I had a 25 computer setup which are currently running on windows.The applications which i run now on them are MSOffice,Zoom media player, which is very good at keyboard shortcuts.

I wish to convert all of them to Linux with
Open OFfice
VLC or mplayer.
with a FIle Server,activer directory user and computer,DHCP enabled.

I am a total newbie and no idea how to achieve this task can anyone help me out.
The follwing are the problems
1.Which Distro to use.
2.How to make a server.
3.How to enable DHCP.
4.How to restrict user acess.
5.Security of the data.
6.Backup.
7.Email-Server.
If any one could help me with a step by step guide.

I think you should really focus on each one at a time, the first one is easy. Whichever one you like best, try a few out and then decide for yourself. A question like "which distro?" will usually draw many responses from people reccommending the distro they prefer, your opinion of it may not be so good. There are hundreds to choose from, a good place to start is distrowatch, specifically the top 10.

Welcome!
I'd recommend you Mandriva 2007 (PowerPack) it's very user (and newbie) friendly... about your other questions you can begin for example here:
http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_setup_mandriva_2007
if something is missing there, remember google is the best Linux Expert! i'm quite sure he has the questions to all the questions you could have in the process of your 'Transformation' =) if you can't find anything, come back here with more concrete questions/problems! Good luck!

Hello Sir,(Mr.Greenwood And BDOX.)
Thankx for ur reply sir.
I am a complete newbie.And have got some ideas from ur replies. I will definately go to distrowatch .com . and look for something.
But What i Basically want is TUTORIALS For everything.
A step by step guide for
1. Installing a DIStro.
2. COnfigure it on a linux network.
3.Configuring it on a windows network.
4.COmfigruing an email server and also tell me which is the best one.
5. security issues like on one could use their pendrive to copy data from machines.
6. I would also want to know the keyboard shortcuts for the same.
7.Configuring an LDAP server as well.
8.Plus guides on installing varaious drivers for various hardware.
I will definately try the MAndriva2007.

you could try ubuntu as well it is user friendly
http://www.ubuntu.com\
did you try the tutorials section of this site?

Hi...
if you want to feel a real power try RHEL 5

Hi rudraansh! i thing you should first go through http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_setup_mandriva_2007 , after that many things will work practically out of the box, in the installation process just select the servers you need (and clients, as samba)... you'll find basic guides of their use and configuration in your new installed system... =)

Thank you very much for the support Sir.
I dont know that the linux community will help me this much.
I think with the help of you all i might be able to convert all my offices into the linux machines. Thank you very much ones again.
What i have decided is that I may use fedora core as my server operatiing system as well as client side due to good compatinbility issues . Plus i think It will supprt a large number of Languages. I need arabic and french and i think they both are supported by fedora coreand not by mandriva.
As a Server i Use

1.Fedore Core
Mandriva

As a Client machines also i will use fedore core.

Fedora Core

I will have test run of this setup in a few days .

In a short span of time I might use the following as well
1.FTP
2.Email Server
3.LDAP
4.NIS
5.Web Server.
Lets see how much it will take for me to achieve this task
Thanking you all for your replies.
I may soon come up with more queries and guys I will expect a lot of support from you. So please be there for me.

Thanking You

Rudraansh

I would be rather surprised if Mandriva didn't support French; Mandriva is French... It has even been adopted by the French public services.

That being said, Fedora/Red Hat do have a good standing in the server domain so it really doesn't matter all that much which you end up preferring.

Btw, if you go with Fedora, there's an interesting book by Christopher Negus called "Fedora 5 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Bible". It explains everything from newbie questions to setting up and configuring a wide variety of servers (inclusing FTP, LDAP, DHCP, NIS, Mail, MySQL etc). That would cost $40 or 50 but then it offers all the information neatly packed together. Also, I'm using FC6 at the moment but the book is still an excellent source of inspiration/instruction.