Linux Distro for the Linux+

Danielm7

I realize this is a vendor neutral cert, but I'm completely new to Linux. Any suggestions for the distro to use to learn and practice for the Linux+?
Thanks.

tier~

As you said it is vendor neutral but you will encounter questions covering both the Red Hat and Debian way of doing things with package management, configuration file locations, etc.

CentOS and Debian would be my recommendations to spin up in a couple VMs to get your feet wet.

Dakinggamer87

I would also recommend CentOS as well!!

Bryzey

I used Centos and debian virtual machines for studying. Can't go wrong.

I also switched my main system to Linux mint and forced myself to do things with the command line where possible.

Danielm7

Thanks everyone. I downloaded the livedvd of centos and will get debian next.

Swift6

Hey Danielm7,

I would recommend CentOS and Debian. These distros should be sufficient to practice the Linux+ content.

Also since you are new to Linux, here is a map of the various Linux Distros. File:Linux Distribution Timeline.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Corndork2

+1 to CentOS and Debian.

You could also look into Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Its a free distro. They charge for support. I'd reccommend RHEL and Debian for the Linux+ if you intend on moving on to Red Hat Certs in the future.

Danielm7

Maybe a dumb question, but which install am I looking for? I used a livecd/dvd at home, looks like it boots into the GUI just fine but is that really an install? I downloaded the full dvd 1 at work, running it in VirtualBox and after installing that I'm only at the command line. I tried starting the gui with startx but it doesn't recognize the command.

brownwrap

Danielm7 wrote: »

Maybe a dumb question, but which install am I looking for? I used a livecd/dvd at home, looks like it boots into the GUI just fine but is that really an install? I downloaded the full dvd 1 at work, running it in VirtualBox and after installing that I'm only at the command line. I tried starting the gui with startx but it doesn't recognize the command.

I am not sure which OS you are referring to here, but assuming it is CentOS, perhaps you didn't load the Desktop environment. We have local repos where I work and I would just do:
yum groupinstall Desktop

ratbuddy

Is a GUI necessary to study for Linux+? I prefer CLI, but I'll install versions with GUI if needed..

brownwrap

In the studying I have done, no a GUI was not required. I was just trying to answer the previous poster's question as to why startx didn't work.

JeanM

Get an older distro of Slackware This way you'll really learn how to install packages and compile kernel, or modify xf86config to make your x11 work , or how to get your modem or nic drivers to work.

All these latest distros where everything is auto-detected for you, doesn't teach you much.

imho.

brownwrap

Is a modem even on the test anymore? I know it once was, but thought it dropped off, and for good reason, who uses a modem?

JeanM

That was just ONE example . I guess it depends if you just want to pass the test or learn more than just on the test ?

My point was, if you use a distro that auto detects everything for you, you miss out on many things that you won't learn otherwise.

W Stewart

Corndork2 wrote: »

+1 to CentOS and Debian.

You could also look into Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Its a free distro. They charge for support. I'd recommend RHEL and Debian for the Linux+ if you intend on moving on to Red Hat Certs in the future.

They also charge to use the redhat network so you wouldn't be able to use yum unless you tried to use centos repos or something. Not sure if that would work out but I don't see why not.

brownwrap

JeanM wrote: »

That was just ONE example . I guess it depends if you just want to pass the test or learn more than just on the test ?

My point was, if you use a distro that auto detects everything for you, you miss out on many things that you won't learn otherwise.

I am not questioning your point about auto detection, just wouldn't waste time on learning something that doesn't have much value. I have worked Linux and Unix for years and in the business world never set up a machine to use a modem.

W Stewart

Yeah, I work in a web hosting company and manually setting up linux to detect hardware just isn't something that we do. It may have been necessary for the linux enthusiast at one point but it's not an efficient way of doing things when you need to be able to image hundreds of servers. I think Xorg alone has really evolved beyond that and nowadays linux enthusiasts just want a minimal system compiled for their specific hardware but that's still something outside of the realm of what you would do in most enterprises running something like redhat.


Also udev auto-detects hardware for you. If you're somehow avoiding udev to make things unnecessarily difficult for yourself then you're missing out on the point of technology and why it evolves so rapidly.

Danielm7

RE the earlier point about not getting the GUI to run while at work, I wasn't thinking about the test being all CLI, in that case I'll leave the copy with the GUI running at home so I can be familiar with that too and leave the VM at work running with just the CLI, no biggie. Thanks again for all the info.

brownwrap

W Stewart wrote: »

Yeah, I work in a web hosting company and manually setting up linux to detect hardware just isn't something that we do. It may have been necessary for the linux enthusiast at one point but it's not an efficient way of doing things when you need to be able to image hundreds of servers. I think Xorg alone has really evolved beyond that and nowadays linux enthusiasts just want a minimal system compiled for their specific hardware but that's still something outside of the realm of what you would do in most enterprises running something like redhat.


Also udev auto-detects hardware for you. If you're somehow avoiding udev to make things unnecessarily difficult for yourself then you're missing out on the point of technology and why it evolves so rapidly.

You said it much better than I did. We have over 100 workstations and servers, Linux cluster, and a CRAY that I'm not yet allowed to touch. We don't have time to individually set up each machine. We use Red Hat Satellite to load them, then afterwards there is a lot of work becuase each user has their own needs, so that involves compiling a lot of freely available software and making it work.

JeanM

I am afraid you guys missed my point. Of course, auto detect is great, I am talking about in the realm of "learning". Otherwise, why not use GUI and not even learn the CLI

W Stewart

Because the gui doesn't allow for scripting. But I get your point as far as learning how things work underneath the surface. Modem drivers are just a little outdated these days though.

antielvis

@OP

Use Debian/Ubuntu and CentOS to study. They're mostly the same but there are some differences in certain configuration files (mostly in networking). You'll need to know both.

@JeanM. I agree with you but only somewhat. I think that for someone new to Linux they'd be best to start by using it as a desktop computer & learning basic commands. Once they're reached a more advanced level then it makes sense to start using something like Slackware.

As for everything being self detecting, I can't speak for those working in the LAMP stack, but in a corporate environment imaging is the norm. Press a button and a few minutes later, tada, you have a fully operational virtual Linux server. There simply isn't the time in many companies to get into that type of configuration.

W Stewart

Slackware is okay but I think they need to get rid of the text based installation and provide you with a more controlled way of installing a minimal system rather than just unchecking boxes.