[Samba] samba on distro...

[Ivo Dancet]

Hi,

I have to setup a samba-server (and a bit intranet) for a school.
There are about 200 client-pc's for about 1000 people.
Now I wondered which OS would be best for us. Should we pay for a 
distro, or would a free distro be enough? And which distro should we 
use? Please keep in mind that schools like quality and don't like big 
bills! ;-)

thanks in advance for any answer,
Ivo Dancet