So I've been using casually for about a 3-4 years, but haven't really become a master yet and I'd like to change that.
Obviously the first step is installing Gentoo, so I'm doing that today, but any other tips or advice for learning would be welcome.
Other urls found in this thread:
github.com
arkos32.readthedocs.io
admin.com
twitter.com
As an example, I installed Arch as a nice stepping stone from Debian but really only learned to type in pacman instead of apt-get. I'd really like to learn the nuts and bolts and be able to apply what I learn to my own problems I encounter, rather than needing help for a every little task I attend (as is my current state).
Make sure you understand all commands you run, with the guidance of man pages and search engines. When you need help, do your own research.
That's it. No gentoo necessary. Can be frustrating, though.
The power user stuff really comes with experience, not marginally-more-ricer distros. Make shell scripts, schedule cronjobs, learn what all the system folders are there for. These will teach you more than distro hopping. Portage is not a whole lot different than Arch in practice aside from use flags, which results in little practical difference in the end.
Digging into debug output and logs when things break will only get you so far, unless you learn the ins and outs of every major piece of software. (You won't, and you shouldn't try to.) At best, it should tell you which piece of the puzzle is broken and should be replaced, rolled back, etc. If you've installed an Arch system from scratch, there's not much else Gentoo can teach you.
Is it obvious? What do you think installing Gentoo will do for you?
If you're not learning to drive in a Ford, buying a Chevy won't change anything. Distro-hopping won't help you learn Linux.
This insecurity about arch... systemd cancer
Yeah, gentoo is the way to go to force you into learning. Yeah, you can learn a new language by reading books, by learning vocabulary lists; but the best way and more fun way is to let yourself in the foreign country, trying hard at each interraction to learn and do your best.
Don't listen all the archlinux faggots.
Go for gentoo. Then you'll know, according to what you want, where to go.
A tip: You have to understand each command you type. Don't "work", try to do it the fun way. Use only the command line (it's pretty hard at the start). Same goes for emacs. I started to truly learn emacs when I remove the arrow keys, to force me using its full power.
It takes time, but since it's literally the only way for you to go, you'll learn in pretty quickly. That's, from my point of view, the best way to learn. Because you're forced to, or you can't even use your system.
Do it the hard way. Don't listen to all the faggot. Especially if you're no in IT, and you do it to learn by yourself how to hack, or how to escape surveillance.
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Also, try out NixOS or GuixSD for a really modern, cutting-edge way to config your Linux install.
I want Gentoo so I'm less enabled, and therefore less likely to nope out and just use GUI or copy pasta'd commands. I know Gentoo isn't really necessary to master linux, but it holds your hand the least, AFAIK (save for the odd exceptions like LFS).
I started writing my own scripts on NixOS, but the PATH variables and such JUST'd me pretty hard, so I decided before using NixOS, I need to go back and really master traditional Linux. I was having trouble installing from source on about every script, and was just way over my head.
Don't even know what these are, so thanks. Certainly a lot to learn and I appreciate the leads.
I feared this, and after running Gentoo awhile a back with no problems felt I'd run into the same rut I always do. So I guess I'll just focus more on what you detailed in your post, and other advice in this thread.
Hold my hand a little bit less.
So can you offer constructive advice on how I do? ..Hence the thread.
I'll work on this. It'd be nice
Will do, kind of reminds of how one might 'power level' in a video game.
Ha, yeah.. I should do the same.
It seems a lot of your advice is the logical extension of "installing Gentoo". By removing all crutches you force yourself to learn rapidly.
I'm actually coming from NixOS (intended to level up to GuixSD after I get a blob free wifi driver), but I got my ass handed to me way too often. They aren't good for noobies, because if you run into a novel problem, existing documentation and support exist for more traditional OS's, and is a little scarce for NixOS/GuixSD. It's been my daily driver, but I'm fluent enough at rolling my own packages and troubleshooting the problems, so I'm installing Gentoo on a seperate drive for a more stable and productive environment for random stuff. I still love NixOS for spinning up my own environments/shells, and rollbacks are real /comfy/.
Thanks for all the PDFs.
Yeah if you want to master Gentoo. There's a reason it's a meme.
Install Gen too.
Can't you just set up a Linux Server inside a VM and tinker with it? You get some systems administrator experience as well as learning how Linux works. And you get to keep whatever distro you have currently installed.
This faggotry.
Install the hardass distro.
Buy a VPS and install a VPN/email server/what you want on it.
Use vim, emacs is completely retarded
Let's compare a common situation in both editors.
Situation: You are typing and you want to save so you don't lose your work
emacs: C-x C-s
vim: ESC : w RET i
In emacs you do the whole thing with three key presses all with the same hand.
In vim you have to hit 5 keys which alternate on either side of the keyboard.
Don't learn UNIX, lest you get brain damage.
Don't learn windows, lest you die of old age and cancer
:ino qm :wa
Psssssh nottin personnel kid.
I didn't say that. Sadly the only operating environment that's tolerable nowadays is UNIX. I miss the LispMs.
C-x C-sC-x C-k b M-]
This takes 10 less key presses in emacs to rebind save to taking two keys
Write your own operating system, it's what I'm doing.
I'm following the wiki.osdev.org guides; trying to stay as close to the linux kernel as possible in terms of coding practices, structure, and the like they already did the heavy lifting there, why reinvent the wheel?says the man reinventing the wheel
There's a lot more to learn than you might think. I recommend following the tutorials and writing out everything line by line, it'll really help you understand just what is going on 'under the hood'.
This took me about two days of work:
github.com
and the docs are a work in progress
arkos32.readthedocs.io
Definitely want to document as much as you can when you're writing it.
The entire point of higher level programming languages is ease of understanding, not less keystrokes.
Don't justify your retardation.
If you can't learn how emacs works, that's your problem.
Actually, even in 20 years, you'll not touch the end. Emacs is massive in term of possibilities.
Lisp dialects are difficult to understand?
Seriously, you fucking pajeet, go back to your atom and javascript.
shiggy
Fucking stop it or you're gonna make me write a kernel again.
No, there is at least one small but very necessary modification but I'll let you see if you can find it on you own
no u
Ok goys let's not get into this. I use both anyway, and advocate that most learn both, but learn vim first.
Vim is nice because it's basically the same no matter who's computer you're using (like qwerty), emacs is nice because you can largely make it your own (dvorak-like). I started with vim for that reason. And programming lisp in anything but emacs is truly a sin.
too hardcore for me rn senpai
Nobody actually uses emacs or vim, it's an age old skub meme that's way past its prime. Most people use Notepad++ although Holla Forums will be quick to remind you that the dev is a chink rapefugee apologist (pic related)
Sysadmin here, I use vim all day. When working on Windows (rarely), I prefer Atom buggy piece of shit over Notepad++.
Step 1: Don't be a fagot.
Step 2: Don't be a faggot
Step 3: Can't be fagged again.
Just because you don't use it doesn't mean no one else does. Neovim has gotten pretty good now and I use it at home, and my sysadmin at work uses emacs.
neovim is exactly like vim. What a feature. oh no wait it's better at plugins if you were to search, configure and install plugins. But of course it doesn't come with any plugins. So it's identical to vim.
Meanwhile emacs has org-mode in it.
What are some frequent and practical things you can do with good knowledge of the terminal? I assume there are good reasons some of you use distros with little to no GUI.
t. GUItard
Gladly, you piece of shit cunt.
Automation. Anything you do in a terminal can be automated, because the same commands you enter manually could be made into a script. It's worth learning just for that.
Writing your own OS will teach you how x86 works, not how linux works.
Installing gentoo will teach you how gentoo works, sadly. The entire system is built around portage and it's tools, and there's little configuration and touching you're going to be doing outside of it.
I'd recommend trying LFS instead if you want to go in with the mentality of "forcing yourself to learn". Granted, going through the book is very tedious, and you won't really learn much until you get to the kernel configuraton and after your first boot. Then, try building software not in the book. Reading other distro's build scripts and configurations is a good idea and will teach you a lot. Try writing shell scripts for system management, and learn how your computer boots through the init scripts, maybe try to rewrite them to your own liking.
If you don't want to go LFS, I'd suggest slackware, due to how bare-bones it is in terms of system tools. Since every system tool is written in shell and really simple, you can easily read and understand them, which helps to learn how it works. All the additional packages (from e.g. slackbuilds.org) are just build scripts you have to download and run yourself. Try reading through some and creating your own as well.
IIRC the book pretty much completely skips over this part. It took a bit of trial and error to get everything I needed enabled. Luckily when you change an option it will be a pretty quick incremental compile.
Probably because it doesn't know what hardware you have.
i'd recommend the book "UNIX and Linux System Administrator's Handbook" as it is a thorough walkthrough of the types of systems administration you are looking to learn.
Their homepage is admin.com
You write your own OS, you're going to be referring to the linux kernel documentation a lot. Pretty much the only thing that can actually help you is Linux kernel docs, C docs, and of course the x86 docs. or whatever processor architecture you're developing for, I heard ARM is much easier
Just RTFM and do it. The wiki basically walks you through the entire process.
You have to do a lot on your own, yes, there's lots of decisions you have to make, yes, but they give you the basics needed to accomplish it; you know you're going to do it anyway so you might as well.