Anyone know a distro like SME Server but with more up-to-date PHP and MySQL? I do not want a GUI, want to be able to do remote administration via control panel in browser.

I need MySQL, PHP, Apache, SAMBA, a mail server, SSL, and PERL would be nice. Need control panel that enables partitioning more than one web site on an IP address. Thanks.

Any of the server distros will do all that.

Maybe I was not clear. I want to avoid messing directly with ini files, SME is remotely administered via a web based interface, no keyboard or monitor is needed. You can partition websites from each other, do virtual servers, setup users, do backup, reboot, setup workgroups, quotas, configure ftp, ssh, port forward, handle domains, email, printers, install updates of any package, etc all via the web based control panel. It takes care of editing all of the ini files in the various programs. Most important, it has no GUI or desktop applications, the typical distro all have GUIs and lots of apps. I do not need or want any of that. I really have not seen this in any other distro, how could I miss it? The minimalist distros do not appear to support some of the things mentioned.

Sounds like you want to use SME and install the updates. If you want bleeding edge - compile the program.

However - None of the mainstream server distros ship with a GUI, all can be remote administered, though an ssh terminal is usually preferred to a web interface. Everything else you describe is standard on all I have seen. Perhaps you are just looking in the wrong place - then try the Ubuntu-server link and then fill us in on what it doesn't do which you need.