Whats The Best Distro To Start Learning Linux

[Unplugged]

Can you suggest the best distro to use for learning linux?

your opinions and answer will be highly appreciated. thanks in advance.

[Jamo]

Well if you really want to learn to use terminal etc. Arch linux is probably best, but it could be too hard for beginners. Yet you would learn a lot.

If you would like to start with a bit easier distro you ciuld use ubuntu. Its probaly most user friendly linux out there :)

Although some settings are hard to change in newest ubuntu.

I started using linus as my main os whit bt4 (backtrack 4).

Its easiest to learn when you need to do something, not just by reading guides. And watching hak5 episodes an following those tutorials will also help you.

If your computer can run linux in virtual machine, you could do a lot with it, xause you can accidentally destroy grub bootmanager...

[Infiltrator]

For learning experience I'd recommend Ubuntu, I've been using it as my second OS in a VM, for quite sometime now and have always been learning stuffs.

Plus Ubuntu has a great community, with lots of tutorials and resources to help out any new starter.

Edited May 17, 2012 by Infiltrator

[jaykruer]

I'd definitely second for you to try Arch Linux. The setup is a fantastic learning opportunity. It'll be rough, but the guide is extremely thorough and you should be able to do it. I would have to advise against using Backtrack as your as your primary OS because the kernel isn't really made for that. Not to mention the security ramifications of running as root at all times.

Well if you really want to learn to use terminal etc. Arch linux is probably best, but it could be too hard for beginners. Yet you would learn a lot.

If you would like to start with a bit easier distro you ciuld use ubuntu. Its probaly most user friendly linux out there :)

Although some settings are hard to change in newest ubuntu.

I started using linus as my main os whit bt4 (backtrack 4).

Its easiest to learn when you need to do something, not just by reading guides. And watching hak5 episodes an following those tutorials will also help you.

If your computer can run linux in virtual machine, you could do a lot with it, xause you can accidentally destroy grub bootmanager...

[Sitwon]

It doesn't really matter which one you pick. Linux is Linux is Linux. Aside from a few minor differences (which will become increasingly superficial the more you learn about them) all the distros are effectively the same.

Although I don't particularly recommend it, it's quite common for beginners to spend a lot of time distro-hopping and using LiveCDs at the beginning. You will learn some lessons from trying out different distributions and seeing how they do things differently, but I think you'll learn more if you just pick one and stick to it.

What's most important is to not let yourself get too comfortable. Always keep challenging yourself. Do things the "hard way" to force yourself to learn about what is actually going on under the hood.

If you're going to follow along with the segments in Hak5, Darren and crew are typically using either Ubuntu or BackTrack (which is forked from Ubuntu). Picking one of those might make it a little easier to follow along with the show.

[vdub]

If you would like to start with a bit easier distro you ciuld use ubuntu. Its probaly most user friendly linux out there :)

Personally I would not recommend Ubuntu. Its like learning how to program in Basic. You learn to many bad habits. Yes its easy but its easy for a reason. They have you do a lot from GUI's. Personally I would recommend something like openSUSE, fedora, or another ""Linux"" distro rather then a Debian half bread like Ubuntu. I kind of think of Ubuntu as the noob OS or the Windows of the Linux world. That might be a little cruel because there are many people that are way smarter then me that use Ubuntu. However, most dumb people use Ubuntu to, lol.

Honestly you can ask this question at 10 different places and get 10 different answers because of the diversity in the Linux community. What I would do is download a bunch of distros. Get Ubuntu/Kbuntu, openSUSE, puppy, DSL, and any other ones you can find and install them all. Play with one for a few days and then switch to another. Once you have tried them all pick one that you like and use it for at least a year or 2. Don't distro hoop when you are first starting out. Get a comfort zone in a single distro. Once you know it like the back of your hand then what you learned can be used in any distro out there.

Also if you have the option of using a GUI or the terminal, always use the terminal. When you are learning its best to do it the most universal way. For instance if you use openSUSE and you configure everything in Yast then what are you going to do if you decide to switch to Arch? Its best do do everything in a way that if you switch or get forced to use another distro you will not have problems. Also more can be done faster and easier in the terminal.

Hope this helps.

Welcome to the Linux world. Once your here, your here for life.

[Radau]

I personally loved learning RedHat/CentOS as my first Unix server distribution. As for Linux itself I just jumped around through a lot of distributions. Ubuntu, Arch, SUSE, Mint, and some others I can't recall at the moment. Linux Mint was one of the better distributions I tried just because of the out of the box GUI being so nicely designed, so you might want to try that one out. Only problem is there isn't too much to learn on Mint since it's more or less all set up for you, sure you download here and there, but depending on your needs you probably wont be hopping into the terminal too often. All I really use it for is school and Counter-Strike Source on my UL80VT. Whatever your choice may be, remember to have fun with it, and if you start to get frustrated put it to the side and come back to it later!

[_m3x_]

I'd definitely second for you to try Arch Linux.

i Agree, Arch is the best Distro For a Custom Build Plus they have a Greak Wiki. but if you want to start i suggest Ubuntu, if you dont like there UI give Linux mint a Try

[redhook]

Gentoo is great if you really want to jump into things.