Hey guys, been thinking of getting a Linux distro to play around and try to actually learn the command line and how Linux works and stuff. I've used Linux before on my old laptop back in the day, used Linux Mint with Maté and learned little bit of the command line like changing directories and making files and stuff. I'm not looking for a distro that's basically a Windows replacement, just something that is easy to install and stable but still good to fiddle with.
>inb4 install Gentoo >inb4 Richard Stallman rant about how it's actually called GNU/Linux
Arch, or something that will break like Debian unstable or Ubuntu with a bunch of custom PPAs - that is actually how I learned but I finally switched to the rolling release master race
Arch is probably your best bet if you know some basics already and can follow a wiki, Manjaro is for the working man who can't fuck with shit all the time, and centos minimal for servers or secure applications - all my opinion ofc
Caleb Moore
>Arch, or something that will break like Debian unstable or Ubuntu with a bunch of custom PPAs - that is actually how I learned but I finally switched to the rolling release master race >Arch is probably your best bet if you know some basics already and can follow a wiki, Manjaro is for the working man who can't fuck with shit all the time, and centos minimal for servers or secure applications - all my opinion ofc No, just go with mint/ubuntu/fedora or any other distros with gui-installers. I'm not saying you won't be able to install arch or gentoo, but without experience you will just waste your time fixing your computer and searching answers on the wiki. Just go with something concrete and learn from there first, then you can eventually install whatever the fuck you want
Jaxon Campbell
I've heard bad things about Mint's security though.
Noah Ross
Speaking from experience, some flavor of Ubuntu is your best bet. The best advice I can give you is don't start off at the deep end; I tried doing that at first and got really frustrated and almost quit using Linux altogether.
It's really tempting to just install Arch and go, and for some people that works fine, but I found it a lot more fulfilling to start with Ubuntu and learn bit by bit.
You don't have to stick with Unity either, I was running Xubuntu on my laptop until just last night when I installed Arch for the first time.
Asher Collins
Anything that's rolling release
Lucas Cruz
Linux from scratch
Parker Perry
Seconding, and also minimal That way OP you will also learn how to configure most things from scratch, which is great if you decide to build docker packages someday
Luis Gomez
Diving into learning Linux myself with Debian stable at the moment and I’m loving it. Mostly playing around in the terminal, learning to navigate, using and understanding the bash commands, installing a few packages and playing with Python scripting in the terminal as well. Do it user.
Julian Scott
Go for arch
Liam Morgan
Ubuntu it is.
Ayden Rogers
Maybe it's just me being stupid but I feel Ubuntu is too commercial.
Jeremiah Garcia
Mx linux, guaranteed.
Ethan Cooper
Has no one mentioned Gentoo yet? Really?
Mason Brown
Define learning, if you're trying to do random shit the arch wiki will have all you need If you wanna do something like pretend to be a sysadmin then rent out a vps and install ubuntu/centos on it and try to do stuff like setup openvpn/email/etc
Samuel Martinez
Linux Mint Xfce
Austin Miller
Manjaro XFCE or GNOME
Jordan Reed
download yourself ubuntu mini.iso and install Xubuntu minimal, then do sudo apt purge apport* popcon* popularity-contest* snap* and install your favorite stuff
Levi Stewart
I recommend Debian actually.
Just do a minimal install and start from there. You'll get the hang of stuff over time. I originally started on Ubuntu but I think Ubuntu and Mint hand hold a little more than it should and makes too much software accessible through it's repos out the gate. It can turn you off on other distros or *nix likes for awhile. Instead Debian is annoyingly behind in some areas requiring you to compile stuff or go hunting for the latest package and it's dependencies. It forces you to learn the OS with out breaking X or leaving you with network support or a browser. I've tried most other distros but ultimately fell in love with Debian even with its oldwr packages, but it's nothing a bit of surfing can't fix and sometimes it's more rewarding to compile the lastest build of something yourself or pull something new off git and check it out yourself. You'll grow in ways you hadn't expected. Fuck This sounded gay man. Sorry dawg.
Adam Roberts
Install elementaryOS, comfyness, good look, shit internet browser but you can install better from AppCenter and it is generally usable, it was my first distro, back then it was on Luna and looked kinda better, but now still is gitgud, oh and will automagically search drivers for you when you open AppCenter
Anything else I can get rid of? Recently installed xubuntu and whenever I try to remove stuff it breaks.
Noah Perez
Slackware. I started with Slackware 10 when I was 15, after a year and a half on it I migrated to a binary distro, but everything I learned setting up and managing a Slackware install I carried over.
Austin Harris
Windows 7 / XP
Aiden Russell
which distro, CentOS?
Christopher Cox
Trips of truth Very comfy distro indeed
Robert Johnson
After Slackware I went to Debian, then Ubuntu, then Fedora, then Arch, then back to Debian (this was all pre-systemd). I was on Debian when systemd hit and was too lazy to switch. Last year I tried out Void on my laptop and a couple of months ago replaced Debian on my desktop with Void. It provides the most Slackware-like experience (easy init to manage, packages kept as vanilla as possible, etc.) while still being a binary distribution.
Carter James
Rei, it's time.
Jayden James
yikes, going from stable to rolling
Brody Young
Fedora because of its relationship with Red Hat. Getting good at Fedora or CentOS could help you get a job where you have to use Linux.
Caleb Collins
okay guys enough shitpost, actually if you want to learn you should read the red hat resources, learn for the certifications and be a script master. So CentOS would be okay as a replacement, and maybe use the developer image red hat provides for testing in virtualbox. Since most software isn't there by default you will learn to build it yourself, the platform is old so there has to be guides on how to do it yourself around. If you want to be a retard and just do apt install everything go debian. If you are fucking autistic that you want to live with shit security but no systemd then slackware or gentoo.
wtf I just posted something similar. red hat will get you a comfy job, that's why I'm learning through it. Nobody on real life goes as autistic as not using systemd, and most of the time they don't want to use debian. So you get to use CentOS and Red Hat a lot, universities don't give much thought about labs so they put ubuntu to the students. At least in mine, I don't know what they use for servers though
Brandon Butler
that pepe doesn't look so comfy
Juan Thompson
systemd
Christian Taylor
if you don’t use a desktop environment, they’re all the same (enough so for a noob). Try to avoid using X.
Blake Nelson
i hope you’re joking about systemd being more secure
Carter Clark
>deep end on the contrary, I’d recommend exactly that. i think arch is a good intro distro, mostly because of the wiki.
you do have to be ready to completely submit your mind to the computer though, and not get mad, but instead listen to it and know it’s only a bit pusher.
Austin Sanchez
>What's the best Linux distro to learn Linux with ahh damn, I know this one...