Please help me set some aims!

[conure]

Hey everyone,

I've reverted back to Ubuntu on a VM because I broke it quite a few times (which in my experience is a good way to learn...Other than with hardware, like the time when I was 12 and I learned CPUs don't work so well without a HSF but that's another point entirely).

Anyway..I've got the basics of the CLI down, moving through the file system etc, but I want to get really good at Ubuntu. Could anybody set some targets, things to do or aim for within Ubuntu, maybe projects? My coding skills at this point are VERY limited so preferably not related to programming!

Hope you can give me some advice!

[bfmetcalf]

If you really want to learn what is going on inside of Linux, I would try a more demanding distro like Arch/Gentoo/Linux from scratch/etc. They will force you to configure your own system and you learn a ton in the process. The aim there could just be to get your system set up the way you want it.

Another project if you have an android phone is to try your hand at compiling a ROM for it, it's a lot of fun if you try a ROM that your device isn't necessarily supported on and there are usually a lot of people willing to help out with it. Not to mention a lot of documentation.

[ahallubuntu]

~

[conure]

Thank you both for your answers. I have decided to teach myself python (I am only using scratch at my university as I'm a first year student), and am following the 'teach yourself python the hard way' guide. The reason being, everything I'm interested in requires a basic knowledge of coding.

What are your thoughts on my learning to code python from within ubuntu, via a virtual machine? I figured this would force me to become proficient with the ubuntu cli, whilst using linux...and learn to code at the same time. If I break anything it's fine as I will just take images of the install every so often.

does this seem like a reasonable idea, or is it inpracticle?

[conure]

Apologies for grammar btw, I'm on a mobile device.

[low_rider]

That sounds like a great way to get started. Python is a versatile language and it should be pretty easy to get going in it. As you start using the cli you'll want to find a good text editor to use, there are plenty of them out there with some of the more popular ones being Vim, Emacs, Nano, Gedit, etc. Again these text editors come with somewhat of a learning curve so pick one and start to learn some of the basic commands. The same goes for the cli, if you're only using it to do python programming you probably won't learn too many linux commands though. If you really want to learn both, I'd recommend first learning the python basics and then start writing python scripts to automate things on your ubuntu vm. It always helped me to work on projects that had uses other than just for learning.