandrake) I haven't touched since they became Mandriva (although I still get their newsletters ... ?) and have little knowledge on it.

Fedora is a popular distro of Linux that a lot of servers use. I tried but couldn't get Fedora Core 5 onto my computer (possible disc image issue). But from what I've seen on the web, it has a good foot-hold on the market and is fairly stable.

All linux distros pretty much have a large user-base and communities with forums/mailing-lists. It's really a preference that you have and what type of interface you want that will decide just which distro you go with. If you want, here are a few sites you could use to better educate yourself on the strengths of each distro:

SuSE Linux - www.opensuse.org
Fedora Core - fedora.redhat.com
Mandriva Linux - www.mandriva.com
Debian - www.debian.org
LINUX DISTRIBUTION LIST <-- Nice compilation!!

And finally, I'm moving this to the Echo Lounge as it doesn't really deal with PHP.

schwim

I use Fedora 5 as my desktop, and my server runs Fedora 4. It's pretty dandy for people who don't necessarily want to build everything from source, and if you grab the release late enough in it's life(6 month theoretical life spans), you get to benefit from all of the bugfixes, which is necessary if you're running it in a public server environment.

I've used it for years, and couldn't be happier.

thanks,
json

Piranha

Thank you for answering guys. I still want more opinions, so if someone want to give opinions please do. Even if the distribution you prefer have already been mentioned please tell that you recommend that distribution.

I have edited the first post with answers to thorp's questions, hope it is a little bit easier to understand my needs and recommend distributions.

foottuns

I would recommand you Suse linux or Fedora,

michaewlewis

I've used SuSE 7.0, Red Hat 7, Fedora Core 5, openSuSE 10, & openSuSE 10.1 (in that order)
Red Hat & FC5 aren't very user friendly if you are a newbie (at least that's what I thought). openSuSE, for some reason is a whole lot easier to get the hang of things.
YaST is a lot like the windows control panel, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get the feel for it.
When you need to install Apache, I would absolutely recommend downloading xampp from www.apachefriends.org. Trying to set up apache, php, & mysql is too much of a headache & it took me about a month of trying to get it all set up right, before I finally gave in and downloaded xampp. So do yourself a favor & download it first.
And don't forget to read the manual. 🙂

dalecosp

...

😃

DeadlySin3

Personally, I swear by Debian for my Linux needs.

It's easy to use and easy to install.

When I wanted to install packages - I would type in a root terminal :
apt-get install package name

Apache
apt-get install apache (see the search to see about installing 1.3x or 2.x)

PHP4
apt-get install php4

PHP-CLI - Command Line Interface to run php scripts via the terminal
apt-get install php4-cli

PHPMyAdmin
apt-get install phpmyadmin

MySQL Server & Client
apt-get install mysql-server

Search
apt-cache search packageName
I.E apt-cache search games will search your apt-resources for the keyword "games" and show you a (sometimes very large) list.

Updating your system is as easy as
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

There's many many reasons why I would recommend Debian to a new linux user but the ease of installing the software you want and need is just the bait.

Just for the record, I would suggest you install with a 2.6x kernel as opposed to a 2.4x

For an X-server, that is... if you plan to install X for a GUI -
apt-get install x-window-system

If you're installing X - and you are new to linux - you'll want to install "Gnome" as well.

apt-get install gnome

Maybe gnome2? I can't remember, it's been too long since i've installed. apt-cache search it 😛

apt-get install openoffice.org !!! Very nice package.. it's an open source office package developed to rival MS Office I believe.

http://www.debian.org - debians official website
http://www.linuxquestions.org is a great website about all flavors of linux

Hope this hels!