Best lightweight linux for learning

yuddhidhtir

Want to learn linux with the help of virtualbox so any suggestion will be greatly appreciated,
thanks in advance

jimfing

Can't go wrong with Ubuntu Server if you want to get your feet wet using just the command-line.

If you want a GUI - try Mint Linux.

jibbajabba

ANY distro is good. Depending on your frustration threshold and willingness to learn you can just grab any distro but make sure you install just a minimal system and go from there.

The way I started was back in the days with CentOS. I just installed the 'Base' package (which you can do so during the installation), and then googled my way to the rest.

It's a painful process so make sure you have the patience

docrice

CentOS 6.x using the minimal installer is also a good lightweight way to go.

ChooseLife

Slackware - if you want to learn Linux (as opposed to a distro)

dead_p00l

I would have to agree with ChooseLife. Slackware is probably the best pure Linux you'll find.

jdancer

If you are looking for a distribution where you decide everything, I suggest Archlinux. It doesn't use version numbers, it's a rolling release distribution.

The Archlinux wikipedia is awesome. More info at Arch Linux

Iristheangel

@OP, check out www.linuxzoo.net

They offer free tutorials and a free shell account to telnet to on one of their many Redhat boxes. Definitely great hands on

yuddhidhtir

Thanks everybody for the help, i will try and see which one suits me best,my plan is to learn atleast basic linux before this year ends, again thanks.

jibbajabba

If you are suicidal try Linux From Scratch

GOZCU

Pardus

My favorite one, works like a charm;

Pardus | Özgürlük

universalfrost

i learned on redhat and free bsd (another iteration of unix)... get the book "accidental administrator" Amazon.com: The Accidental Administrator: Linux Server Step-by-Step Configuration Guide (9781453689929): Don R Crawley: Books if you want a real easy read on step by step how to for doing just about everything you need to do for a beginner and even a somewhat experienced user/admin .... after this book you can delve deeper to other subjects like RHCE , etc...

ubuntu , redhat, slackware are all great starts. virtual box is the way to go for setting up a good VM.

Forsaken_GA

If you're learning for the purposes of furthering your career, pick something that's used in a commercial environment. Ie, RHEL or a RHEL rebuild like Centos, Ubuntu, Debian, etc. If employment is your goal, learn on what you want to work with.

If you just want to tinker, then just pick one, like every tinkerer, you'll develop distro is greener on the other side syndrome and change every month anyway.

alxx

+1 on what Forsaken_GA said.

It would be also to your benefit to pick up a programming/scripting language at the same time.

My suggestion would be bash shell and python.

Can recommend the book Python for Unix and Linux System Administration
Python for Unix and Linux System Administration - O'Reilly Media

Python for system administrators

A series of articles on Developer works
Discover Python, Part 1: Python's built-in numerical types

python cookbook recipes
Popular Python recipes « ActiveState Code


For unix commands lots of links on UGU: Unix Guru Universe - UGU: Unix Guru Universe - For Unix System Administrators
UGU: Unix Guru Universe - BEGINNERS - START HERE

it_consultant

docrice wrote: »

CentOS 6.x using the minimal installer is also a good lightweight way to go.

This is what I use to learn. RHEL is prevalent in the enterprise and all the RHEL documentation works for CENTOS. I also agree that loading the 400 MB base install only and working from there is a good way to learn the thing.

kurosaki00

My opinion is that as long as you get into the CLI, you will learn the general of it.
If you want to get into specifics, Cent OS and Slackware are good choices to learn, ubuntu is more GUI friendly, but again we're not trying to learn GUI here.
Im no Linux/Unix expert but also scripting comes very, VERY handy. Its a MUST,when it comes to handling Linux.
So like Alxx said, give it a thought too.

dmoore44

I'm with jdancer - Arch is the best way to go if you want to learn Linux. You'll learn a lot because you make every decision during install.