Brand new linux user

[Jayad]

Hiya guys,

For some time now I’ve had an interest in the Linux world, I love the concept of open source and the freedom your given. Frankly i believe that learning Linux will help satisfy my fascination of how operating systems work and provide a base for my fledging hobby of website design/web hosting.

That how I got hear really. Couple of years ago I investigated all the requirements I would need to host a private forum for my friends. I achieved a lot in a short time, rented some webspace (with all the appropriate languages and database capacity) and installed a PHP based “Content Management System”. It worked brilliantly but I was honest with myself, I didn’t have a clue about PHP code, SQL queries or the server architecture to implement effective administration. This doesn’t sit well with me at all and my original challenge has really been overshadowed by a nagging obsession with Linux.

My research so far:

Select relevant distro architecture (e.g. x86 or x86-64 depending on my system)
Understand how to burn distro images onto disks (I know how to do this)
Understand Boot loaders, GRUB seems to be common (but won’t get too side tracked with this)
KDE or Gnome (really have no idea which is better, probably a personal thing)
Ubuntu seems to be the best windows – Linux crossover
Fedora seems to be the distro of choice for competent users
Learning the shell is essential (this is why i jumped on Linux anyway)

I’ve done more research but suffice it to say, I’m on track I think. This seems to be the largest most active Linux community around, so hi all

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

It sounds like you are on track. Hope you will enjoy Linux.

[techieMoe]

My research so far:

Select relevant distro architecture (e.g. x86 or x86-64 depending on my system)
Understand how to burn distro images onto disks (I know how to do this)
Understand Boot loaders, GRUB seems to be common (but won’t get too side tracked with this)
KDE or Gnome (really have no idea which is better, probably a personal thing)

If you haven't found answers to all of those questions yet, several of them are answered here:

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/lin...ead-first.html

Good luck in your search for a distribution.

Ubuntu seems to be the best windows – Linux crossover
Fedora seems to be the distro of choice for competent users
Learning the shell is essential (this is why i jumped on Linux anyway)

"Distro of choice" is a very personal thing. Just like KDE/Gnome, you're going to run into many varied opinions. Everyone has their favorite. If you're relatively competent in using Linux, you can do just about anything you want on any distribution out there. Focus on Linux competency and ignore the distro politics. Find one that works for you and dig deep.

[Jayad]

"Distro of choice" is a very personal thing. Just like KDE/Gnome, you're going to run into many varied opinions. Everyone has their favorite. If you're relatively competent in using Linux, you can do just about anything you want on any distribution out there. Focus on Linux competency and ignore the distro politics. Find one that works for you and dig deep.

Luckily i have found many of the answers to the initial challenge of getting a working linux platform running. Its been fun getting stuck in.

The distro politics as you acurately put it has been confusing to me, but its nice to know that at there core (or maybe at there kernal heh) they behave in a similar way ignoring the GUI's. This is helpfull to know, it was a slight worry that maybe the organisations significantly alter the comands in a shell or the file structure. Maybe they do, but im guessing that at a beginners level i won't see this untill later.

I assume that if i focus on learning from the command line, i should avoid a lot of distro specific functions. im sure ill be ok, and thanks guys for the welcome

[techieMoe]

The distro politics as you acurately put it has been confusing to me, but its nice to know that at there core (or maybe at there kernal heh) they behave in a similar way ignoring the GUI's.

Yes, in order for an operating system to call itself "Linux" it must use the Linux kernel. There's only a few permutations of it and by and large all the major distributions use the same one. The only real difference is what minor version (such as 2.6.22-17 versus 2.6.22-19). This rarely affects any of the basic behavior of the OS.

This is helpfull to know, it was a slight worry that maybe the organisations significantly alter the comands in a shell or the file structure. Maybe they do, but im guessing that at a beginners level i won't see this untill later.

Some distributions do use slightly different organizational schemes, but it's usually something minor like putting all their configurations in /usr/local/ instead of /etc/. Again, this doesn't affect the way the underlying OS behaves, you just need to be aware of it when looking for a config file.

[jayd512]

Hi, Jayad! Welcome aboard!

Only one (playfully joking) comment here...

Fedora seems to be the distro of choice for competent users

ROFL! I only say that because for the last year and a half, as a complete noob myself, I have ran Fedora almost exclusively! But it did, however, lead me into a deeper understanding of the OS itself, as well as the underlying filesystem. And what techieMoe said about the differences being minor as far as where a config file here as opposed to there... I been learning that myself over the last month or so. But once you start digging into it, you'll be able to piece it all together!

Again, Welcome!

[Jayad]

ROFL! I only say that because for the last year and a half, as a complete noob myself, I have ran Fedora almost exclusively! But it did, however, lead me into a deeper understanding of the OS itself, as well as the underlying filesystem. And what techieMoe said about the differences being minor as far as where a config file here as opposed to there... I been learning that myself over the last month or so. But once you start digging into it, you'll be able to piece it all together!

Again, Welcome!

Thanks for the welcome

Overall I’m less scared of things. Just read an excerpt from one of my books making the analogy of distros as different car models, they all work the same but may look different and include a range of extras. I’m learning a bit more every day, almost ready to install something on one of my old pc’s, can’t wait tbh.

Anyway thanks for the commentary.