By chance, is there a wizard to help me choose which variant of Linux would be best for me?

My intention is to set up a web server maintained remotely and hosting numerous documents and high-quality videos for download.

If you go to Distrowatch.com, there is indeed a 'wizardish' type of Search thingy, where you can select different features of the distro you are looking for, and it will narrow it down some.

I have heard/read of other similar thingies on the net, but cannot specify one, as I have never tried any.

Pretty much any Linux can do what you want it to; it's more a matter of choosing one that includes the software you need (ie Apache webserver for example) and that is maintained actively (not an old or defunct distro). Your level of experience and/or amount of time you have to set everything up will also play a role.

Beyond these criteria, it's your personal preference.

I think that for any person new to linux, the "best choice" is the most newbie-friendly. From there, you can progress to other distros. Consider ubuntu server.

ubuntu server is easy to use. as a bonus, is you visit hotoforge at...
http://howtoforge.com/perfect-server-ubuntu8.04-lts

there is an easy to follow tutorial for setting up the server. the site also different tutorials for other distributions. highly rated. good luck

There are literally thousands of "which distro" threads in the Distributions section on these forums.

I would suggest CentOS or Debian as a server distro because they are very stable and pretty newbie friendly, or you could go with slackware

Good tips -- thank you.

All the major distrubutions are very friendly these days. I would recommend that
you find out what the majority of companies in your geographical location like to
use. That way you'll be learning about the one most likely to help you with
employment.

а вы любите хоккей?=)

Да, лол, but not as much as most Canadians; in fact, just to raise the ire of my co-workers the other day when Russia won, I made a Russian flag out of paper and hoisted it above our work area :-)

Now, where were we..? Heh heh...

I suppose co-workers were very angry=)
Well, it was a hard battle and nice victory!

Nah, 'angry' is not the right word; they were wandering about mumbling about 'traitors' and 'people who were raised wrong'
It was indeed a good game.

Саша

btw what is your level of Russian? just curious is it hard for english speaking people to discover rus lang.

My Russian is not very good at all to be totally honest; I can read Russian to a limited degree, though my vocabulary is not large. I speak it well, but again, my vocabulary is limited. I comprehend words I know (when I hear them). I know the alphabet, and I use Russian Cyrillic (phonetic usually) as a second layout on my keyboard to practice.

I have an interest in languages and perhaps a talent for them; I speak French and Spanish, and a few years ago I decided I wanted to learn Russian, so I got a "Living Languages" 3-CD set for learning Russian, as well as a few books to tinker with. French I took in school since grade 1, and Spanish I learned in Cuba (it is rusty too, but I can converse).

I haven't studied Russian much lately as I am working full-time, shift work (12 hr shifts) but I am still very interested and would like sometime to be fluent. I pick it up easily, but just need to put in the time.