Time to take the plunge, need advice

[Phil Chuang]

Ok, I've got a brand new Dell ready to go, a blank slate for me to play on... Time to install linux!
I'm wanting to set up a linux system that can replace my microsoft web server as well as be something I can play around with and learn.
`course, I can't just pick any... There's like a hundred different distros - so what do you distro do you recommend for a computer that is going to be responsible for:
-web server (apache)
-j2ee server (tomcat/jboss)
-database (mysql)
-email server
-dns server (possibly)

[Pankaj Kr]

Few months ago, I was in the same situation.
My solution was to go out, buy Red Hat Linux 9 Bible (which comes with a set of CDs) and start installation from there. The CDs have all the stuff you are lookihng for.

[Adrian Yan]

Nah... use debian, do the minimun installation (essential a bootstrap), then add applications as you need them.
-email server (postfix) as long as you have a (two is recommended) MX record in a public DNS server.
-dns server (possibly), I don't recomment this unless you have a static ip.