New member learning VPS basics: shell account, NAT VPS, or a cheap KVM to practice on?

oobb

Hi everyone, I'm oobb, a new member here. I'm learning the command line and SSH from scratch on basically a zero budget.

I've just figured out the difference between a free FreeBSD shell account (shared terminal, about 60MB of space) and a NAT VPS (shared IPv4, limited ports), and I'm trying to decide what to practice on. A few beginner questions:

1. For pure practice — SSH, file permissions, running a small service — is a NAT VPS enough, or should I just wait for a cheap KVM deal instead?
2. Does a Hong Kong node actually make any difference for a beginner practicing from Asia?
3. Is there a first-week practice checklist you'd recommend for someone starting out?

Thanks in advance for any pointers!

MikeA

To be honest if you have zero budget and can't pay then running WSL on Windows will be very useful for you if you really are just wanting to learn. You can install most Linux OS in Windows via WSL2. I run Almalinux 10 in WSL on my main PC.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about

Most you can 1-click install basically from the Windows store.

nick_

You can buy a NAT VPS from TierHive, starting from around $3/year. They have multiple locations, Singapore and Japan included.

https://tierhive.com/

forest

What kind of practice do you want to do?

PuDLeZ

What are the specs of your computer(s) at home and what OS do you use? Asking because for just starting out and learning, it would be best to use WSL or a VM at home.

blip1945

I'd go with pure kvm with dedicated ipv4 and ipv6 for the widest coverage. Shell account doesn't have root, and nat gave unnecessary complication with routing and stuff. Oracle free tier still exist, albeit they've tighten the registration since fuckers kept abusing them.

kkoneko

WSL / VirtualBox