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General Discussion

Sean Burke
Sean Burke
2,926 Points
Posted by Sean Burke
Sean Burke
2,926 Points

Best way to learn Linux

I would like to learn Linux and am looking for advise the best way to do it. I have space in Amazon's cloud but find it a little confusing. Is it possible to install a Google Chrome browser and a GUI word processing application in this environment? (How would one do that?) I would like to be be able to configure a linux shell to do all the computing I do now in Windows on a Linux machine. Any advise or ideas where to start? If you can find a little success it usually leads to more success

8 Answers

Jah Chaisang
Jah Chaisang
7,157 Points
Jah Chaisang
Jah Chaisang
7,157 Points

Install a virtual machine? I have Ubuntu set up on my PC and Mac, using a program called virtualBox. Ubuntu has graphical interface, so it's like you are using windows. You can install any graphical program that has a linux version, like word processing, web browser etc. You just have access to the terminal as well as the GUI.

I'd say set up the virtual machine as a training wheel. If you are good at it, you can just erase windows and install linux as your base OS on your PC. I migrate a lot of softwares I use these days to open-source as well... I think it's more sustainable.

Patrick Cooney
Patrick Cooney
12,216 Points
Patrick Cooney
Patrick Cooney
12,216 Points

If you want a Linux machine to use as a workstation you're going to want to do what Jah said. I use VMWare player though. For some reason I had issues with virtual box not recognizing my monitor and allowing me my full 1920x1080 resolution. No such problem with Player for me.

If you're talking about learning to admin a server do what Tim said and check out those videos. One thing I will add is that you don't want to set up a GUI on a server. It's considered a no-no. Plus to be able to use the GUI on the remote server you'd have to also install a VNC client to use it anyway.

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

To start with, get yourself a copy of Linux Essentials

After you read through that, if you still want to learn more about the server side of things then check out the lessons over at linuxacademy.com

Timothy Boland
Timothy Boland
18,237 Points
Timothy Boland
Timothy Boland
18,237 Points

Im curious, what path are you taking; based on our replies?

kevin cloinger
kevin cloinger
11,492 Points
kevin cloinger
kevin cloinger
11,492 Points

The way I did it was buy a System76 laptop and stop using windows all together. Before I did that switch out my day to day app for stuff that could use on Linux. Yes know you looking to learn the server side of Linux but living in Linux world will teach you many things. Like how to use the cli to install minecraft from a ppa.

kevin cloinger
kevin cloinger
11,492 Points
kevin cloinger
kevin cloinger
11,492 Points

The way I did it was buy a System76 laptop and stop using windows all together. Before I did that switch out my day to day app for stuff that could use on Linux. Yes know you looking to learn the server side of Linux but living in Linux world will teach you many things. Like how to use the cli to install minecraft from a ppa.

Steve Kinsey
Steve Kinsey
4,463 Points
Steve Kinsey
Steve Kinsey
4,463 Points

I just installed Ubuntu on my laptop and it's FANTASTIC!!!

As you install there's an option to do the install alongside Windows 7 so you can just choose your OS at boot. The install even sorts out the partition for you so no need to mess about with partitions in disk manager, you just drag a nifty little slider to set up the relative sizes of the Windows / Ubuntu partition.

I haven't gone anywhere near Windows since installing Ubuntu...and I don't think I'm far off uninstalling Windows altogether at this stage because I've totally fallen in love with Ubuntu.

In terms of resources there's a pretty good (free) manual in the Ubuntu software centre called Muktware's Ubunutu Manual :-)

Good luck with it :-)