New to Linux

I dont know much about linux at all but i want to know more. SO I have this pc lying around. What do you suggest i get. I think I have hed hat 7 or 8 on 5 disks.

Basiclly what I want to do with it is host my own Web site on it I already bought a static ip for this. Most of my web work I do via macromedia so I would need to transfer files from my windwos comp to the linux machine. Unless there is a program on linux that can do web work with. Im not much of a typer I can do html but only do it if i have to.

So can windows and linux talk to each other or transfer files or am I gonna need to ftp or somthing? Also going to have the linux do DNS cause I need pratice.

So...what should I get or download to host a web site do dns and be able to transfer files on my network if needed be. I could do all this very easily on win 2k3 server but I know how already and would like to learn more stuff. Also that post about steaming music on web sounds sweet. Also if possible be able to remote into the linux box remotly.

Well thats all i got

Ok, lets help you out here:

1. Linux will talk fine with Windows over your regular windows file sharing. If you use something like KDE, you can just type smb://<ip address> and it will open up like you're used to.. just like typing
\\<ip address> in Windows.

2. To host your website, you'll want Apache (httpd.apache.org). Its the most used webserver on the Internet (about 65% of the net runs on it if I remember correctly). Not difficult to set up, your distribution should already have it.

3. To work on your websites, I'm not sure.. you will get WYSIWYG HTML editors for sure.. like KHTML.. I don't know about Flash stuff.

4. For DNS you'll want BIND (should also be there with your distribution), its not hard at all to setup, see our DNS section for a full tutorial.

5. Remote administration through SSH is perfect.. you can even use SFTP to transfer files very easily).

I suggest you don't use your older redhat stuff.. it will be horribly outdated.. download a recent distribution.. my suggestion is you try and setup your stuff on a Knoppix hard disk installation ( www.knoppix.net ).. get the latest apache etc, and go from there..

Don't worry its real easy.

Cheers,