linux

[dand]

I have reached 10 computers in my network, and do not want to have to purchase windows server...I am interested in installing linux on my next computer. I have never used linux. Is it hard to install, where does one get the software, etc?

Thanks

[jordansparks]

It's not harder than Windows; just different. You really should read a short book that gives you an overview of Linux. Then, you can either read a longer book, or you can find a network guy who knows Linux. Every time your network guy works on your computer, watch him like a hawk, and you'll quickly pick it up. I've been programming for years, and I still can't master the command line interface. I just stick to a windows interface, KDE in my case since I'm using SUSE. It's not quite as good as the MS interface, but it's sufficient. What really helped me a lot was when I installed Webmin. Now, I have a browser interface to all of the complicated stuff. I can use it to check my ip address, start and stop mysql, restart Samba (the part of Linux that knows how to talk to Windows computers), set the MySQL permissions, etc. Whenever you do something new, write it all down in a book so you can do it again later. This is especially true of typed commands. Learn how to type carefully, because one little mistake and you have to try again.

I have generally had very good luck with my Linux server and have used it for years. It never dies. It just keeps on going and going and going. And that's exactly what you want in a server.

[drtech]

Linux Basically comes in different "packages" or "distributions." They are all linux, but just have different software and use different setup methods etc. (much more complicated than that, but the basic idea). You just need to download the CD "image" from the website and burn it to a cd. Then, have a computer ready to use as a server, pop the CD in and install it. Then be ready to read lots on the internet or in a book on how to install setup linux...that is the hard part. Once it is done, it will be rock solid and you will hardly even even need to touch it again.

These are the things you need to do:
1)Install a base linux system (and use KDE or gnome...those are systems like windows graphics)
2)Setup SAMBA (file sharing)
3)Setup MySQL (database)

In my opinion some of the best in ease of use are:
(and I have tried about 35 different distributions)

Server:
http://fedoraproject.org/
http://www.ubuntu.com/ (use the desktop edition even though you want a server if you want the graphical interface)

Desktop:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/
http://www.ubuntu.com/

To see most all available distributions.
http://distrowatch.com/