Which version for file/ftp server

[lad_in_brum]

I want to setup a second PC as a file/ftp server

a) as my main pc is win xp would i easily be able to connect to linux box from my pc?

b) which version of linux would be best (bearing in mind ive not used it before!), there seems to be red hat, mandrake, suse etc

 

[ep0niks]

Mandrake 10.2 will do the job be sure to install Samba and if you want an ftp server take ProFTPd.. easy installation. There's a lot of documentation around on the web, i've learned pretty much anything i know about linux/bsd by the docs and manual.

Good luck.

 

[Zedric]

a) Yes. The keyword here is "Samba".

b) I always recommend Fedora Core (previous RedHat) for beginners. I liked it as a first attempt at Linux. It's easy to install and shouldn't be to hard to set up (there's tons of help on the web, just like for Mandrake).
http://fedora.redhat.com/