Discover Linux: where to start?

This block is your starting point. Before you handle files or administer a server, you need to understand what Linux is, choose a suitable distribution, install a practice environment and learn to type your first commands. In a handful of guides, you go from zero to being self-sufficient in a terminal.

Why this block exists

When people start with Linux, two mistakes come up again and again: reading dozens of theoretical articles without ever opening a terminal, or copying commands without understanding what they do. This block avoids both extremes.

It serves three purposes:

give you the minimum vocabulary to follow the rest of the course;
have you install a practice environment that is safe and disposable;
let you type your first commands knowing what you are doing.

What you will be able to do at the end of the block

These goals are testable, on purpose: you can check them one by one on your machine before moving on to the next block. After the first three series of guides, you should be able to:

open a terminal on your VM and read your prompt, such as bob@server:~$;
break down a command such as ls -la /etc into command, options and argument;
find help for an unknown command with man or --help.

These are the 3 moves the rest of the Linux course builds on: the next blocks do not explain them again.

The recommended path

If you are a complete beginner, do not try to decide between distributions or between installation methods: those choices need experience that this block is precisely about to give you. Take these 3 steps in order, then come back to the guides below.

Install Debian 13 or Ubuntu Server 26.04 LTS in a virtual machine.
Open a terminal and type pwd: the answer is your current directory.
Type man ls, scroll through the page, and quit with q.

The theory settles in as you practise, and that is the right order: each guide in this block explains after the fact what you have just typed. The 3 steps above are spread across the first three series of guides that follow; the fourth completes the block.

1. Understand the basics

The Linux fundamentals set the vocabulary before anything else: kernel, distribution, free software. The guide to choose a server distribution compares Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL and Rocky for your goal, and the page Debian 13 Trixie on a server (in French) describes the current stable release, measured in a VM, with the migration from Debian 12.

2. Install and connect

The guide to install Linux in a VM builds an isolated environment in a few minutes, where a mistake costs nothing. Connect: terminal and SSH then teaches you to open a terminal, read the prompt and connect remotely.

3. Type your first commands

The anatomy of a command splits any line you type into command, options and arguments. The guide to get help shows how to find the answer without leaving the terminal, with man, --help and info.

4. Know your machine and environment

Three extras close the block. They help once the VM is no longer enough: installing a real server, working on Windows with WSL2, and above all identifying the system you have just logged into before you change anything on it.

The guide to install a Linux server covers partitioning, swap and automated installation, on RHEL 10 as on Debian. WSL2 gives you a full Linux on Windows, with its limits. Finally, identify your Linux system teaches you to read the distribution, version, kernel and hardware: observe before you change.

Key points

Linux is a kernel; what you install is a distribution (kernel + tools + package manager).
A VM is the ideal practice environment: isolated, disposable, easy to reset.
The terminal is your main interface: learn to read the prompt before you type.
Most commands have a man page: man command is the first reflex to build.

Block checkpoint

Tick each line as you achieve it: your ticked boxes stay saved in this browser, and the counter tells you when the block is complete. If you are stuck on one of these points, go back to the matching guide before you start the next block.

I chose a distribution and installed a working VM.
I opened a terminal and read my prompt (user, machine, directory).
I ran pwd, whoami and hostname successfully.
I broke down a command such as ls -la /etc/passwd (command + options + argument).
I opened man ls, searched for an option and quit with q.