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I want to REALLY learn to use Linux.

post #1 of 11
7/27/12 at 9:18pm
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Hey everyone!

I'm about 3 months into using Ubuntu's latest distribution. I really like it - the interface is easy to use, Ubuntu was fairly easy to pick up - it's very graphical and "what you see is what you get" and that made it a really good place to start.

Now that I'm atleast comfortable with the IDEA of Linux in and of itself... I'm looking to start using a distro that really forces me to learn the ins and outs of Linux in order to be succesful.

I'm a web designer/coder/programmer so I'm fairly comfortable with programming languages, and I pick that stuff up easy. By extension, I'm also very comfortable working in command-line interfaces. With that said, I would love not having to spend months sifting through code to figure things out.

I know Arch seems to be the "standard" around here in terms of intermediate/advanced Linux builds. Is this a good, fairly comprehensive distro to use if I'm looking to go a little more in depth? If not, could you please make recommendations?

I really appreciate everyone's help. Thanks so much!

Best,
Smorgan
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post #2 of 11
7/27/12 at 9:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by smorgan View Post

Hey everyone!
I'm about 3 months into using Ubuntu's latest distribution. I really like it - the interface is easy to use, Ubuntu was fairly easy to pick up - it's very graphical and "what you see is what you get" and that made it a really good place to start.
Now that I'm atleast comfortable with the IDEA of Linux in and of itself... I'm looking to start using a distro that really forces me to learn the ins and outs of Linux in order to be succesful.
I'm a web designer/coder/programmer so I'm fairly comfortable with programming languages, and I pick that stuff up easy. By extension, I'm also very comfortable working in command-line interfaces. With that said, I would love not having to spend months sifting through code to figure things out.
I know Arch seems to be the "standard" around here in terms of intermediate/advanced Linux builds. Is this a good, fairly comprehensive distro to use if I'm looking to go a little more in depth? If not, could you please make recommendations?
I really appreciate everyone's help. Thanks so much!
Best,
Smorgan

you could just use a server edition of ubuntu -- no gui obviously and learn to install things using source code.

Really if you install something like gentoo, you are just going to follow a guide to get it installed since it doesn't install everything for you. Once you get it installed you are going to have to install everything from source.

So my point is *what* exactly do you want to learn?
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post #3 of 11
7/27/12 at 9:23pm
Cent OS (a.k.a. Red Hat) or Debain would but be good choices for what you want.
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post #4 of 11
7/27/12 at 9:27pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HardwareDecoder View Post

you could just use a server edition of ubuntu -- no gui obviously and learn to install things using source code.
Really if you install something like gentoo, you are just going to follow a guide to get it installed since it doesn't install everything for you. Once you get it installed you are going to have to install everything from source.
So my point is *what* exactly do you want to learn?

That's a really good question! XD

I guess my point is, Ubuntu was really simple to learn. In fact.... I don't really felt like I had to learn it, and by extension, I don't feel like I'm getting all I can out of it in terms of customization, functionality, etc. I'm ultimately looking for a distro that I can really LEARN how to use. Visual interfaces work fine for me, but I love getting down deep into how an OS works and learning about it. I would love to find a distro that requires me to do something like that. I know this is all very vague...
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post #5 of 11
7/27/12 at 9:35pm
Here is what I think. If you follow a guide (because you will need one) to install a distro like arch or gentoo. You will probably forget most of what you did to install it for the guide. You said you were a programmer, why don't you start by learning to program for linux, I think most linux is C++/JAVA/Python/BASH scripting.

My point is the basics of linux like how to navigate around on the command line, move files, interact with archives, use ssh and run things through screen, setup a file / print server / website you probably already know how to do.

These things are going to be the same on any distro the only difference is that like I said gentoo is all source based and it doesn't have some gui program that asks questions and then pretty much does the install for you.

So if you learn to code for linux you will learn alot more than doing a one time source based install that you would need the guide for again anyway. I am a moderately experienced linux user my self but I don't know how to code for it and I wish I did.

I have installed gentoo before and installed apps from source etc.

In the end I like ubuntu though because it just makes things easier and retains all the good features about linux like the fact that you can still do anything you want on it. It's just easier to do so with ubuntu.
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post #6 of 11
7/27/12 at 9:43pm
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I'd go with Debian or Arch. I'm partial to their package managers though.

I'd start with what's relevant to you. Setup a web server (consider something less common like Nginx and compile it from source), a database server, etc. Research the various relevant security settings (learn iptables, file permissions, etc). Limit yourself to SSH for messing with this server. You could do it in a VM for free and personal use or on a VPS (fairly cheap monthly) for more professional purposes. I'm not at all a pro, but I do run a VPS (ubuntu server, no GUI) for websites.
Edited by stolid - 7/27/12 at 9:46pm
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post #7 of 11
7/27/12 at 9:46pm
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Go arch cold turkey. You want to learn... you will learn the hard way (which is the best way). 

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post #8 of 11
7/28/12 at 2:34am
Give a try for Arch Linux, since they removed their graphical installer, its gonna force you to carefully read the wiki and work your way trough the command line.
Instead of pushing everything into a one installation media, Arch gives you only the very core components and rest of the packages are downloaded from the net.
Best of all, the hardware support is great, so getting WiFi to work trough the command line is not a too scary process smile.gif
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post #9 of 11
7/28/12 at 6:21am
I learned a great deal about how Linux works simply by installing Arch (following their wiki pages). I'm very glad that I did it, now I am much more confident in swapping desktop environments and compiling from source among other things. I would definitely recommend giving it a go.
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post #10 of 11
7/29/12 at 9:06pm
Personally I would go with a debian based distro to start out with. Gnome is an absolute win too IMO. You can really tweak it for some nice visuals if you are GUI person and the command line backend end is phenominal too. Once you get the fundamentals you get the fundamentals down then I would move on to something more advanced. Speaking of command line I highly suggest you learn Bash scripting, you can really optimize your use of linux and make a lot of time saving scripts and learn some great things in the process.

All that being said I would suggest for a distro to mess around with, given your background in programming and designing , you should try out Backtrack 5R2. It doesn't have the most up to date visuals in terms of Unity and Gnome 3 (although you can certainly install them if you like) but it has some great tools to penetration test/stress test/fuzz your applications you are building to ensure they are secure. Linux is a great thing to learn and if you can learn a few things about network/application security and bash in the process thats all the better.
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