Really wanna understand and learn Linux - is LFS the way?

Delpux

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Good day,

I am pretty new to Linux, have been using Ubuntu for little more than a year now, and played little with Red Hat 23 years ago when I got it on a CD with a computer magazine :)

I really want to get a better and deeper understanding of how it works and get more accustomed to using shell commands. I have been trying to find out what distro I should set up on my new computer - user friendly is not the main issue, since I always have my Ubuntu on the other side of the desk - more like a distro that would force me into understanding and learning.

I am wondering if Linux From Scratch wouldn't be ideal for this purpose? And since I like it much better to have my learning material on paper then I am wondering if someone knows if this book "Linux from Scratch" by Gerard Beekmans, published the year 2000, is good for this purpose or if I should try to find one more recently published? Any recommendations for a good book?
 
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If you want to learn how to build your own Gnu/Linux distro go for LFS, if you just want to learn the functions of the operating system and become a power user any Linux distribution should do. Have a look at different distros, try a few and then pick the one that you like the most since it will probably motivate you if you like the distro you are running.
 
It depends how far you want to go.

Do you want to go this far? Do you need to go this far?

According to Wikipedia the latest release of the LTS book was 1st September 2020. I would not use a book about Linux if it was 20 years old.

There used to be a saying, something like, "If you uses Ubuntu you will learn about Ubuntu. If you want to learn about Linux use Arch Linux."

A very popular book is "The Linux Command Line" by William Shotts.

The Linux Foundation has a more basic course https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-to-linux
 
If you were an aircraft mechanic and also a pilot, you would know way more than you need to about how to fly an airplane. Linux From Scratch is kind of like that. ;)
 
Yes, I gonna try CentOS - do this course above and I just got this really intresting book "Linux Bible" by Christopher Negus (Red Hat focused). From there I'll see if I go playing with Arch or deep down under with LFS
 
Linux From Scratch is fine, be prepared to be overwhelmed, to pay attention very closely to detailed instructions, and have a lot of time - the very first time you get into it. Don't pay any attention to any other instructions except what is shown at the LFS web site.
 
Yes, I gonna try CentOS - do this course above and I just got this really intresting book "Linux Bible" by Christopher Negus (Red Hat focused). From there I'll see if I go playing with Arch or deep down under with LFS

I have the 8th edition and now I have the 10th edition. I'm working my way through it, only about 1/3 of the way through. It has a ton of new information that wasn't in the 8th edition, as quite a bit has changed. I've mentioned it on the site a handful of times, 'cause I both like it and recommend it.

While RedHat is used a lot, the book is pretty universal (from my reading, at least).

I highly recommend folks take a look at it. It's a pretty valuable resource. I'm frequently learning more about Linux, and books are one of the ways I do this.

Amusingly, I searched by ISBN and some of the first links were to pirated PDFs. I don't really condone piracy of books and won't link to any, but if you do pirate it then you should buy a copy. It was only like $60 and worth every penny.
 
Linux from scratch is a bit of a leap from Ubuntu.
Before trying LFS- you could perhaps try installing arch Linux, the traditional arch way.

That should hopefully give you a slightly lower level understanding of how a Linux distro is put together, using pre-built software components.

Then perhaps try LFS, where you’ll be compiling and installing everything from scratch.
 

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