What Linux?

Hey All-

With about two weeks of free time coming up and access to a box no one is using I want to experment with Linux. Unfortunatly I still have to work off the box so I need to have access to Win2k. I'm looking to Dual boot Win2k and a version of Linux.. the Linux will be setup to be used mostly as a web server with apache, my sql and php. I have the possiblity of getting about 1/2 a gig of mostly txt data so it will need some space. I have a 40 gig hd and 640mb (box is being used to store ram). Do to the fact that this will eventually be on a network I'm also looking for a fairly secure setup. So after that long winded lead up my two questions basically boil down to...

1) Is there a certain Linux (ie redhat, mandrake ect... ) that would be more suited to my purposes?

2) Does anyone have a particular recommendation on the amount of space for the varying partitions.. or recommendations on just the linux partitions.

Not sure if this is the exact place to put this so thank you for any help or recommendations you can offer.

Sarah

khaje@lightfirst.com
AIM: Tex8402

-Sanity is a matter of perspective-

IF this is your first experience with linux, or *nix, I would go with either Red Hat or Mandrake. Both are fairly easy to set up first time around.

Having installed, Redhat 6.1, 7.0, 7.2, Mandrake(forget version), Turbolinux 4.0(I think.. been a while), and, just for kicks, FreeBSD, I would definitely go with Redhat 7.2 or whatever the latest Mandrake is.

MsMittens posted a nice tutorial with info on partitioning, etc... here:

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=130749

Another good source of info, which MsMittens includes at the end, is

http://www.linuxnewbie.org

One thing to remember, you will need to have the linux boot partition in within the first 1024 cylinders of the drive. That is a around 8 gigs. If you allready have windows installed with a partition bigger than 7 gigs, you probably will want to wipe the disk and start over, or possibly use one of the partition managers MsMittens mentions in her tutorial.

Good luck,

IchNiSan

It seems that most people recommend using SuSE if you're a first timer, because it's designed specifically to be easy, and it's compatible with Windows partitions, and some Windows file formats. I have a 166 junker that I have turned into a web server using Red Hat 7. It's about as functional as you would expect it to be on a slow machine. I tried to install SuSE on my main machine, but the latest version I could find was 6.2, which REFUSED to install on my machine (*grumble*), and the FTP servers that suse.com links to absolutely suck. So out of my zeal to get the hell away from Windows (and temporary lack of common sense), I decided to install my copy of Red Hat 7 on this machine, which I'm still using right now. It's pretty nice, except it seems to keep slowly eating away at my memory until I have to reboot. It doesn't do that on my junker, though.

Anyway, on to my point:
I have dealt with Red Hat 7, a little Mandrake, and done some research on SuSE. My personal recommendation out of this is to go with SuSE, because of the reasons ^above^. If you can't find that distro, Mandrake is also pretty user-friendly. Red Hat, although considered to be one of the easier distributions, I wouldn't recommend for the absolute beginner. I had to start on Red Hat, and it was a while before I was good enough to really begin to use it well. It was a while longer before I could turn it into a web server, and even longer before I was good enough to attempt to make the full transition away from Windows. Had I started on an easier distribution, I think I could have picked it up faster. I'm still looking for a copy of SuSE, as I don't think Red Hat is going to be able to handle my needs on this computer in the long run. So if anybody knows of a good FTP server I could get it from, or has a copy, good bandwidth, and a lot of time, I would appreciate it. If not, I guess I'll have to buy it.

As for partitions, I know Red Hat and Mandrake will do partitions for you if you don't know how. I would imagine that SuSE would as well, as it's supposed to be extremely user friendly by Linux standards. If you want to partition it, here is how I partitioned my Red Hat box:

/boot 16 meg
swap *no label* 64 meg (some people recommend 100 or more)
/ the rest of the unpartitioned space on the drive

I can see this being a 4 page post while every fights on the best distro... JUst download buy a distro and see if you like it. I like a lot of different distros for different reasons!!!!!!!!


SuSe 7.3 Professional includes there new Reiser FS very cool.

Kudos to SuSe!!!!

hmmm

well im running a winux box (windows + linux) and based on experience.. the best solution is deffinately Red Hat..

all u gotta do is.. format ur HDD.. then make 2 partitions.. one for ur primary DOS partition.. and the other is for ur Win2K and Red Hat...

use fdisk to do the partitions..

then instal Win2k First.. always remember that... do not install linux b4 win2k or else it wont work...

after installing win2k then install Red Hat.. hmm by the way.. dun use gnome use KDE ;) heheh

and when its all done restart ur pc.. and ur pc will ask u if u want Dos or Linux.. if u pick Dos.. it will take u to win2k.. if u pick linux.. then to Red Hat u go.. :) its simple really...

Debian has a nice web install feature

sOnIc is right, sort of.

I had a laptop onto which I had both red hat 7.0 and win2k installed. I installed win2k first, then linux, and only had to add an entry into the LILO config in order to boot both OS's from LILO.

However. If youdo it the other way around, there is a way around the problem. I ****"think"**** that you need to not install linux with the boot partition in the MBR, and when you finish installing Win2k, you need to make some changes to ???????"boot.ini"??????? in order to boot linux from the Win2k OS selection screen.

Someone here probably can answer more accurately, but I think that is what I remember from my research into this...

Good Luck,

IchNiSan.

I am using mandrake now as my network's server, and it works fine. I also have 2 mandrake clients and 2 NT clients. Soon I will have another box up with mandrake as my web server. I am also trying an install on my laptop of tiny linux, but I dont think it would suit your needs. All the clients are 200mhz pentiums that I picked up for cheap at an auction. The server is an old e-machine I got as present.

Hey All-

Thanks for the links and input. I appreciate it.

Khaje

-Sanity is a matter of perspective-