1. You can always use man command and just read through it. If you want less text, use curl cheat.sh/command (learn how to use aliases) or the tools tldr and cheat
2. Install the fish shell, it makes using the terminal waaay easier, out of the box.
3. Install Alpaca flatpak, and use tinyllama or bigger LLM models. Tinyllama is already very sufficient at explaining linux commands and more, and runs fine on my reasonably powerful and modern laptop. Other models may be slow as fuck.
4. Use the terminal only. Log out, Ctrl+Alt+F2 and login, then use some tools.

$pwd
cd
echo
ls
cat
nano
less
more
chmod
chown
#your package manager
lsblk
dd #be careful!
udisksctl
lsusb
lspci
curl
wget
...

Note: use the man for these tools and often multiple tools do the same thing

5. There is this online terminal game/quiz but I cant find its name.

Just don’t copy paste the commands. Really! Just take the time to understand what the command does, read the manual, and rewrite it yourself instead of pasting it. That alone will help a fair bit and can start guessing what it should be.

After a while of doing that it stops being a “paste this command to make the service run” and becomes “ask systemd to enable and start the service”. You start associating editing files in /etc with “will probably need to slap a sudo in front of that one”, you start mentally replacing nano/vi/vim/emacs/nvim/sed with your preferred way of editing the file, because you absorb the concept of “this command edits a text file”.

Work at the tip of your “paygrade” and try to make immersion as fun as possible. Maybe consider using a different disk for Linux, since mistakes are the best way to learn. (Don’t reinstall just because something broke).

Here are some fantastic ways to make mistakes:

1. Install a more involved, but typical, CLI-centric, DIY-friendly distro – from today’s order of difficulty, that’s EndeavourOS, (install is easy, then you can learn one package at a time), Arch Linux (install is hard iff you have trouble with understanding wiki structure, and you’ll want familiarity with what packages you need), and Gentoo (the installation guide is incredible).
2. Try out new CLI software. The terminal is your friend! Are you gonna back up videos with yt-dlp? Perhaps make a shell script for something? Maybe search the AUR for something cool to try out (underrated function of the AUR: test-driving!). With a terminal, who needs file explorer?
3. Play a game. Linux games exist… they’re called CTFs ;). Bandit is pretty fun for beginners (try to keep notes! Maybe use Git?): https://overthewire.org/wargames/bandit/
4. Make unnecessary customizations (“rices”). Your shell can be made sexy (ohmyzsh?). Your lockscreen can be made sexy. Your windows can be made sexy. (And if you break something, don’t reinstall :3). Remember: if you build something pretty and see it every day… absolute epic.
5. And of course, flex your hands, get your apron on, have fun popping the engine and fixing! How does one ask questions, put in due diligence, Google, read logs (like journalctl or dmesg or --verbose or whatever)? This is a skill you don’t lose – and we’ll be happy to answer a good question.

Of course all of this depends on where you are (the tip of your paygrade). For pasting commands specifically, as you said… do 'em one at a time – and understand each one.
Like, what is piping |? Why is xargs after it? Why can one stop ping with CTRL+C? What does man curl say about this weird curl command? How does one even read a manpage well, anyway (and is curl cheat.sh/SOME_COMMAND better)? Why is there so much gpg?

And at the end of the day… remember how fun this shit is. The engine is open; we’re allowed to look inside. Woohoo!

I’m late to the party but have you seen Linux Journey? https://linuxjourney.com/

Another book rec: https://pragprog.com/titles/bhcldev/small-sharp-software-tools/

I guess my end goal is to be able to comfortably install and use arch Linux with my own customization’s and be able to fix it when things go wrong.

What tips/ideas do you have for getting better at navigating the terminal, and getting a better understanding of how the os works. What is a good roadmap to follow? And how did you, advanced Linux user, get to the stage your at now?

You learn by doing and by failing. Like we learned to walk, to write, to drive, to kiss, to speak a foreign language, or even to lace our shoes (and, yep, even that was a heavy trial and error process for toddler-us back then).

• Install Arch (in a VM, maybe) and while doing so read the Arch Wiki to understand each step, each action and the role of each app you’re asked to install. The Arch Wiki is an impressively well done documentation.
• Be fine knowing that it will take time to learn anything new (not just Arch, anything), you won’t get good at it the first time. Don’t rush it, take your time.
• Be fine knowing that you will face issues and will most likely fail at some point, be it to instal Arch or in doing whatever new. There is no other way to learn, for all of us, than by failing and then trying again, over and over. Once again like we learned to walk (by falling on our butt), to lace our shoes (by making a mess) or to kiss (by not doing it great at first).

Learning takes time and efforts. Perseverance, and humility. There is no shortcut to learning anything that is worth learning, not just Arch. But the reward is also so much worth it. Einstein had to learn calculus, Da Vinci had to learn how to hold a paint brush, and Tolstoy like Flaubert had to learn to write and I’m willing to bet they all made mistakes while they were learning their respective craft.

Even without referring to geniuses: the first time I tried to install Arch I ran away screaming and swearing I would never touch that thing again. The second time, I had already managed to read a good chunk of the relevant part of the wiki and used it constantly at each step of the process. I still failed at it but at least I understood why I failed and I felt incredibly more… in charge, despite me failing. The third time, I managed to have it running, and to install most the packages I wanted. That was great. There was no fourth time as, as much as I love Arch (which is a lot), I quickly realized using it that constant updates were not what I wanted from my OS and apps (I’m an old-ish user with very basic needs, I’m not even that much of a geek to be honest). So, I switched to the complete opposite of Arch (Debian, another great love of mine I must say). Still, learning and using Arch taught me a lot about Linux in general and about… myself.

I’m going to go against the grain a bit and suggest studying for a certificate. Find one that looks interesting, and just prepare for it. You don’t necessarily have to get the certificate, but training for it will give you a good foundation for running your systems.

https://hackr.io/blog/best-linux-certifications

Start running servers if you haven’t already. Use an old computer, or an SBC or VPS and setup some Linux servers. There’s lots of different ways to do it, so mess around and break shit over and over. You can’t help but learn that way, though I would highly suggest you take notes/documentation. This is a habit I’m trying to develop after too long :)

Just install Arch, when You follow wiki it’s not that hard. if You will make mistakes during the process, You will gain better understanding of how things works while fixing errors.

Command line cheat sheet (with bonus vim controls):

To be honest I’ve been using Linux for years and I still paste commands all the time. The only difference is that now when I am trouble shooting I know what command I need just not the options and how to use it

My advice would be look up The Missing Semester it’s a free online MIT course on how to use the terminal and it will govern you a better understanding of how to use it and Linux more generally. Really helpful to find your way around and give you an intuitive sense of what you’re trying to achieve.

Then beyond that installing arch is easy with archinstall but it’s probably more helpful to learn about the components of desktop Linux and what they do so that you actually know what you’re doing.

For one, stop copying and pasting commands and start learning about the basics of the shell.

Here’s a basic tutorial from UC Berkeley: https://computing.stat.berkeley.edu/tutorial-using-bash/

Things you’ll want to focus on:

1. Delimiters
2. Syntax (Bash by default, but the syntax for whatever your chosen shell is)
3. Switches
4. Path (absolute and relative)
5. Operators (Pipe will become one of your most heavily used)

Then once you learn to do some basics, I would hammer repetition. Just force yourself to do things you would usually do via GUI by command line. I started with the basics of updating my system way back in the day with sudo apt-get update && upgrade

Just type type type type all those commands until remembering them is muscle memory.

It sounds a bit nerdy, but dedicate some time just to learning a specific command once in a while. Start with something straightforward like ls. Read through the man pages and try out all the different options for it. After a while, you’ll master quite a few commands and will be able to string them together to perform more complex tasks. It’s definitely easier learning the system piece by piece like this. I used to learn by just jumping right in to a complex task, but I ended up with just a superficial understanding most of the time. Now days I try to be more deliberate about reading all the documentation and actually learning the tool/command/etc.

Also, Arch has the archinstall script that greatly simplifies the install process if you need it. You’ll definitely learn more doing it manually though. I’ve been using Arch as my daily driver for a year now and I love it.

Attempt an Arch install entirely from memory. You might want to try this in a VM, in case something goes wrong, but just do it. If you can’t quite remember what to do, man and ls /bin are your friends.