Linux distro with ONLY shell (NO GUI) : Which one?

By NiTeFlY
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B4L1STA

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If he REALLY wants to learn linux, then I'd reccomend Linux from Scratch (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/)

It is extremely flexible; install only what you want. The instructions are very comprehensive, making it perfect for learning the deep, dark innards of Linux.

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UKer

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I'de say Debian Sarge, as it has excellent security support and doesn't take more than 10 mins to set up a headless system. Etch if you need more up-to-date software (there is still securoty support with Etch, note if you want to use unstable for a server there is no security support - but the latest packages have most fixes).

For ease of use I'd say SUSE is the best as you can use YAST over ssh, and it's also better for compatibility with commercial apps.

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XavierHyde

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Most distros allow you to select an option that will install a bare-bones console system, though it can be hard to find in some installers.

My recommendations:

Slackware or Debian if he doesn't want to start from scratch with compiling the entire thing. It's well optimized for speed, and lets him compile other stuff he needs from source tarballs. Debian has the additional advantage of having apt-get which is in many users' opinion THE ultimate package management system (and I can't say I disagree).

Gentoo stage3 install has extensive documentation that is very easy to follow, and you can set up an ssh server on the LiveCD to do the install from another computer. Apparently stage1 and stage2 aren't supported anymore for whatever reason. Gentoo's Portage is also an excellent package-management system that is a joy to use, though a bit more difficult to get to grips with than apt-get (IMHO). Gentoo is very tweakable though it had been even more so if they still approved of doing stage1 or stage2 installs.

Linux From Scratch - I personally have not tried this, but I gather it is similar to a Gentoo stage1 install (which is fun, but takes ages!). After Gentoo stopped supporting stage1 installs, this is as far as I know the only distro that lets you start from the very beginning and tweak every little tiny bit of the system.

Linux From Scratch and Gentoo are probably best suited for a high-end machine as the time required to compile may deter any practical use on a slow machine (say, Pentium II or older).

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SaguratuS

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The advised method now is to do a stage3 installation and optionally recompile the system after the installation. That will create an optimized system as well. How to proceed a real stage1 or stage2 installation is still described in the FAQ.

The reason behind this was due to the massive influx of users new to linux screwing up their base system by trying to do a stage 1/2 install. It's still very much supported, but just no longer recommended as the default.

Proficient

madd_matt

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My favorite distro's over the years have been debian, slackware, and gentoo.

Slackware's great because its full install is just what i'm looking for, plus it just seems nice. It feels like its really unixyee -- i think they claim to be the most unix like linux distrobution?

Gentoo is good for its excellent community and documentation, although it is by no means easy. Its probably as hard as you get. Portage is also a great package system

Debian has the great packge manager apt-get, which makes installing programs and maintaining them so very easy. Although I stopped using it sometime before sarge went stable, it was rock-solid and secure, and worked great, especially on my older hardware.

Gentoo would be really diving in the deep end, but a slackware install would be great for learning linux without gettting totally bogged down. Debian's nice too.

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