Popular Linux distributions:-
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Red Hat Enterprise level Linux Server from Red Hat.
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SuSe Enterprise level Linux Server from Novell.
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CentOS No-cost rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise.
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Fedora Red Hats no-cost community offering.
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Debian Pure Linux built from kernel.org and GNU.
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Ubuntu A reworked Debian, emphasising end user friendliness.
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Mint A reworked Ubuntu, even smoother.
New users start here.
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Slackware The longest established distro - now over 20 years since the first release.
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DistroWatch More information about the various Linux flavours..
Linux support and documentation:-
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Linux system tuning Improving server performance.
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The Linux Documentation Project The central repository of Linux FAQs and HOWTOs.
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Linux User Groups (LUGS) Find your LUG here for local support.
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Linux from Scratch How to build your own custom Linux system.
A few Linux applications:-
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Webmin A network-enabled configuration toolset for Unix and Linux systems.
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The Apache Software Foundation The world's most popular web server - and much more.
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Sendmail SMTP server An extremely configurable email server software.
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Netfilter/iptables The Linux firewalling subsystem.
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The FreeS/WAN project Build Virtual Private Networks with Linux for no cost.
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Open Office A free alternative to Microsoft Office (also runs on Windows).
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SAMBA - opening windows to a wider world Network filesharing between Linux and Windows.
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The Gimp Photoshop-like graphics package - used for graphic production on Skywhale.NET.
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The Mplayer project A movie player for Linux (beats Windows Media Player in my experience).
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Linux Quake The famous first-person shooting game - developed under Linux, apparently.
More Linux links to follow later.......