Distro like Arch but stable (for production LAMP server)
 

I use Arch on my desktop

I want to install a small LAMP server on a Celeron (Pentium 4 based) box, which will be production server

Arch would be perfect, but it is cutting edge, and i'd like to install something that feels and works like Arch but a bit more stable if possible



I want :

Stable enough for a production LAMP server (ie. NO crashes acceptable when it is running), even when running with full desktop GUI

Decent performance with older hardware (like this Celeron / 256 M RAM). Ther server will serve content to few users on a LAN, and taken down on a predetermined schedule when maintenance / backup / etc is needed

Decent hardware recognition - If any component in the computer fails, the users can swap the hard drive into another available computer of similar specs and boot, and it will work immediately

DE like Trinity or LXDE

Apache + MYSQL + PHP + DHCP server can be installed

Firewall can be set up

Only free software. No closed source blobs

Most of the things would apply to Slackware or Debian.

My vote is Debian. :) CentOS and Slacware are also very popular for this niche.

No crashes acceptable means you need Slackware or Debian. Both considered very clean and stable. Debian will obvioiusy have an easier update procedure with apt-get. I've never seen a crash on my university or home servers, because they both run Slackware. I've heard Debian is also extremely stable and will be a little more user friendly.

ive never personally used arch but from what you describe it sounds lots like slackware, they share similar principles and both use the bsd style init scripts. i dont know about the desktops though, neither trinnity or ldxe are avaliable in the default install, but they may be avaliable as a package.

Latios, that would be either Debian stable or CentOS. They have very stable programs and update process is predictable. The difference from Arch though is that they are SysV, not BSD-style.