Could you recommend a distro please?

[DarrylLicke]

I have this IBM server: http://reviews.cnet.com/soho-server...05/4507-3125_7-30066745.html?tag=mncol;subnav

No SCSI drive but I have an extra sitting around from a different computer as well as a handful of other IDE drives I plan on tossing in there.

I think it has XP installed on it (could be 2000 but I doubt it) as it used to be used as POS for a local restuarant.

I want to dual boot it with a modern server distro so I can use it as a sandbox for some java applications I plan to build using various app servers. The dual boot is because I've got a a windows only scanner.

yeah a lot of pre-reqs.

The page above recommends/is certified for SUSE 8 but suse is up to version 12.

I'm at a loss for which distro to use.

 

[Jodell88]

Debian, CentOS, Ubuntu Server. OpenBSD would also be a good candidate I think.

 

[DarrylLicke]

ok so I think it's between ubuntu and centos. I perused distrowatch and they seem comparable save for grub being version 1 in in centos and 2 in ubuntu.

Does that really matter?

I'm assuming the installation process for installing application servers will differ slightly but will most application servers be capable of being installed?

If most can be installed on both then it would appear centos 6 wins out over ubuntu....unless what I read was accurate and that the grub that was sent out with centos6 was broken.

 

[Jodell88]

The version of grub wouldn't matter in your case. If you had an UEFI motherboard, then you would have to use Grub2.

I doubt centos 6 shipped with a broken grub. You can try using both in a VM and see which you like more. I think both should be adequate for the task.