need to change over to linux from windows

For LAMP, download CentOS (Free RedHat..)
http://www.centos.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=15

It include mysql, apache, php (select the package when you install).....

Thanks, please exuse my ignorance, this is all new,could you direct me to instructions on how to do this

I agree with Wesly
He gave you the web address.
Download CentOS and burn a DVD.
When you install, your DVD will already have Apache, PHP, Perl and stuff you need.  Just select Customize packages now.  Select what you want and spend some time in package selection.

CentOS is high quality and free.  For better packages selection you would need some practice as you want all what you need but not anything extra.  So first get a practice system and install everything.  Then figure out your needs and plan a correct set of packages for the next installation

If you want anything recent with long term support, try Scientific Linux, they have commercial backing from Universities and the CERN research labs, so their releases will be a little faster than CentOS who rely 100% on community support. There is also currently no CentOS 6, where Red Hat released EL6 november last year.

http://www.unixmen.com/linux-tutorials/1550-install-lamp-in-scientific-linux-6

Other alternatives are:
Fedora - supported by Red Hat
Ubuntu - supported by canonical (Debian)
openSuse - supported by Novell (SLES)

CentOS 5 is indeed stable but getting rather old, php is still at version 5.1 which is considered rather out of date now, and there have been no updates for CentOS 5 released since December.

I have many different versions of linux. Centos is good. I use Ubuntu as well. I have them all on my Windows 7 laptop using VirtualBox from Oracle. I have Lamp on Ubuntu and I can run Windows and Linux at the same time and do the testing from the Windows side by accessing the Linux ip addr. Works great. You can have as many Virtual Systems as you have HD space for them I have 8. I can help with the setup on the VirtualBox and the install of the Linux of your choice.

Thanks Everyone! at the cetos site..I down loaded the cent0S-5.5-i36-LiveCD-Release2.iso
Do Ialso  need to down load all the files here ftp://repo.genomics.upenn.edu/centos/5.5/isos/i386/


Thanks...completely an old dog trying to learn new tricks.

Good enough. You can install other software later wihout download other ISO files.