Linux preference question
 

I know this will open up a can of worms, but I really wanted to get opinions on something that might help myself as well as others in their on going learning of Linux.

If you wanted to learn Linux from the ground up, and wanted to be able to say after your were done, that you had a good grasp of the Linux OS, what Linux OS distribution would you use and why????

Thanks for your input on this. :)

BTW I noticed in the distribution forum gentoo was not included.

I wanted to try gentoo and got a bit into the installation till I found out that I couldn't do a stage1 installation so I stopped. But I really found a lot of new stuff in that, especially in lowlevel configuration. But I don't think someone who's new to linux would notice most of those things as it's basic follow the guide and don't do anything else.

I'm using debian myself. It has a lot of autoconfiguration I think so I don't think it's really good in learning the insides of linux.

Now there's also a difference in knowing about the inner workings of linux which you'll see some stuff about with gentoo and know your way around as in being able to do stuff in it. Then I'd say any distro would be OK if you can take it from say command line only to a graphical 'desktop' if you need to do. That'll give you both command line skills as well, as graphical skills aren't needed since it's often intuitive.

But really I think you learn most is by wanting to do something and then do it. For example I wanted my wireless card to work and made it work in the process learning compiling from source and kernel compiling, about the kernel and modules, about text file configuration, about runlevels and the startup scripts, about workings of the internet, about the debian package tools and I think even more. It was the first thing I did and I think it's still the most important thing I did in it. It was all command line work and you'll need to learn that to use linux to the max without asking everytime you have to do something.

And you can't find a gentoo forum here because they have their own forums and www.gentoo.org so no need to get one here as well.

I think you'll find most people start with an easy to use distribution, because you have to be able to install it and get it working before you can learn anything. If you try to start with Gentoo right away, you are likely to get frustrated...but maybe not, it depends on your tenacity:)

linuxmarine; newbie to newbie, first started by way of reading everything linux till familair with syntax, jargon with comfort then acquired cd`s to try on pc
with cd for exploring distrobutions. ie:
mdk,RH,Debien,stormmix etc. settled with MDK 8.1 debating upgrading to MDK
9.2 & MDK10 & still learning it never stops.

Thank you for your input!!! :)
I really appreciate it. It seems each one you have done some experimenting with the different dist. to find out which one suits your needs. And, in doing so you learned a lot about Linux in general. :study: