I know someone who is a Linux enthusiast who recently landed a job where he is expected to do serious work around Linux. I offered some advice, and when I was done, though it may be worth sharing here. If he’s pretty nerdy like me, he’s probably wondering how he can get started right now, even though he doesn’t officially start for a couple of weeks. Below is the e-mail I gave him; it has suggestions to follow, particularly for someone who has a short time between after that first Linux job before actually starting. My next post will probably be suggestions to follow if you haven’t yet got that job, but are looking.
Learn POSIX or Bash Shell Scripting
If you want to get a head start, we do a lot of shell scripting, so you can have a look at these guides for getting started with shell scripting:
Super hard-core nerdery and installing Gentoo
You previously mentioned compiling Gentoo. It has the reputation that you have to be super hard-core nerdy to be able to install it, but to be honest, I’d highly recommend against it; it’s mostly a waste of time, and the system it produces (if overlays are involved) can be quite fragile. The things you learn doing that are very Gentoo-specific, and not really useful for dealing with Linux in general. The best way to learn Linux is by using it. With distributions like Fedora and Ubuntu, you’re not really using Linux, you’re using Fedora or Ubuntu, which are using Linux. They hide much of the parts of Linux that we really use in our work. I would highly recommend installing Arch Linux, which is a pretty pure Linux system - you will learn how Linux works without all the extra stuff that is Gentoo-specific, and it’s pretty quick to setup and start using. If you want to go even more raw, Slackware is there, and the Slackware book is awesome.
Finally, the ultimate step (as far as building a Linux system goes) is Linux From Scratch. This is what separates the children from the grown-ups. You start out even more basic than Gentoo starts, and the skills you learn with this actually are generically useful. However, the system you end up with in the end isn’t that useful because you will spend a lot of time either maintaining it or developing tools to maintain it for you, and at that point what you end up with is your own distribution.
Be the first to write a comment!