Doing what cPanel can do directly on the (Linux) box itself

[IKEA]

As posted here and here:

I've had very little experience with webservers as such, and the little time that I've hosted a domain was on a preconfigured cPanel web-control-panel. I'm getting, in the not-too-distant future, a server where I'll be hosting ShopWorlds.com with a friend of mine. Of course I want (and need) pretty much the same features that cPanel and cPanel's WHM have to offer with the minor problem that I don't, at the moment, have $1500 to spare on something like that.

My Question:
Is there a (convenient/fast/easy) way to accomplish all of the features (click the above link for details) of these two products, provided we have physical access to the machine, it is running Linux (we haven't decided on what flavour as of yet, suggestions to this would also be welcome), and we have only the one domain and maybe one, maximum two others?

A cPanel license is that expensive because it is meant for big firms and hosting companies who want their customers (note the plural, we're talking 1000+ different accounts, here) to have an easy way to access and control their domain or webmail OVER THE INTERNET.
Most of these parametres, obviously, don't apply to us seeing as we're only having one or two domains on the server and we have actual physical access to it.

I know this is a pretty big question with an even bigger answer to it, but maybe even if you know of a Linux app (or even a site which discusses this sort of thing), please tell (and link) me!

Muchos graçias, in advance.
--IKEA

[cdhgold]

i haven't used cpanel but have you looked at Webmin? http://www.webmin.com It provides a good interface for simplifying some administration tasks.

Chris