building a linux box (for the total newbie)
 

HI GUys and gals, I want ot build a Linux box from scratch, have built
winboxes, but just want to bracnch out a bit, so what do i need
hardware wise and which flavour of linux would someone reccomend, I
would like to setup a web server once it's up and running so was
looking at Xampp to set that up, but prior to that.......urrrgh where
to START.......any and all help appreciated, I dont expect a 100 page
lecture (although probably need it) just some helpful weblinks would
be great.

Thank In advance

Re: building a linux box (for the total newbie)
 

T'was the Fri, 24 Feb 2006 18:59:31 +1300 when I remembered *K*
<krenulim@t 4otmale.com> saying something like this:

>HI GUys and gals, I want ot build a Linux box from scratch, have built
>winboxes, but just want to bracnch out a bit, so what do i need
>hardware wise and which flavour of linux would someone reccomend, I
>would like to setup a web server once it's up and running so was
>looking at Xampp to set that up, but prior to that.......urrrgh where
>to START.......any and all help appreciated, I dont expect a 100 page
>lecture (although probably need it) just some helpful weblinks would
>be great.

Try Fedora Core 4. It's available for download from
http://fedora.redhat.com/Download/. You can also buy Fedora Core 3 on
DVD from http://www.dse.co.nz (search for product XC4041).

Fedora's a pretty good distribution to start out with. You have the
option to install additional packages during installation, select
Apache for your webserver, MySQL for your SQL server, and PHP for your
dynamic content engine (for lack of a better descriptor on my part).

From there, have a play around. You might be able to upgrade the
packages using Yum. Try at a command prompt as a powerful user "yum
upgrade all" (I believe). It should upgrade all your packages over the
internet. Like Windows Update, but covers most of your packages.

Other than that, have a play around. Try typing in 'man' without the
quotes at the command line to read the manual.
--
Cheers,

Waylon Kenning.
See my blog at http://spaces.msn.com/WaylonKenning/

Re: building a linux box (for the total newbie)
 

Nice, thanks for the start, any idea on hardware req's please? as i
said, ultimately i want to run a webserver, so although I guess not
much "grunt" needed for linux it'self, the server will need somethng
pretty reasonable...

Cheers
K


On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 19:24:10 +1300, Waylon Kenning
<use.the.reply.to.header@this.is.fake> wrote:

>T'was the Fri, 24 Feb 2006 18:59:31 +1300 when I remembered *K*
><krenulim@t 4otmale.com> saying something like this:
>
>>HI GUys and gals, I want ot build a Linux box from scratch, have built
>>winboxes, but just want to bracnch out a bit, so what do i need
>>hardware wise and which flavour of linux would someone reccomend, I
>>would like to setup a web server once it's up and running so was
>>looking at Xampp to set that up, but prior to that.......urrrgh where
>>to START.......any and all help appreciated, I dont expect a 100 page
>>lecture (although probably need it) just some helpful weblinks would
>>be great.
>
>Try Fedora Core 4. It's available for download from
>http://fedora.redhat.com/Download/. You can also buy Fedora Core 3 on
>DVD from http://www.dse.co.nz (search for product XC4041).
>
>Fedora's a pretty good distribution to start out with. You have the
>option to install additional packages during installation, select
>Apache for your webserver, MySQL for your SQL server, and PHP for your
>dynamic content engine (for lack of a better descriptor on my part).
>
>From there, have a play around. You might be able to upgrade the
>packages using Yum. Try at a command prompt as a powerful user "yum
>upgrade all" (I believe). It should upgrade all your packages over the
>internet. Like Windows Update, but covers most of your packages.
>
>Other than that, have a play around. Try typing in 'man' without the
>quotes at the command line to read the manual.

Re: building a linux box (for the total newbie)
 

On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 18:59:31 +1300, *K* wrote:

> HI GUys and gals, I want ot build a Linux box from scratch, have built
> winboxes, but just want to bracnch out a bit, so what do i need hardware
> wise and which flavour of linux would someone reccomend, I would like to
> setup a web server once it's up and running so was looking at Xampp to set
> that up, but prior to that.......urrrgh where to START.......any and all
> help appreciated, I dont expect a 100 page lecture (although probably need
> it) just some helpful weblinks would be great.
>
> Thank In advance

What do you intend to do with that computer once you've got it working?

Linux is very different from Windows or M$DOS. If you have no knowledge of
Unix then you'll probably want to start with a distro with a couple of
nice GUIs for Noobs. I suggest Mandriva, or SuSE or Fedora Core.

I also suggest that you use Apache for you web server. It is the most
common http server.

Linux's hardware requirements are easier than those for Windoze. There are
versions of Linux compiled for virtually every hardware platform
presently available, from the nearly useless Intel 486 right up to the
latest IBM mainframe. I suggest that you go for an AMD64 CPU, and a 64bit
version of Linux.


A Nice Cup of Tea

--
A: because it messes up threading
Q: why should I not reply by top-posting?
A: No.
Q: Should I include quotations after my reply?

Re: building a linux box (for the total newbie)
 

On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 19:30:29 +1300, *K* wrote:

> Nice, thanks for the start, any idea on hardware req's please? as i said,
> ultimately i want to run a webserver, so although I guess not much "grunt"
> needed for linux it'self, the server will need somethng pretty
> reasonable...

What sort of load would you be expecting on your website?

One or two hits a day? Or millions? If one or two hits a day, or even if
several thousands a day, then a P2 or equivalent, will suffice.

Just remember - Linux can handle higher sustained loads than a Windows box.

Also remember that the Unix way is very different from the Micro$oft way.
You'll need to change your thinking habits.


A Nice Cup of Tea

--
Buffer overflow attacks. By flooding a program with too much data, a hacker
can track and manipulate the overflow and trick the system into following his
instructions as if he were the sysadmin. The technique has been known for
decades, yet Microsoft still hasn't come up with a way to defend against it.

Re: building a linux box (for the total newbie)
 

Waylon Kenning wrote:

> T'was the Fri, 24 Feb 2006 18:59:31 +1300 when I remembered *K*
> <krenulim@t 4otmale.com> saying something like this:
>
>>HI GUys and gals, I want ot build a Linux box from scratch, have built
>>winboxes, but just want to bracnch out a bit, so what do i need
>>hardware wise and which flavour of linux would someone reccomend, I
>>would like to setup a web server once it's up and running so was
>>looking at Xampp to set that up, but prior to that.......urrrgh where
>>to START.......any and all help appreciated, I dont expect a 100 page
>>lecture (although probably need it) just some helpful weblinks would
>>be great.
>
> Try Fedora Core 4. It's available for download from
> http://fedora.redhat.com/Download/. You can also buy Fedora Core 3 on
> DVD from http://www.dse.co.nz (search for product XC4041).

Or you can buy FC4 from me :) Not as cheap as DSE but then that's
because they press them, which I guess is also the reason the only seem
to stock old versions of distros instead of the current versions.
http://www.linuxcdmall.com/fedora.html

[snip]

--
Chris Hope | www.electrictoolbox.com | www.linuxcdmall.com

Re: building a linux box (for the total newbie)
 

T'was the Fri, 24 Feb 2006 19:48:56 +1300 when I remembered Chris Hope
<blackhole@electrictoolbox.com> saying something like this:

>Or you can buy FC4 from me :) Not as cheap as DSE but then that's
>because they press them, which I guess is also the reason the only seem
>to stock old versions of distros instead of the current versions.
>http://www.linuxcdmall.com/fedora.html

Go with Chris. Chris is way more awesome than DSE:)
--
Cheers,

Waylon Kenning.
See my blog at http://spaces.msn.com/WaylonKenning/

Re: building a linux box (for the total newbie)
 

Waylon Kenning wrote:

> T'was the Fri, 24 Feb 2006 19:48:56 +1300 when I remembered Chris Hope
> <blackhole@electrictoolbox.com> saying something like this:
>
>>Or you can buy FC4 from me :) Not as cheap as DSE but then that's
>>because they press them, which I guess is also the reason the only
>>seem to stock old versions of distros instead of the current versions.
>>http://www.linuxcdmall.com/fedora.html
>
> Go with Chris. Chris is way more awesome than DSE:)

Heh :)

--
Chris Hope | www.electrictoolbox.com | www.linuxcdmall.com

Re: building a linux box (for the total newbie)
 

*K* wrote:
> Nice, thanks for the start, any idea on hardware req's please? as i
> said, ultimately i want to run a webserver, so although I guess not
> much "grunt" needed for linux it'self, the server will need somethng
> pretty reasonable...
>
>

Anything....most hardware will work....I have not found much that does not.

Depends on how much you want to spend. Mostly a basic p2 will saturate
all adsl or cable modem bandwidth you have. The only time you will need
grunt for a webserver is if it is running active pages with a database
behind it.....

New, I would go for a base AMD cpu (2400?), gigabyte motherboard (with
raid), 500M or 1 gig of ram, HD ~ 2 x 160Gig (raid 1 them) more for
speed than size.....gig network card, pci-e video a 128 meg one if it is
going to run a gui......

Otherwise if it is going to be on your cable or adls modem (I assume) a
p2-300 with 256 meg ram is heaps....something basic on trademe like this,

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/S...n-48512760.htm

at $389

or,

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/S...n-48520761.htm

at $130

heaps big enough....

My home webserver is a p2-300 (that only runs at 200) 256meg ram, 2 x 20
gig ide drives, it also runs smtp, imap and DNS....it has a dds3 for
backing up, but these days I'd go dvd-r.

regards

Thing

Re: building a linux box (for the total newbie)
 

*K* wrote:
>
> Nice, thanks for the start, any idea on hardware req's please? as i
> said, ultimately i want to run a webserver, so although I guess not
> much "grunt" needed for linux it'self, the server will need somethng
> pretty reasonable...
>
For a *web server*!?!? Even a heavily scripted web server will run on a
lowish spec machine!

Cheers,

Cliff