I am planning on setting up a webserver for my own home use. Problem is I dont want ANYTHING extra. Plan on it being headless, have PHP, CGI, Perl & ASP support. SQL server so I can run a DB if I need toand maybe an FTP just to get into the thing (or SMB would be better).

So...... does anybody have a barebone setup similar to the one I am describing? I keep getting all the extra crap but I just dont want it.

Plenty of setups like that exist, only safe way to run a server. You haven't said what distros you've tried - those such as Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, etc. are perfect for those environments as they only install a base system by default and nothing else. You then install Apache, PHP, MySQL or whatever and you don't have unneccessary stuff such as NFS servers, Samba services, X servers, etc. running.

Tried FC4 not really gotten any others to try as yet, can you point me tone of those systems or a how to for such a thing?

http://www.debian.org/ - Debian
http://www.slackware.org/ - Slackware
http://www.gentoo.org/ - Gentoo

http://www.apache.org - Apache
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/install.html - Apache compile/install
http://www.mysql.com/ - SQL

http://vsftpd.beasts.org/ - VSFTPD

http://www.scd.ucar.edu/docs/ssh/guide/ - SSH guide thing, if it's headless SSH is a good way tp remotely reboot apache/machine

Hit those places, they all have documentation on their respective areas.

Fedora is often used by webhosts, but you need to pull it apart guite heavily to get what you want. If you're comfortable with Fedora, it's a good base to work from and very easy to install/uninstall packages. Otherwise: Debian, Slackware and Gentoo. As for howto's, check out the Tutorials section on this website, look over Linux Home Networking and become friendly with Google. Have fun

i use debian for pretty much the exact same thing. although i'm far from an expert in debian (or any linux for that matter ), and overall find it harder to work with than slack-type distributions, apt-get is enough of a "killer app" to keep me sticking with it. ssh + apt = nice combo for managing your box. i can't see gentoo on a production/server box with all that compile time. with debian you can do a fast base installation, and then you can install packages pretty much on command (no pun intended ) with apt, which is really convenient for testing out programs. if you don't like or need something, just remove it, and you haven't wasted a lot of time and resources compiling something you ended up not wanting anyway.

The point is you don't have anything you don't want on Gentoo. I haven't put in on a server yet, but know others that have, and since the request for a basic distro with nothing else to bloat it, thought i'd stick it in Can be a tinker sometimes. Once Gentoo is compiled though, it shouldn't be so much of a difference. You're not going to installing new software, just patches. You'd schedule downtime for this anyway. Unless you're running old hardware, even a complete recompile of Apache + PHP + MySQL isn't going to leave you tearing you hair out and clock watching.

As a majority of reference to servers I hear Debian come up alot in the past I think I'll give it a go. Its only a small P2 tower anyway so we'll see what we can get to going.

Good man, and all that without having to *convince* you to try Debian Have fun!