Best Linux Distro for Web Development?

Question

I want to start learning HTML and AJAX using a Linux distribution.

Can anyone recommend a distribution that has these requirements:

• Local Host Admin interface (like PHPmyAdmin)
• IDE for Javascript... etc

Answer 1

I just setup my first linux hosting to do the same thing. I did a lot of looking around and was recommended by articles and friends to use Ubuntu. So I did and everything has been working just great.

I'm using slicehost They have lots of tutorials to get you going.

http://articles.slicehost.com/ubuntu-gutsy

Answer 2

There is no real best distro for web development. All tools you need will run on any linux distro.

Pick something you have experience with. If you don't have any experience I'd recommend one of the 'user friendly' distros like Ubuntu or SuSe.

Answer 3

I can't think of many distributions that won't do what you need. I'd suggest something that has a good package manager, and, works well on your hardware. There will be plenty of choice for your requirements with all the major distributions.

What are you currently using ?

Andrew

Answer 4

HTML and AJAx don't need to be on any particular distribution, Ubuntu makes it pretty easy to install all the required features. I like fedora personally.

Try http://www.eclipse.org/webtools and http://www.zend.com/phpide although screem http://www.screem.org/ may well do what you need if it is purely html, javascript and css

Answer 5

Ubuntu should get the job done but you might consider a slightly more server oriented distro. In my shop, we use CentOS 5 which is more of an enterprise-oriented distro.

Answer 6

First question - Why do you want to do this on Linux? You can do basic AJAX requests from any platform, simply drop in your JavaScript framework of choice (JQuery, Prototype, or even MooTools and you can be up and running on your existing development platform.

Get familiar with a decent editor, one that will provide basic syntax coloring for you. One tool you may want to look at is the Aptana web development IDE that is based on Eclipse. This will give you the capability to write and debug any AJAX work you do as well as provide you some documentation and access to other dynamic languages like PHP, Rails, Python as well as a basic HTML editor.

That should square you away more than enough for what you're looking to do.

Answer 7

It exists specialized distributions:

The best one for me: Noys

http://www.noysweb.net/

Other one is Excelixis:

http://excelixis.wordpress.com/excelixis/

Cheers