It's Been a While - So Let's Talk About Going Deeper Into Linux

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 21:11:55 +0000

It's been a while since I last posted here life, work, and about a dozen half-finished drafts got in the way. But I'm back, and this time I have something worth sharing.

If you know me, you know I'm a cybersecurity person at heart, so Linux was never really a stranger to me. I've touched it, used it, worked around it enough to get by. But "getting by" and actually understanding it are two very different things and last week, I decided to close that gap properly.

So with my few knowledge in Linux going in, I went a bit deeper Linux Essentials, chapters 1 to 3. Not just using it anymore, but actually understanding what's happening underneath. Here's what that week taught me 👇

1. Linux Is a Kernel, Not an OS

This is the one that reframed everything, even with prior exposure.

Linux itself is just the kernel — it talks to hardware, manages memory and processes
Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora — those are distributions: the kernel + tools + a package manager, bundled for humans
Different distro, same kernel underneath

Tip: Once this clicks, a lot of the "why are there so many versions of Linux" confusion disappears.

2. Revisiting the Terminal, Properly This Time

I'd used a terminal before, but mostly copy-pasting commands without really knowing what they did. This time I slowed down:

pwd     # where am I
ls      # what's here
cd      # move around
mkdir   # make a folder
touch   # make a file
cat     # read a file

Tip: There's a difference between running a command because a tutorial told you to, and running it because you know exactly what it'll do. That's the gap I was closing.

3. Package Managers Aren't All the Same

Debian-based (Ubuntu, Mint) → .deb packages via apt / dpkg
RPM-based (Fedora, RHEL) → .rpm packages via yum / rpm

Tip: A package manager's real job isn't "install this" — it's quietly handling dependencies so what you install actually runs.

4. Security Starts Before You Open a Security Tool

Coming from cybersecurity, this chapter felt like home — but it still reframed a few things:

Root privileges — know who has them and why
Strong passwords + 2FA
Permissions done right
Ubuntu's UFW for firewalls (Gufw if you want it with a GUI)

Tip: Good security is a habit you practice, not a tool you install once.

5. Virtualization — The Concept Behind Half of Modern Tech

One physical machine (host) runs several virtual machines (guests)
A hypervisor manages them
Same underlying instinct behind Docker and Kubernetes — don't waste hardware on one job

Tip: This is exactly why you run tools in a VM instead of your main OS — a lesson every cybersecurity person learns the hard way eventually.

The Real Takeaway

The concepts weren't the hard part for me — the vocabulary review was. Kernel, shell, hypervisor, dependency, distro. Going back to the fundamentals as someone who already "knew" Linux was humbling in a good way. It's easy to skip the basics when you can already get things done. Going back and actually understanding why things work made all the difference.

18 chapters and a bunch of labs still ahead. I'll be documenting this properly from here — so consider this Part 1.

Stay curious, stay consistent