which unix variant should I use?

[duallink]

hi,

i've got a whole bunch of stuff I want a vintage compaq box to do for me,

a) run as a terminal server i can access elsewhere
b) run apache
c) run apache tomcat?
d) run mysql
e) act as a web server

I'm wondering which of the free/almost free OS will be best for me?

I'm not sure of the difference between linux and BSD?

which would be more compatible with my software and hardware?

 

[duallink]

i have decided on free BSD, is that the right choice?

 

[SamBones]

I don't think there's a wrong choice really.

There are two major flavors of unix, System V and BSD. FreeBSD is of course BSD, Linux is mostly System V with some BSD flavor things thrown in the mix.

You should also consider Sun's Solaris for Intel. It's only about $50 to $100, depending on the documentation you get with it. It comes with Apache and all the GNU development tools.

Hope this helps.