I'm trying to get everyones opinion on which distro would be the to use to supplement the study materials for these tests. Since they are both neutral I'm guessing that they will cover both rpm based and deb based distros along with everything else. I have SuSE 9.3 for a desktop and also RHEL v. 4 for a server but should I use something else like Debian or Gentoo, or is my current set up sufficiant?

I have the LPI study guide and I took an online LPI 101 course. Now that was last year and it may have changed.

But, it seemed to be RedHat centric. I was using Suse 9.1 to follow along and it doesn't always match up. However, it was easy to see the differences and figure out what you need to know.

I didn't see anything about Debian or it's means of packaging. RPM use is covered as it's own topic.

I thought you had the option when you booked the exam to choose either Redhat (RPM) or Debian based (.deb) install?

Can anyone confirm this?

Neil.

The LPI website says the following:

1.14 I see there are two versions of the 101 exam - RPM and DPKG. What's this all about?

The LPI exam 101 has been re-published and is available with the following modules on package management as a small part of the exam.

* LPI-101-DPKG (this module offers questions on Debian's package management).
* LPI-101-RPM (this module offers questions on RedHat's package management).

The remainder of the exam is exactly the same.

You need to pass only one of these exams for the Level 1 certification, and along with a pass on exam 102 you will receive your Level 1 certification.

source: http://lpi.org/en/faq1.html#1.14

I'm taking the test in August. Still haven't decided which to take but am strongly leaning toward the Debian version.