Want to learn Linux? These 5 games make it fun - and they're free

2 days ago 10

Want to larn Linux? These 5 games marque it amusive - and they're free

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

If you request to up your Linux skills, play a game.
There are respective games, each focusing connected a antithetic skill.
These games are escaped to play arsenic often arsenic you need.

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For many, the thought of learning Linux is simply a task champion near to the geeks. The bully quality is that desktop Linux has go truthful casual to usage that you don't person to interest astir the challenges that whitethorn person kept you from diving in. With modern Linux desktop distributions, there's nary need to larn the bid enactment oregon the much precocious tools (such arsenic YaST).

Now, if you privation to really get the astir retired of Linux, oregon are considering a vocation arsenic a Linux administrator, you'll request to larn considerably more… including the bid line. Now that tin beryllium intimidating, particularly to those who've ne'er opened a terminal model oregon typed a command.

Also: The archetypal 5 Linux commands each caller idiosyncratic should learn

There's a spot of bully news. You tin marque learning much precocious Linux concepts easier with the assistance of a fewer games.

If you've ne'er experienced "gamified learning," you're successful for a dainty due to the fact that it not lone makes learning casual but besides fun.

There are a fewer games that are geared specifically for learning Linux skills, and I'm going to present you to them now.

1. OverTheWire

OverTheWire is simply a postulation of web-based games that situation you to execute tasks. One of the champion things astir the OverTheWire games is that they thatch you however to lick problems connected your ain and bash truthful with Linux commands, record permissions, web protocols, substance encoding, and more.

Also: I'm a command-line pro and this is the champion terminal app I've ever used, acknowledgment to AI

Currently, determination are 12 games, specified arsenic Bandi, which is aimed astatine implicit beginners and teaches the basics indispensable to play the different games. There's also:

Natas, which teaches the basics of server-side web security.
Leviathan, which teaches basal Linux commands.
Krypton, which teaches record encoding.
Narnia, which teaches basal exploitation.
Behemoth, which deals with regular vulnerabilities.
Utumno, which teaches much precocious concepts (and adjacent leaves retired a description, truthful you person nary thought what you're getting into).
Maze, which teaches much precocious exploitation techniques, programming, and reverse engineering.
Vortex, which teaches connecting to non-standard ports.
Manpage, which is each astir breaking communal Linux C programming misconceptions.
Drifter, which is akin to vortex but is much advanced.
Formula One, which teaches you information concepts.

2. cmdchallenge

The thought down cmdchallenge is simple: lick problems fixed to you with thing much than the bid line. This is simply a web-based game, truthful there's thing to install. For example, you mightiness beryllium challenged to people "hello world" connected the terminal with a azygous bid (echo "hello world") oregon people the existent moving directory (pwd).

Also: 10 open-source apps I urge each Windows idiosyncratic download - for free

Every clip you get a bid right, you are asked to lick different challenge. As you implicit each task, it gets somewhat much challenging, truthful the longer you play, the much you'll learn.

3. Terminus

Terminus is an absorbing terminal escapade app crippled wherever you research a virtual satellite via Linux commands. For example, you contented the ls bid to spot what locations are available. You mightiness spot WesternForest listed, truthful you spell determination with cd WesternForest. When you bash that, an representation appears to amusement you what you see.

Also: 5 reasons to power to an immutable Linux distro today

You support exploring antithetic locations and solving puzzles with commands similar ls, cd, less, etc. The extremity of this crippled is to larn however to navigate the Linux filesystem.

4. Bashcrawl

Bashcrawl is simply a crippled you install connected your Linux instrumentality to assistance you larn the basics of Linux, BSD, and UNIX terminals. You don't really instal the app, but download the source, unpack it, and past cd into the entranceway subdirectory of the recently created directory. You tin past work the scroll record with less scroll to find retired what to bash next.

The amusive truly starts erstwhile you tin formed "spells" with commands, similar ls -F. Directories (rooms wrong the "catacombs") extremity with /, and encounters (programs) extremity with *. You cod treasure and bash each sorts of dungeon crawler-esque things.

5. Root Me

Root Me is much precocious and focused connected cybersecurity. This is akin to WarGames, successful that it hosts respective antithetic challenges successful 1 location. With Root Me, you tackle real-world challenges, specified arsenic record forensics, privilege escalation, and more.

Also: How overmuch RAM does your Linux PC truly request successful 2025?

Root Me is not for beginners, but for those with capable Linux skills to recognize the concepts and contented the close commands. You bash person to make an account, but it's escaped to use. There are implicit 600 challenges to instrumentality connected with Root Me, arsenic good arsenic 178 antithetic virtual environments, and 6063 solutions.

All of the supra games are escaped to usage arsenic overmuch arsenic you need, and tin truly assistance you commencement to grasp assorted Linux concepts and commands.

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