Which Flavour?

byrnenj

Hi,

This will be my fisrt installation of Linux and I'm wondering if anybody could help me pick a flavour?

This is what I will be using it for:

1. Web server - hosting my own site from home.
- running
apache
php
MySQL
FTP Server

2. Learning Linux
- as this is my first go at installing and using linux I would like something easy
enough to install ( I'm not completly thick though ), and easy enough to learn.

3. No need for other OS. This will be a standalone Linux machine so if thats makes
any difference (and probably doesn't), there is no need for this to be considered.

Think thats about it. The machine is a bog standard P3 933, dvd player, blah blah blah! Since its old enough at this stage there should be very few, if any, driver problems.

I'm currently downloading Mandrake...only 9.2, cant seem to find the ISO's for 10, and seems like some other people are having problems with it. Thought I already downloaded it, but cant find it, :dunno: :dunno: so started again.

I was considering downloading Debian. For some reason I have it in my head that this would be the best for my server...dont know where I came up with that, but there you go!

Also considered Fedora. Read a thread where people recommended it for someone installing for the 1st time, so considering that too.


Anyway, any ideas?
Thanks for your help!


Oh P.S.
What about FreeBSD? Should I give that a go or should I get to grips with a nice easy linux first.

nadir

yea, your right debian makes an excelent server, and you will learn lots. Also gentoo installation is great for learning, its a long install but the documentation is comprehensive (step by step). Problem with asking this question is that it get asked like alot, and everyone has a different opinion. Its like asking whats the best car, I dont think you will get a definitive answer.

Ste-

I get all my iso's from http://www.linuxiso.org
Handy and usually up to date.

Red Alert

Slackware is very debian-like but it's just that tiny bit easier. I've got Version 9.1 running apache/PHP/MySQL at home and it works grand on my intranet. Slackware ships with ProFTPd as well whose configuration is very like Apache and doesn't have as many security boo-boos as WuFTPd.

netman

Debian is great, but you need to know more about Linux before you get into it... My opinion. It's great once you know you way around and you can really appreciate the way it's put together.

But for a first installation I'd recommend you use something else. There's more windows-like Linux distributions out there.. You know, point and click stuff.

RedHat have a new enterprise Linux distribution which looks very promising.. I haven't used it myself, but I know people who have and they're all very happy with it.

Also Mandrake is very good, it's a more tweaked-up RedHat and very user friendly.

You can run a web server off any version of Linux, they'll all do fine for you.
Just pick one that's easy to set up, easy to maintain, and start learning.

byrnenj

Thanks Lads,

I think I'm going to go with Mandrake. It's downloaded I'm about to burn it to CD's! Here goes nothing!

Cake Fiend

I tend to steer people away from Mandrake, for the reason that it sometimes makes things too easy! When everything works on first installation, drives are mounted and linked on the desktop, configuration is all done through a nice spangly GUI system, etc, people can get awfully complacent. If you're going to go ahead with Mandy, make sure you still put in the effort to learn how things work behind the scenes, play around with configuration files rather than relying on GUI configurators, etc. These days even the mighty Slackware can be installed in half an hour by any n00b, so there's no longer as much of an excuse for going with a newbie-centered distro such as Mandrake if you really want to learn linux.

Just points to ponder.

niallb

Mandrake has the only heavy GUI installer that allows you leave out the GUI completely at install time.

Uncheck all the offered options such as desktop, games etc., and you'll be offered a set of 'minimal install' options instead.
Pick 'with basic documentation' and definitely don't go so far as 'without urpmi'.

You'll get a tight console only installation, then you can run:
urpmi apache php-mysql proftpd MySQL

That might just take care of everything...
It'll ask some questions about apache version 1.3 or 2 (The answer is 1.3) and it'll
ask you to decide which php setup you want (you may already have a preference).

Telling urpmi to install php-mysql should get both php and mysql installed as they are dependencies.

If you plan on running anonymous ftp, change the proftpd to proftpd-anonymous and it'll give you a config file for anonymous access.

Might just work out for you,
good luck with it,
NiallB

p.s. (Hope this still holds true for 10 if that's what you downloaded. Keep us posted)

byrnenj

Well, I downloaded 9.2. The installation didn't work. During the "loading program into memory" part at the begining of the installation, it freezes. It then says that i should try run the install2 file. Found the file, but not sure how i can run it. I don't have a console to run it from. I tried installing the disks on my windows PC. Made a partition and started the installation there. It worked fine. I quit the setup once it got most of the way through, cos I only wanted to verify that the disks were ok.

The problem seems to be with the machine.
Wehn i went to install it I rememberd one important point about the PC. It's got a piece of sh-it MB! It's one of those integrated, USB only ones.

I've downloaded Fedora, but haven't yet burnt it.

Anyway, i'll strugle on.

Another NallB

P.S. There was an error, but i can't remember it off the top of my head. I'll let you know when i get the chance to try it again.

niallb

The installer problem is most likely either with your RAM or your graphics system.

By any chance does the machine have "shared video RAM"? A PC Chips system or similar?
If it does,try and turn it to a bare minimum in the BIOS,
and explain to linux it can't use all the memory it sees.

For example, if you've 128M RAM, and you've assigned 8M to the video system.
Press F1 to stop the installer and pass a mem=120M option or similar.
Also make sure that any "Assign IRQ to VGA" type entry is disabled.

Worth a shot, it'll only take 20 mins or so.
NiallB to NiallB

zAbbo

When installing Mandrake, I always go for an "expert" installl, lets you see more of what is going on, when you boot off the cd, make sure to hit f1 an view other options, where you can pass the kernel parameters.

Also Mandrake is very fussy about its boot media

niallb

Yeah, expert mode necessary for all the above.

Originally posted by bazH

Also Mandrake is very fussy about its boot media

As opposed to some other OS's which will helpfully install software that has just failed a CRC check?!?

A CD is either readable or it's not.
This isn't a distro thang.

NiallB

Gerry

I don't think the debian installer is too bad, its worth giving it a shot, if you can't get anywhere, install mandrake or fedora. The main benefit of having debian are its great package management system, which is comprehensive, regularly updated, and reliable. Its configuration management and layout are also good, but you won't appreciate these straight away. As mentioned above, you will learn far more by using debian. The install process is initially straight forward, partitioning and installing the base system should not be too difficult for you. After the base install it runs something called tasksel which you should just quit out of. Install the packages you need by hand. You need to either have an internet connection, ideally through your network card, or you can install packages from the cd's. If you do decide to use debian, plenty of people here will be able to help you through the install process.

With regard to your problems with mandrake. you should see if acpi is enabled in your bios setup, if so disable it.

oscarBravo

I think Debian gets a bad rap for beginners. If you need a system up and running pronto and don't want to know too much about how it works - pick another distro. On the other hand, if you are setting up a box so as to learn about Linux, but also have a practical use for it, I'd say go with Debian. If stability and security are prime concerns, stick with stable, otherwise testing is good - the current testing is Sarge, which will be stable sometime soon.

I'd also recommend not installing X at all at this point. Get used to managing it through the command line. X is not a good idea on a server at the best of times. Wait until you're ready to play with Linux on your desktop machine, by which time you'll have learned enough from the server that it will go much more smoothly for you.

byrnenj

That seems like a good idea. I am used to most of the basic UNIX commands from college, where I used to host my site. I did everything there through a console so I think i'll stick with that for the server.

I'll just need to set up shell access though, cos The server wont have a monitor, keyboard or mouse.

Is that much of a problem?

leeroybrown

I'll just need to set up shell access though, cos The server wont have a monitor, keyboard or mouse.

Is that much of a problem?

None whatsoever. Once you've installed whatever distribution you chose just install/start the sshd (SSH Daemon). Once you have a working user account and a running sshd you can just SSH in as you normally would.

oscarBravo

And once you're happy that ssh is working, apt-get remove telnetd (assuming Debian, of course).

byrnenj

<edit>

WAIT!!!! I should have read the text above the files! Stupid me!

</edit>



hmmmmmmmmmmmmm,

http://www.linuxiso.org/distro.php?distro=4

On that ^ page, I'm assumin I'll need one of the Disk 1's, non-us probably. I'd say out of disks 2-5, i'd only need 1 aswell, and possibly 6 & 7 to go we those?

Do I?

Or do i just need disk 1 for basic command line installation.

Ajnag

Sorry to hop in on this one, But just wondering what reccomendations are for ordering linux distros on cd are, ie who and where.Also any word If fedora2 test 3 is any good, I saw test 2 get a slating here.

Cheers aj.

Dar

I started using linux around september with little to no knowledge, and am starting off on linux from scatch at the mo .

If you want to learn fast, id recommend slackware. Choose the install everything and noobie options. It'll install everything but the kitchen sink and displays a little information on each package. That way you wont have to mess around with packages & dependencies until you get your feet wet. Use the system like that for a few weeks until you're familiar, and then reinstall (clean slate , using your newfound knowledge to decide which packages you'll need.

Don't download any gui tools for configuring the system (slack doesnt come with any), get used to doing everything through the textfiles. Its a lot easier than it sounds. For editing use 'pico' at the start, its very easy to use (don't touch vi until you're comfortable with the system - its a pain to learn, but great when you finally do).

I'd advise against using rpms (or their debian equivalent) until you're used to compiling and installing from source code. You will come across something that you want to install that's only distributed as source eventually, so you might as well learn to do it now.

And check out www.linuxquestions.org - excellant forum with Iots of help to be had.

Well theres 2c from a former(?) linux noob