Best and easiest free distrib of linux?

[GeneralChaos]

Well ive been reading around on doing this and I was originally going to just use win2k server or something, but if I can get linux for free I might as well learn it.

Im going to setup a server since I can get decent parts for free/cheap, and I have nothing better to do. im going to pretty much just serve some websites (so needs everything like php and all that), personal files (for my own use) some webcams and other small little things right now over my comcast cable, and im sure it only uploads around 30-40k/s and im not sure how much the extra $10 would increase that. so untill possible upgrading later it will just be this stuff.

later on id like to host game servers, large files, possibly p2p, voice chat servers like ventrillo, and depending how much money I feel like wasting, possibly hosting some bandwidth starved websites (make a little money to help pay for something sweet like a T1)


So thats pretty much what im going to do with it, no corporate crap or anything.

I have hardly any experience with linux as an OS, all I have done is telnet commands because my friend dave runs them (id ask him but hes so busy i'll never get the chance) so I need something relatively simple. I can learn fast but the easier the better.

Ive heard of things like SUSE and it looks easy, but its $100 that I dont want to spend.

I figure i'll also need apache and something like no-ip.com from what I read.


but any suggestions on a linux distrib?

 

[Fafnir]

I suggest using your win2k server for now and later switching to linux. Even if you know what you are doing at best linux is difficult to work with. Use your win2k server until you learn at least the basics of running a linux box.

 

[fitzjj]

I would recommend SuSE. Using Yast it is nice and easy to set up. If you are not familiar with Linux the only way to get familiar is to try it. You can get SuSE 9.2 for free and all the software is free too.

I disagree with the above, Linux is not difficult to work with, people find it hard to work with if they have used windows all their life since it is different. In actual fact Linux makes a hell of a lot more sense than Windows does. Why set up a server on win2k, linux is different and setting up a server on it is different so whether you have set up a server on 2K or not you are still going to have to figure it out for Linux so why waste your time with win2k.

Grab that linux distro and install !!! - you know you want to.

 

[GeneralChaos]

ahh so 9.2 is free but 9.3 is not? guess ill be going SUSE then.

I am not going to run 2k server because I dont actually have it, and dont want to buy it, and I hate windows....especially windows servers.

I also need to learn linux because I have wanted to for a long time, and im going to need all the knowledge I can get (future network career)

I dont think it will be to hard, just want to start off with the easiest and work my way up, I got a lot of people who can help me whenever they are finally not busy lol.

 

[Obtruse_Man4]

I use debian for all my server needs, and in my opinion it's piss easy. It's free, extremely small size, and takes up almost no system resources. You can install only what is absolutely necessary to run the OS, and the rest you can install yourself. Setup of a web server using PHP, MySQL, and Apache, takes less than 5min. Excellent OS, couldn't go wrong with it. Especially for low end systems; or if you just don't want to waste your system resources.

Plus, if that wasn't enough, Debian comes with apt (the best tool ever created).

 

[fitzjj]

guess ill be going SUSE then

Good call, one thing though - I found the DVD iso for SuSE 9.2 didn't have everything i wanted on it - in fact a lot i expected to be there was not. If you do use the DVD then you'll probably find you will be doing a lot of extra installing via ftp afterwards. Alternatively you can download the CD ISO and install via ftp - whether this be from a remote server or you choose to download everything (7ish Gig) and dump it on a local ftp server - i recommend this last option

Not having a lot of experience i managed to have, apache, php, ftp, samba, ssh running pretty quickly - everything can be configured through yast in a matter of seconds

enjoy!

 

[C.Ingram]

SuSE is a good choice, however you may want to look at a Red Hat Enterprise clone like Cent OS. Red Hat pretty much defined the corporate Linux server standards, so while you'll find plenty of SuSE compatable help, advice, and packages, you'll find crazy amounts for Red Hat.

I've heard Debian is quite nice as well, but isn't updated too often. I haven't used it myself so I'm not much help here, I'm affraid.

You are best off finding who and what is going to help you first. If those resources are OK with SuSE, go SuSE. If they are OK with a Red Hat clone, go with one of those. No sense grabbing a distro and not being able to get help for its particular quirks when you really need it.

 

[GeneralChaos]

thanks for the replies.

Im actually thinking about just using slackware. It will help me learn the most, and my buddies know that very well.

plus its free and established as a good distrib

 

[C.Ingram]

If you really want to learn, go with Gentoo. You can get your hands dirty or just let Portage handle all the hard stuff for you.