Hello, im sort of new to linux but i have been using debian sarge for my at home server (used to test out websites before posting them on the web) but im trying newer and newer stuff and well debian stable is outdated. I tried today to update to a newer version of mysql and well it broke it and im afraid ill have to do a reinstall of the entire os. I figured if im going to do that, I might as well just use a different distro and one that uses more up to date packages. So my question is what should i use. My needs are apache, php, mysql (lamp in other words) but the newer stable versions, ftp (as i can ftp stuff to the linux box from my windows box) the hardware is an old AMD K6-3 400mhz (good enough for what i want to do with it) and i really dont need a GUI as im capable of doing stuff command line. In fact the box only has two cables going to it, network cable and power cable, i dont have anything else installed as i do everything through PuTTY. So any suggestions would be a great help to me, right now im thinking ubuntu if anyone has any other free distros they can think would work for me, please let me know.

You can have a look at Ubuntu server (it's debian based). Version 6.06 (Dapper Drake) has long term support (5 years if I recall correctly).

Personally I like SLackware. According to distrowatch:
Apache 1.3.37
MySQL 5.0.27
PHP 5.2.0
Maybe the apache version is too old for your liking.

Got to love centOS 4.4 . . . .
Works identicaly to the redhat release, so theres plenty of support out there, and its free! Also features like 'yum' make life so much easyer.

Im not familure with yum or red hat, ive been using debian sarge for the past couple of years, but i need the newest versions of mysql and php to try the things im doing now(like running a php based game) Ive tried today to install ubuntu 6.06 LTS server but after the install when it goes to boot from the HD it just keeps rebooting, the install is the same as debian so i know how to do that, but it just seems like the os isnt there. or something is causing the kernel to reboot the system.

AMD-K3 is i586, all newer releases come with i686 kernels.

Would a P3 550 be a 686 or do i need to get a diferent distro.

P3 is i686. This K3 is actually a good strong CPU for a home server and would perform great using some source-based OS as Gentoo or FreeBSD.

aye im an AMD lover and that K6-3 was my first one and its still going strong after 7 years, Iv just used it for my debian server for the past couple of years, but Debian Sarge isnt as up to date and going to the unstable version breaks things, so ive been looking for a more up to date distro thats as easy as debian. ill look at Gentoo and see what it can do. FreeBSD is another option but im still new to linux but ive been computing since Comadoor Vic 20 so commandline is nothing new to me.

The good thing about Gentoo and FBSD is they will always be the latest. Install Gentoo using any LiveCD with a 2.6 kernel and it will be the latest after you do emerge --sync and emerge -avuDN world. As Gentoo develops these commands give you always the latest. Same goes for FBSD, however FBSD can be frozen if you wish, so you get only security updates for the OS, ports tree is always the latest.

ok im fixing to go play with gentoo, but how about freebsd what should i download, the bootcd or both disk 1 and disk 2?

Netinstall is my preferred method, so bootcd it is.

yep i like netinstall myself, no need to download things i dont need, reason why i have a 786kb dsl connection

i wonder could this be a problem, ASCP: unable to locate RSDP ?

This is an ACPI error and shouldn't stop the train. Try flashing in latest BIOS, or pass acpi=off to the kernel.

well the gentoo livecd is booted, i started the ssh and changed the root password to something known, but i cant seem to get a remote connection to the box