Zolomon's questions

I want to write a tiny RESTful server in some language that can run on Ubuntu 10.04, but I have no idea how to host it.

Currently I have a VPS at Linode.com (Disclaimer: referral code) with nginx, I might have Apache running as well but not configured correctly, running that serves some public websites (Wordpress).

Does that mean port 80 is taken? How should I host my application to be able to handle urls like http://myip/User/Zolomon for instance?

Do I have to communicate with nginx in some way, since I suppose it's what handles the URL?

I'm having a really hard time trying to understand what the differences between a desktop environment and a window manager are?

EDIT: From this article by Jack Wallen:

There are basically three layers that can be included in the Linux desktop:

X Windows – This is the foundation that allows for graphic elements to be drawn on the display. X Windows builds the primitive framework that allows moving of windows, interactions with keyboard and mouse, and draws windows. This is required for any graphical desktop.

Window Manager – The Window Manager is the piece of the puzzle that controls the placement and appearance of windows. Window Managers include: Enlightenment, Afterstep, FVWM, Fluxbox, IceWM, etc. Requires X Windows but not a desktop environment.

Desktop Environment – This is where it begins to get a little fuzzy for some. A Desktop Environment includes a Window Manager but builds upon it. The Desktop Environment typically is a far more fully integrated system than a Window Manager. Requires both X Windows and a Window Manager.

Examples of desktop environments are GNOME, KDE, Cinnamon, Xfce among others)

Here's the scenario; I've downloaded a tarball. I've extracted all the source contained inside to my home folder "/home/zolomon/SourceCode". But where should I place the SourceCode directory with its content when I wish to compile it? Does it matter? Will it, in most cases, install and place files in the correct place automatically when I install it?

In this case I'm talking about RubyGems.

I have over 60 processes of console-kit-daemon that won't stop reappearing after I've used sudo killall console-kit-daemon. I have no idea what the daemon is for.

I'm running ubuntu 10.04. What's going on?