Quick question: which Linux disto?

[Tea]

If I can (somehow) find the time, I want to get a Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP machine up before Thursday, so that I can do a live demo of the wiki software in a lace where Internet access isn't really possible. So I need to take a server with appropriate software loaded with me and just plug my laptop into it with a network cable. This machine won't normally be connected to the web (bar whatever is needed for the installation), and it's only going to be used for a couple of hours before it goes back into the parts bin.

So I need a Linux distribution that is:

* Small (I have to download it, no time to get it on CD)
* Really, really easy (I am a Linux moron)
* Gives me Apache, MySQL, and PHP right out of the box with as little configuration as possible. (Again, I am a Linux moron.)
* Free. (I ain't paying for a two hour machine)

Thanks guys

 

[Tea]

For "lace" read "place"

 

[Howell]

And you want it for 10% less than the competition?!?
Is the appropriate metaphore "pie in the sky". I'm going to say Knoppix for the simple reason that the OS install is fairly easy and you can spend most of your time installing a manegment front-end designed for someone such as yourself and all the additional packages you need.

The only caveat is that another distro might have a better installer so you could spend less time managing the installs.

 

[MaxBurn]

Know your way around a windows box? Why not just go with the software you mentioned on an NT/XP/2000/2003 system? If you are using it for only a couple hours there are free 180 day trials of server 2003 around you can pick up, or you could warez something for a day or two and scrap it after.

I am suggesting this because of the time you will save instead of wasting it trying to figure out a linux box.

I am in the same boat, my little server box at home is running 2000 because I can install it and get everything running in a couple hours instead of stumbling around configuring and securing a linux machine. Slowly learning though.

I tried out knoppix a little here and there and was impressed, really neat.

 

[Tea]

MediaWiki is not guaranteed to run on Windows, Max. People have managed to get it going on Windows, but apparently it's pretty damn tricky. (Essentially, none of the developers are interested in tinkering with the Windows side of things. Since they are all volunteers, you can't complain.) I figure that, seeing as I already know how to install it and get it working under Linux (given a working Linux install in the first place, with Apache, PHP and MySQL all set up), and seeing as the MediaWiki install itself is not for the faint hearted, a Linx box will be the way to go.

Movig on now, I thought Knoppix was a single CD that you used for diagnostics and suchlike. Looks like I better scoot over to their site and see what cooks then.

 

[Tea]

OK, I seem to have a set of Mandrake 9.1 CDs here at the office. That will probably do. It let me install MySQL and PHP on it through the GUI (which is about all I'm good for under Linux), the next issue is going to be figuring out how to connect to it. I'll try that shortly.

Watch this space for newz.

 

[Mercutio]

Right now I'd suggest Knoppix for demonstration needs or SuSE for a smartly-packaged commercial distribution.

But then, my boxes use boring old RHEL, still. I can't even convince myself to jump to Fedora.

Mandrake might as well be called "Toy Linux". I see machines pretty much weekly where someone has installed it as a dual-boot on a windows machine and then completely abandoned it in its stock configuration.

 

[sechs]

Mandrake *is* really easy to setup, which is why it's great for beginners. People who are serious about Linux move on to more complicated-to-setup and maintain distros, as they can do a lot more with them. Everyone else goes back to Windows.

 

[Tea]

Thanks for the help, crew. Mandrake seems to be doing the job so far. A test install on a spare machine (an ASUS motherboard! Yuk!) has got me as far as getting Apache, MySQL and PHP all working. At present I'm stuck trying to figure out the directory structure stuff. I can FTP in and out to the right place, and access it from a web server, but I'm still trying to figure out the details for the MediaWiki install script.

I've got so much else to do that I don't know if I'll get it ready by Thursday or not.

(Whatever fool invented the 24 hour day ought to be shot. 24 hours is nowhere near enough.)

 

[Buck]

Thanks for the help, crew. Mandrake seems to be doing the job so far. A test install on a spare machine (an ASUS motherboard! Yuk!) has got me as far as getting Apache, MySQL and PHP all working. At present I'm stuck trying to figure out the directory structure stuff. I can FTP in and out to the right place, and access it from a web server, but I'm still trying to figure out the details for the MediaWiki install script.

I've got so much else to do that I don't know if I'll get it ready by Thursday or not.

(Whatever fool invented the 24 hour day ought to be shot. 24 hours is nowhere near enough.)

Doesn't Tony help?

 

[Howell]

(Whatever fool invented the 24 hour day ought to be shot. 24 hours is nowhere near enough.)

JTR likes the 36-48 hour day.Try that.

 

[Bookmage]

36-48 hour day...
work 36 hours, sleep 12?
work 24, sleep 12?
Centaurian time eh?

Or just take half hour naps throughout the day, at the end of the week, sleep for 12 hours. then back to half hour naps....