OK, I am sure there are plenty of threads about this, but I am selfish and wanted one of my own. Besides, this is the type of argument I know many of you thrive on ;-)

Aiight - I am a Linux nubee I have only really worked with RedHat EL3 (this is what I need to replace). Maybe the distro I need will be the one most similar to that.

Things I have to have:
Essential server functionality support:
PHP/ColdFusion/FlashCommServer/MySQL/Apache

FlashCommServer is the one I worry about the most, they basically only officially support RedHat.

SATA boot and Dual Processor - this should be common by now though.

Additionally, well, ok sorry if this rubs you wrong, but I still like the whole GUI thing, so a solid(preferably not Gnome)GUI that I can VNC with would be nice.

Simple, robust security is obviously a must, but I think every distro meets this requirement.

Well thats all I can think of right now - let me know what you guys think.

Oh, it should have an active, helpful community because I will bungle around and need some assistance here and there.

Greetings. I'm looking as well. I'm having a lot of trouble getting my initial choices to work on a new computer although an older version of one is working reasonably well on an older computer.

Although my situation is different from yours, I intend trying Centos as soon as I've got broadband instead of dialup (since I'll have to download it and others for trial). It is designed for enterprise use (which means a reasonable period of updating and mending support) and it's derived from RHEL.

What you will find with most distros is that each version is like a meteorite. It flares brilliantly but briefly. Then the next version comes out and you have to start again because support (such as there might be) for the older version disappears. Unfortunately, the new version may simply introduce new problems.

Otherwise, for reliability, Debian is out in front, from what I've read.

One good place to go for general information and links to more detailed sources is DistroWatch.

You'll notice that your post is tagged now.... check out the similarly tagged threads for advice.

Otherwise, any distro can be cofigured to do anything you want.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Linux-Distributions and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.