I am going to be installing linux on a 333 Pentium with 64 megs of ram (more can be added if needed) to run an apache server for my office. Our current web page which is outsourced gets im sure, under 50 hits a day so traffic is very low. My plan was to install slackware cause I've loaded it and had it running with minimal problems at home but, I decided it would probally be a good idea to get your opinions.

The plan is to get a good linux distro (we're currently running a novell/nt network), bring our web page in house on an apache server, and sell the idea of linux to my boss (he doesn't know much about computers but he try's to keep himself updated with all the old buzz words that were going around, so he's a couple years behind). Hopefully if I can sell the idea of apache to him, and if so I'd like to slowly migrate all of our servers over to one distro of linux. We have a small office, about 40 workstations, and I'm the only tech so time management is kind of importnant.

O yah, also stability is my primary concern here followed closely by security; speed and difficulty arent too big of a deal.

Have a read of this thread - it'll probably give you lots of arguments: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...=&threadid=662

If your currently with Slackware and like plenty of control yet not too much help then I'd stick with it! (says the Slackware fan) As for you comment of "Hopefully if I can sell the idea of apache to him" it shouldn't take that much selling if you want a flexible and very reliable web server! Have a look at the results of the Netcraft Survey if you want some numbers to throw at him. As you've said your time is a premium then you might be better off with something like Redhat as it has a lot more in the way of tools to help you out.

cheers

Jamie...

My 2 cents...

Debian might also be a good choice. Like Slackware, Debian is considered to be a very stable and reliable distro. If you like having pretty much control in your hands, and don't require gui utils for setting up everything, Debian would be just as good as Slackware.

The main difference between Debian and Slack is package management. In Debian, package management is made incredibly easy, thanks to its package manager APT. You can install and upgrade single packages, or even the whole distro, with one simple command, and APT takes care of all the dependencies and automatically installs or upgrades other packages that are required.

IMHO once you have Debian configured well, and have it up and running, it's very easy to maintain.

I would go with Slackware, you got it installed at home....and most likely getting familiar with it. It's best to start with a distro, and then learn it best to know it in and out. Then on down the road you can switch if necessary.

But updating the most recent release of Debian will involve a huge download and recompiling the Kernel (they're still only on 2.2 AFAIK). Mandrake, RedHat, SuSE and co. are all up to 2.4 - the Debian community have some catching up to do!

Then again, the people using Debian are probably those most likely to compile their own Kernel anyway...

i wouldnt worry too much about kernals because for my server setup i still use 2.2.16 and have no problems whatsoever...
besides with a 333mhz cpu you may not want to run some of the newer apps if yu use x...

you have to look at what you want out of it (as im sure youre well aware--what the hell, youre running slack).

as for distro, id have to agree with what a gentleman said above, "use the distro youre most used to"... while i suspect that slack is a "status" distro, linux is linux is linux... ive found that i can do the exact same things with one distro to another--of course, packaging and apps may be different but they will almost always serve the same function.

good luck