Guides · Tutorials · Community · Glossary

Read. Try. Ask. Repeat.

The Linux Institute blog collects beginner-friendly guides, terminal walkthroughs, software-management tutorials, and the best places online to find help when you’re stuck. New pieces every Wednesday.

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Read alongside the lab VM. The guides on this page are written to be followed on any Ubuntu install you have running — whether that's your laptop or a fresh VM.
Latest

From the blog.

Every piece below is something we wish we’d had when we started. Plain language, short, opinionated where it matters.

16 July 2026 · 6 min read

Your first week with Ubuntu: a complete checklist

Day-by-day plan from "where’s the Start menu" to "I never want to go back". Eight things to do, in order.

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10 July 2026 · 7 min read

The terminal, without fear: 10 commands that cover most days

The terminal is not a mystery. Ten commands, what they change, and the safety habit you actually need.

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3 July 2026 · 6 min read

Give an old laptop a second life with Linux Mint

A practical guide to choosing and installing lightweight Linux on an older machine, with what to back up first.

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24 June 2026 · 5 min read

What "open source" actually means (and why you should care)

It is not just "free as in beer". The four freedoms, explained with examples of why each one matters to ordinary users.

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17 June 2026 · 6 min read

Picking a Linux distro: a five-question decision tree

Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, Debian, Arch… stop reading comparison charts. Five yes/no questions get you to the right one in under a minute.

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10 June 2026 · 7 min read

Backing up a Linux box: 3-2-1 for normal people

The friendliest backup setup on Linux is also the cheapest. One script, one external drive, one offsite copy. Walk-through included.

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More posts coming soon — every Wednesday. Subscribe via email if you’d like a heads-up.

Starter guides

The four guides we’d hand you first.

If you only read four pages on this site, read these. They are the ones we wished we’d had when we started.

INSTALL

Getting started with Ubuntu

Install, update, install apps, customise the desktop. The twenty-minute path from a blank machine to "I live here now".

Read the guide →

TERMINAL

Terminal basics

The ten commands you’ll actually use, with examples. No theory, no assumption you’ve seen a shell before.

Read the guide →

PACKAGES

Software management

How installing and removing apps actually works in Linux. The "App Store" model and the command-line model, side by side.

Read the guide →

COMMUNITY

Community & asking well

Forums, chat rooms, and real-life meetups. Where to ask, how to ask, and the surprising generosity of the open-source world.

Skip to the community table →

Topic library

More of what we’ve written.

BEGINNER

Anatomy of a Linux install

What happens between pressing "Install" and seeing the desktop. Boot loaders, partitions, filesystems.

NETWORKING

SSH for people who hate terminals

Remote access without copying files. Six flags that cover ninety percent of the time.

SECURITY

Updates, automatic and otherwise

How automatic security updates work in Ubuntu, when to disable them, and how to test them safely.

DESKTOP

GNOME, KDE, XFCE — pick a vibe

The three desktop environments you will actually meet, and how to try each without installing anything.

FILES

Backups that actually restore

Why your backup is only as good as your last restore. A simple rclone + cron workflow.

Community

You will not be doing this alone.

The Linux community is one of the friendliest corners of the internet. These are the six places beginners get the fastest, kindest answers.

Place Best for Vibe
Ask UbuntuSpecific how-to questions about UbuntuStack Overflow, but patient. Search before posting — your question is probably been asked.
r/linuxquestionsBeginner questions, no judgementReddit. Quick answers, friendly regulars, search-friendly.
Ubuntu ForumsLong-form help, install troubleshootingOld-school, slower pace, deeply knowledgeable regulars.
Linux Discord serversReal-time chat, getting unstuck fastLive help. Great for the "I tried three things, none worked" moments.
LobstersReading, not asking. Deep technical discussion.Curated, low-noise, very smart. Quiet in the best way.
SA LUG chapterMeeting actual humans near youLocal Linux user groups. Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban. Slow but generous.
“Search before you post. Almost any specific beginner question has been answered on Ask Ubuntu or Reddit within the last three years. Posting without searching is the fastest way to get a grumpy reply, and it is your fault for skipping the search.” The Linux Institute team
Tools you'll touch

A day-one toolkit, already on most distros.

None of these need to be installed after the fact. Most distributions ship with a curated bundle of them; the rest are free to download.

Firefox logo Firefox

The browser most Linux distros pick by default. Privacy-respecting, fast, open source.

mozilla.org/firefox
LibreOffice logo LibreOffice

Word processor, spreadsheets, presentations, vector drawing. Reads and writes Microsoft Office files.

libreoffice.org
GIMP logo GIMP

Image editor with the same kind of power as Photoshop. Steep learning curve, free forever.

gimp.org
Inkscape placeholder Inkscape

Vector illustration. SVG-native, exports to PDF, AI and EPS. Replaces Adobe Illustrator.

inkscape.org
Thunderbird logo Thunderbird

Email client that handles IMAP, Gmail, calendar, RSS. Pairs nicely with Proton Mail.

thunderbird.net
VLC placeholder VLC

Plays anything — DVDs, streaming, every audio and video format invented. Lightweight.

videolan.org
VS Code logo VS Code

Microsoft's text editor. Reads as controversial; runs as loved. Free, extensible, everywhere.

code.visualstudio.com
Docker logo Docker

Container runtime. Lets you run a database, web server, or AI agent without installing it locally.

docker.com

Icon credits live on the Credits page.

Glossary

Twenty words you will hear this week.

Each of these comes up within the first ten minutes. Knowing them makes every later conversation easier.

  • KernelThe core program that turns hardware into addressable resources. Every Linux distribution contains one.
  • DistributionA kernel + a desktop + a package manager + a philosophy. Ubuntu is one of roughly six hundred.
  • Package managerThe tool that installs, removes, and updates software. APT on Ubuntu, DNF on Fedora, Pacman on Arch.
  • ShellThe program that reads your typed commands and runs them. Bash is the most common; fish and zsh are popular alternatives.
  • TTY / terminal / consoleThree names, mostly the same thing: a text interface to the operating system.
  • RootThe administrative user. Can read, write, or delete anything. Mind it.
  • SudoRun a single command as root, then return to being a regular user. The right way to do privileged work.
  • Filesystem hierarchyThe layout of folders under /. /home, /etc, /var, /usr are the four you’ll meet first.
  • DaemonA long-running background service. sshd, cron, systemd are all daemons.
  • SystemdThe service manager that starts daemons, mounts disks, and organises the system. Opinionated; argued about; not leaving.
About

About the Linux Institute.

We believe open-source software is a public good, and that the people who benefit from it most — non-technical users, small businesses, schools, and NGOs — are also the people least likely to hear about it.

The Linux Institute exists to close that gap. We write in plain language. We cover the things people actually use. We never assume you’ve seen a terminal before.

We’re based in South Africa, but the questions are universal: how do I switch without losing my work, how do I stop paying R2,000 a month for software I don’t need, and how do I know my files are safe?

If that sounds like you, you’re in the right place.

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