Hi Guys,

I have been a Linux user for about 7 years now. I am currently going to college and one of the degree requirements is to take a basic Linux Fundamentals class. (3 credits) Well, If I obtain the Linux+ certification I will be able to get 3 credits for this class and save money, not to mention, save 3 hours of my life every week for 16 weeks! lol Anyways, which Distros should I practice with? I use Mint for my laptop and Debian for file server. I have installed CentOS but I don't like RPM too much. What things should I focus on?
Thank you!

How much is the course?

To earn your Linux+ certification there are two exams LXO-101 & LXO102. Each exam is around around 140 USD a piece (maybe check as it's been a while since I have) but you need to pass both of them in order to achieve your designation.

I recently passed the second part of the cert LX0-102 which gave me Linux+. In acheiving that you also get the 3 in 1 cert as CompTIA forwards your scores to LPI (Linux Professional Institute) which give you LPIC-1 and then Novell where you earn your CNLA (Certified Novell Linux Administrator). The exams aren't easy and you have to know your syntaxes and distros as it's vendor neutral and agnostic.

To practice I suggest Debian (either vanilla Debian or Ubuntu) and for .rpm - the best is CentOS which is the direct un-commercial version of RHEL. Better get to the liking of .rpm as it's major part of RHEL (the biggest commercialized Linux distro in the world) and very heavily used on the Linux+ tests not to mention production systems around the world : )

Grab the Linux+ syllabus from the CompTIA website and follow that - if you can do all of that you're on your way to being proficient using Linux.

Hope this helps - keep us posted

Good luck!

you should almost never ( there are exceptions ) need to use rpm to install software .
redhat as of rhel5 ( and backed ported to 4 ) uses "yum"

yum works WAY better than apt-???
-- i use root for anything dealing with yum and installing software

What John says is correct but there are examples (both on the exam) and in a real production environment where you will have to download or install a .rpm file either from a vendor or third party source. The rpm command has many switches you can use to query the archive to see what you are installing.

Bottom line is you should know what rpm -qa or rpm -qpl or rpm -U or rpm -i means etc etc etc....

It's expected during testing and is very much applicable in the real world as an admin!

Hope this helps!

Keep us posted

Thank you Linuxlearner17 and John... The course is about $600 not including the useless book the school would make me purchase (about $100) + 3 hours per week times 16 weeks of a semester... I think the Linux+ sounds better. I checked Comptia's website and yes, I need to take 2 exams before I can become certified, I thought it was only one. I purchased "LPIC-1/Comptia Linux+" book from Robb Tracy and this covers both exams. I will install both Debian and CentOS on my pc (virtual) and practice. Thank you very much!
I will keep you posted!

Bah... let me give you a bit of wisdom from someone who spent several decades(!) teaching at a (community) college ... and who still does.

If you're going to college, and one of the requirements is "Linux Fundamentals," all you really need to do is to pay a visit to the department chair. Talk to him or her about what you've already done, and what you already know. It ought to be fairly easy to convince that individual that, in your case, the requirement is clearly irrelevant and ought to be excluded. (Even the "Linux+ alternative" ... which was put into place by some academic committee, (heh) ... might be "clearly irrelevant" in your case.)

Therefore: "make an appointment, and then, very politely, make your case." The curriculum, the course of study, is a generic thing ... but every student's background is unique. If you truly do not need to take a course, then it would be a waste of resources to blindly make you do so. Frankly, that "course-seat" (a very finite resource ...) might be much better spent accommodating some other student's butt ... someone who does need to take the class! A department chairman is, for this very reason, empowered to make such a call.

"Authority has its privileges."

P.S.: B-u-t i-f him-or-her responds "in the negative," then listen very closely to his-or-her explanation ... because you will learn something very-important about "the designers' intent" concerning the degree program of which you are a part. If such a judgment should be handed down, accept it.

Hi sundialsvcs,

I did ask the head of the department and she said that the only way for me to get the credit for that class is to have the Linux+. Ugh! well, I have already started reading. I installed CENTos on a virtual machine and that's what I use to practice.

The information you shared above is great. I have been reading all details you described here. In this you described very well. If I want any more guideline I will contact you here https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-florida lottery-certification-46/linux-4175476198/

@Wadabanda

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well almost 10 years later let me tell you what i did:

- took the course
- bought my own Linux+ book not that one the college required
- got an A+ grade but did not take Linux+ exam

Who would have thought then that CentOS will stop long term support?

Today, I run 5 production Debian servers and my main O/S is Debian. I still do not have the Linux+ cert!

cheers!