Hi!

Ok shawn so this setup of yours. Do you already have the app side of this "in the mixx" so to speak, So you just need a server to stick it on? Or rather you/partner/someone is going to be programing this and you have laid out the specifications that you have because said person requested that?

You also mentioned that "Due to limitations of my server host" you had to get your own box. Have you tried asking other hosting providers? Not that I dont want you to run linux or work with Linux or setup your own server but there are lots of options. I work at one particular hosting company and wont make any suggestions as to appear bias and such. But I know of several places that follow those specifications you ask without any problems.

That and if you are diving head first into a new exciting entrepreneurship on the vast plans of e-commerce I highly recommend a company that has an experienced caring staff of fanatical techs that understand and back your needs.

Moving along though. If that is a road already traveled and you are dead set on setting this up yourself then more power to u!

Some things to think about. First off one server can have a near limitless about of sub-domains. I been on servers were you had to pipe httpd -S output to less which is annoy cuz you have to redirect the.. never mind. That shouldn't be an issue. But if your site is a interactive as you say it will be then it would probably be best to have more then one server. It be nice to have a test environment just on one PC.. But its my experience to split up the tasks to different servers. Especially the Database. The IO alone is a killer and you will need to have backups run which will kill your CPU/IOwait if you just have a single box. So think in the feature about setting up more then just one. (ignore memory per httpd thread) But thats down the road.

For now you probably just want a cozy box to test your site at first. Honestly thats not that hard. I would install CentOS. (I might be biased here but there is a lot of articles regarding CentOS as a server. Its really designed to be a server and do what you want to do with it.)

Once you install it. (Easier then windows in my opinion. Just click next a lot. (Hell i am installing a copy while righting this) )After is up just install mysql httpd php and dovecot. From there you can ask questions on the forms and read up on each service. Honestly the biggest amount of work will be setting up your mail the way you want it. And for the love of all things holy dont use sendmail. I mean sure why not right? NO! Just say NO! (please dont hate me. I just dont like sendmail)

Sorry if i sound odd. I am probably more confusing then helpful. But Linux is a great platform to start a business off of. Mainly because its free. But also because its easily scalable and in the right hands a lot can be done with the simplest of tools. Good luck!!!

Awesome,

Well to help first it would be nice to know a few things. Who is your ISP (Internet Service Provide). Is it Dial-Up or is it HighSpeed? Whats the software that you run in XP that helps connect?

Answer those questions and it will give us more to work with. ^.^

I only ever go KDE.

But Gnome is good too. It seams to use less recourses and its interface is more simple. Basically less options which helps the average user out.

When KDE 4.0 came out i almost stopped using it. But it has gotten a lot better.

When using VNC I will got xfce. Love that sucker. Debating using it for my workstation desktop because my computer is crappy at work and kinda what something faster. Then again i rarely use VNC. I mean ssh with X11Forwarding does the trick.

But in the end I always say "If it ain't broke dont fix it." KDE works for me and I will keep using it till it stops.

The way you phrased what you said is confusing. When you say "sometimes linux alone" is not compatible with certain hardware are you trying to imply that by installing a dual boot system that linux with be more compatible?

Or are you saying that somethings things are not gonna work with Linux so it be nice to be able to run windows?

Basically dual boot means that when you first turn on the computer you can choose what OS to use. Not that both will boot at the same time and share hardware.

If you are worried if the OS will detected all the hardware correctly like the video card. I would suggest running your Linux Distro of choice on a LiveCD. URL: http://www.puppylinux.com/cd-puppy.htm

You can then from there see is most of the stuff works. And then install.

If this machine is a spare computer and you already have windows installed on your main PC. Then I recommend not complicating things and just install linux. Adding a duel boot windows wont add any functionality or hardware support to linux. If you want to run a windows app on the linux box you can either use wine, find a opensource version or get a VirtualMachine setup.

Another interesting list is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_video_games

That list all sorts of fun stuff. Just "Ctrl-F" and look for "RPG".

BTW:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossfire_%28computer_game%29
CROSSFIRE!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry.. *cough* has nothing to do with the game. Just brings back memories of a certain board game. *sigh*

Also, as noted before, there are lots of cool games that are windows based that can run pretty well under wine.
http://appdb.winehq.org/

Psst... GuildWars. (Personally liked it better then WoW) and its super cheap and no monthly fees. If you are into the whole MMO stuff.

Another non-free game that was one of my fav. was NeverWinter Nights. Which is native on linux.
http://nwn.bioware.com/downloads/linuxclient.html

Regarding the boot loader...

A lot of OSs will install the boot loader (grub) of the first drive detected by the BIOS. Which will probably be the internal HD and not the USB. In my personal experience its best to have all other drives that you dont want linux to be install onto unplugged. You can specify other wise in most installs but better safe then sorry is what I say.

If you dont do that. And Grub (The bootloader) gets installed on a different drive it will totally flip out if you boot the computer without the USB drive plugged in. And by flip out and me no windows nor linux.

As mfillpot pointed out this has to do wit the settings in your browser. When you click on a link that opens up KMail or whatever its a "mailto:bob@example.net" link.

The way I know how to configure what action is taken in Firefox is to go to "Preferences" then to"Applications" and then scroll down to "mailto".

I attached an image.

I am yet unsure how to edit Chrome. :-(

Please let me know if that helps! ^.^

Um... Sadly I am not an Ubuntu user. But you should still be able to mount CIFS FSs.

Is there a command smbmount? If there is do a:

#which smbmount

That will show you were to do your "chmod u+s".

If there is not smbmount command then try to see if you have a mount.cifs.

Some distros only allow that command in root. Not sure how Ubuntu does it. To check to see if you have that command I just type mount and then double tap the "tab" key for auto completion. ^.^

If you do have that then do a "which" command on "mount.cifs" and it should return the path for your "chmod u+s" command.

If you dont have neither smbmount nor mount.cifs then I would venture to guess you need to install a different package. In OpenSuSE the command was provided by the RPM "cifs-mount" so i would guess that something similar needs to be installed on Ubuntu.

Good luck! ^.^ Please let me know if that helps

Hi!

Well Goineasy9 made some good suggestions on internet articles good for mail I think were you asking more about a full fledge physical book right?

Well as far as internet goes a good one that Goineasy9 already suggested is:

http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/wiki/index.php
Pretty cool on-line bookish like wiki, if that makes any sense. I particularly like IPTables part. Its simple basic but helpful for beginners.

But for physical books um....

Linux Troubleshooting Bible:
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-076456997X.html
(Love this book) It helps you not only troubleshoot services but gives deeper understanding of what those services do. One of my fav.

Or.. you know what.. HERE:
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-350382.html

If you are intending on making a server then I highly recommend CentOS over Fedora or the others. It is built off of RedHat and there is a decent amount of on-line articles and what not for RedHat/CentOS for setting up server environments.