I’ve been wanting to revisit Linux. I used to run Slackware back in the late 90s (Praise Bob). Then I looked at CentOS about 10 years ago because it was based on Red Hat, was a distribution often recommended for an enterprise environment, I was thinking about going into network engineering, and so – along with Windows Server – I wanted to add a Linux distro geared toward that type of thing.
More recently, I tried to install Ubuntu LTS on a virtual machine on my (ancient) laptop. I was not successful. The logs were complaining about my graphics card. It would not display unless I upgraded my hardware.
I reached out to a friend of mine who has been running Linux for as long as I’ve known him (going on 30 years now). I asked for some recommendations for different distros. He provided a few to check out. Then tonight he called and told me he was thinking about me because he recently installed Pop OS (based on Ubuntu) on an older laptop of his and it was a smooth installation.
I decided to give it a try. I haven’t tested for functionality yet, but Pop installed to my virtual machine with no problem. This is on an old laptop that is running Windows, using Oracle’s VirtualBox, with Pop OS running in the VM.
I might eventually go full Linux, but for now, I’m just happy I can run it in a VM and begin to refamiliarize myself with some Linux commands. I’m adding this to my DevOps tech stack and will likely seek some Linux certifications.