Guest Author
This blog post lists the number of websites where you can learn about and strengthen your Linux skills. We do not judge the quality of resources available, but provide them for you to decide what works best for you.
1. CodeAcademy
The long standing online free coding resource recently ventured into the realm of the Linux with the Learn the Command-Line course. Unless you call yourself the very definition of a novice, then you may want more of a challenge. They recently released the second set of exercises. It did not take me much time to complete the first introduction to the command-line.
2. edX’s Intro to Linux
Do you remember when the Linux Foundation partnered with edX to release the first ever completely free Intro to Linux course? I do. Record numbers signed up for the course. Entire Meetup groups joined forces to work together and tackle the course.
The course contains video tutorials, text, exercises, and an abundance of learning materials for those who want to audit the course for free. To earn a passing completion certificate, it’s only $99.
I enrolled months ago, went through a number of chapters, and never found my way around to finishing. Though my follow through, similar to a number of edX students (participants…enrollees?), fell flat. With no one to hold me accountable, all the great learning resources cannot keep me motivated.
3. edX’s Essentials of Linux Administration
Once again the Linux Foundation came through in the clutch to deliver another online course for those willing to take a step beyond the Introduction course. This MOOC offering comes at an introductory price of $499 with an exam voucher, plus a free retake, for the Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator exam.
The Linux Foundation says this about the the course, “Essentials of Linux Systems Administration will prepare people to join the ranks of the world’s best and to take the Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator exam, providing the perfect entry point for a lucrative career in IT”.
4. LearnLinuxOnline.com
LearnLinuxOnline does exactly what it states. The website fits the title of this article. This resource provides free online Linux tutorials on everything Linux. Use the categories section on the left sidebar to navigate to the correct tutorial for your studies. The website covers cryptography, data security, Linux basics, networking, security, servers, Vmware virtualization, and VPNs.
5. Linux.com’s Learning Resources
The Linux Foundation’s website supplies a large number of learning tutorials, blog posts, user guides, white papers, and additional learning resources. The blog articles explain how and why to do something. They present a good perspective beyond the black and white “how to” tutorials available online. Also, the blog posts are easy to navigate with helpful headers and screenshots despite dense paragraphs. I always love a good meaty paragraph in a book, but when reading and learning technical material online, my attention span, like many others out there, drops drastically when confronted with large paragraphs.
P.S. Jack Wallen boasts a number of great tutorials there. He wrote “A Complete Beginner’s Guide to Linux” blog post that provides a comprehensive look at starting off with Linux, selecting a distribution, installing the OS, and moving forward. Wallen’s post, plus many other articles, are great starting points to begin the learning process. Nothing comes over night and you should never expect it to come easy. For example, when I wanted to install Arch Linux, I referred to the Arch Linux beginners guide, the Lifehacker installation guide, online discussion boards, and a good friend who assisted in the installation and answered countless questions. There are great resources available, but it takes time to figure out which ones work best for you.
6. Linuxtopia
The title describes this online resource best. Linuxtopia contains a vast library of online tutorials, how to guides, and other resources for those professionals working with open source technology in enterprise environments. Older styled websites receive a bad reputation compared to the newer edX and codeacademy platforms. However, I am an advocate of the simpler layouts, linking, and straight forward navigation on Linuxtopia. Also, they hold a huge selection of online books.
7. Norman Matloff’s Unix and Linux Tutorial Center
Norman Matloff is a professor at the University of California, Davis who posted a number of online course materials for learning about UNIX, Linux, C programming, Java, Perl, and other computer science related topics. If you prefer a simple plain text resource without much of any web page styling, you may like his tutorials.