Actually, the 10G hdd should be big enough Gentoo, but I wouldn't recomend it yet unless you just want to play and learn and don't mind breaking things.On that note I still think my previous recomendation is a good idea. Atleast to get you started with.

First, let me say thanks for the input.

Second, What I am wanting to do with this thing is to play with it enough to see what all the fuss is about. I would like combo of stable, secure and user friendly.

Any distro of Linux will be secure. Friendly is a relative term , but that shouldn't be much of a problem. I find most things in Linux to be intuitive. I find some distros are more stable than others, but I find all the ones i've used are more stable than Windows, so that should make you feel better about switching.

Pick a distro, any distro, and install it. If you like it, keep it. If you don't like it, there are plenty of choices, trust me. I went through three/four before I found Gentoo, and right now I'm really happy with it. So its all in what you want. Here are some lists I've gathered that might make it a little easier for you:
Wikipedia List of Distros - I like this one because they give a whole page to most of them, and are generally blunt and honest about.
Distrowatch.com - The classic website everyone recomends, still a good one though.
Linux Online - This one lets you sort for what you want, its not my favorite, but still nice.

Had a copy of RH 10/ F4 and loaded it according to the standards that various people had suggested with some of the other stuff. It is working now, minus the networking and tying into the database.

Rock! May I ask which window manager your using with a computer that old? Surely not KDE??

Gnome at the moment. Wanting to switch to xfce (once I can figure out how). Probably closing this thread off and starting a new one. (I think that is protocol -- one issue to a thread)

I don't know how to install XFCE (I would recommend it, too) on Fedora. (On Ubuntu, I might be of help.)

I think there are two problems now:

1. Currently, you cannot connect to the internet to install packages. - It's more than unlikely XFCE is included with the (Fedora or Ubuntu) installation CD(s). - Eventually, we'd need to find a why to let you download XFCE independently from another computer, to install it (including, identifying the packages the core XFCE package depends on...).

2. (Eventually, a minor issue.) If you didn't do a clean install (like Penguin of Wonders mentioned, a "server" install), you might have too much overload already running - even if you would only start XFCE, not GNOME.

IMHO, the best way was to do an Ubuntu server install (you'd be at the command line at that point), then to gain internet access (configure your router?? - it was so simple if you just had Ubuntu server and internet access...), and next, to install XFCE (which should be quite easy once there is internet access).

An alternative was, if somebody could tell you how to install XFCE on Fedora Core 4 without having direct internet access.
Maybe you'd go into the linuxquestions' RedHat forums, or you'd direct to the xfce.org site, directly?

Thanks robbbert

I wiped the drive and started over with the server on Ubuntu as several here and a couple of other places suggested. Meanwhile, thanks to an offline friend, am now at 128mb RAM :-)

To be honest, I have two computers sitting side-by-side -- run via KVM. I have a W2k machine (not wanting to touch the W2k partition) and the linux box getting the server setup. The W2k box has the router and internet connections through it. For what it is worth, it also has a CD/DVD burner on it.

See above and thanks for the help so far.

I like how quickly you updated your signiture. I always end up doing that 2 months later lol. And congrats on the new ram, come back with questions if you have problems!

Spoke too soon on the update back to ubuntu. Typed it in while it was loading and almost complete. Then crashed. Attempting rebuild (or frisbee throwing).

tokenringman38, Penguin of Wonder:

The point of using Xubuntu instead of Ubuntu server is that you don't need to change anything in the first place to get what you want. As soon as you're used to using the package management (apt-get without a GUI), I'd say building a customized system is more satisfying and works better, but I personally wouldn't start with that. It took me some time to dare putting my own choice of packages on a Debian base install on the P233MMX machine I'm using. Xubuntu works well and doesn't need much thought to begin with. You can always add (and remove) stuff later, but you'll start with a usable GUI system.

Just my two cents...

btw. the hard drives are more than sufficient for Xubuntu and Ubuntu.

Thanks for the input and what you suggest does intrigue me. However, after two weeks or so of struggling to load ubuntu/xubuntu/kubuntu, I am having to dedicate the remaining cranial capacities to my family and other things. Perhaps some day (after I develop some linux skills) I may try it again with these. For now, please understand that I am a hardware tech with only enough programming/network experience to make me quite dangerous.

What would be the difference in downloading and installing Xubuntu and doing a server install of Ubuntu then using apt to get Xfce?

The only difference I'm aware of is how they're installed. The server install would probably be cleaner if you did it right. A server install is just a "base" system, nothing more. It dosen't even include apache or anything of that nature, you'd still have to use apt to get that as well.

Exactly that: Another step, another need to understand inner workings sufficiently - and an occasion for things to go wrong or not work. AFAIR, Ubuntu server install doesn't install X (well, it didn't when I last used it - this may have changed), so we don't only have a Xfce install at hand, but much else (like the need to configure X!). This'll have to precede any other decisions and actions and so on and so forth...

As I've already said, NOW I like doing things like that, but when I started out, the idea of having to put together my system "by hand" didn't strike me as very reassuring... However, if it's about learning, I'd propose a Ubuntu server install myself (or rather, to use Debian directly, by the way).

I agree. I just wanted to make clear that I consider having most of the things ready right after installation (like X, Xfce, Synaptic and Firefox) make for a much more pleasant - if possibly a bit less efficient - experience. The server install is slick and tidy, but it's - well, bare-bones, and - to use the metaphor to the fullest - most ordinary people don't like skeletons as much as, say, antropologists or physicians do...

Anyhow, I don't want to force my preferences on anyone - I wanted to set the focus on reaching a specific goal, and as I understood things (I may be wrong, though), tokenringman wanted things to work in the first place. So, I considered tweaking secondary (it always is - for beginners).

Edit:

I've got to add that I obviously missed part of the discussion and machine updates; so some of my initial reasons for proposing Xubuntu are no longer as relevant as I thought they were. Still, the age of tokenringman's machine leads me to reccommending Xfce (or some other light wm) - and that brings me back to Xubuntu But with 128MB of RAM, you might also want to take a look at BeaFanatIX or its predecessor, BeatrIX (which is a bit dated, but still works well - if only to test how well a streamlined system would do on that machine).

I am only a newbie and this is really my first install. TO be honest, the thought of loading all this by hand freaks me out at the moment, as it is way over my head. Perhaps someday I will learn enough to want to see the inner workings, but for now I am simply wanting to learn about it *a step at a time*.


Perhaps I am the one who misspoke. Basically, (1)I am a Windows guy that is seeking other options and a number of people had suggested linux as one of those possibilities.
(2) I am not a programmer in any stretch of the immagination and have not typed a single line of code since college; (3)
Loading linux is my first real exposure to linux; (4) I have a very old and limited machine

p.s., I will check out the beafanatix angle. Thanks