1st attempt at server - 2013 - what is the best linux to start with?

[noudess]

I'd seen the guides, and was about to try one, but I figured it could not hurt to ask.

If I have a clean slate, what linux version would people recommend I install before I start?

I guess #1 priority is ease of eqemu server setup.

My existing computer room setup has 2 macs logging in using network username/password services from a Fedora Core (ancient, like 5) NIS server with mounted /home. I'd like to move that stuff onto the new linux server that I setup for eqemu so I can just have 1 machine. So I guess that's priority #2.