New Fedora Core user

[John Nichel]

I've seen some suggest xampp for you in this, but I'll point out some 
places to learn how to do it from scratch in case you want to understand 
what's happening, and why....

hawkwynd wrote:
> I'm new to Fedorda, Linux or anything other than the dreaded 'doze world. I
> have a box on my home network, running Fedora Core. It's nice. Here's my
> wish list, and if anyone can provide links to where I can find some how to's
> and info on doing it, I would appreciate it GREATLY!

For almost anything Linux...
http://www.tldp.org/

> 1. I need to run MySql on this machine, along with a webserver, and PHP so I
> can test my scripts before I upload them to the production server.

The MySQL manual is a _decent_ place, but it can kind of read like 
stereo instructions.  http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/index.html 
Installing MySQL is one of the few things I install (and recommend 
installing) from RPM.  It's easy, and there are really no benifits to 
doing a source/binary install. 
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/linux-rpm.html

Personally, I like to install Apache and PHP from source vs RPM.  It 
gives you more control over the install locations, what options you want 
installed, and the configuration of those options.  The Apache manual is 
lacking in some areas (and can be more cryptic than the MySQL manual), 
but the PHP people (I'm a big fan of their manual) have got this area 
covered pretty well.  http://us4.php.net/manual/en/install.unix.php

For reference :
Apache 1.3x - http://httpd.apache.org/docs/install.html
Apache 2.x - http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/install.html

I prefer the DSO (shared module) install vs the static module.  It makes 
things alot easier when you want to add/remove/upgrade modules to 
Apache.  Under the DSO install, if you need to muck with a module, you 
don't have to re-configure/compile Apache also.

> 2. I want to configure my linux machine to share it's storage (3 9gb scsi
> hard drives) with the rest of my machines on the network. I want to be able
> to also attach my linux machine to a NAS server I have on my network, also a
> linux based kernal box.

Samba will take care of the sharing for you.  There are some GUI's out 
there for Samba, but I haven't used one in years, so I cannot speak to 
their effectiviness.  The Samba config file is pretty well commented, 
and they have a nice HOWTO on the Samba site. 
http://us2.samba.org/samba/docs/man/Samba-HOWTO-Collection/

> 3. I want to be able to eventually use my linux machine MORE than I am using
> my windows machine for writing scripts, web applicaitons and other
> development tools for PHP, Perl and stuff.

You probably already have Quanta installed on your Fedora box.  It's a 
nice IDE for PHP and Perl (as well as HTML, JS, etc).  I personally use 
the Zend IDE for developing PHP (http://www.zend.com/).  It's not cheap 
(my company paid for my license), but IMHO, it is the elite. There's 
also an IDE called Komodo by ActiveState.  I've never used it, but have 
heard good things about it (and am familiar with ActiveState; good 
stuff).  http://www.activestate.com/  They also provide many tools for 
languages like PHP and Perl.

> I'm new to linux, but I have enough knowledge of the OS to get dangerous at
> the terminal window.

Mailing lists are the best place to find the information you need (even 
if you're not asking the question directly to the list, the archives 
probably hold the answer for you).  Check out http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/

If you want to join some of these...

http://httpd.apache.org/lists.html
http://lists.mysql.com/
http://us4.php.net/mailing-lists.php

However, if you decide to tinker with a mail server, stay away from the 
qmail lists. ;)

Welcome aboard.

-- 
John C. Nichel
ÜberGeek
KegWorks.com
716.856.9675
john at kegworks.com