Trying to pick a Linux distribution can be a bit hard. You can go with the most popular (RedHat) or the most featured (SuSIE) or you can look for one that's best taloried to what you want.At the core, all Linux distrubtions have the same OS kernal (well some may have slightly different versions) and even come with a lot of the same core third-party applications (Squid Proxy Server, MySQL Server, Apache Web Server, etc...). I choice Calderas eServer distrubtion because it is taloried for web developers/administrators.
The install is super easy, you can boot right off the CD-ROM and do a complete install on a fresh hard drive (or as a partion) in less than an hour (amazing since Windows 2000 Server takes about 2.5 hours to install). The install process is very intuitive and 100% painless, Caldera's Linux detected 100% of my hardware and found appropriate drivers, all I had to do was click the "Next" button.
Once the Install was complete, I booted the system and was very pleased to find all the server apps I needed (MySQL, Squid Proxy Server, Apache, Tomcat JSP Server) all setup with default configurations and ready to go. You even get a web-based Admin tool that lets you configure all of these servers in one central place. I did have one or two ruff-spots, but since I didn't pay a penny for the OS .... I was able to buy a good book on getting started with OpenLinux.
Highly recommended.
