25 replies to this topic

[prest]

Hey folks!!

I am new to linux. Which distrubution and books would u recommend to start with?


Big Thx

[ipchain]

Howdy,

      Well, personally I haven't used many distributions so I can only recommend what I have used. I managed a shell server a couple of years ago for a friend of mine as a hobby, and it ran on Red Hat Linux 7.0. Back then I also installed it on my computer, and I dual-booted between Linux and Windows XP.

I believe this is a pretty good distribution to start with, check the current version because 7.0 will most likely be outdated.

For books, I used Sybex and found it to be quite comprehensive. It should get you through the exam with no problems at all. Another book I've read some reviews about is "Linux+ in depth". Please check those out as they will be an excellent resouce for information.

Good Luck!  

[prest]

i just got fedora 7 "new versions of red hat". I was acctually thinking about ubuntu.

[ipchain]

That's right, Fedora seems to be the newest version of Red Hat. Also I have heard nothing but good things about Ubuntu, in fact a friend of mine runs it at work and he's quite happy with it.

My suggestion would be to try them both, and keep the one you like the most. Make sure you measure other things as well...scalability,stability, and so forth.

Edited by ipchain, 31 March 2007 - 07:08 PM.

[Alexie]

I'm currently Using Fedora 4 (old I know) & the Red Hat Fedora Bible that I got a while ago and find it quite good. also If you're thinking of just learning or taking the Linux+ I recommend getting the Mike Meyers Learn Key Training videos, quite good.

[ipchain]

I'm currently Using Fedora 4 (old I know) & the Red Hat Fedora Bible that I got a while ago and find it quite good. also If you're thinking of just learning or taking the Linux+ I recommend getting the Mike Meyers Learn Key Training videos, quite good.

Great to know, thanks for sharing that info!

I can also recommend Ubuntu for someone new to Linux. I had the chance to see it the other day at work, and it looks awesome.

I guess it comes down to testing different distributions, and deciding what works best for you.

[Jayton]

Great to know, thanks for sharing that info!

I can also recommend Ubuntu for someone new to Linux. I had the chance to see it the other day at work, and it looks awesome.

I guess it comes down to testing different distributions, and deciding what works best for you.

Yes, it does come down to testing different "distro's" (distributions) and finding the one for you! I started with Mandrake (now called Mandriva) Linux for a few months, tried Red Hat 9 for a little while (2 hours   ) then moved on to FreeBSD, which technically is not Linux, but I wont get into the great Linux/BSD war now. It is an OS closer to the real UNIX. I found it harder to configure for say, mounting a CD or USB key (prior to Gnome 2.16) than Windows XP or Linux. But now with the newer Gnome and a few simple configuration steps I can watch DVD's on my BSD system, where my father-in-law can't watch them on his Ubuntu Linux.

For ease of use in a GUI environment Linux would probably be better for most people, although PC-BSD is coming along really well and I am impressed with it so far, other than it using KDE instead of GNOME. For learning shell scripting, any distro will suffice if working from a CLI (command line interface).
For real heavy duty servers with high security in mind, I would suggest any of the BSD's, (NetBSD, OpenBSD or FreeBSD) as they have far less security flaws and most "crackers" either try exploit Linux or Windows servers, whereas due to the design of the BSD OS's they are not susceptible to most of the same security issues as Linux.

I love BSD! Linux is good for beginners! Windows is fine for the IT illiterate! Mac OSX is a rip off of BSD!

      :smilie_tanz_008:  

[Alexie]

I've just swapped over from Fedora to Suse and I'm finding it a lot more user friendly than fedora. Although I have just more or less started out with Linux. The accompanying book (Beginning Suse Linux, By Apress publishing) I s very well written for a newbie, straightforward and to the point. Also there's a version of the same book written for Unbuntu.
For now I'm sticking with Suse until I become more or less semi-pro and then try loads of other distributions.

BTW you can also take a test online that asks you a number of questions and then recommends a number of linux distros for you to try.

[the_test_that_stumped_them_all]

Ubuntu, Mepis, PCLinuxOS, possibly Mandrake. Ummm...Fedora Core possibly, though I had a lot of problems with FC6. Seemed really buggy and some consider it more of a middle-road distro. Maybe Freespire. I have a couple of books, the Ubuntu Bible, Spring into Linux. Research, investigate. Google is your friend, and I don't mean that in any denigrating, derogatory way.

A classmate of mine overheard some judges discussing the pro's and cons of Linux at the area skills competition.

One guy was trying to convince the rest of how great Linux was, the others resisting.

His response when one guy complained that Linux's documentation was spotty at best....

UHHH...Linux's documentation is far from spotty...It's called   !!!

[jchris]

UHHH...Linux's documentation is far from spotty...It's called   !!!

It's a matter of fact it's called tldp.org (The Linux Documentation Project).


I've been monitoring this particular forum for a little while now and surprisingly my impression of a lot of the people taking this exam is that most of you don't have any hands on or practical experience or knowledge of a Linux OS whatsoever. Most of you still seemed challenged with the idea of a particular distro, and this particular post has someone switching from Fedora to openSUSE and finding it much easier... These distros are both RPM based and the difference between the two is not that substantial.

The exam certifies an individual with a minimum of six to twelve months of practical Linux experience. Since this exams inception the revisions it's received have now made it an actual qualifying measure of Linux knowledge, and it's actually looked upon with some respect at this point.

Keeping that in mind, it is my feeling that most of you actually go and use linux. Toss your learners for now and focus on something else until you actually have some practical knowledge to apply, and then go test it.

Try looking at it this way. If someone who has just begun using computers or the Windows OS were to approach you and talk about going to write a qualifying exam for having up to one year of hands on Windows experience what would you really think? I know I would most likely tell them to not cheap themselves, and that they should go and actually use it, before they got carried away writing an exam which in effect would certify them for having that experience.

This again is an inherent problem of certifications. In this case most of you, (not all) will have paper that effectually states an untruth about your real experience.

[jchris]

Hey again.

Thanks for the replies.

I didn't want to come across as being filled with ridicule... It is just my general feeling that thus far (after wading through postings) people seem to be more along the lines of 'Going for my Linux+! Never used Linux before, what books, what distros!?' That sort of general thing. As I lightly noted, I don't support that, and it's what I consider the wrong approach for various reasons. Perhaps I have surmised things improperly, but I'm sure you'll still agree that regardless of context, it is a valid point.  

Cherrycat, regarding the RPM comment. I'm citing that both Redhat and openSUSE are both RPM based distributions (although unrelated) and use Redhat Package Management (Yum/Yast). Ubuntu is built on a debian kernel and uses dpkg for its native package management. There isn't a great deal of difference between Ubuntu and Kubuntu. The real differences are only supposed to be GNOME vs. KDE optimizations.

BTW just in case you didn't know, Debian is just about as close to an official GNU distribution as you can get!

ps. Can't wait for Fedora 7 in a couple of weeks! And in case you didn't know, they have officially removed 'core' from this release name. I never did really like it, ever since  they started with core 1.  

[the_test_that_stumped_them_all]

Personally, I don't know if I even want the Linux + cert, but I do want to gain more knowlege of Linux...and Unix.  The highest paying job postings for IT in my area are the ones asking for knowledge of Unix...and as anyone who knows the history of Linux will tell you, it's heavily Unix based.    

My textbook from school comes with Fedora Core 2.  I didn't mind it, and might just install that when I get around to it.  Or I might go with Ubuntu or something...not quite sure.  I've got Fedora 6 too, and a classmate has Debian.

I'm quite overwelmed with all the choices...basically what I'd studied in school was Unix administration using Linux, so a version intended for use as a server would be ideal (something with with support for AMD 64 bit processors would be nice too).  

I plan to go back from the beginning of my book and start over.  Then as I get more comfortable, I'll consider taking on more ambitious projects not covered in the book.

[jchris]

"In my opinion, Linux+ is an entry-level certification..."

...I don't claim to be an expert in Linux in any sense of the word; in fact, I'm VERY inexperienced with it.

I'm sorry, but I disagree here. Isn't it funny how we have varying degrees of experience and insight!...  

I stated in a prior posting that since the recent revision (002) of this certification, that it is now being looked upon with some respect. It's original inception made it somewhat of a joke, but now it's actually a qualifier of Linux knowledge. I'm not sure how you could suppose that opinion when you state that you have very little experience.

IMHO, an example of something entry-level (or even a joke for that matter) is an MCP. You can actually fail a Microsoft exam and still be granted the title of an MCP, providing that you register and attempt it. Sorry cbrzana, but I like this certification, and I believe that adding people to it's roster that don't actually possess the skills it's supposed to certify is the wrong idea and approach.

Imagine becoming a "Linux Certified Professional" for even attempting this exam. Now that would be funny...  Again: Microsoft?... hello?...    ...hello?

Don't get me all wrong, I do agree with most all of the points you made in your last posting here, but I just had to pickup on the ones that struck me as challenging.  

Edited by jchris, 25 May 2007 - 03:14 PM.

[jchris]

You can actually fail a Microsoft exam and still be granted the title of an MCP, providing that you register and attempt it.

Ok.. Now I was almost positive that I'd read this information a couple of places before. Notably their own website. I can't find it anymore, so can anyone clarify that this is correct?

Thanks!  

[CrimsonKingFF]

Ok.. Now I was almost positive that I'd read this information a couple of places before. Notably their own website. I can't find it anymore, so can anyone clarify that this is correct?

Thanks!  

I posted something on this a long while back in the A+ forums that was hotly debated. I actually talked to microsoft reps, as well as CompTIA reps, and they BOTH told me, that if you pass your A+ and Network+, you are credited with a microsoft optional exam towards our MCSA/MCSE. However, you still need to take a test to receive what's called a "Microsoft ID". You will get one of these ID's even IF you fail or pass, because technically, by passing the A+ and Network+, you have passed a microsoft exam.

So! You only get to be an MCP if you pass those two comptia exams, OR you take a microsoft exam and PASS IT without the comptia certs.

Got it? GOOD! Now let's stop talking about it

[JR-13]

I was actually curious as to which Linux distro I should study up on as there are varying degrees of differences regarding file locations between distributions.  For instance, Slackware uses the BSD init-style layout whereas Fedora/Ubuntu/Mandriva use SystemV.  (/etc/rc.d/x <-Slackware versus /etc/init.d/x<-Fedora/Ubuntu/MDV) and wasn't sure which version the Linux+ exam follows.  While the commands are the same, the locations are different depending on which distro you're using.

Also, I'm a moderator at a Linux site (openaddict.com) and one of our members passed his Linux+ test using Mandriva as a study guide, but wasn't sure if the Linux+ cert exam was updated at all recently to actually include some of the differences between distro's.  I took a CompTIA practice exam, got 8 right out of 10 questions (should have been 9 but I picked 2 answers for one question) and also took the Flash Card tutorial on this site and got 25 out of 30 right.

I was just curious if anyone here passed the Linux+ exam and could give me a heads-up as to which distro I should use.  Right now, I have Ubuntu 7.04 installed on my main laptop as a dual-boot with XP, I have Sabayon (Gentoo derivitive) on an older desktop system, and have PCLOS and Arch Linux on my older Dell and HP laptops.

[BYLMDMAN78]

Need help finding SOLID guitar recording software for Linux.  I am currently using Ultimate Edition Ubuntu 1.4.
Also, could anyone recommend a multieffects 'processor' application?

[wisedrunkard]

Hi all. I'm studying for the A+ certification exam but thought I'd pop into the linux forum, because I use ubuntu. I have programming experience in C++ and Unix, and I can honestly say that it's helped me a great deal with the operating system.

But, I'm far from recommending ubuntu to only experts. I have many friends who were astounded at the capabilities and functionality of the OS. They've had no problem becoming ubuntu savvy in very little time (and typically they have very little computer knowledge).

So, I'd recommend ubuntu to anyone who has the patience and the curiosity. Hope you find something you enjoy.

[wisedrunkard]

Sorry for double posting. But I forgot to mention that ubuntu recently got multimillion dollar backing. It's being developed professionally and currently releases a new version (which you can download for free) every 2 years. I see a bright future ahead