pls give me a proper advice

[shinod]

i am planning to change our office network from windows xp to linux. i have fedora 8 with me. is it enough to handle a network of 40 computers.. which is the most suitable linux and also one thing i have no money to spent for this
expecting a quick reply

[leadgolem]

For a production environment I would go with something a bit more stable then fedora, like centos.

[gthill]

For proper advice you should probably ask a proper question.
A one sentence question on what is best to use for an office network of 40 computers is a bit short of the mark.
perhaps you should mention what the nodes are used for.
Are they all Desktops, thin-clients, are some network servers, production servers, is it a LAN behind a proxy, are they all directly connected to the WAN, are all the nodes running the same hardware or are they all different configurations that will require individual setups.
Without more information you will only get the fedora forums standard mantra of "use Centos for stability".

[shinod]

here all the mechines are dektop. and connected via LAN. and we using normal applicatinons like office, autocad etc.. we have a common erp server connected to these mechine througe remote desktop terminal and the server is using Windows nt. some printers are also in the network..

[forkbomb]

Sorry, but I have to say it... switching over 40 workstations to Linux for office use seems like something you should be asking a consultant about (it can be a huge cost issue even if the install media itself costs nothing), not trying to gauge by jumping on an online forum of volunteers (and giving almost zero detail to boot).

If you're so pinched on funds that you can't consider paying anything for the operating system, you need to think one step ahead concerning training and software switching costs, time costs to you and other people who will be switching over and managing the network, and so forth. May be cheaper to stay with what you've got now, even if Linux install disks cost a few cents for blank CDs. Free media is great and all, but there are more money issues involved than licensure fees.

One more thing...

expecting a quick reply

People on forums don't exist just for the purpose of jumping on your question right away. You expect a lot.

[forkbomb]

Originally Posted by shinod

here all the mechines are dektop. and connected via LAN.

Okay, now we're getting somewhere... still haven't mentioned whether it's standard wired ethernet, token ring, 802.11g wireless, or what have you.

and we using normal applicatinons like office

I think you could make open office work in a business environment but for practical purposes you can wave bye-bye to running Microsoft Office on Linux boxes unless you want to be responsible for troubleshooting the problems that might arise with trying to run MSOffice through compatibility layers. There's also the not-so-little matter of switching all your employees (40+?) over to using OpenOffice or something like that. Learning/switching cost, my friend.

autocad

Doesn't run on Linux from what I know. I wouldn't exactly classify AutoCad as a "normal application!"

etc.. we have a common erp server connected to these mechine througe remote desktop terminal and the server is using Windows nt. some printers are also in the network..

What do you serve with the server? Directory services? Printer services? File services? DHCP? DNS? Do you route with it? Firewall? Beer? ... ...

Printers can be served from dedicated servers or workstations using CUPS.

[Dan]

Morning, shinod.

Kind of a rough way to get welcomed aboard, but these guys have some valid points.

Please also read the forum usage guidelines here. http://www.fedoraforum.org/?view=guide

Regarding you request, Even though the cost might be initially a bit of a sting, I think perhaps Tom has the way of it. I think you will actually be money ahead in this case, to consult a linux professional in your local area.


Dan