[Samba] Recommended Linux Distro and Windows Client

[steve]

>> What Linux distro would you recommend to create the server and then put
>> Samba on it?
>
>
> CentOS 6.  Straight foward boring server Operating Syste.

I'm a complete newbie running a lan with 25 clients. A mix of dual boot 
ubuntu, opensuse and win-7.

Using Yast in openSUSE got me a Samba PDC and LDAP server up and running 
in 10 minutes. Learn _how_ it works later!

HTH and good luck, Steve