Complete Nube Looking For Guidance With Distros

[sycorexx]

Everything I know about computers in general I've learned since Jan 1. Needing marketable skills I bought a Dell R930, a Cisco 3164Q switch, and a Cisco 5585X firewall. My goal is to at first be able to maintain, repair, and innovate and then do stuff. I bought non consumer grade stuff on purpose, still cheaper than 2 years at the community college.
In any event I had no idea how expensive windows server software is for something with 4 Xeon v4 cpus is. Exploring options Im hoping to get opinions on Mint and/or Ubuntu and Debian. Open to new ideas and directions. Dont want to wait until I save up $2500 for software so I'd like to get something open source in the mean time. Reality is 75% of the work in direction Im aiming at use widnows server, so I have to get it and use it and really know eventually, but thats a big chunk of change.
Your insights are greatly appreciated.

 

[Ralph_IT]

If you want to use and learn to use Windows Server, MS lets you use WS 2019 and WS 2022 with a trial period of 180 days and reset it 5 times before the installation goes belly-up:
How to extend evaluation period of Windows Server (2025) - Server Decode
https://petri.com/how-to-extend-windows-server-evaluation/

 

[sycorexx]

Wow! That's awesome, thanks.

 

[louie1961]

Linux is where its at. Learn Ubuntu and maybe a RHEL clone like Rocky Linux. You could also learn Proxmox, XCP-NG, or VMware as type 1 hypervisors. I wouldn't bother with Mint if you are doing server stuff. Mint is a desktop distro only, really. Once you get those down, learn some Docker. I really wouldn't bother with Windows to start with. Get good with Linux first. Linux, containerized applications (using Docker and other container runtime environments), and container orchestration environments (like Kubernetes) is the future of IT.

 

[BackupProphet]

I am currently working on a presentation with the title: How to choose a Linux distro.

For servers, I think there is one great option and a few other good options. Almalinux is the server distro most you want. Debian is not bad, but apparmor, is lacking compared to SELinux. And you will go crazy when you see apparmor errors in Debian. This is especially a problem when working with virtualization server.

For desktop, the more important question is desktop environment. Gnome, KDE, etc. I prefer KDE.
Then you need to find a distro that integrates the desktop environment best. I think Fedora has done a really good job so far, same with Kubuntu.

Anything else, it depends. For example, Proxmox is great for virtualization, but you really don't need it.

 

[richardm]

As an IT pro I've found the distro most relevant to "corporate America" is usually Red Hat. The copy-paste distros Alma and Rocky might be a good choice for the server side. If you're enrolled as a student somewhere you can probably qualify for a copy of "real" RHEL and a logon for their support site with all the paywalled articles and bulletins.

 

[dragonme]

Everything I know about computers in general I've learned since Jan 1. Needing marketable skills I bought a Dell R930, a Cisco 3164Q switch, and a Cisco 5585X firewall. My goal is to at first be able to maintain, repair, and innovate and then do stuff. I bought non consumer grade stuff on purpose, still cheaper than 2 years at the community college.
In any event I had no idea how expensive windows server software is for something with 4 Xeon v4 cpus is. Exploring options Im hoping to get opinions on Mint and/or Ubuntu and Debian. Open to new ideas and directions. Dont want to wait until I save up $2500 for software so I'd like to get something open source in the mean time. Reality is 75% of the work in direction Im aiming at use widnows server, so I have to get it and use it and really know eventually, but thats a big chunk of change.
Your insights are greatly appreciated.

not to rain on your parade

I have been using and programming computers since the late 70s
trs80 atari 400/800 Apple ii ibm 8086 pre windows amiga etc

i have degrees in software engineering and practical experiance in the military.

I will tell you that today…. If you are looking to make money in IT, ITS ABOUT CERTIFICATIONS.

so if your community college can load you up on several certs per course Vs monkeying around in the dark with a home lab .. you will find those courses a far better investment

you likely will still need a lab… to practice. But without certs I don’t care how good you get.. you will find it dificult to monetize those skills

 

[Captain Lukey]

In my view, a strong mix of certifications and real-world experience in live production environments is essential. We once had a team member who held full certifications in Cisco, GCP, and AWS—but had never worked on a live production system. When it came to end-to-end fault finding—from application bytes through the network to the server—they were completely lost. That person now works on our helpdesk, gaining hands-on experience at the coalface where real learning happens. Homelab or Free OCI cloud is essential for learning Good Luck!!