Guest Author
YouTube is one of the best places to learn Linux online. I cannot emphasize this enough. When I have a specific problem, the first step for seeking answers isn’t Google, but YouTube. YouTube is not the ideal place for troubleshooting issues, but it’s a great source for beginners and intermediate Linux users.
What is this list?
For those of you familiar with YouTube Linux channels, I did not want to create a general resource list of popular channels. This list focuses on the specific playlists of learning tutorials and videos available within popular and less familiar YouTube channels. Ideally this blog post makes it easier for you to find videos faster without undergoing repetitive searching on Google or YouTube.
YouTube Channels and Playlists to Learn Linux
1. Linux Tutorial Series by essayboard
Audience: Beginner
According to the playlist description, the Linux Tutorial Series playlist introduces you to the basics of using Linux with Ubuntu. The nine videos cover installing and upgrading Ubuntu, software management, permissions, files, directories, networking, and other introductory topics.
2. Linux Fundamentals by danscourses
Audience: Beginner, Intermediate
The Linux Fundamentals videos are a step up in quality from the previous playlist. Videos are broken down with beginner labels and by segment (Part 1, Part 2, …). These labels seem like common sense, but not every YouTube channel presents organized, clear titles and descriptions to help you understand the content.
You do not want to sit through a twenty minute video to see if it contains the topics of interest. The videos address varying topics on different distributions such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, CentOS, and Fedora.
3. Linux by Eli the Computer Guy
Audience: Beginner
Eli the Computer Guy is a well known and successful video blogger. His blogging includes tutorials, opinion topics, and much more. His 9-part Linux video playlist presents an excellent introduction to using Linux operating systems. There’s nothing I can say to do the playlist justice. Watch and you will understand why.
4. Linux Videos by Nixie Pixel
Audience: Beginner: Intermediate, Casual Video Watcher
If you’re all about Linux and YouTube, Nixie Pixel must have popped up on your radar at one time. Similar to Eli the Computer Guy, she has a huge following. Her videos are not necessarily considered tutorials like the previously playlists. However, you should check out her Linux Videos playlist and see if the content interests you.
5. Linux Training by The Linux Foundation
Audience: Beginner: Intermediate
The 14 videos on the Linux Training playlist describe a variety of topics, including VIM text editor, Linux virtualization, Kernel debugging, and using Git. The playlist only contains excerpts of videos. Therefore they may not fulfill your learning needs. If you recall last week’s blog post on learning Linux online, The Linux Foundation teamed up with edX to provide a free Introduction to Linux online course.
6. Jupiter Broadcasting
Audience: Beginner, Intermediate
Jupiter Broadcasting produced two very interesting and informative playlists for learning about Linux.
- The Arch Challenge – As an Arch Linux user it warms my heart to see content about the distribution. The process involved in switching to and installing Arch Linux contains many learning opportunities. I documented my process when installing Arch Linux on VirtualBox and then in an Arch full installation on home and work laptops.
- How to Linux – This playlist goes into the process behind switching to Linux. This is a great starting point for beginners who want an introduction to Linux.
7. babarehner’s Playists on Ubuntu and VirtualBox
Audience: Beginner, Intermediate
Mike Rehner (a.k.a. babarehner) created informative video tutorials for Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, VirtualBox, and other Linux related topics. Check out babarehner’s Linux playlist section to locate your preferred topic. Many of his tutorials involve using Linux tools on VirtualBox. VirtualBox is useful for testing out new operating systems and tools without performing a full installation.
8. quidsup on KDE, Ubuntu, and Bash Scripts
Audience: Beginner, Intermediate
The quidsup channel’s playlists contain video tutorials on KDE, Ubuntu, Security, Bash scripts, hardware, Linux media players, Raspberry Pi and more Linux topics.
9. gotbletu
Audience: Beginner, Intermediate
Please behold the largest playlist library of Linux learning videos from gotbletu ranging from working with the command-line interface and terminal games to sniffing data packets with Wireshark. The channel covers numerous Linux distributions and tools, including KDE, LXDE, Arch Linux, Ubuntu and Unity desktop, Cinnamon, Gnome, and the VIM text editor.