Learning

[Fred Claus]

Since business is slow I opted to take an old Windows 10 laptop and turn it into a Linux machine. I have Linux Mint as my main distro, but since I'm a Cyber Security nut I have a Virtualbox version of Kali. I'm interested in learning Linux for a couple reasons. 1. Just because I'm a geek and want to know it. 2. Because I've had a few people call and ask if I could work on a Linux system.

Are there any good places to learn Linux?

What would be something that would go wrong on a Linux machine that would require someone like me to fix it?

 

[Sky-Knight]

Linux is just an OS, I find I learn them best by simply using them.

After all, there's a ton to "know", but without a goal in mind what you're trying to do is convert all the Microsoft specific stuff in your head to something else. And that something else on the Linux side can be different based on distribution.

Do you "know" Android? Ever get lost trying to find some button that's in a different place on phone X relative to phone Y? That's Linux... Infinite flexibility means infinite variations. You don't ever "know" it, you're just good enough at it to figure it out.

I tend to stick to Debian, and Ubuntu for my work. That way I've got a relatively consistent pattern to things. Debian and Ubuntu Wikis are strong, and community support is solid.

 

[Markverhyden]

As I've said before about people starting a business but it applies to any learning. Got a plan?

Personally my daily driver is macOS and W10 if I need it. But I've been using *nix's since '94 or so. My Linux use is for my production servers, email, web, owncloud, unifi, and simplehelp.

 

[Diggs]

The biggest first step and what is confusing in Linux is understanding which distros use what files for program install. After all, a program can come as a .rpm, .deb, .run, etc. Can be installed through a GUI, command line or through the Program Manager of the distro. Then there's the whole repository thing. Mint is a good start.

I agree with @Sky-Knight. You need to live and work in a Linux environment to really get an understanding. Quite awhile back I had switched from Windows to almost 100% Linux in my day-to-day activities but after starting this business I switched back to Windows as I felt I should eat and breath what my customers do. I still use several Linux machines in the shop.

 

[HFultzjr]

I love Linux. I've been playing with it mostly on older equipment. With 99% of my business on Windows, I just can't find the time to really explore it. I have learned a lot the last couple of years, but still got a long way to go. Same thing with Macs. Gotta follow the money.

 

[xrobwx71]

The biggest first step and what is confusing in Linux is understanding which distros use what files for program install. After all, a program can come as a .rpm, .deb, .run, etc. Can be installed through a GUI, command line or through the Program Manager of the distro. Then there's the whole repository thing. Mint is a good start.

I agree with @Sky-Knight. You need to live and work in a Linux environment to really get an understanding. Quite awhile back I had switched from Windows to almost 100% Linux in my day-to-day activities but after starting this business I switched back to Windows as I felt I should eat and breath what my customers do. I still use several Linux machines in the shop.

I agree with Mint being a good starting point. It's the most like Windows but you can research and learn how to use the Terminal and other aspects of Linux.

 

[Dave 1973]

I got my feet wet with Puppy Linux. I ran it from a USB to get a feel for it before installing it. It is lightweight and
the whole thing will load into ram on most machines. Makes it run faster. Only a few basic programs on it.

Puppy Linux- Distro Watch Link

There is a good forum on Bleeping Computer for Puppy Linux. A man named Mike Walsh has been very helpful
to me learning more about Linux.

Puppy Linux Forum at BC

I finally moved to Linux Mint on one my of personal machines ( my other is a Win 10 machine). I love Mint , as others have
said.

 

[Diggs]

I got my feet wet with Puppy Linux.

Haa!!! I'm a long time Puppy user and was active in their forums for a long time. I just recently retired a 32-bit thin-client running Puppy on an IDE SSD that was my "instant-on" Gparted machine. Puppy was great as long as you stayed in the Puppy playpen so-to-speak. Venturing outside of it was harder than it should have been. Normal Linux things (OS install, VPN, 3ard party apps, etc.) became difficult and tricky.

 

[MDD1963]

Youtube has many tutorials on about any subject, including almost any Linux distro, and, almost any distro you can think of has been reviewed/demo'd on Youtube 30 times....each covering many aspects. There are 7.5 hour tutorials on Redhat /CentOS, etc...

 

[InHomeComputerHelp.com]

I tend to stick to Debian, and Ubuntu for my work. That way I've got a relatively consistent pattern to things. Debian and Ubuntu Wikis are strong, and community support is solid.

Love Mint. It's based on Ubuntu and the same terminal commands work in both. I was impressed it immediately found my client's printer and installed the driver. More impressive to me when I installed it on my old machine where I substitute teach it found a wireless brother close by and installed the drivers for it.

Rick

 

[InHomeComputerHelp.com]

Haa!!! I'm a long time Puppy user and was active in their forums for a long time. I just recently retired a 32-bit thin-client running Puppy on an IDE SSD that was my "instant-on" Gparted machine. Puppy was great as long as you stayed in the Puppy playpen so-to-speak. Venturing outside of it was harder than it should have been. Normal Linux things (OS install, VPN, 3ard party apps, etc.) became difficult and tricky.

I prefer Lubuntu for the older machines. It has a menu similar to Windows so my Windows clients don't feel lost.

Rick

 

[InHomeComputerHelp.com]

I got my feet wet with Puppy Linux. I ran it from a USB to get a feel for it before installing it. It is lightweight and
the whole thing will load into ram on most machines. Makes it run faster. Only a few basic programs on it.

Puppy Linux- Distro Watch Link

There is a good forum on Bleeping Computer for Puppy Linux. A man named Mike Walsh has been very helpful
to me learning more about Linux.

Puppy Linux Forum at BC

I finally moved to Linux Mint on one my of personal machines ( my other is a Win 10 machine). I love Mint , as others have
said.

Read in another forum someone made Mint look like Windows for his sister and she couldn't tell the difference. Except it was faster

Rick

 

[Dave 1973]

Read in another forum someone made Mint look like Windows for his sister and she couldn't tell the difference. Except it was faster

Rick

You're right, Mint is very much like Windows. I run Mint on one of my personal machines. I worked with Puppy to get a feel for using
something that would let me learn more about using Linux ( terminal, package manager , etc. )