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Nicholas Gaerlan
9,501 PointsLinux users, Which distro do you use?
I'm looking to play around with Linux since I don't have the $$$ to throw down on a MacBook Pro and most servers out there run on Linux so it's probably a good idea to be familiar with the OS.
I know everyone will give some variation of "the right distro depends on... [a bunch of factors]". I don't care about that, I want to know WHAT DISTRO OF LINUX DO YOU USE? Why do you like it over another distro?
I'm trying to get a feel for what's popular in the community. So far my research has pointed me in the direction of Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, and RedHat / Fedora.
6 Answers
Michael Hulet
47,913 PointsI've always been an Ubuntu user. That's what I use to power all my servers, and in the time I spent experimenting with a Linux desktop, it's the distro I used. It seems to have the most support of any Linux-based distro, so you'll find the most documentation and software for it. That being said, I have at least a couple friends that are really happy with Mint, which I think is Ubuntu-based
Zachary Kaufman
1,463 PointsThanks for asking this, I have been looking into Linux. The only thing holding me back is not knowing how to get it on a computer as its primary OS... but maybe someday soon Treehouse will do a workshop on it :D I've heard the best things from Ubuntu or Fedora. I would suggest looking at this article too, I used it when I was originally researching linux. https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major Good luck!
Michael Hulet
47,913 PointsHere's a good tutorial on how to install Ubuntu. The process is essentially the same for any other OS you might wanna try. You'll just use that OS's installer instead of Ubuntu. Be sure to back up all your data first!
Gavin Johnston
50 PointsDownload your chosen Linix Distro > Burn to Disc > Insert Disc > Go to Boot Menu > Boot from Disc > Follow on Screen instructions > Done!
Gavin Johnston
50 PointsI'd definately start with Ubuntu, it has a huge user base, its usually very stable and if you're new to the console its very easy to pick up. From there its always good to try the othe flavours and see what suits you. Debian and CentOS are very popular server OS so they are particularly good to know. I currently use Fedora myself; the updates are reguar and stable, great gnome intergration and a great community.
Nicholas Gaerlan
9,501 PointsI tried installing it on my win10 machine w/ virtualBox. Runs a bit slow, but I was mostly playing with the terminal. There are terminal emulators that are snappier tho. I have an old laptop lying around. I'd like setup a few old computers doing different things. One as a webserver using apache and/or nginx, another one as a database w MySQL and/or Postgres. Maybe an email server for the hell of it. Just to play around with the environments. Maybe that's overboard tho. I'm also just starting to play with the cloud 9 IDE and it's pretty good. Uses environment variables in place of localhost and port. if there's a better cloud/virtual environment out there that will allow me to accomplish the same things.
Michael Hulet
47,913 PointsIf you just wanna try out an OS and possibly use it as a server, but don't wanna mess with your own hardware, you could buy a VPS. My favorite is DigitalOcean. My website (running on Nignx) runs on one of their base-tier $5 per months droplets, and does just fine. I also host a Slack bot (running on Node.js) and a super basic IP address checker (a Flask server) on the same server. I also run my own mail server, but the combination of Postfix and Dovecot and MySQL and Nginx and everything that goes into it altogether need a bit more power, so I'm hosting that on one of their low-tier $20 per month droplet. VPSs are an awesome introduction to DevOps/Linux imo
Nicholas Gaerlan
9,501 PointsThanks! That's exactly what I'm looking for. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy spending a day tinkering around with computers on a network, but I'm getting older and lazier so this is perfect.
Gavin Johnston
50 PointsIf you're looking to rent a VPS service for learning I would recommend vultr.com. The reason I suggest this is because if you are new to the console you are going to make a lot of mistakes (which can be very hard to fix!) and Vultr allows you to manually delete a VPS whenever you want and fire up a new one instantly! (most other hosts do not) the beauty is they charge you for time used as opposed to a set fee (like most others), this means you can fire up a VPS and use it for a few hours then delete it and you wont be charged again untill you create another.
Michael Hulet
47,913 PointsDigitalOcean does this, too (in fact, this is fairly standard nowadays). You can use DigitalOcean's base tier for less than a penny an hour (they charge hourly at a stupid low rate), and destroy and recreate it whenever you want. I personally like DigitalOcean because they have easy guides on how to do anything you want, and they make security a priority at their data centers. I've always been very happy with them since I've been using them for the past few years. You can use my referral link to sign up and get $10 in credit
Zachary Kaufman
1,463 PointsWhy doesn't anyone make PC's with linux built in instead of Windows? I mean I get that for most careers Windows is far more valuable, but I mean there's not even a section in local best buys for linux computers, it just doesn't exist... Why?
Gavin Johnston
50 PointsI guess the different flavours of Linux are a lot more user friendly than they used to be. Whilst Debian was building a powerful console that would make your average user run a mile Windows was busy taking over the market with a user friendly OS that requires no console skills. Even today Linux can be a little daunting to computer geeks like us.