Appendix B
Setting Up a Linux Environment
If you don’t have access to a system running Linux to study for the Linux Essentials certification exam, consider setting up your own learning space on a laptop or desktop. Your learning space needs to be an environment where you can freely explore Linux and its various distributions (called distros for short). Creating a virtualized environment for your Linux learning space is ideal. This setting will allow you to boot multiple Linux distributions at the same time (provided you have enough computer resources), enabling you to move quickly between them, and to provide compare-and-contrast experiences. In addition, you can explore networking utilities more thoroughly in such an environment. For a virtualized environment, you need to create a virtual machine. A virtual machine is a simulated computer system that appears and acts just like a physical machine. It can be created using a software application on a laptop or desktop. We like Oracle VirtualBox (virtualbox.org), because it’s free and provides an accurate Linux experience. You can obtain and install VirtualBox on a Windows or macOS system. The VirtualBox website is loaded with helpful documentation, and it has community forums to help you create your Linux learning space. Also, there are several youtube.com videos to help with installing the VirtualBox software on your computer. For this book, the primary Linux distributions used were Linux Mint 18.3 LTS with the Cinnamon Desktop (linuxmint.com), and Fedora 30 Workstation (getfedora.org). You can obtain the distributions on these websites and find helpful documentation. You’ll want to download at least one of the distributions’ installation files (called an ISO file, because its file extension is .iso) from their website. Be aware that these distros update their software every six months to a year. Thus, if you cannot find the ISO file on the distribution’s primary download page, try these locations:
When you have the ISO file, install it to VirtualBox. If you need some additional
assistance in accomplishing this last task, then on a computer system with access to
the Internet open your favorite web browser, and in the search engine, type
How to install Linux using VirtualBox. You should find several websites with helpful information to get your study environment built.
As time goes on, new Linux Mint and Fedora distribution versions will be available. Although it is always tempting to get the latest and greatest version, it is not beneficial to use it in your learning space. Remember that the LPI Linux Essentials certification exam objectives are static—until the next time the certification exam is updated. Therefore, it is wise to use the distribution versions that were available at the time of the certification exam’s creation.