Well, this is my first run at Linux in over 4 years. 4 Years ago I was left unimpressed but I have heard there have been great improvements since then.

Today I received the missing PSU wire bundles from Seasonic, hooked up the mounted PSU and the server fired up the first try. It had to be one of the easiest system setups ever.

I threw in an Ubuntu 7.04 ISO CD and about 10 minutes later here I am typing a message from the server linux install. It was all automatic! Color me impressed.

So far everything is working but the video performance is seriously lacking. I am using the onboard video, though. Maybe I can find some better drivers to improve things.

Since I am pretty green with Linux, what are some "Need to have" apps that I need to get? Give me some links. Keep in mind that this will mainly be a file/game server. I look forward to your suggestions!

If your using a nvidia card, Its easy. If your using a ATI card, forget about it. Trying to install those drivers seem to mess up your xorg.conf. Try using the package manager (I think its aptitude) and search for the drivers.

I've been really impressed with Sabayon Linux. It's based on Gentoo, is VERY easy to set up (I've installed quite a few distro's over the last few years to fiddle, and this is the most complete installation 'out of the box' I've ever had) and is just in general a very well packed distro.

They are striving to make it as user friendly as possible without skimping out on the power user, the way many have felt Ubuntu did.

They also have a less frills business only version, too, if the eyecandy bells and whistles aren't all your thing.

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There are a lot of versions of Linux that are good, but the reasons i went w/ ubuntu was because it's more well known. If i have a problem, trying to install something hardware or software, when i need support for new technology, etc. Ubuntu has had people that have run into the problem or tried it before which means i get the task done faster. When new technology comes out i think ubuntu has releases or updates to support it better and faster than a lot of other versions, where they normally have bugs.

Also, u can always have dual boot.

F@H, and Protien think. They would be good begginer apps.

Now OPENBSD, and Solaris are my more favorite server side *nix distros. But i hear RedHat has a pretty killer server OS. Haven't had time to play with them, school + life +work keeps me from my linux testing habits. My awesome 1GHz P3 fileserver/appserver runs solaris 10, straight from the the free DVD.

Not much of a Linux user myself , but asked my Son-in-Law ( The IT) and he recommends Redhat for a server side OS.

Well, after fighting with Linux for a good 24+ hours I have scrapped the Linux idea and am just throwing Win XP Pro on the server for now. I know the OS and it runs everything I want it to run. I will setup a dual boot after the Lanparty and learn Linux more for next time.

The real deal breakers were that I was having a HELLUVA time trying to install and properly configure the game servers PLUS Ubuntu would simply not see my RAID 1 array when I REALLY wanted the server to be running it. So, I am not up and running on WinXP Pro.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think next time around I will install Linux Redhat since it has drivers for the RAID chip on the server motherboard.

as good as ubuntu desktop is, i have heard that on a server level, its a little lacking... if you want true server support, you need less bells and whistles and more serious stuff... something like redhat, slackware, or bsd are good choices, though bsd isnt "technically" linux...
as for your video card, like nerdz said, its your drivers... ATI is better as of recently, but Intel's onboard stuff, and nvidia stuff isnt too bad... just use the package manager to install the latest drivers, and have a spare machine fired up to browse the ubuntu forums just in case =P

i bet with some work ubuntu would see your raid, but another question, did you install ubuntu server, or desktop?
i assume desktop because i dont believe ubuntu server installs X by default, and it would take considerably longer than 10 minutes.

its tough to get over your reliance on windows... and unless you have a really good reason to go either way (games, stability, cost, etc), theres really no big reason to pick one or the other

Threads a little bit old but hey i was wondering if your using it for a game server what games are you hosting? lol! and also ive had the best luck with fedora you can run a simple command from the command line at it will dl and install drivers and updates automatically using yum! but right now im testing windows xp x64 w00t lol so far its quick as a whip!