The packages for Ubuntu Server and Ubuntu Desktop use the same repository, thus the packages have the same installation scripts and default configurations. tasksel is handy for quickly installing your LAMP environment on a Ubuntu Desktop installer, or for installing your GNOME/KDE/XFCE environment on a server install. You can also pick and choose the packages you want using apt-get, aptitude, or synaptic. The server installation CD is a smaller ISO. I don't recall offhand what it doesn't have on the CD, most likely X11, GNOME, OpenOffice. The Desktop CD is a larger image that has the extras for the desktop environment . Once I have Ubuntu installed I don't use the CD, only the Ubuntu package repositories. There is also the Alternative installation CD, which is useful for special case installations, like if you want a Desktop installation but want the text based installer. For what you're looking for I'd go with the desktop CD. You'll have the GNOME, Firefox, etc. available while you're setting up your LAMP environment . Could be handy to find documentation. -- Andrew S. Zbikowski | http://andy.zibnet.us SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue >0; 0 rows returned