Linux Lifehax

Arch, Debian and every other distro is almost identical.

(I have been asked to say that NixOS exists, the one and only mention of it is here. It is not like the others. And it is only useful for large deployments.)

What makes up a Linux system?

1. Bootloader
2. Kernel
3. Init system
4. Shell (may come as part of your init system)
5. Package manager
6. User software

Debian, Arch and Fedora are almost identical

• They all use:
  • Grub
  • A modern Linux Kernel
  • Systemd
  • Bash
• They all then pick a bunch of user software that goes on top of this.

Debian

Examples of forks that just look a bit different: Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Kali

Uses apt as the package manager, the packages are a bit older bit that means it tends to be a bit more stable.

Arch

Examples of forks that just look a bit different: Manjaro, Black Arch

Uses newer packages than Debian, and uses a funky package manager called pacman that allows you to add more malware/software to your system.

It is not secure by default.

Fedora

A more user friendly and modern version of REHL.

Comes with DNF as the package manager.

Comes with firewalld and selinux.

I have used all three and I can’t tell any real difference between them.

Alpine Linux

Alpine Linux is a minimal distro that works on just about anything.

It uses busybox as opposed to systemd and apk as it’s package manager.

It has a few other little quirks as well, but it will run on ANYTHING.

It’s main use is on servers.

Linux From Scratch

Build all your software from source.

If you want to learn more about the inner workings of Linux, this is a great place to go.

You may learn things even if you don’t want to install it.

https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/downloads/stable/LFS-BOOK-12.0-NOCHUNKS.html

You can compile almost any UNIX program for any version of Linux

How about the original version of VI?

It is possible to get a copy of the original VI source code from here:

[https://ex-vi.sourceforge.net]

You can get it to run on the lab machines, but you can’t install it because you don’t have sudo.

You just need to make a couple of small changes to the Makefile.

Just don’t make your window too wide or tall as it will crash (it was designed for 80 column CRTs).

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@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ DESTDIR               =
 #
 # A BSD-like install program. GNU install will fit well here, too.
 #
-INSTALL                = /usr/ucb/install
+INSTALL                = /usr/bin/install
 
 #
 # Compiler and linker flags.
@@ -205,13 +205,13 @@ OSTYPE    = -DVMUNIX
 #
 # You may also get terminfo access by using the ncurses library.
 #
-#TERMLIB       = ncurses
+TERMLIB        = ncurses
 #
 # The preferred choice for ex on Linux distributions, other systems that
 # provide a good termcap file, or when setting the TERMCAP environment
 # variable is deemed sufficient, is the included 2.11BSD termcap library.
 #
-TERMLIB        = termlib
+# TERMLIB      = termlib

Compile with make all