What linux distribution to use?
 

Hi,

I have a requirement to install an Apache 2.0 server running PHP 5.2 and MySQL 5.0 on an as yet undecided Linux distribution.

The server will be for my own development purposes only, and I will be resurrecting an old 1.4GHz Pentium 4, 400Mhz FSB, integrated network card and 256Mb RDRAM (yes, it really is that old!).

In a nutshell, does anyone have a recommendation (from experience) of a good Linux distro to install?

My ideal requirements for the distro would be:

# Vanilla kernel (This is very important! I have used RedHat 9.0, which runs a very non-vanilla kernel - in particular glibc is non-vanilla under RH9.0, often leading to all sorts of problems whenever one wishes to perform a package upgrade).

# kernel support for pthreads and mmap.

# Ships with Apache 2.0 running PHP 5.2 and MySQL 5.0 as standard.

TIA,

Mike.

UPDATE:
-------

Slackware is looking pretty good at the moment (it seems to ship with the PHP and MySQL packages that I need, although it only has Apache 1.3). Does anyone know if it has a vanilla kernel?

Ubuntu Server - LAMP install option
 

I have used Ubuntu server in my office to set up a LAMP server, which is an installation option when the CD boots. I loaded Joomla! on top of that as our CMS and it worked without a hitch. Actually, there was one hitch in that I had to convert my mySQL database from ISO-8859 to UTF-8, but that's another story. I don't know if it has a "vanilla" kernel or not and I'm not sure I understand why it would matter. :confused:

Best part is you get a free (as in beer) server and there is support available should you need it. Just my :twocents:

Scott

If you like Slackware go check ArchLinux - far better repository handling and many recent packages. Binary files are pre-compiled for i686 so you will get more from your P4.

Most distros don't ship with Vanilla kernels, so you will be restricting yourself to the likes of Slackware if you need a Vanilla kernel.

Hi guys,

Thanks for your advice.

I've ended up going with Slackware in the end; so I'll see how it turns out!

My reason for wanting a vanilla (or near vanilla) kernel is for additions and upgrades to the OS.

I've grabbed the release 11.0 DVD ISO from the slackware site itself, I wonder if that particular ISO is pre-compiled for the i686 too.

Mike.

No, it's not. I'm pretty sure the packages are compiled for i486 (and, I beleive, in some cases, i386).