What's the best way to learn Linux?
I've been using Windows since the days of 3.1, practically my entire life. So I'm really comfortable with how windows operates and how to do the things that I want to do.
I've dabbled around with Linux over the years, but am now considering trying to make a full switch to it.
What are some resources to "learn" Linux properly? Such as understanding the filesystem, basic security practices, essential tools or commands, etc?
The Arch Wiki is very in-depth and helpful even though it doesn't always apply 100% to other distros. Stack Exchange is also helpful, as well as forums such as linuxquestions.org.
I like the Linux upskill challenge for rounding out your education. https://linuxupskillchallenge.org/ it's designed as a 1 month course of an hour or so a day that the author made free to access as his legacy. Don't start out with this -- mess around and learn on your own first, and when you're comfortable with the system, then you can learn more in depth.
I recommend spending time in a Linux chat room related to learning Linux specifically your distro. When you're messing around in Linux, you can ask questions, and humans are great teachers in helping you with things you don't know you should be learning. Discord is the most accessible, but you can find a specific place for the Linux distribution you go with -- for example Ubuntu has rooms set up on Matrix and IRC that are both active and welcoming to new folks.
Also just dive into guides on how to do things as you need to do them. How to change wallpaper, how to install programs, whatever. Try finding official documentation, but often guides may be more helpful. But sometimes less. Over time you will learn how to search for answers just like on Windows. If the guides or forum threads don't seem right, you can ask in the chatroom (hey does this make sense?)
Compared to cmd.exe and Powershell, the Linux terminal is very user friendly, with a user experience they've been refining since the 1970s or earlier, and there is a reason power users tend to gravitate towards using the CLI for some tasks. Sometimes it may be the preferred or only way to accomplish something (Windows has this too, but it's more rare.) Take your time, and read/understand the man pages and the output of nano --help (using nano as an example command: it is a text editor. But you can use the --help option with nearly any Linux command and it will most likely work, by convention.
Sorry if any of this is too obvious or too much information, but hopefully it helps someone.
Step 1: install linux
Step 2: google everything you don't know how to do
Just start using it. Set up a dual boot if you really need access to Windows still, but try not to use it as much as possible. You learn by running into problems or holes in your knowledge, and solving those issues will fill in other gaps.
There are plenty of video series if you want to listen to advice before diving in, but there's no teacher like experience.
It's worth emphasizing that keeping it dual boot until you're comfortable will let you take a break if you get frustrated rather than wiping Linux and going back to Win full time.
Get a book on Linux, if you're the type who likes learning from books (I do). There's so many to choose from. Check reviews before you order or go to a book store and flip through some until you find one you like.
This, I learned out of necessity when I was a teen, parents were divorcing and my dad only had an extremely old laptop, it was literally unusable on XP, was lookin around online on how to possibly speed it up and found Linux.
Start using it. Look up anything that bothers you.
Don't make it your work or main computer yet. That might create too much frustration.
"Out of the box" security is decent at this point.
Maybe don’t look up ANYTHING that bothers you. Thats a rabbit hole.
This. Install a VM or throw it on some old box you have lying around. Don't sweat "learning it". Just do it. If you know your way around a computer, you'll figure it out. Having said that, there are lots of resources out there. Just watch some "how do I install X" videos, where X is your distro of choice. That choice should be Mint, BTW.
I know there’s a meme and I have been downvoted to shit for arch…
I think any popular Debian/redhat derived distro (mint counts) is a great introduction to Linux.
However, I didn’t really learn Linux until I installed arch. It wasn’t as… stable… as it was now. And learning how to deal with the instability helped a LOT.
Without that dive, things that could really get you down the path is trying to make Linux work for you: change the gui to your liking, and learn to use terminal.
That gets you into X/sway/DM/WM/etc. there’s plenty to learn there
I dabbled for a few years before I made the switch.
You learn after you switch. Not before. Because then it's easier to search for a Linux solution than it is to reinstall windows and get it done in the way you're familiar.
If you can dual boot and do your daily needs you are good enough to make the switch.
Find an easy distro (my recc is mint if you’re coming from windows, elementary if you’re coming from Mac) and just do it. Follow the install guides and just start trying to use your computer. Look up things when things aren’t working. If you get frustrated or justconsistently don’t like your distro, find a different one. Most people don’t know the exact distro they like with their first attempt. It’s very common to bounce around to different ones for a while or even have multiple.
Some will allow you to do a live environment off a USB stick, but I don’t know. I never found that really told me whether not it was going to be a good daily driver. But it does give you an easy way to check out the “vibes” of one without having to actually commit to it
My personal journey:
Install random Linux distro as virtual machine or dual boot, use it until you run into something you can't fix. Look for an alternative.
Do this a couple of times, my path was: Ubuntu, Manjaro, PopOS, Zorin, Debian, Mint. I ended up replacing windows completely with Mint. It's nice, easy, customizable, and I can play my games on it when I need to 👍
Learning the terminal is easily done on linuxjourney.com!
there isn't actually that much to read, at the user level. Nowadays, on a "user friendly distribution" you should be able to launch firefox to browse lemmy, and open a pdf without much difficulties. Even printer aren't anymore a nightmare to install.
Main stuff to know IMO.
The first thing to bring to the process is curiosity. Linux is not Windows and doesn't operate in the same way.
What you think of a normal Windows behaviour, is unlikely to work in the same way under Linux.
In Linux everything is represented within the filesystem. This means that you'll find USB ports, soundcards, hard drive devices, mouse, as well as running processes, open files, memory and even the CPU as well as everything else to run a modern computer represented inside the filesystem directory structure you're presented with.
The Linux kernel is the heart of every system. Each flavour or distribution (distro) of Linux package up their ideas for the best way to use the kernel, offering different ways to install applications, drivers, user interface, etc. The variety is endless.
Note that within each distro are multiple versions. Each distro is distinct and unlikely to do things in the same way, so instructions found online for one might not apply to another.
The vast majority of software available is packaged from source by a distro and made available to you as a package.
You can compile anything from source, but that is a very deep rabbit hole, something you'd want to shy away from for the first year at least.
Packages have dependencies which most package managers attempt to deal with. This works fine if you use the same distro, but has a very high chance of breaking things if you start pulling packages from other distros or versions.
Much can be achieved with a GUI, but the real magic happens on the command line.
To get started, set aside an old machine, or build a virtual machine on your Windows PC and start learning.
I've been using Linux daily since 1999, and I'd recommend that you start with Debian. It's stable, highly compatible, has a massive package collection and is properly documented.
Other distros like Ubuntu are (loosely) based on it.
Whatever you do, take it slow, make regular backups of your data and ask questions.
For learning about the filesystem layout, you can type man hier into a Linux terminal.
Or read the same online: https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/hier.7.html
This is a key point.
I didn't realize this until years later, but man is not just for programs, it's also for concepts like hier, and probably other stuff too.
https://linuxcommand.org/lc3_learning_the_shell.php
One of the more interesting things for me was learning how in depth some of the commands are. For example I wanted to use wget to back up a website that was having issues at the time. I built an advanced command after going through every option and learning what it did.
I can't believe how far I had to scroll to find this. This is what I used to get started. All the important stuff in an easy to digest tutorial. Highly recommend.
Linux Mint or vanilla Ubuntu. They're nice, we'll developed and stable with lots of software available. Never need to use a command line unless you want to
The file system takes some getting used to, but it's similar to Mac. The only folders you need to worry about most of the time are /Home and /Media. Home is where all your stuff is. Media is where you find all your drives and partitions
And they are both easily findable in the file manager in any modern Linux operating system
Install using the debian net installer. Only add a GUI/Desktop Environment through command line and apt. Don't use tasksel.
https://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/
Do this on a laptop that's not mission critical. Barring that, use Tails on a USB drive
Sorry this does not answer your question but zorin os it a great out of the box distro that tries to look and feel like windows and has almost everything you need as part of the installation including wine and play on linux and an rdp client. it has the ubuntu software gui interface but if you use it I would prioritize learning to use apt at the command line as I feel the gui software thing as a bit pants. I used unix extensively in my tech career but did not use it as a daily driver (for a variety of "reasons") till under a year ago where windows 11 just made it necessary to do. I have future plans to go to an immutable but man zorin is great for a quick and dirty up and running thing. Also if you have an old laptop throw it on that. You will be amazed at how it may outperform your newer machine with windows.
In my experience: By bashing your head against it and looking up things online you cant figure out on your own. If that means having to google how to navigate the folder structure, so be it.
It really depends on your approach to learning things. If you're looking for a systematic approach, I really like No Starch Press books for that sort of thing: How Linux Works or Your Linux Toolbox (for a more playful approach).
But in the end there's really no substitute for installing Debian on bare metal and tinkering with it. I would really recommend Debian, because it's the archetype of how Linux systems have been working for the last 30 years or so. Arguably, this is currently changing, but come to grips with Debian before you dabble in more modern approaches to system management.
Install arch the old fashioned way using the installation guide and then maintain it for a year or so. It's not hard but it'll take you some hours to get going if you are just used to buttons which tell you what they do.
you really want to learn linux?
If you ask me:-
I use a combination of my instincts, including distro-hopping, since I began using Linux in 2017, reading articles online about Linux tutorials, and even watching YouTube videos. I gave up on Linux and returned to Windows many times, but it ultimately made me return to Linux because it is meant to be my forever operating system. There are so many Linux tutorials available online, including on YouTube. Indian channels taught me how to install Ubuntu, and that was my most memorable beginning with Linux. I also recommend chatting with current viral technologies such as generative AIs; they'll provide you with answers. So, keep exploring Linux. 😎👍
Before I swapped to linux full-time, I used virtualbox to create test environments from various distros to see which one I liked best.
After testing: EndeavorOS, Manjaro, PopOS, Nobara, Ubuntu, and openSuse
I settled on Endeavor as my main driver and have been running it for over a year now. openSuse came close second for me, and Nobara was a distant last, I really did not like it. The important thing for me was to try several of them in a safe way that would let me experiment on if this was really something I wanted at all.
I don't know if it still exists, but following along with the Gentoo Linux install guide where you build everything from the ground up. I definitely wouldn't daily drive something like that now (I had a lotore free time (and no money) back then), but learning what the commands did was great for learning not just about commands but a number of Linux concepts.
I had a tiny bit of very basic previous experience, mostly with common command line tools like CD, ls, etc.
Doing a dual boot for Windows and Linux Mint is shockingly easy. Mint will do the work for you from the install USB. I think I did that about a year ago, and haven't been back over to Windows in months. 9/10, would recommended.
At this point, troubleshooting, when/if needed, can start with ChatGPT for very basic stuff, then the Linux Mint forum if you happen to come upon a real head scratcher. That's most likely to come from your computer having some obscure or super new component that doesn't have quite the right drivers yet. Which isn't a common experience anyway.