*NIX/*BSD install help

[capi]

If someone is willing to spend some time and help me get through a messanger of some sort I'd be overly grateful.

I've been trying to get Linux running on my TP700 for a while now. The best I've been able to do is get a floppyboot to network install of FreeBSD. Granted I'm happy I got a O/S to work, I'd like to try and boot from a CD and get it a little less buggy, as currently the install never seems to have configured right. I get errors on all the distros when I try to load from a CD. It is most likely me doing something wrong, but I don't know what.

The thinkpad is in working condition. It was an old work computer that they gave away. It hasn't done much except collect dust over the years. I want to turn it into a small server/firewall for my home network. I can configure a LAMP server on my own[though I wouldn't mind help] The win95 got swiped a couple years back by a bad program which killed some vital registry, being a work computer I didn't have a backup.

The bateries will not retain any power, so I run it off of the AC power cord. The PCMIA card went with Win95 so it uses a D-Link ethernet card. I think this model has 2.5-3MB. i can give more info on request, but I don't know whats needed. I'm semi-new to Linux and i'm hoping some people here could help me out with this.

My goal is to run either Debian or FreeBSD on it as a Local Web Server,[*,Apache,MySQl,PostgreSQL,PHP,Perl,Python, SSL]. I'd like to set up a GUI like Gnome or KDE, but I'm looking to run the server in full command line, so if system resources don't permit I can easily live without a GUI.

I've done lots of searching, I'm actually amazed a community like this exists[and quite happy it does!]. Sorry about the long post. My first question is this...

What distro do you think would be best for the situation I described above? FreeBSD, Debian, or some other POSIX disto?

[doppelfish]

I'd be surprised if You'd be the first one to try this (-:

If disk and memory space is an issue, I'd recommend You look into miniBSD or even PicoBSD, or related Linux-based projects, based on Your personal <strike>religion</strike>preference.

For installing Linux, the usual suspects can be of great help. FreeBSD is known for its wonderful Handbook, which is actually a useful and comprehensive guide.

There are other ressources, some of general nature, some specialised on laptops. They might have just the Information You need.

<edit>
Of course, You can try FreeSBIE for a bootable, no-installation-needed, leave-harddisk-untouched version.
For concrete problems, it's hard to give specific answers. You'll prolly end up trying a few Linux distros until everything works (-:
</edit>

cheers,
-- fish

[capi]

well then, if someone who's alread done an install could help me. For the debian boot CD I'm getting an error.

ISOLINUX 1.67/debian-cd 2002-05-14 isolinux: Failed to get sector size, aisolinux: 018B

I know the disk is good, I've burned two copies and both of them work on my desktop.

The redhat CD I have goes to the boot screen fine, but it just as mysteriously dies of some fatal error as soon as it gets to the install part.

Any ideas?