New to Linux: Which OS should I download? I need a good book for learning Linux.

[aref]

GH: I want to get into Linux and take the time to learn it. There are many different Linux OSs and I don't know which one to choose.
Assistance on which of Linux OS to download and perhaps a recommendation on a good book for learning Linux would be tremendous
assists. Is one form of Linux preferable to another? I really don' t know where to begin. Your help will be appreciated.

[smknjoe]

Lot's of people would suggest Ubuntu because it "just works" out of the box, but I would disagree. It couldn't be more like Windows or OSX in terms of user friendliness and therefore you wouldn't have the need to use the command line ever if you didn't want to. I also would not suggest any of the super minimal distributions like Arch because they can be too minimal and therefore intimidating. Personally, I think Slackware is a good starting point. You can use the command line exclusively if you choose or very easily switch to a full blown desktop environment if you need to. You can compile software manually or use a package manager. You also learn how to manually format your hard drive during installation. There is lots of flexibility and opportunity to learn with that distribution. I can't say the same for other versions of Linux...especially Ubuntu.

Edit: and it supports most hardware out of the box. I can't really help you with reading material. I learned from hands-on experience. The wikis for Slackware, and Arch for that matter, are very helpful if you have trouble with something.

[aref]

Smknjoe: Thanks for the info.

[osi]

The slackbook is a great start to understanding some core principles of Linux. There are touches of slackware specific references but for the most part the info translates well to other systems.

For a physical book, I like one titled "Linux Phrasebook". Short and sweet, don't have to read it cover to cover to get a good feel either. Doubles as a good reference too

[nuclearsandwich]

If you want to learn how to use Linux, the best thing to do is to just use it and ask for help. There's plenty of forums and IRC channels out there and very few problems I ever encountered when running Linux were problems no one else had had before. That said, if you want to learn how Linux itself works at a high level and what's involved in a Linux operating system I can't recommend the educational value of Linux From Scratch enough.

[aref]

Thanks. I am going into LFS and the Linux Phrasebook. I really appreciate the above assists.

[Hypersphere]

For my IBM linux server, I started with RHEL and then moved to CentOS, the free clone. However, I finally gave up in frustration and installed Ubuntu Server; it has been running for a few years now with no problems. For my desktops, I tried many different distros and finally settled on Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu, but I like some of the refinements that Mint has made.

I own several books on unix and linux, including the "in a nutshell" series, Running Linux, and the "for dummies" series. However, in practice, I have learned mostly by doing and by the judicious use of Google.

In my work, I use Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. OS X is my primary OS, but linux is by far the most fun. I tolerate Windows in order to be compatible with colleagues when needed.

For my desktop environment, I have tried many, including simple window managers. Overall, I prefer Xfce for its simplicity. Sometimes, I use KDE, because I use a triple-monitor setup and KDE provides the best features for managing desktops on multiple monitors. I still think that Gnome 2 was the most efficient desktop for my workflow. The closest to Gnome 2 now available are Gnome-Session-Flashback available via Ubuntu, and MATE, available via Mint and some other distros.

A great web site for comparing distros is DistroWatch.

Good luck and have fun!

[smknjoe]

I still think Ubuntu and variants are more for people who want to use Linux as opposed to learn Linux. That's not to say you can't learn just as much with those OSs. I guess it really depends on how motivated you are though. 15 years ago (even as recent as 10 years ago) you would have to spend 2 days at the command line just to get a system stable enough to use which included compiling drivers for everything and kernels manually. Today they are all relatively easy to use and install. DistroWatch is a great resource.

[swill]

I would say to stick to a distro that has a mainstream package manager to start. Either yum or apt-get and you should be good to get started. There is so much support for those it will be easy to learn.

[aref]

Thanks again. Looks like I've got a lot to learn. This may be an 'old dog, new trick' scenario. But I'm willing and interested. I'll see how all-things-Linux goes from here.

[swill]

Thanks again. Looks like I've got a lot to learn. This may be an 'old dog, new trick' scenario. But I'm willing and interested. I'll see how all-things-Linux goes from here.

honestly, its not too hard.  get a distro with a UI to start with, but don't be shy about the terminal.  do as much as you can in the terminal and you will start to get comfortable quickly.

learn a text based editor like Vim and you will be set for life. 

[aref]

Thanks for the encouragement.

[rowdy]

Depends on what aspect you want to learn.

Running it on a server?

Running it on a desktop machine?

Gaming?

Software development?

Kernel development?

I used to use and recommend Ubuntu as a good starter desktop and server Linux.  Lately Canonical have lost the plot, and Ubuntu has been sliding downhill.  I have switched to CentOS (or am in the process of gradually switching to CentOS on desktop and servers), which might have older packages, but overall seems more consistent to me.  It is also supported for much longer than Ubuntu.

[Altis]

I'd recommend trying installing a lightweight distro (I like Slacko Puppy or Precise puppy) to a USB drive and boot to that. They run very well in RAM.

Mint is a great popular choice if installing to the internal drive. I've been using Elementary OS Luna recently and it's very nice to use (a lot like Apple OSX).

You can honestly spend a ton of time trying to decide which distro, but the truth is a lot of them are similar. A lot of it comes down to software availability and desktop environment. Ultimately, stick to one that's well known enough and supported (forums, good hardware support), and you'll be at it in no time!

Youtube is a great source for learning the basics of Linux.

[welsinki]

 

[esko997]

If youre looking for something friendly and accessible to start off, I would say Ubuntu. If youre looking for a challenge and a bit of mental exercise, Arch. If you really want to learn how to use Linux, get Slackware.

Linux is awesome -- welcome to the wonderful world.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the "Linux Bible" -- is a great resource but might be a bit heady to start. If not that, then "A Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming."

[baldgye]

I don't know what it's like these days but when I last ran Ubuntu installing things and drivers was still a total ball ache. And I needed the cmd line to do anything meaningful. That might have been fix though.

[welsinki]

 

[user 18]

I definitely recommend Linux Mint over Ubuntu any day of the week. You get access to all the Ubuntu packages, but you have more of what you need out of the gate.

I learned Linux on a Raspberry Pi though, and one that I never even bothered running a window manager on. Did all my CS schoolwork last year on that little card.

[Protato_Tubby]

I learned all that I know about Linux on an old-ish computer that was handed down to me. I started on mint, then I thought I'd try fedora, then Debian. Eventually I decided to go full open source and installed Trisquel. I didn't like using trisquel, though. After that I went back to Debian and stayed there for a bit. Then I was bought a laptop for Christmas and I haven't used the old loonix box since. Currently I *am* technically using Linux on my tablet and phone. But on my laptop I'm running windows 8. I have RaspBMC on my raspberry Pi. I want to dual boot Debian on my laptop, but I don't have access to the BIOS so I can't change the boot priority to USB drive.     
It kinda sucks but I'm getting used to windows 8. I still don't like metro, but not many do.
Does anyone know how I can get access to the BIOS? I've tried taking out the HDD so that it doesn't have anything to boot off, but all it did was say that it couldn't boot.

[daerid]

What model laptop is it? Usually there's a button you press at boot time to enter bios/efi setup

[Altis]

I learned all that I know about Linux on an old-ish computer that was handed down to me. I started on mint, then I thought I'd try fedora, then Debian. Eventually I decided to go full open source and installed Trisquel. I didn't like using trisquel, though. After that I went back to Debian and stayed there for a bit. Then I was bought a laptop for Christmas and I haven't used the old loonix box since. Currently I *am* technically using Linux on my tablet and phone. But on my laptop I'm running windows 8. I have RaspBMC on my raspberry Pi. I want to dual boot Debian on my laptop, but I don't have access to the BIOS so I can't change the boot priority to USB drive.     
It kinda sucks but I'm getting used to windows 8. I still don't like metro, but not many do.
Does anyone know how I can get access to the BIOS? I've tried taking out the HDD so that it doesn't have anything to boot off, but all it did was say that it couldn't boot.

What brand is it? There's almost certainly a way to access the BIOS. Usually it's one of the following keys, right as soon as the computer starts: F1, F2, F10, F11, F12, Delete, Escape, Enter. Could be another F* button.

It should say on the screen the moment is starts up.

[Tranquilite]

I learned most of what I know about Linux from the book "Understanding UNIX/LINUX Programming: A Guide to Theory and Practice" by Bruce Molay, but unfortunately it is also a "college textbook" which makes it almost prohibitively expensive. It is also about programming in C, so if you've never done any programming before it might be a bit much to handle.

If you can find the book for cheap, I suggest picking it up.

[Protato_Tubby]

What model laptop is it? Usually there's a button you press at boot time to enter bios/efi setup

I learned all that I know about Linux on an old-ish computer that was handed down to me. I started on mint, then I thought I'd try fedora, then Debian. Eventually I decided to go full open source and installed Trisquel. I didn't like using trisquel, though. After that I went back to Debian and stayed there for a bit. Then I was bought a laptop for Christmas and I haven't used the old loonix box since. Currently I *am* technically using Linux on my tablet and phone. But on my laptop I'm running windows 8. I have RaspBMC on my raspberry Pi. I want to dual boot Debian on my laptop, but I don't have access to the BIOS so I can't change the boot priority to USB drive.     
It kinda sucks but I'm getting used to windows 8. I still don't like metro, but not many do.
Does anyone know how I can get access to the BIOS? I've tried taking out the HDD so that it doesn't have anything to boot off, but all it did was say that it couldn't boot.

What brand is it? There's almost certainly a way to access the BIOS. Usually it's one of the following keys, right as soon as the computer starts: F1, F2, F10, F11, F12, Delete, Escape, Enter. Could be another F* button.

It should say on the screen the moment is starts up.

It doesn't say, should I find out by googling it or by trial and Error. Oh, and incase you just happen to know - it's a Lenovo G505s

[Kayla]

Just pick one. If youre new go with mint or ubuntu. If youre not go with debian or arch.. or mint or ubuntu also work for that catagory aswell. The whole technical side of it doesnt really matter unless you build packages or want to make a super customized optimized power machine and if you are doing that, then .. windows?

But yeah I like Arch of how you can customize the pieces of each thing you compile to have a more minimal install of everything but the truth is normally to avoid dependancy issues you just compile or install a full package; so any distro will do as long as it has a user interface from the get-go.

[Protato_Tubby]

What model laptop is it? Usually there's a button you press at boot time to enter bios/efi setup

I learned all that I know about Linux on an old-ish computer that was handed down to me. I started on mint, then I thought I'd try fedora, then Debian. Eventually I decided to go full open source and installed Trisquel. I didn't like using trisquel, though. After that I went back to Debian and stayed there for a bit. Then I was bought a laptop for Christmas and I haven't used the old loonix box since. Currently I *am* technyically using Linux on my tablet and phone. But on my laptop I'm running windows 8. I have RaspBMC on my raspberry Pi. I want to dual boot Debian on my laptop, but I don't have access to the BIOS so I can't change the boot priority to USB drive.     
It kinda sucks but I'm getting used to windows 8. I still don't like metro, but not many do.
Does anyone know how I can get access to the BIOS? I've tried taking out the HDD so that it doesn't have anything to boot off, but all it did was say that it couldn't boot.

What brand is it? There's almost certainly a way to access the BIOS. Usually it's one of the following keys, right as soon as the computer starts: F1, F2, F10, F11, F12, Delete, Escape, Enter. Could be another F* button.

It should say on the screen the moment is starts up.

It doesn't say, should I find out by googling it or by trial and Error. Oh, and incase you just happen to know - it's a Lenovo G505s

I have found out now and I'm formatting my HDD as I type this so I can go ahead and install the new Linux mint

[SL89]

If you are still soliciting suggestions check out Crunchbang

It isnt the most stable, but when things break you end up learning what broke, why it broke and how to fix it and the community is great at providing feedback and explaining things.

[brainT]

If you are still soliciting suggestions check out Crunchbang

It isnt the most stable, but when things break you end up learning what broke, why it broke and how to fix it and the community is great at providing feedback and explaining things.

Crunchbang is great! I ran it for the longer than any of the other distro's I've played with and only ever broke it when I did something silly which I tend to be very skilled at.

[jalaj]

Ubuntu has gone the route of simplicity to cater to a broader audience, which I completely understand in the objective of greater user adoption. However I find that it has been dumb downed to the point that it is insulting, so I find other distros more suitable for myself.
If you do prefer a simple environment like Ubuntu, then perhaps try Mint, which is a derivative of Ubuntu and in my opinion slightly better.

Also try virtualizing various linux distros so you can learn both about virtualization and linux flavors simultaneously.

[limecore]

I am pleasantly surprised at the lack of ubuntu recommendations. As Rowdy pointed out above, Canonical have lost it, especially with all of this unity crap. For a complete newcomer I would recommend Linux mint or LMDE, they are almost identical, LMDE might be slightly more complex, but never needs reinstalling (emphasis on needs). I wouldn't move on to anything more complex like arch until you are comfortable with bash. No matter what anyone else tells you (haven't seen it in this thread luckily), do not even think about gentoo unless you already are comfortable with bash and have a lot of spare time

[rowdy]

Red Hat 7 has just been released - CentOS 7 is not far behind.

[n0rvig]

Ubuntu -- without the window manager. Debian is pretty versatile. Since it's the essentially the same thing.

Has the OP responded with what he's looking to do? I'm surprised their aren't more Gentoo recommendations since it really helps expose the nitty gritty bits.

[limecore]

As many people have pointed out, there is a difference to learning linux and learning to use linux. I would definitely learn to use linux first with one of the distros I mentioned earlier. If you really want to learn linux, I would recommend LFS over gentoo. As someone said on another site, Gentoo teaches you gentoo, while LFS teaches you linux

[Laiin]

I started out using Ubuntu and Debian, and when i felt comfortable with linux i moved on to Arch which is where i learned alot about linux.
So for learning linux i would say Arch or Gentoo, but these are not for people who are new to linux.
You should always start out with something more stable ie. Mint/Ubuntu, IMHO.

[rowdy]

Following on from my post above, CentOS 7 for x86_64 only has been released.

[EpicSNES]

First distro I used to become familiar with Linux was Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE). Nice thing about LMDE is it's a rolling release, so you never have to install a new version. Something to note, it has a steeper learning curve than Ubuntu IMO.

[stakiman]

I started out with Debian w/ Gnome desktop environment. Simple, but not so easy to install and you will get introduced to the terminal instantly. Don't be afraid, though.

A great book that helped me a lot was "The Linux Command Line" or TLCL for short.
Also get Tmux for your terminal window and learn Vi for basic knowledge and to edit quickly system files.
Good luck.

[divito]

Ubuntu, for as much flak as it gets, offers a reasonably versatile starting point. You get fairly standard functionality, a familiar desktop experience for the most part, with the ability to do more Linux-y things slowly to start out. Once you become a little more comfortable, you can more to Debian, or Arch, or any number of things depending on what you want to do.

I still have a Ubuntu partition with my Windows 7...as well as Raspbian on my Pi.

[iri]

why necessarily bash and not zsh for example?

[Hypersphere]

Just tested CentOS 7 in a Parallels VM on my Mac. Despite its many updates and attempts at enhancements, I still find CentOS more difficult to configure than distros based on Debian or Ubuntu.

I've also tested Linux Mint 17 LTS 64-bit with Cinnamon, MATE, KDE, and Xfce desktops. In my hands, Cinnamon and MATE are still unstable. KDE is fine, but I prefer something that seems lighter and cleaner, so I have opted again for Xfce. This time, I managed to get LM running on my IBM server; therefore, I will now be able to have LM 17 Xfce on my desktop machines as well as my server.

Although I have referred to books such as Unix in a Nutshell and Linux in a Nutshell, I've mostly learned unix by using the terminal on my Mac, and I've learned linux by just using it and googling for answers when I encounter problems.

[jdcarpe]

Well, my opinion may not be popular, but I feel if the OP wants to get a working system and learn to use it, Ubuntu is a great starting point. It uses a well established package manager, and almost any software you want for it will have binaries compiled for it. Once you get the system up and working, you can start learning the command line, which is a very powerful tool available on any Linux distribution. To me, at least, having a working system from the start outweighs the learning experience of trying to get everything working just to have a starting point.

And I disagree that you will never use the command line if you start with Ubuntu. Most of the help you will find online regarding doing one thing or another on your Ubuntu-based system will typically involve entering commands at the command line.

People love to hate on Ubuntu, because it looks so similar to Windows or MacOS, but for me there is nothing wrong with that. I have personally built systems using Arch, Debian, CentOS, Mint, etc., but for my own personal use at home, I find myself drawn back to Ubuntu. Probably because I know the package manager so well, and I love that the Ubuntu repositories have most of the software I need.

Yes, Unity is a bit over-the-top, but that's why you can install other DEs or WMs. I like XFCE and Gnome Classic, myself. And Fluxbox.

[ShawnMeg]

Linux Lite 2.0.  Lightweight and fast.  Easy for a Windows user to transition to.