For teachers & club leaders

Teacher guide

Everything on this site is free, needs no student accounts, and runs in any modern browser, including Chromebooks. This page has lesson plans, mission walkthroughs for both Linux families, and quiz answer keys.

Heads up

This page is public, so a curious student can find it. Answer keys are folded away behind “Show” buttons so they don't give anything away when the page is on a projector.

How the site works in class

73 lessons in 10 learning paths (Linux Basics, Linux Sysadmin and AI Basics, each with its own certificate), 10–25 minutes each. Most fit one class period, including the missions and the quiz.
Each lesson has a practice terminal: a simulated Rocky Linux or Ubuntu server that runs entirely in the browser. Nothing students type can affect a real computer. The Reset button restores a fresh machine. The sudo/ssh password is always linux.
Missions tick off automatically as students complete them. Progress and the certificate are stored only in that browser (no server, no accounts, no data collection). Shared lab computers will share progress, so use separate browser profiles or have students keep their own device.
The Show: Both / Rocky / Ubuntu switch lets you teach one family at a time. If your school uses one of them, pick it and the lessons will focus on it.
The Playground is good for warm-ups and early finishers. The Cheat sheet prints well.
After the last lesson, students can print a certificate. It's self-reported: it unlocks when every lesson is marked complete.

Setting up a real lab (optional, recommended)

The simulator is realistic, but nothing beats a real machine. Some options, from easiest to most involved:

Virtual machines on lab PCs: install VirtualBox (Windows, Intel Macs, Linux) or UTM (Apple Silicon Macs). Download Rocky Linux 9 (Minimal ISO) and Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS. Both have ARM64 versions for Apple Silicon. 2 CPUs, 2–4 GB RAM and a 20 GB disk is plenty, apart from the local AI lesson, which wants 8 GB+ RAM.
Windows with WSL: wsl --install gives students a real Ubuntu. Some services and firewall steps behave differently inside WSL, so the services, networking, disks and sysadmin-toolkit lessons work best on a full VM.
One shared class server: a spare PC running Rocky or Ubuntu Server, with one account per student (useradd/adduser, Linux Basics, lesson 13). Great for Linux Basics, lesson 3 (SSH). Give students sudo only on machines they can't break for others.

Safety checklist

Keep lab VMs on a private/NAT network. Never expose classroom SSH servers with simple passwords to the internet.
Take a VM snapshot before the services, systemd, networking, disks and sysadmin-toolkit lessons, so a broken machine is a 10-second fix.
Talk about the site's Rule #1 early: only access machines you own or have permission to use. Linux Basics, lesson 3, Linux Sysadmin, lesson 2 and Linux Sysadmin, lesson 6 are natural places to discuss computer-misuse laws.

Lesson plans & answer keys

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