I come from a windows environment, so i think its safe to say I'm totally new to Linux.

The reason I'm switching to Linux is because I would like to develop my PHP and MySQL skills in a more familiar environment, sure, I could download PHP and MySQL for Windows but I'd rather write scripts in the OS I'd be uploading to.

So I guess my question is: What Distro is best for developing these types of scripts in? Is there a distro that already comes with apache, php, mysql etc already installed or would I have to download them?

I'm not worried about games, though I would like to be able to connect to the internet, use email etc. And I need a distro that has a basic word processor installed, and a graphics program.

Any help is highly appreciated.

The short answer: *almost* any.

The longer answer: Have a read of this.

You have to remember what works best for me (or others), might not be the best solution for you - only you can decide in the end.

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Mint should work for you. Ultimately the choice is up to you. But try mint first.

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Cinnamon, I'd go with Cinnamon, it leaves a better after taste then mint. Windows, does it not have a linux install-able shell? Nevertheless, if you're going to try and concentrate on just php and MySQL scripting, I'd think you'd want a distro that does not need a lot of updates, and configuration settings being done to it.

But that too cannot always be a set back, because whence you get your work environment set up the way you want it. Then its set up, having more than one vDesktop you might also find as an advantage, even though Windows 10 has this, there's still cannot hold a candle up to Linux Desktops, or Window Managers VDesktops.

most Linux comes with their basic version of a word processor, and ability to get to the internet, and graphics program, GIMP, for that Adobe Photoshop experience, and others are out there, most everything is rather easily installed if it is not already installed from the base Package install. It's just one liners to install a package on the command line. Rather basic really. It's just finding out what package manger the distros uses so you can find the commands needed to do the job.

Hopefully you'll become a distro hopper, so you can get that experience of what is out there. Before you get too comfortable with the first one you installed. This too may help you if you get to installing on different distros it will not be a system shock to your system, you'll already have that, Oh I've ran that one before, familiarity, lessening the stress. Making your job easier.

Happy scripting.

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

You could try a Live CD/DVD/USB to test run on your equipment, look here; Get Your ISO, LiveCD & Pocket OS

By running a Live Gnu/Linux you can see how your equipment will accept or configure for a particular distribution. Unless your equipment is bleeding edge then I would expect most Live distributions will run on your hardware without tweaking.

Maybe do a Search here at LQ on this subject since this query has come up many times.

Hope this helps!
Have fun & enjoy.

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As others pointed out, almost any distro would do. Go with something popular so you'll have a lot of resources setting it up. Other than that, it almost does not matter. Welcome to LQ

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As others have said, you can't go far wrong with Mint, and they have good documentation to start you off:
https://linuxmint.com/documentation.php
You can run it live from a USB stick or DVD, just to make sure you're happy.

Normally you install apache, php, and mysql, but that's just a matter of running Mint's package manger and asking for them. The reason for that is that Linux servers are usually run without a GUI. If you started with the CentOS installer and asked it to set up a database server or web-server, it would give you command-line system and you'd be left to install the GUI, web-browser, office suite, etc.

The documentation for the office suite and the graphic editor is very good, too
https://documentation.libreoffice.or...documentation/
https://docs.gimp.org/2.10/en/

Gentoo is the only distro I know of with a decent working toolchain.

Mint (includes any ubuntu / debian based distro), Arch linux are a pain in this regard.

--

I would not suggest Mint for a coder. The binary distro hell is not something to be underestimated.

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My gentoo is around 12-13 years old by now. It survived many distros which I had as dual boot. This was in the days when i believed a dual boot will help me fix issues faster. Sadly those binary "newbie" distros are worse than any sysrescue-cd or similar worm media. If you want to fix your distro use sysrescue-cd and avoid Mint, arch linux, fedore, opensuse, to only name a few

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Also what guys do not tell about Mint.

I have mint on another laptop, MSI-CR700

the package manager never finds its downloads.
The package manager needs several reloads. Last time I did that was around last xmas. The package manager search feature is not the best.

When you want a hassle, a lot of reloads, a lot of broken downloads go for mint.

Setting up a printer in mint with a ppd was as complicated as on any other distro. + the distro lacks some common libaries which should be shipped with.

I tried to figure out things for 2 printers. one kyocera wiht a ppd, one brother printer from the scrapyard.


+ systemd cancer

Either guys do not use mint, or guys do not know what a proper package manager can handle. Or guys use some other non standard interface for linux mint. The package manager shipped with linux mint, last time tried around xmas, is useless. Ubuntu was always like that since I can remember that.

Gentoos portage usually does the job especially when you use --keep-going and --resume flags. the few packages which fail can be easily dealt later.

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Post about linux mint unable to find downloads => https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...er-4175631443/

Summary: Mint is garbage

If you ask 10 Linux users what the best distro to start with is, you are likely to get 12 answers.

There are many threads here at LQ about choosing a distro; try using the LQ search to find them. A number of them are quite detailded and you will likely find lots of good information.

My suggestion this: after you've narrowed your list down to four or five distros, boot to Live CDs of your candidates and then pick the one you feel most comfortable with for starters. Beyond that, I would suggest that you stick to mainstream distros (*buntus, Mint, Debian, Mageia, Fedora, and the like--I would not have recommended Fedora until recently, because of its short release cycle, but it is not possible to do a distro-upgrade on line).

I’d say just start installing them, working with the one you have, then try another one, repeat until you get one you like.

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In case weren't aware of its existence, Windows 10's WSL looks like a possible candidate for what you plan. You might want to consider first trying it, or installing one of the distros that it supports - after giving the live media of each that it supports a looksee first. Debian and openSUSE both offer all the most popular DEs and WMs from their default repos, allowing adding of any number of them in addition to the first installed or selected, and readily switching among them.

The package managers of Debian (apt, aptitude, others) and openSUSE (zypper or yast2) can readily install apache, php, mysql and any other tools you may need that are not part of an initial installation. The downloading is an integral part of their package management systems, not a separate process for a user to be concerned with.

What if a user wants a distro he can install and configure in less than 5 days. You may have 24/7 to putz with Linux, but other people want to do other things with their lives besides mess around with their computers.


Gentoo is not adequate for most users. And no one is willing to trade a rich full life of joy and happiness for a computer.


So, try to respect those who choose to actually have lives outside of PCs. If you want to devote your life to machines, that's up to you. But most people prefer spending time with others in human relationship, not messing around endlessly with computer operating systems.


If you want to help the people here, imagine that you yourself want to gain more time away from computers. That might be difficult, since your recommendations to others generally involve spending more time and more work on PCs.


Then, give them advice that lessens their burdens rather than adding to them. Do you think you could do that? I'd sure appreciate it, and I'm sure everyone else would too.

What platform are you deploying to? What PHP version? You might want to run a distro that uses the same version locally. And if you are going be administrating the webserver later down the road you might want to use the very same distro.

On distrowatch.com you can search for distros by package versions.

My 2 cents CentOS is good for web hosting although other distro are quite good as well.

Then check out the web also and search for "LAMP Linux".

Or check out this old thread: https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ck-4175557758/

Good luck!

Given that almost any distro would do, I would go with the one your peers, techies in the area use mostly. Ask around among techies you trust. You can't go wrong.

OK