OK, I'm new and looking at using linode. In the distros, what do they come with installed? For example, I have a site that will be using php and MySQL. Is that already included in the distro? If not, how do I get it installed?

The distros that are 500MB or more come with pretty much all that stuff (apache, php, mysql) installed already.

But installing is pretty simple. Just use the "package" tool for the distro you are using.

For example. for debian "apt-get install mysql-server" will download, and install mysql.

In Red Hat, you have to fish for the rpm file and then:

rpm -Uvh http://path/to/file.rpm

Pretty simple! There are also various How-Tos on setting up each service.

Thanks,
-Chris