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What Linux distro should I learn?
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What Linux distro should I learn?

djvdorpdjvdorp Member
edited January 2013 in General

Always been a Debian/Ubuntu man, lately got into CrunchBangLinux a lot. But still a Debian derative.
Got working with FreeBSD and Solaris a bit, but prefer to learn another Linux distro now.

I would like to learn a whole new thing. Currently coming to mind are:

  • Slackware (most hardcore distro right?)
  • Gentoo (source based distro)
  • Arch Linux (rolling releases sound cool)

Would love to know your opinions.

Comments

  • If you're edgy/badass enough, then Arch.

  • heiskaheiska Member
    edited January 2013

    @gubbyte said: If you're edgy/badass hipster enough, then Arch.

    FTFY, YW.

  • twaintwain Member
    edited January 2013

    If you are in IT, then it's always good to learn RH/CentOS.. so I'd recommend using CentOS 6.x, Scientific 6.x, Stella 6.x, or Fedora as your desktop to get familiar with RHland :) ..

    ** edit: Fedora w/Cinnamon is apparently quite pleasing:
    http://dedoimedo.com/computers/fedora-cinnamon-take-two.html

    I used to use Arch for a desktop, however you have to update constantly. You miss an update for a month and you could have some real issues trying to update etc. I got a bit tired of this, as you don't have these issues with Deb/Ubuntu (normally)... seems also that every time they come out with an iso release, they make the install process even more manual.. I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped with the iso releases, and just started providing files and made you do a mkisofs... I mean cutting edge and manual is one thing, but sometimes you can take things too far...

  • NickMNickM Member
    edited January 2013

    I don't advocate for anyone to learn a specific distro. There's no reason to. Learn the basic, fundamental things like user and group permissions, how to get help (hint: man pages), what /dev and /proc and /etc and the other parts of the filesystem hierarchy are for, and all of the other basics. This knowledge will do far more for you in the long run than learning "how to install package XYZ in Arch" and then learning "How to install package XYZ in Gentoo". Once you have those basic fundamentals down, when you encounter a distro other than your usual one, you should have the skills to figure out the distro specific details quite easily. For example, I'm a Debian guy. I know it like the back of my own hand. If I have a client that needs me to work on his CentOS server, well... I don't have anything about CentOS memorized, but if I need to install something, I know enough to do man yum to find out how to do it.

  • MaouniqueMaounique Host Rep, Veteran

    Centos is widely used.
    If you wish something DIY go with gentoo/LFS
    Slackware is no longer widely used, tho I started with it many years ago...

  • Try Manjaro, it's awesome! It is based on Arch and it has KDE, Cinnamon, Mate and Xfce versions.

  • Debian, any of the red hat clones.

  • @Maounique said: Slackware is no longer widely used, tho I started with it many years ago...

    One word Slackware. We need to campaign to bring it back brother. Once you go Slack...........

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    CentOS.

    Only because it's a clone of RHEL and hence if you want to work in IT, you'll probably run into it.

  • @AuroraZ, I think Slax came out with a long-awaited new version recently.

  • MaouniqueMaounique Host Rep, Veteran

    @AuroraZ said: We need to campaign to bring it back brother

    It is kinda hard when everything supports either debian or rh and their clones.
    I choose debian since it is more independent, but nothing really supports slackware, whether we like it, or not.

  • @Maounique - For a server/hosting, sure, but as a desktop, I don't see why you couldn't use Slack and do everything you needed to do... there are slackbuilds for just about anything..

  • oh boy, the hipster is strong in this thread

    nobody uses Slackware, lol

  • AuroraZAuroraZ Barred
    edited January 2013

    @twain said: @AuroraZ, I think Slax came out with a long-awaited new version recently.

    Slax is cool but not still not full blown Slackware.

    @Maounique said: It is kinda hard when everything supports either debian or rh and their clones.

    I choose debian since it is more independent, but nothing really supports slackware, whether we like it, or not.

    I hear you man. I use Centos on most servers because they don't offer Slackware. The few that do it is a minimal template 64 on OpenVz. I prefer Slack man and use it on my desktops/laptops but for servers I have to go with the flow.

    Edit: Thanks gubbyte I am nobody. :)

  • that is quite obviously fake lol
    or some autist Slackware user added false votes

  • @gubbyte - I doubt it's fake, more likely just a much higher percentage of Slackware users register their Linux machines to linuxcounter.net than Ubuntu, Debian, etc users...

  • @gubbyte huh? I have used Slackware since version 1.0. I am in no way a hipster. Slackware has been around for a LONG time, all the other distributions you like now pretty much came after Slackware. Main reason most choose not to use it now is because it actually requires you to know how to build some packages instead of just using prebuilt packages all the time. This scares the new people, so they choose the easy way out by using Debian, CentOS, etc and their easy package system's. Don't get me wrong, I like Debian as well and use it my self, but to really understand how thngs work is to put them together your self and Slackware really promotes this. If you are looking to learn about Linux from the ground up, Slackware is not a bad place to start.

  • twaintwain Member
    edited January 2013

    @TheLinuxBug - well said! You will absolutely learn a TON (unless you are already a "guru," but even then I bet you'll learn something) when installing/using distros like Slackware or Arch.. I learned an immense amount when I used Arch.. Also, the linux from scratch project is great too:
    http://lfsbook.linuxfromscratch.org/

  • @TheLinuxBug So people should use Slackware/Gentoo because you have to compile packages from source? Okay... what's stopping people from doing that on other distributions?

  • @gubbyte said: what's stopping people from doing that on other distributions?

    Laziness

  • @gubbyte - nothing, but often w/Slackware, you are forced too, thusly you do it and learn it. Dude, no one is trying to convince YOU, believe that... who would even want to try :)

  • Quite honestly, I don't think you need to learn another distro - what you should do is work on having a firm grasp of the command line, and how Linux in general works on the lower levels. There are differences (sometimes significant ones) in these areas between distros, but strong command line/shell scripting skills will likely help you more than any specific distro will.

    I highly recommend that rather than focus on being comfortable in one other single distro, become comfortable doing everything you reasonably can via a command line; obviously, use GUI apps when required, but learn to text-edit and troubleshoot with a shell only. That's a pretty important skill, and has gotten me a long way on relatively limited knowledge.

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    @TheLinuxBug said: If you are looking to learn about Linux from the ground up, Slackware is not a bad place to start.

    Well, if that's your goal...

    http://lfsbook.linuxfromscratch.org/

  • Paldo...stable version
    http://www.paldo.org/

    or Crux if you really want to learn Linux
    http://crux.nu/

  • Debian

  • twaintwain Member
    edited January 2013

    @DomainBop said: or Crux if you really want to learn Linux

    Didn't Arch derive from Crux in some manner iirc?

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