newbie recommendations please

Let me start by saying that I am a newbie when it comes
to Linux, but I'm finally willing to take the plunge.

I have decided to sell products online, and while I have a lot
of experience running Microsoft products, I just can't afford
the overhead right now. Also, many of the good shopping cart
programs run on Linux (no suprise there).

Before I start treading down the wrong path, learning things
that are a waste of time, I figured I'd tap into the expertise in
this forum.

What I'm asking for is this - Please recommend a version of Linux
for me to start learning and perhaps a good, basic shopping cart.
Also, any online tutorials are welcome. I learn a lot from step-by-step
instructions.

I think that completing this task could help bring me into the Linux
world and give me something new and exciting to learn.

Thanks,

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Bl8ckr0uter

w^rl0rd wrote: »

Let me start by saying that I am a newbie when it comes
to Linux, but I'm finally willing to take the plunge.

I have decided to sell products online, and while I have a lot
of experience running Microsoft products, I just can't afford
the overhead right now. Also, many of the good shopping cart
programs run on Linux (no suprise there).

Before I start treading down the wrong path, learning things
that are a waste of time, I figured I'd tap into the expertise in
this forum.

What I'm asking for is this - Please recommend a version of Linux
for me to start learning and perhaps a good, basic shopping cart.
Also, any online tutorials are welcome. I learn a lot from step-by-step
instructions.

I think that completing this task could help bring me into the Linux
world and give me something new and exciting to learn.

Thanks,

I think that if you want to stick your toe in to *nix, get a something like Ubuntu Desktop or Mint

If you want to Dive into *nix get something like Ubuntu Server (no gui) or something like that.

If you want to drown in *nix (in good way

) get several distros going, including Ubuntu Server, Centos (Free version of RedHat), and several others. Also try to throw a *BSD (not linux) in there for good measure (this is my plan).

There are alot of step by step things for Linux. Here is a really good one.
Building a secure Linux web server (LAMP) Guide by Ray Heffer

But there are many many others. You should also take into consideration where you want to go with linux. Me, I want to be an admin, you might not want to go to that level and that is totally cool. Just set a goal and go after it. You have a bunch a windows certs so you could set a goal like "I want to be as good as I am in Windows in Linux". That would be a good one.

Also if you want to get certified in *nix, take a look at this:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/lpi-rhce-sair/48896-multiple-distro-certs.html

Also what part of Cincy are you in?

stonedtrout

I've got an account with slicehost

Slicehost - VPS Hosting

You don't really have accesses to swap out the hardware because it's all virtual but for a study tool development you can try out several distros 100% command line. I've setup mine up as a dns, ftp, web and lots of other things can do. if in need to rebuild i can do it in 5 mintues.

dynamik

stonedtrout wrote: »

I've got an account with slicehost

Slicehost - VPS Hosting

You don't really have accesses to swap out the hardware because it's all virtual but for a study tool development you can try out several distros 100% command line. I've setup mine up as a dns, ftp, web and lots of other things can do. if in need to rebuild i can do it in 5 mintues.

This or other services. I guess NSI bought Monster Commerce: Ecommerce Packages & Shopping Cart Software for Online Stores | Network Solutions

Do some research and find something similar. This isn't something you want to learn-as-you-go with, and there are plenty of affordable solutions already out there.

msteinhilber

If you are serious about selling things online, you probably want to avoid running your own server be it from home, a dedicated or co-located server, or a VPS package until you are comfortable with Linux. Linux itself can be a bit of a learning curve just for your essential services for your typical e-commerce setup (LAMP or Linux Apache MySQL PHP). On top of that, once you have the server publicly accessible you will be vulnerable to all sorts of malicious users and scripts that will continuously attempt to exploit your server either through known vulnerabilities or simply brute force. That brings into the game a lot more research and know how to implement security to help reduce the threat.

The last thing you probably want is to get a store up and running and either be out of potential customers because your site is down, or have concerned prior customers if your server is compromised.

I would suggest going with a reputable provider and looking for a shared web hosting package or perhaps if you desire a managed VPS (managed services meaning they handle maintenance and other configuration tasks, you typically still retain root access as well). If you want to look for specials or check out potential providers to see how their reputations are, search for their company name over at the forums at Web Hosting Talk - The largest, most influential web hosting community on the Internet and you'll generally find a good idea how some of the hosting companies reputations are.

As far as shopping cart software is concerned, my personal favorite is X-Cart. This is probably out of your budget since it's not a free solution though. It just happens to be one that I selected for a couple of my own online storefronts and stuck with it since it worked well for what I wanted and I am familiar with it's inner workings so I can make changes easily. A popular free solution that many people have had great success with is osCommerce (osCommerce, Open Source Online Shop E-Commerce Solutions).

I'm not at all trying to steer you away from learning Linux, I think it is something that is very useful to be somewhat skilled with. I just think that if you intend to run a store, even if it's just more for a fun/hobby type reason that you would be happier keeping your store with a professional web hosting company and using VMWare or Virtualbox or similar to learn Linux on.

What I might suggest, which has a benefit for both expanding your knowledge as well as giving yourself a platform to test with as you venture into the world of e-commerce is to keep a local server that you maintain as well as a live site with a professional hosting company. Here you have the benefits of keeping your live store located where the staff is probably going to be better equipped at keeping your site available while also having your own local server to make changes on to test on prior to making the changes on your live site. That way you will still learn the inner workings of everything in an environment that won't impact your stores availability.