new to linux

[MonkFish]

hi

i've never used linux, i used unix in the early nineties ( programming in cobol! ) but i can't remember anything

for work we're moving over to linux servers from windows for all our web sites, and i'd like to set up something so i can code and test sites on a linux platform

what would be the best way to go about it?

what would be the best ( and easiest ) version of linux to install and run?

i've read a little on virutalbox, which as i understand would allow me to run linux on my windows system. would that be a good way to go? would i still be able to install and run the software i need under linux?

i need it so i can run apache, mysql, php, so i was going to try the linux version of xampp.

thanks for any help, i'm sure i'll have more questions as i progress!

[army1959]

try this
http://linuxquestions.org/

[1BIG4ALL]

I am one of the right people to answer you on this question!

I am a web developer and as a developer i just love to use Linux.

So for your case i recommend you Linux Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
You can download it for free from here: http://ubuntu.com/download/desktop
It's the desktop version, so you can have a good start with linux with this version.

As a web dev you can easy install apache2, MySQL and PHP5
Just use the following command:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apache2

And so on for the other packets.
If you have any doubts or problem just right here.
I'm glad to help!

P.S.
Get rid of XAMPP!

[MonkFish]

thanks 1BIG4ALL, you actually answered a question i had on if i could use the desktop version, or if i needed the server version of ubuntu