How effective is Raspberry Pi as a Linux practice tool?

[DarklordKyo]

Exactly what it says on the tin, will the $50 that's spent on a Raspberry Pi allow one to purchase an effective Linux training terminal?

If this sounds like a stupid question, bear in mind that I know it uses Linux, but there are multiple variations of it (some more user friendly than others), and it can make things difficult if I, metaphorically, throw myself in the ocean before the kiddie pool.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Honestly dude, I'd just get a clean smartphone and use that as your linux testing box. That or simply do a dual boot. Both ways will offer more power and more features for less. There's no reason to go super completely barebones if you don't have to.

 

[DoPo]

If you want to try Linux, just install it in a virtual machine - no need for extra hardware. You aren't gaining much if you just get an extra computer to run it on, it'd be a bit more inconvenient, probably, since you would need to plug in a screen and keyboard (at least) in order to set it up, even then you'd probably want a mouse as well. Unless you intend to use it as a remote machine...but then you still need to set it up at least once and from the sounds of things, it's not even your goal.

Just use VirtualBox [https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads] or VMWare Player [https://www.vmware.com/products/player/playerpro-evaluation.html] and install anything you want onto there. Both are free. I personally use VirtualBox myself.

 

[Avnger]

If you want to try Linux, just install it in a virtual machine - no need for extra hardware. You aren't gaining much if you just get an extra computer to run it on, it'd be a bit more inconvenient, probably, since you would need to plug in a screen and keyboard (at least) in order to set it up, even then you'd probably want a mouse as well. Unless you intend to use it as a remote machine...but then you still need to set it up at least once and from the sounds of things, it's not even your goal.

Just use VirtualBox [https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads] or VMWare Player [https://www.vmware.com/products/player/playerpro-evaluation.html] and install anything you want onto there. Both are free. I personally use VirtualBox myself.

This, this, and more this. Download the VM software (I prefer VirtualBox as well), grab the latest edition of Ubuntu (or your preferred Linux version) from their website, and go to town with it. If you manage to do something beyond stupid (like the equivalent of deleting your System32 folder), you simply delete that vm image and load up a fresh one in about 10 seconds. It's really easy to make snapshots and such too.