Linux Server

It was back in college when I first heard of Linux—and I was confused. Windows was simple: it had a new edition every few years and all the software I needed. But Linux? It had so many different editions, and the software I was used to either didn’t exist or had alternatives I wasn’t familiar with.

Still, I can’t say I wasn’t intrigued by this operating system. The first thing I learned was that Linux has these versions called "distros"—short for distributions. The idea is that different distros serve different purposes or goals.

The two main distros out there are Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Debian. I call them the main ones because most other distros are derived from these two. Here’s what I mean: let’s say you’ve been using Debian for years, but you don’t like how it handles updates or certain features. You want to be on the bleeding edge. Well, if you have the technical know-how, you can take Debian, modify it to suit your preferences, give it a new name—say, BELinux—and publish it. Now other people can download BELinux and install it on their computers. You didn’t build it from scratch, but you did make it your own.

This is basically the idea behind distros. Ubuntu is a distro derived from Debian, designed to make Linux easier for the average person. Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux are both derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux to provide free alternatives to Red Hat’s commercial offering.

Another thing that varies between distros is the package manager—the tool used to install software. In Red Hat, AlmaLinux, and Rocky, you use DNF or YUM. In Debian and Ubuntu, you use APT. Other distros use different package managers as well—for example, Arch Linux uses pacman, and SUSE Linux uses zypper.

If you’re new to Linux and want to try it out, I recommend starting with Ubuntu or Linux Mint. These are beginner-friendly distros with tons of documentation and community support.

I personally used Linux Mint as my main desktop for many months, and there wasn’t anything I needed from Windows that I couldn’t do on Linux. Give it a try—you’d be surprised how far the Linux desktop has come.

As for my home server, I currently run a tiny Lenovo PC with Proxmox installed. Proxmox is a hypervisor built on Debian Linux that I use to host my virtual machines and containers. I run Pi-hole for DNS and ad-blocking, a Debian container for my network’s DHCP service, and I’ve been experimenting with Kavita to organize my eBooks. These systems have been running for years without any issues.

Linux is currently the go-to operating system for self-hosting, since most self-hosted applications are web-based and require a web server, a database server, PHP, and an operating system—all of which you can get for free with Linux.

I hope you’ll join me on my Linux journey to explore everything this amazing ecosystem has to offer.