Linux Yak First (Preamble)

I’ve used one distribution or another for most of the last twenty years. I was probably only eleven or twelve when I started (Red Hat, before the split.) I must have gone through Gentoo’s 26 page installation process half a dozen times while in high school. I remember SSHing into the spicerack computer cluster in college and using MATLAB.

I grew up with Linux. I knew I was going to use Linux for work before I even had an office computer. I have used Windows for development (with Visual Studio and with Eclipse) and I even begrudgingly suffered through using a Mac (with Xcode) for development for a month or so. I’ve always felt more at home in /home.

Like any good Linux user, I know every year is the year of the Linux desktop. All people wish they were running Linux they just haven’t allowed how yet. Oh, and all companies that make software that isn’t Linux compatible are evil, especially Apple. That said, I personally don’t even feel strongly enough to refer to it as GNU/Linux, let alone to even follow the activism that Richard Stallman does. While I’m glad Stallman is out there doing his thing, I think I’ve always identified more with Linus Torvalds or Eric Raymond.

I’m writing this guide to Linux as a middle ground between guides that start in text-only mode and those that are so cursory that they never really explore what Linux is. My hope is that sharing the yak shaving I’ve gone through will help someone else decide to give it a go.

I don’t expect this guide to be flawless. Going down this road is going to take learning on your part. but perhaps I can point you in some directions that might have taken you a while to find on your own.