Showing posts with label basic linux commands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label basic linux commands. Show all posts

Thursday, May 16, 2013

How much Linux do I know to qualify for some of these jobs out there?

Q. I'm an MCSE/MCITP have my bachelors, and 8 years experience but never touched Linux. I noticed a lot of jobs require some Linux. Obviously I'll never be a guru as I don't use it on the job and never have, but what's a good place to start and how much of it do I need to know to get around comfortably?

A. Get a hold of a few old computers, set up a LAN, and learn how to do anything you can think of. Start learning basic shell commands and how to look up such commands, "man" looks up the manual (docs) for each command, "apropos" searches man pages for a word to find a related command, etc.

If you have a network printer figure out how to use that. Set up apache webserver. Play around with bind9 configuring DNS zones for your LAN. Learn how "samba" interacts with Windows file and printer sharing and WINS. Set up a couple of mail servers using sendmail or postfix and learn how to successfully send mail between them.

And when you get comfortable enough with it, set up a Linux computer as your internet router, masquerading your private LAN from the internet, port forwarding, and other firewall rules (basically learning "iptables").

I am 1700 miles from our factory, so I am not sure what all they use Linux for. But it has been used as a safe public smtp interface for our mail, forwarded into/out of our internal Exchange server. They use Smoothwall Linux for "squid" web proxy (I use IPCop on an old K6-2/400 cpu for squid). Our document retrieval system for literature and drawings is apache webserver in Linux with search pages/scripts written by our network guru.

How to cut and paste something in Linux, using the terminal?
Q. How do I go about cutting something in one directory and placing it into another directory in the terminal?
What are the "commands" (not sure if that's what they're called) and what are their arguments? I would appreciate anyone with helpful information's assistance.

Thank-you.

A. 1) If you are talking about copying text from the terminal, you can copy with ctrl+shift+C, and paste with shift+insert (might be 'ins' on the keyboard).

2) I'm assuming that you are actually talking about moving, or copying files in your computer. Here are some basic commands;
ls - lists files in the current dictory

[john@Aaarch ~]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png 64roms Desktop
[john@Aaarch ~]$

cd - change dictory

[john@Aaarch ~]$ cd ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

cd ./ will let you change to a subdictory within the dictory you are already in. cd / will change to a dictory from the beginning of the filesystem. cd /home/john/Desktop is would be the same as cd ./Desktop, if I are already located in /home/john. To move to /home/john, my home dictory, I could also use cd ~/.
so, I could also do cd ~/Desktop, because "Desktop" is a subdictory within /home/john. If you login as another user, you will have a different home dictory, and to change to john's dictory, you will have to use cd /home/john. Home dictories are usually located in the /home dictory.

Another feature is to move up to the parent dictory with cd.
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ cd ../
[john@Aaarch ~]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png 64roms Desktop
[john@Aaarch ~]$
Simply type cd ../

To switch to another user, you would use su. Don't worry, this will only effect the terminal use issue su on, and you can always switch back.
To switch to the root user (administrative user), you can simply type in su. You will be prompted for the password. Be very carefull when working with the root user. You can damage your system. Only use the root user when needed.

If you get lost, you can use pwd to find your location.
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ pwd
/home/john/Desktop
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

To copy and remove files you would use these to commands:
cp - copy
rm - remove
There is as a command to just move files (cut and paste), but I don't use it too often.
mv - move
Too copy and remove dictories, you can use the -r arguement.
cp -r
rm -r

[john@Aaarch ~]$ cp ./43375-coolarch.png ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch ~]$ cd ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

Keep in mind that Desktop is a dictory. Dictories are usually a different color, if your terminal supports that. To get even more information of files, you can use ls -l instead.

Another useful command is man. man will let you view the manual pages of a command, if there is any availabe. Most distros come with the manual pages installed, and can be very help if learning new commands.

These are just some of the basics, but you will be using these commands as long as you use the terminal. I suggest you read some linux guides and documentation. I'll list a few that I know of, but remember that google is your friend, and also try posting on some forums as well.

http://www.linux.org/docs/
http://www.linuxhq.com/guides/LUG/guide.html (pretty old, but explains the basics)
http://learnlinux.tsf.org.za/

What is the Fastest way to teach myself EVERYTHING about computers?
Q. Without taking classes, or minimal classes, considering I have basic computer skills. How can I learn programming, web design, hacking, and other basic IT skills? What books should I read? Best answer gets the points.

A. You could study the rest of your life and you still would never know EVERYTHING about computers. I'll recommend a few books though.

Install Linux on your computer (you want to know EVERYTHING, right? That must include Linux) and get comfortable with it. I recommend Ubuntu because it's easy for beginners. Here's a link to a free ebook that will you help you get acquainted with it:
http://www.ubuntupocketguide.com/index_main.html

If you want more advanced Linux skills, I recommend Linux Command Line and Shell Scripting Bible by Richard Blum. It's pretty detailed and by the end of it you'll be good with the command line and bash scripting.

If you want to learn web design, you should learn HTML - no book recommendation here because you can just google for an HTML tutorial. It's not a programming language, it's not hard, and if you find a long book on HTML it's surely a waste of time.

You'll also want to learn Javascript, probably, for web design. I recommend Object-Oriented Javascript by Stoyan Stefanov. It's a pretty concise book and might be hard to follow if you haven't had any previous programming.

If you want to learn PHP for web development, I really can't recommend anything. I read a fabulous PHP book a few years ago, but it was on PHP 4, and PHP 5 is standard now, so I'm not going to recommend a PHP 4 book. I think PHP may be losing favor to Python though.

Everyone seems to love Python nowadays. Try Learning Python by Mark Lutz. It's 1200 pages long and rather detailed, and the author seems to assume you've had some math, but you need to learn math anyway if you're going to learn EVERYTHING about computers.

That'll keep you busy for a while. After that, you might see how impossible it really is to try to learn everything. You can learn a lot though, and sometimes it's more important to be able to find the information you need than to have things memorized.



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Friday, May 10, 2013

in an Ftp and Telnet session both servers were running linux what does this mean to windows users?

Q. in an ftp and telent session both servers were running Linux. This indicates that a working knowledge of some basic Linux commands are necessary. What does this mean to a windows User?

A. As David says - the protocol is independent of the operating system.

If the telnet session is connecting to a command-line (shell) on Linux (the default), then yes some knowledge of the Linux shell is required. But a telnet client can also be used to connect to e.g. a BBS, or to an email or webserver to enter SMTP or HTTP requests by hand, which only requires knowledge of the BBS commands etc.

To actually administer the servers, start or stop the services of course some Linux is required. But not just to run a Windows FTP client.

Is this the correct course to take if I want to create my own OS?
Q. Introduction to Linux
Provides a technical overview of the Linux operating system, providing hands-on experiencce with commands and files. Students explore the basic structure, functions, and tools of the Linux Operating System. Topics include basic Linux commands, files, and directories, text editing, pipes and filters, shell environment, and scripting. This is one of two courses required for students wishing to pursue the Linux+ industry certification.

A. Directly - no. This is basic course for Linux administration, that is not even very deep. However, it might provide useful fundamentals later on.
To create OS you need a plan.
1. Defining target platform for OS: will it be mobile devices, computers ( highly unadvisable, except if you have lots of money to fund application developers), other hand-helds, embedded "intelligent" devices, etc.
2. Learning Fundamentals of OS'es : Linux would be good choice, but you need to understand how other OSes work. That course above would help.
3. Learning in-depth about OS architecture of at least one OS
4. Learning about hardware architecture of your favorite platform.
5. Learning programming languages. C/C++ is a must, some knowledge of Assembler might be necessary too (despite rumours, most of OS programming is done in higher level language than assembler).
6. Learn about requirements of your future users.
7. start coding
8. Fail and repeat 3,4,5,6,7 till success.

How long does it take to learn linux?
Q. I know basic commands but how long does it take to learn more aka improve.. any source? thanks
i meant shell script

A. Once you are running a Linux distribution such as Ubuntu, which can be installed in its own partition, embedded within Windows, or simply run entirely from a CD, you have the choice of running applications that use a Graphics User Interface or opening a terminal and running commands from the command line.

GUI applications operate in a manner similar to the way Windows runs GUI applications. However, command line operations on Linux tend to be significantly different from DOS style commands. Not only are the command names different, but the Linux commands often do a lot more than the DOS equivalents. For example, 'dir' in DOS is 'ls' in Linux; and 'type' in DOS is 'cat' in Linux. 'ls' can take a lot of switches that modify how the output appears; and 'cat' can list the contents of multiple files.

For command line (shell script) work, then you need to study the syntax of your chosen shell. Manual pages such as:

man ksh
or
man bash

should tell you the features of the shell itself. How to reference single files and groups of files using wild cards; how to direct input into a command from a file and output from a program to a file or as input to another program. How to run programs in the background.

In Linux, there are far more commands available than are normally found as DOS commands. Finding commands is achieved using the -k switch to the 'man' manual listing command:

man -k reference

where reference is a word that describes what you might want to do. The 'man -k' command will list the commands related to the reference word you have chosen, with a single line description of the command. Then you can look at the specific man page for each command that is relevant.

For example, if you wanted to make a single file that contains the contents of every file in a sub-directory that contains the word Linux. Then the command could be:

cat `grep -l Linux subfolder/*` >output_file

grep searches files for the occurrence of the word Linux. The -l (lower case L) means that grep will just list the file names, not the lines of the files containing Linux. Enclosing the grep command in back quotes causes this command to run with its output supplied as parameters to the cat command. The cat command reproduces the contents of the files it is given as parameters. The > causes the output of the cat command to be redirected into the specified file.

cat `grep -l Linux subfolder/*` | grep Ubuntu >output_file

This command line saves only those lines that contain the word Ubuntu from the files that include the word Linux. Linux and Ubuntu do not have to be in the same line of the file.

The best way of learning all these things is to try them yourself.

I started working with UNIX command lines nearly 30 years ago. Within a week, I was producing working scripts, but I was still learning some new things 25 years later. Progress has slowed for me in the last few years since I retired from work and Linux became just one of a number of hobbies for me. Look at some of the simpler shell scripts in Linux and work out what they are doing and how they work, then try writing some of your own.

I hope this helps.



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Thursday, April 11, 2013

What is the most basic linux operating system?

Q. What linux distro is the most basic?

I am looking for an operating system that includes:

-command line
-no splash screen when booted
-nothing else.

A. There's no one answer to this question. There are many small Linux distributions. Take your pick.

There's one called Tiny Linux which is pretty small (~7mb).
http://tinylinux.sourceforge.net/
SmallLinux may fit your bill.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smalllinux/
MuLinux is a minimal distro. It fits on a floppy (1.44mb). Desktop is optional.
http://mulinux.dotsrc.org/
Here's a few lists of other distros that may be what you want. Most of them fit on a floppy disk.
http://www.linuxlinks.com/Distributions/Floppy/
http://computerstuff.jdarx.info/content/floppycd-linux-distributions

If you really want something smaller than that you can make your own distro. But I can't tell you how to do that.

Generally, what are the most commonly used programming languages?
Q. I know my way around Python and Visual Basic. That's about it. I also know some about the Linux command line, especially in Ubuntu context.

Can anyone help me to determine, what are the next several languages I should concern myself with studying?

A. It really shouldn't matter what languages you learn. What's really important is that you learn the patterns and data structures that span all languages. Once you do this, you'll pick up any language in about a couple weeks with no problem. As far as resume building is concerned, I would feel completely confident in landing a development job anywhere with C/C++ skills and a web job with PHP/SQL skills. Generally, C++ is so versatile because you don't have to rely on the underlying runtime frameworks (JRE for java, and .NET for VB/C#) that many companies try to avoid.

Saying that, Java is also a good one to dabble in if you haven't already, though I would not steer too clear of learning how do deal with memory in C/C++.

It's good you know Python, though you'll definitely need a more powerful language if your going to be serious about a career in software.

Get to know how to build makefiles and construct classes and such in C++ on ubuntu. Get to know how to do everything with a command prompt and vi. Once you understand all of this, you become much more powerful as a developer in general.

What is the best linux distribution for learning to use many?
Q. First, a bit about my background.. I currently work as a Network Engineer, mainly with Cisco routers/switches and VPN devices. I am throughly familiar with Windows, both as a workstation and server, and have one more test to go to complete my MCSE. However, I have no real experience with Linux, and feel like this is both a hole in my personal knowledge and in my resume. :) I can do basic user stuff both from a command line and in Xwindows, but have no real command of it.

That said, I intend to rectify this. I want to start using Linux as my primary operating system on my personal PC, as I feel this is a great first step to really force myself to learn it. I need to know what distribution would be best for me to use. My concern is some of them seem to have alot of propriatary tools that are not found in other linux distros, I want to find one to learn on that will best allow me to be comfortable on any linux distro I run into in the future. Thanks much for your advice!

A. Linux truly is a wonderful operating system! If I'm using a PC, I greatly prefer using it to Windows. It's much more stable, secure, etc. But you already knew that. =]

Personally, I would suggest you start out with OpenSuSE. It's easy to use, yet it is very powerful. Its installer is also pretty easy. I recommend that because a lot of businesses that run Linux on their client systems use SuSE (the only difference between that and OpenSuSE is that SuSE contains closed-source programs; therefore, you have to pay for that distro).

I hope this helps! Good luck!



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Sunday, April 7, 2013

What is the most basic linux operating system?

Q. What linux distro is the most basic?

I am looking for an operating system that includes:

-command line
-no splash screen when booted
-nothing else.

A. There's no one answer to this question. There are many small Linux distributions. Take your pick.

There's one called Tiny Linux which is pretty small (~7mb).
http://tinylinux.sourceforge.net/
SmallLinux may fit your bill.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smalllinux/
MuLinux is a minimal distro. It fits on a floppy (1.44mb). Desktop is optional.
http://mulinux.dotsrc.org/
Here's a few lists of other distros that may be what you want. Most of them fit on a floppy disk.
http://www.linuxlinks.com/Distributions/Floppy/
http://computerstuff.jdarx.info/content/floppycd-linux-distributions

If you really want something smaller than that you can make your own distro. But I can't tell you how to do that.

Generally, what are the most commonly used programming languages?
Q. I know my way around Python and Visual Basic. That's about it. I also know some about the Linux command line, especially in Ubuntu context.

Can anyone help me to determine, what are the next several languages I should concern myself with studying?

A. It really shouldn't matter what languages you learn. What's really important is that you learn the patterns and data structures that span all languages. Once you do this, you'll pick up any language in about a couple weeks with no problem. As far as resume building is concerned, I would feel completely confident in landing a development job anywhere with C/C++ skills and a web job with PHP/SQL skills. Generally, C++ is so versatile because you don't have to rely on the underlying runtime frameworks (JRE for java, and .NET for VB/C#) that many companies try to avoid.

Saying that, Java is also a good one to dabble in if you haven't already, though I would not steer too clear of learning how do deal with memory in C/C++.

It's good you know Python, though you'll definitely need a more powerful language if your going to be serious about a career in software.

Get to know how to build makefiles and construct classes and such in C++ on ubuntu. Get to know how to do everything with a command prompt and vi. Once you understand all of this, you become much more powerful as a developer in general.

What is the best linux distribution for learning to use many?
Q. First, a bit about my background.. I currently work as a Network Engineer, mainly with Cisco routers/switches and VPN devices. I am throughly familiar with Windows, both as a workstation and server, and have one more test to go to complete my MCSE. However, I have no real experience with Linux, and feel like this is both a hole in my personal knowledge and in my resume. :) I can do basic user stuff both from a command line and in Xwindows, but have no real command of it.

That said, I intend to rectify this. I want to start using Linux as my primary operating system on my personal PC, as I feel this is a great first step to really force myself to learn it. I need to know what distribution would be best for me to use. My concern is some of them seem to have alot of propriatary tools that are not found in other linux distros, I want to find one to learn on that will best allow me to be comfortable on any linux distro I run into in the future. Thanks much for your advice!

A. Linux truly is a wonderful operating system! If I'm using a PC, I greatly prefer using it to Windows. It's much more stable, secure, etc. But you already knew that. =]

Personally, I would suggest you start out with OpenSuSE. It's easy to use, yet it is very powerful. Its installer is also pretty easy. I recommend that because a lot of businesses that run Linux on their client systems use SuSE (the only difference between that and OpenSuSE is that SuSE contains closed-source programs; therefore, you have to pay for that distro).

I hope this helps! Good luck!



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Friday, April 5, 2013

Is this the correct course to take if I want to create my own OS?

Q. Introduction to Linux
Provides a technical overview of the Linux operating system, providing hands-on experiencce with commands and files. Students explore the basic structure, functions, and tools of the Linux Operating System. Topics include basic Linux commands, files, and directories, text editing, pipes and filters, shell environment, and scripting. This is one of two courses required for students wishing to pursue the Linux+ industry certification.

A. Directly - no. This is basic course for Linux administration, that is not even very deep. However, it might provide useful fundamentals later on.
To create OS you need a plan.
1. Defining target platform for OS: will it be mobile devices, computers ( highly unadvisable, except if you have lots of money to fund application developers), other hand-helds, embedded "intelligent" devices, etc.
2. Learning Fundamentals of OS'es : Linux would be good choice, but you need to understand how other OSes work. That course above would help.
3. Learning in-depth about OS architecture of at least one OS
4. Learning about hardware architecture of your favorite platform.
5. Learning programming languages. C/C++ is a must, some knowledge of Assembler might be necessary too (despite rumours, most of OS programming is done in higher level language than assembler).
6. Learn about requirements of your future users.
7. start coding
8. Fail and repeat 3,4,5,6,7 till success.

How long does it take to learn linux?
Q. I know basic commands but how long does it take to learn more aka improve.. any source? thanks
i meant shell script

A. Once you are running a Linux distribution such as Ubuntu, which can be installed in its own partition, embedded within Windows, or simply run entirely from a CD, you have the choice of running applications that use a Graphics User Interface or opening a terminal and running commands from the command line.

GUI applications operate in a manner similar to the way Windows runs GUI applications. However, command line operations on Linux tend to be significantly different from DOS style commands. Not only are the command names different, but the Linux commands often do a lot more than the DOS equivalents. For example, 'dir' in DOS is 'ls' in Linux; and 'type' in DOS is 'cat' in Linux. 'ls' can take a lot of switches that modify how the output appears; and 'cat' can list the contents of multiple files.

For command line (shell script) work, then you need to study the syntax of your chosen shell. Manual pages such as:

man ksh
or
man bash

should tell you the features of the shell itself. How to reference single files and groups of files using wild cards; how to direct input into a command from a file and output from a program to a file or as input to another program. How to run programs in the background.

In Linux, there are far more commands available than are normally found as DOS commands. Finding commands is achieved using the -k switch to the 'man' manual listing command:

man -k reference

where reference is a word that describes what you might want to do. The 'man -k' command will list the commands related to the reference word you have chosen, with a single line description of the command. Then you can look at the specific man page for each command that is relevant.

For example, if you wanted to make a single file that contains the contents of every file in a sub-directory that contains the word Linux. Then the command could be:

cat `grep -l Linux subfolder/*` >output_file

grep searches files for the occurrence of the word Linux. The -l (lower case L) means that grep will just list the file names, not the lines of the files containing Linux. Enclosing the grep command in back quotes causes this command to run with its output supplied as parameters to the cat command. The cat command reproduces the contents of the files it is given as parameters. The > causes the output of the cat command to be redirected into the specified file.

cat `grep -l Linux subfolder/*` | grep Ubuntu >output_file

This command line saves only those lines that contain the word Ubuntu from the files that include the word Linux. Linux and Ubuntu do not have to be in the same line of the file.

The best way of learning all these things is to try them yourself.

I started working with UNIX command lines nearly 30 years ago. Within a week, I was producing working scripts, but I was still learning some new things 25 years later. Progress has slowed for me in the last few years since I retired from work and Linux became just one of a number of hobbies for me. Look at some of the simpler shell scripts in Linux and work out what they are doing and how they work, then try writing some of your own.

I hope this helps.

Generally, what are the most commonly used programming languages?
Q. I know my way around Python and Visual Basic. That's about it. I also know some about the Linux command line, especially in Ubuntu context.

Can anyone help me to determine, what are the next several languages I should concern myself with studying?

A. It really shouldn't matter what languages you learn. What's really important is that you learn the patterns and data structures that span all languages. Once you do this, you'll pick up any language in about a couple weeks with no problem. As far as resume building is concerned, I would feel completely confident in landing a development job anywhere with C/C++ skills and a web job with PHP/SQL skills. Generally, C++ is so versatile because you don't have to rely on the underlying runtime frameworks (JRE for java, and .NET for VB/C#) that many companies try to avoid.

Saying that, Java is also a good one to dabble in if you haven't already, though I would not steer too clear of learning how do deal with memory in C/C++.

It's good you know Python, though you'll definitely need a more powerful language if your going to be serious about a career in software.

Get to know how to build makefiles and construct classes and such in C++ on ubuntu. Get to know how to do everything with a command prompt and vi. Once you understand all of this, you become much more powerful as a developer in general.



Nec Projector Review

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Cabochons Reviews

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What does it mean for windows users if basic knowledge of linux commands are required?

Q. For example FTP and Telnet both run Linux. So that would indicate that some basic konwledge of Linux commands is necessary. However, I am a Windows user...

A. FTP can run on Linux, but it doesn't always run on Linux.

You can run an FTP server on Windows and an FTP client on Windows. Same for Mac.

It is just a File Transfer Protocol. The protocol is cross-platform, not Linux-specific.

in an Ftp and Telnet session both servers were running linux what does this mean to windows users?
Q. in an ftp and telent session both servers were running Linux. This indicates that a working knowledge of some basic Linux commands are necessary. What does this mean to a windows User?

A. As David says - the protocol is independent of the operating system.

If the telnet session is connecting to a command-line (shell) on Linux (the default), then yes some knowledge of the Linux shell is required. But a telnet client can also be used to connect to e.g. a BBS, or to an email or webserver to enter SMTP or HTTP requests by hand, which only requires knowledge of the BBS commands etc.

To actually administer the servers, start or stop the services of course some Linux is required. But not just to run a Windows FTP client.

Is this the correct course to take if I want to create my own OS?
Q. Introduction to Linux
Provides a technical overview of the Linux operating system, providing hands-on experiencce with commands and files. Students explore the basic structure, functions, and tools of the Linux Operating System. Topics include basic Linux commands, files, and directories, text editing, pipes and filters, shell environment, and scripting. This is one of two courses required for students wishing to pursue the Linux+ industry certification.

A. Directly - no. This is basic course for Linux administration, that is not even very deep. However, it might provide useful fundamentals later on.
To create OS you need a plan.
1. Defining target platform for OS: will it be mobile devices, computers ( highly unadvisable, except if you have lots of money to fund application developers), other hand-helds, embedded "intelligent" devices, etc.
2. Learning Fundamentals of OS'es : Linux would be good choice, but you need to understand how other OSes work. That course above would help.
3. Learning in-depth about OS architecture of at least one OS
4. Learning about hardware architecture of your favorite platform.
5. Learning programming languages. C/C++ is a must, some knowledge of Assembler might be necessary too (despite rumours, most of OS programming is done in higher level language than assembler).
6. Learn about requirements of your future users.
7. start coding
8. Fail and repeat 3,4,5,6,7 till success.



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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

How long does it take to learn linux?

Q. I know basic commands but how long does it take to learn more aka improve.. any source? thanks
i meant shell script

A. Once you are running a Linux distribution such as Ubuntu, which can be installed in its own partition, embedded within Windows, or simply run entirely from a CD, you have the choice of running applications that use a Graphics User Interface or opening a terminal and running commands from the command line.

GUI applications operate in a manner similar to the way Windows runs GUI applications. However, command line operations on Linux tend to be significantly different from DOS style commands. Not only are the command names different, but the Linux commands often do a lot more than the DOS equivalents. For example, 'dir' in DOS is 'ls' in Linux; and 'type' in DOS is 'cat' in Linux. 'ls' can take a lot of switches that modify how the output appears; and 'cat' can list the contents of multiple files.

For command line (shell script) work, then you need to study the syntax of your chosen shell. Manual pages such as:

man ksh
or
man bash

should tell you the features of the shell itself. How to reference single files and groups of files using wild cards; how to direct input into a command from a file and output from a program to a file or as input to another program. How to run programs in the background.

In Linux, there are far more commands available than are normally found as DOS commands. Finding commands is achieved using the -k switch to the 'man' manual listing command:

man -k reference

where reference is a word that describes what you might want to do. The 'man -k' command will list the commands related to the reference word you have chosen, with a single line description of the command. Then you can look at the specific man page for each command that is relevant.

For example, if you wanted to make a single file that contains the contents of every file in a sub-directory that contains the word Linux. Then the command could be:

cat `grep -l Linux subfolder/*` >output_file

grep searches files for the occurrence of the word Linux. The -l (lower case L) means that grep will just list the file names, not the lines of the files containing Linux. Enclosing the grep command in back quotes causes this command to run with its output supplied as parameters to the cat command. The cat command reproduces the contents of the files it is given as parameters. The > causes the output of the cat command to be redirected into the specified file.

cat `grep -l Linux subfolder/*` | grep Ubuntu >output_file

This command line saves only those lines that contain the word Ubuntu from the files that include the word Linux. Linux and Ubuntu do not have to be in the same line of the file.

The best way of learning all these things is to try them yourself.

I started working with UNIX command lines nearly 30 years ago. Within a week, I was producing working scripts, but I was still learning some new things 25 years later. Progress has slowed for me in the last few years since I retired from work and Linux became just one of a number of hobbies for me. Look at some of the simpler shell scripts in Linux and work out what they are doing and how they work, then try writing some of your own.

I hope this helps.

What is the most basic linux operating system?
Q. What linux distro is the most basic?

I am looking for an operating system that includes:

-command line
-no splash screen when booted
-nothing else.

A. There's no one answer to this question. There are many small Linux distributions. Take your pick.

There's one called Tiny Linux which is pretty small (~7mb).
http://tinylinux.sourceforge.net/
SmallLinux may fit your bill.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smalllinux/
MuLinux is a minimal distro. It fits on a floppy (1.44mb). Desktop is optional.
http://mulinux.dotsrc.org/
Here's a few lists of other distros that may be what you want. Most of them fit on a floppy disk.
http://www.linuxlinks.com/Distributions/Floppy/
http://computerstuff.jdarx.info/content/floppycd-linux-distributions

If you really want something smaller than that you can make your own distro. But I can't tell you how to do that.

Generally, what are the most commonly used programming languages?
Q. I know my way around Python and Visual Basic. That's about it. I also know some about the Linux command line, especially in Ubuntu context.

Can anyone help me to determine, what are the next several languages I should concern myself with studying?

A. It really shouldn't matter what languages you learn. What's really important is that you learn the patterns and data structures that span all languages. Once you do this, you'll pick up any language in about a couple weeks with no problem. As far as resume building is concerned, I would feel completely confident in landing a development job anywhere with C/C++ skills and a web job with PHP/SQL skills. Generally, C++ is so versatile because you don't have to rely on the underlying runtime frameworks (JRE for java, and .NET for VB/C#) that many companies try to avoid.

Saying that, Java is also a good one to dabble in if you haven't already, though I would not steer too clear of learning how do deal with memory in C/C++.

It's good you know Python, though you'll definitely need a more powerful language if your going to be serious about a career in software.

Get to know how to build makefiles and construct classes and such in C++ on ubuntu. Get to know how to do everything with a command prompt and vi. Once you understand all of this, you become much more powerful as a developer in general.



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What is the best linux distribution for learning to use many?

Q. First, a bit about my background.. I currently work as a Network Engineer, mainly with Cisco routers/switches and VPN devices. I am throughly familiar with Windows, both as a workstation and server, and have one more test to go to complete my MCSE. However, I have no real experience with Linux, and feel like this is both a hole in my personal knowledge and in my resume. :) I can do basic user stuff both from a command line and in Xwindows, but have no real command of it.

That said, I intend to rectify this. I want to start using Linux as my primary operating system on my personal PC, as I feel this is a great first step to really force myself to learn it. I need to know what distribution would be best for me to use. My concern is some of them seem to have alot of propriatary tools that are not found in other linux distros, I want to find one to learn on that will best allow me to be comfortable on any linux distro I run into in the future. Thanks much for your advice!

A. Linux truly is a wonderful operating system! If I'm using a PC, I greatly prefer using it to Windows. It's much more stable, secure, etc. But you already knew that. =]

Personally, I would suggest you start out with OpenSuSE. It's easy to use, yet it is very powerful. Its installer is also pretty easy. I recommend that because a lot of businesses that run Linux on their client systems use SuSE (the only difference between that and OpenSuSE is that SuSE contains closed-source programs; therefore, you have to pay for that distro).

I hope this helps! Good luck!

How much Linux do I know to qualify for some of these jobs out there?
Q. I'm an MCSE/MCITP have my bachelors, and 8 years experience but never touched Linux. I noticed a lot of jobs require some Linux. Obviously I'll never be a guru as I don't use it on the job and never have, but what's a good place to start and how much of it do I need to know to get around comfortably?

A. Get a hold of a few old computers, set up a LAN, and learn how to do anything you can think of. Start learning basic shell commands and how to look up such commands, "man" looks up the manual (docs) for each command, "apropos" searches man pages for a word to find a related command, etc.

If you have a network printer figure out how to use that. Set up apache webserver. Play around with bind9 configuring DNS zones for your LAN. Learn how "samba" interacts with Windows file and printer sharing and WINS. Set up a couple of mail servers using sendmail or postfix and learn how to successfully send mail between them.

And when you get comfortable enough with it, set up a Linux computer as your internet router, masquerading your private LAN from the internet, port forwarding, and other firewall rules (basically learning "iptables").

I am 1700 miles from our factory, so I am not sure what all they use Linux for. But it has been used as a safe public smtp interface for our mail, forwarded into/out of our internal Exchange server. They use Smoothwall Linux for "squid" web proxy (I use IPCop on an old K6-2/400 cpu for squid). Our document retrieval system for literature and drawings is apache webserver in Linux with search pages/scripts written by our network guru.

How to cut and paste something in Linux, using the terminal?
Q. How do I go about cutting something in one directory and placing it into another directory in the terminal?
What are the "commands" (not sure if that's what they're called) and what are their arguments? I would appreciate anyone with helpful information's assistance.

Thank-you.

A. 1) If you are talking about copying text from the terminal, you can copy with ctrl+shift+C, and paste with shift+insert (might be 'ins' on the keyboard).

2) I'm assuming that you are actually talking about moving, or copying files in your computer. Here are some basic commands;
ls - lists files in the current dictory

[john@Aaarch ~]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png 64roms Desktop
[john@Aaarch ~]$

cd - change dictory

[john@Aaarch ~]$ cd ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

cd ./ will let you change to a subdictory within the dictory you are already in. cd / will change to a dictory from the beginning of the filesystem. cd /home/john/Desktop is would be the same as cd ./Desktop, if I are already located in /home/john. To move to /home/john, my home dictory, I could also use cd ~/.
so, I could also do cd ~/Desktop, because "Desktop" is a subdictory within /home/john. If you login as another user, you will have a different home dictory, and to change to john's dictory, you will have to use cd /home/john. Home dictories are usually located in the /home dictory.

Another feature is to move up to the parent dictory with cd.
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ cd ../
[john@Aaarch ~]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png 64roms Desktop
[john@Aaarch ~]$
Simply type cd ../

To switch to another user, you would use su. Don't worry, this will only effect the terminal use issue su on, and you can always switch back.
To switch to the root user (administrative user), you can simply type in su. You will be prompted for the password. Be very carefull when working with the root user. You can damage your system. Only use the root user when needed.

If you get lost, you can use pwd to find your location.
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ pwd
/home/john/Desktop
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

To copy and remove files you would use these to commands:
cp - copy
rm - remove
There is as a command to just move files (cut and paste), but I don't use it too often.
mv - move
Too copy and remove dictories, you can use the -r arguement.
cp -r
rm -r

[john@Aaarch ~]$ cp ./43375-coolarch.png ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch ~]$ cd ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

Keep in mind that Desktop is a dictory. Dictories are usually a different color, if your terminal supports that. To get even more information of files, you can use ls -l instead.

Another useful command is man. man will let you view the manual pages of a command, if there is any availabe. Most distros come with the manual pages installed, and can be very help if learning new commands.

These are just some of the basics, but you will be using these commands as long as you use the terminal. I suggest you read some linux guides and documentation. I'll list a few that I know of, but remember that google is your friend, and also try posting on some forums as well.

http://www.linux.org/docs/
http://www.linuxhq.com/guides/LUG/guide.html (pretty old, but explains the basics)
http://learnlinux.tsf.org.za/



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Saturday, March 2, 2013

How long does it take to learn linux?

Q. I know basic commands but how long does it take to learn more aka improve.. any source? thanks
i meant shell script

A. Once you are running a Linux distribution such as Ubuntu, which can be installed in its own partition, embedded within Windows, or simply run entirely from a CD, you have the choice of running applications that use a Graphics User Interface or opening a terminal and running commands from the command line.

GUI applications operate in a manner similar to the way Windows runs GUI applications. However, command line operations on Linux tend to be significantly different from DOS style commands. Not only are the command names different, but the Linux commands often do a lot more than the DOS equivalents. For example, 'dir' in DOS is 'ls' in Linux; and 'type' in DOS is 'cat' in Linux. 'ls' can take a lot of switches that modify how the output appears; and 'cat' can list the contents of multiple files.

For command line (shell script) work, then you need to study the syntax of your chosen shell. Manual pages such as:

man ksh
or
man bash

should tell you the features of the shell itself. How to reference single files and groups of files using wild cards; how to direct input into a command from a file and output from a program to a file or as input to another program. How to run programs in the background.

In Linux, there are far more commands available than are normally found as DOS commands. Finding commands is achieved using the -k switch to the 'man' manual listing command:

man -k reference

where reference is a word that describes what you might want to do. The 'man -k' command will list the commands related to the reference word you have chosen, with a single line description of the command. Then you can look at the specific man page for each command that is relevant.

For example, if you wanted to make a single file that contains the contents of every file in a sub-directory that contains the word Linux. Then the command could be:

cat `grep -l Linux subfolder/*` >output_file

grep searches files for the occurrence of the word Linux. The -l (lower case L) means that grep will just list the file names, not the lines of the files containing Linux. Enclosing the grep command in back quotes causes this command to run with its output supplied as parameters to the cat command. The cat command reproduces the contents of the files it is given as parameters. The > causes the output of the cat command to be redirected into the specified file.

cat `grep -l Linux subfolder/*` | grep Ubuntu >output_file

This command line saves only those lines that contain the word Ubuntu from the files that include the word Linux. Linux and Ubuntu do not have to be in the same line of the file.

The best way of learning all these things is to try them yourself.

I started working with UNIX command lines nearly 30 years ago. Within a week, I was producing working scripts, but I was still learning some new things 25 years later. Progress has slowed for me in the last few years since I retired from work and Linux became just one of a number of hobbies for me. Look at some of the simpler shell scripts in Linux and work out what they are doing and how they work, then try writing some of your own.

I hope this helps.

Generally, what are the most commonly used programming languages?
Q. I know my way around Python and Visual Basic. That's about it. I also know some about the Linux command line, especially in Ubuntu context.

Can anyone help me to determine, what are the next several languages I should concern myself with studying?

A. It really shouldn't matter what languages you learn. What's really important is that you learn the patterns and data structures that span all languages. Once you do this, you'll pick up any language in about a couple weeks with no problem. As far as resume building is concerned, I would feel completely confident in landing a development job anywhere with C/C++ skills and a web job with PHP/SQL skills. Generally, C++ is so versatile because you don't have to rely on the underlying runtime frameworks (JRE for java, and .NET for VB/C#) that many companies try to avoid.

Saying that, Java is also a good one to dabble in if you haven't already, though I would not steer too clear of learning how do deal with memory in C/C++.

It's good you know Python, though you'll definitely need a more powerful language if your going to be serious about a career in software.

Get to know how to build makefiles and construct classes and such in C++ on ubuntu. Get to know how to do everything with a command prompt and vi. Once you understand all of this, you become much more powerful as a developer in general.

What is the best linux distribution for learning to use many?
Q. First, a bit about my background.. I currently work as a Network Engineer, mainly with Cisco routers/switches and VPN devices. I am throughly familiar with Windows, both as a workstation and server, and have one more test to go to complete my MCSE. However, I have no real experience with Linux, and feel like this is both a hole in my personal knowledge and in my resume. :) I can do basic user stuff both from a command line and in Xwindows, but have no real command of it.

That said, I intend to rectify this. I want to start using Linux as my primary operating system on my personal PC, as I feel this is a great first step to really force myself to learn it. I need to know what distribution would be best for me to use. My concern is some of them seem to have alot of propriatary tools that are not found in other linux distros, I want to find one to learn on that will best allow me to be comfortable on any linux distro I run into in the future. Thanks much for your advice!

A. Linux truly is a wonderful operating system! If I'm using a PC, I greatly prefer using it to Windows. It's much more stable, secure, etc. But you already knew that. =]

Personally, I would suggest you start out with OpenSuSE. It's easy to use, yet it is very powerful. Its installer is also pretty easy. I recommend that because a lot of businesses that run Linux on their client systems use SuSE (the only difference between that and OpenSuSE is that SuSE contains closed-source programs; therefore, you have to pay for that distro).

I hope this helps! Good luck!



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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

How to cut and paste something in Linux, using the terminal?

Q. How do I go about cutting something in one directory and placing it into another directory in the terminal?
What are the "commands" (not sure if that's what they're called) and what are their arguments? I would appreciate anyone with helpful information's assistance.

Thank-you.

A. 1) If you are talking about copying text from the terminal, you can copy with ctrl+shift+C, and paste with shift+insert (might be 'ins' on the keyboard).

2) I'm assuming that you are actually talking about moving, or copying files in your computer. Here are some basic commands;
ls - lists files in the current dictory

[john@Aaarch ~]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png 64roms Desktop
[john@Aaarch ~]$

cd - change dictory

[john@Aaarch ~]$ cd ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

cd ./ will let you change to a subdictory within the dictory you are already in. cd / will change to a dictory from the beginning of the filesystem. cd /home/john/Desktop is would be the same as cd ./Desktop, if I are already located in /home/john. To move to /home/john, my home dictory, I could also use cd ~/.
so, I could also do cd ~/Desktop, because "Desktop" is a subdictory within /home/john. If you login as another user, you will have a different home dictory, and to change to john's dictory, you will have to use cd /home/john. Home dictories are usually located in the /home dictory.

Another feature is to move up to the parent dictory with cd.
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ cd ../
[john@Aaarch ~]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png 64roms Desktop
[john@Aaarch ~]$
Simply type cd ../

To switch to another user, you would use su. Don't worry, this will only effect the terminal use issue su on, and you can always switch back.
To switch to the root user (administrative user), you can simply type in su. You will be prompted for the password. Be very carefull when working with the root user. You can damage your system. Only use the root user when needed.

If you get lost, you can use pwd to find your location.
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ pwd
/home/john/Desktop
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

To copy and remove files you would use these to commands:
cp - copy
rm - remove
There is as a command to just move files (cut and paste), but I don't use it too often.
mv - move
Too copy and remove dictories, you can use the -r arguement.
cp -r
rm -r

[john@Aaarch ~]$ cp ./43375-coolarch.png ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch ~]$ cd ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

Keep in mind that Desktop is a dictory. Dictories are usually a different color, if your terminal supports that. To get even more information of files, you can use ls -l instead.

Another useful command is man. man will let you view the manual pages of a command, if there is any availabe. Most distros come with the manual pages installed, and can be very help if learning new commands.

These are just some of the basics, but you will be using these commands as long as you use the terminal. I suggest you read some linux guides and documentation. I'll list a few that I know of, but remember that google is your friend, and also try posting on some forums as well.

http://www.linux.org/docs/
http://www.linuxhq.com/guides/LUG/guide.html (pretty old, but explains the basics)
http://learnlinux.tsf.org.za/

What is the Fastest way to teach myself EVERYTHING about computers?
Q. Without taking classes, or minimal classes, considering I have basic computer skills. How can I learn programming, web design, hacking, and other basic IT skills? What books should I read? Best answer gets the points.

A. You could study the rest of your life and you still would never know EVERYTHING about computers. I'll recommend a few books though.

Install Linux on your computer (you want to know EVERYTHING, right? That must include Linux) and get comfortable with it. I recommend Ubuntu because it's easy for beginners. Here's a link to a free ebook that will you help you get acquainted with it:
http://www.ubuntupocketguide.com/index_main.html

If you want more advanced Linux skills, I recommend Linux Command Line and Shell Scripting Bible by Richard Blum. It's pretty detailed and by the end of it you'll be good with the command line and bash scripting.

If you want to learn web design, you should learn HTML - no book recommendation here because you can just google for an HTML tutorial. It's not a programming language, it's not hard, and if you find a long book on HTML it's surely a waste of time.

You'll also want to learn Javascript, probably, for web design. I recommend Object-Oriented Javascript by Stoyan Stefanov. It's a pretty concise book and might be hard to follow if you haven't had any previous programming.

If you want to learn PHP for web development, I really can't recommend anything. I read a fabulous PHP book a few years ago, but it was on PHP 4, and PHP 5 is standard now, so I'm not going to recommend a PHP 4 book. I think PHP may be losing favor to Python though.

Everyone seems to love Python nowadays. Try Learning Python by Mark Lutz. It's 1200 pages long and rather detailed, and the author seems to assume you've had some math, but you need to learn math anyway if you're going to learn EVERYTHING about computers.

That'll keep you busy for a while. After that, you might see how impossible it really is to try to learn everything. You can learn a lot though, and sometimes it's more important to be able to find the information you need than to have things memorized.

How tech savy do you have to be to have a Linux-only computer?
Q. I don't know Unix codes, but I do know a little (Vbasic, Java, C+) programming. How long does it take to learn the proper Unix/Linux codes to properly operate and customize a Linux system?

A. Basic use of Linux is just point and click like Windows and Mac.
There are some differences in the way you do something, in Linux you download most programs through the built-in application manager. For instance in Ubuntu Linux you use Add/Remove program under the Applications menu. It would be good to learn the names of programs that do the tasks that you want to do. This site will help with that. http://linuxappfinder.com/all

Just like Windows and Mac, if you want to do advanced system functions it requires learning to use the command console.
It is much easier to learn than a programing language.
You can do much with learning a few commands and config file locations
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/introduction_to_linux/linux_The_most_important_configuration_files.html
http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/commands.htm



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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

What is the best linux distribution for learning to use many?

Q. First, a bit about my background.. I currently work as a Network Engineer, mainly with Cisco routers/switches and VPN devices. I am throughly familiar with Windows, both as a workstation and server, and have one more test to go to complete my MCSE. However, I have no real experience with Linux, and feel like this is both a hole in my personal knowledge and in my resume. :) I can do basic user stuff both from a command line and in Xwindows, but have no real command of it.

That said, I intend to rectify this. I want to start using Linux as my primary operating system on my personal PC, as I feel this is a great first step to really force myself to learn it. I need to know what distribution would be best for me to use. My concern is some of them seem to have alot of propriatary tools that are not found in other linux distros, I want to find one to learn on that will best allow me to be comfortable on any linux distro I run into in the future. Thanks much for your advice!

A. Linux truly is a wonderful operating system! If I'm using a PC, I greatly prefer using it to Windows. It's much more stable, secure, etc. But you already knew that. =]

Personally, I would suggest you start out with OpenSuSE. It's easy to use, yet it is very powerful. Its installer is also pretty easy. I recommend that because a lot of businesses that run Linux on their client systems use SuSE (the only difference between that and OpenSuSE is that SuSE contains closed-source programs; therefore, you have to pay for that distro).

I hope this helps! Good luck!

How much Linux do I know to qualify for some of these jobs out there?
Q. I'm an MCSE/MCITP have my bachelors, and 8 years experience but never touched Linux. I noticed a lot of jobs require some Linux. Obviously I'll never be a guru as I don't use it on the job and never have, but what's a good place to start and how much of it do I need to know to get around comfortably?

A. Get a hold of a few old computers, set up a LAN, and learn how to do anything you can think of. Start learning basic shell commands and how to look up such commands, "man" looks up the manual (docs) for each command, "apropos" searches man pages for a word to find a related command, etc.

If you have a network printer figure out how to use that. Set up apache webserver. Play around with bind9 configuring DNS zones for your LAN. Learn how "samba" interacts with Windows file and printer sharing and WINS. Set up a couple of mail servers using sendmail or postfix and learn how to successfully send mail between them.

And when you get comfortable enough with it, set up a Linux computer as your internet router, masquerading your private LAN from the internet, port forwarding, and other firewall rules (basically learning "iptables").

I am 1700 miles from our factory, so I am not sure what all they use Linux for. But it has been used as a safe public smtp interface for our mail, forwarded into/out of our internal Exchange server. They use Smoothwall Linux for "squid" web proxy (I use IPCop on an old K6-2/400 cpu for squid). Our document retrieval system for literature and drawings is apache webserver in Linux with search pages/scripts written by our network guru.

How to cut and paste something in Linux, using the terminal?
Q. How do I go about cutting something in one directory and placing it into another directory in the terminal?
What are the "commands" (not sure if that's what they're called) and what are their arguments? I would appreciate anyone with helpful information's assistance.

Thank-you.

A. 1) If you are talking about copying text from the terminal, you can copy with ctrl+shift+C, and paste with shift+insert (might be 'ins' on the keyboard).

2) I'm assuming that you are actually talking about moving, or copying files in your computer. Here are some basic commands;
ls - lists files in the current dictory

[john@Aaarch ~]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png 64roms Desktop
[john@Aaarch ~]$

cd - change dictory

[john@Aaarch ~]$ cd ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

cd ./ will let you change to a subdictory within the dictory you are already in. cd / will change to a dictory from the beginning of the filesystem. cd /home/john/Desktop is would be the same as cd ./Desktop, if I are already located in /home/john. To move to /home/john, my home dictory, I could also use cd ~/.
so, I could also do cd ~/Desktop, because "Desktop" is a subdictory within /home/john. If you login as another user, you will have a different home dictory, and to change to john's dictory, you will have to use cd /home/john. Home dictories are usually located in the /home dictory.

Another feature is to move up to the parent dictory with cd.
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ cd ../
[john@Aaarch ~]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png 64roms Desktop
[john@Aaarch ~]$
Simply type cd ../

To switch to another user, you would use su. Don't worry, this will only effect the terminal use issue su on, and you can always switch back.
To switch to the root user (administrative user), you can simply type in su. You will be prompted for the password. Be very carefull when working with the root user. You can damage your system. Only use the root user when needed.

If you get lost, you can use pwd to find your location.
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ pwd
/home/john/Desktop
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

To copy and remove files you would use these to commands:
cp - copy
rm - remove
There is as a command to just move files (cut and paste), but I don't use it too often.
mv - move
Too copy and remove dictories, you can use the -r arguement.
cp -r
rm -r

[john@Aaarch ~]$ cp ./43375-coolarch.png ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch ~]$ cd ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

Keep in mind that Desktop is a dictory. Dictories are usually a different color, if your terminal supports that. To get even more information of files, you can use ls -l instead.

Another useful command is man. man will let you view the manual pages of a command, if there is any availabe. Most distros come with the manual pages installed, and can be very help if learning new commands.

These are just some of the basics, but you will be using these commands as long as you use the terminal. I suggest you read some linux guides and documentation. I'll list a few that I know of, but remember that google is your friend, and also try posting on some forums as well.

http://www.linux.org/docs/
http://www.linuxhq.com/guides/LUG/guide.html (pretty old, but explains the basics)
http://learnlinux.tsf.org.za/



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Thursday, February 14, 2013

How to cut and paste something in Linux, using the terminal?

Q. How do I go about cutting something in one directory and placing it into another directory in the terminal?
What are the "commands" (not sure if that's what they're called) and what are their arguments? I would appreciate anyone with helpful information's assistance.

Thank-you.

A. 1) If you are talking about copying text from the terminal, you can copy with ctrl+shift+C, and paste with shift+insert (might be 'ins' on the keyboard).

2) I'm assuming that you are actually talking about moving, or copying files in your computer. Here are some basic commands;
ls - lists files in the current dictory

[john@Aaarch ~]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png 64roms Desktop
[john@Aaarch ~]$

cd - change dictory

[john@Aaarch ~]$ cd ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

cd ./ will let you change to a subdictory within the dictory you are already in. cd / will change to a dictory from the beginning of the filesystem. cd /home/john/Desktop is would be the same as cd ./Desktop, if I are already located in /home/john. To move to /home/john, my home dictory, I could also use cd ~/.
so, I could also do cd ~/Desktop, because "Desktop" is a subdictory within /home/john. If you login as another user, you will have a different home dictory, and to change to john's dictory, you will have to use cd /home/john. Home dictories are usually located in the /home dictory.

Another feature is to move up to the parent dictory with cd.
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ cd ../
[john@Aaarch ~]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png 64roms Desktop
[john@Aaarch ~]$
Simply type cd ../

To switch to another user, you would use su. Don't worry, this will only effect the terminal use issue su on, and you can always switch back.
To switch to the root user (administrative user), you can simply type in su. You will be prompted for the password. Be very carefull when working with the root user. You can damage your system. Only use the root user when needed.

If you get lost, you can use pwd to find your location.
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ pwd
/home/john/Desktop
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

To copy and remove files you would use these to commands:
cp - copy
rm - remove
There is as a command to just move files (cut and paste), but I don't use it too often.
mv - move
Too copy and remove dictories, you can use the -r arguement.
cp -r
rm -r

[john@Aaarch ~]$ cp ./43375-coolarch.png ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch ~]$ cd ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

Keep in mind that Desktop is a dictory. Dictories are usually a different color, if your terminal supports that. To get even more information of files, you can use ls -l instead.

Another useful command is man. man will let you view the manual pages of a command, if there is any availabe. Most distros come with the manual pages installed, and can be very help if learning new commands.

These are just some of the basics, but you will be using these commands as long as you use the terminal. I suggest you read some linux guides and documentation. I'll list a few that I know of, but remember that google is your friend, and also try posting on some forums as well.

http://www.linux.org/docs/
http://www.linuxhq.com/guides/LUG/guide.html (pretty old, but explains the basics)
http://learnlinux.tsf.org.za/

What is the Fastest way to teach myself EVERYTHING about computers?
Q. Without taking classes, or minimal classes, considering I have basic computer skills. How can I learn programming, web design, hacking, and other basic IT skills? What books should I read? Best answer gets the points.

A. You could study the rest of your life and you still would never know EVERYTHING about computers. I'll recommend a few books though.

Install Linux on your computer (you want to know EVERYTHING, right? That must include Linux) and get comfortable with it. I recommend Ubuntu because it's easy for beginners. Here's a link to a free ebook that will you help you get acquainted with it:
http://www.ubuntupocketguide.com/index_main.html

If you want more advanced Linux skills, I recommend Linux Command Line and Shell Scripting Bible by Richard Blum. It's pretty detailed and by the end of it you'll be good with the command line and bash scripting.

If you want to learn web design, you should learn HTML - no book recommendation here because you can just google for an HTML tutorial. It's not a programming language, it's not hard, and if you find a long book on HTML it's surely a waste of time.

You'll also want to learn Javascript, probably, for web design. I recommend Object-Oriented Javascript by Stoyan Stefanov. It's a pretty concise book and might be hard to follow if you haven't had any previous programming.

If you want to learn PHP for web development, I really can't recommend anything. I read a fabulous PHP book a few years ago, but it was on PHP 4, and PHP 5 is standard now, so I'm not going to recommend a PHP 4 book. I think PHP may be losing favor to Python though.

Everyone seems to love Python nowadays. Try Learning Python by Mark Lutz. It's 1200 pages long and rather detailed, and the author seems to assume you've had some math, but you need to learn math anyway if you're going to learn EVERYTHING about computers.

That'll keep you busy for a while. After that, you might see how impossible it really is to try to learn everything. You can learn a lot though, and sometimes it's more important to be able to find the information you need than to have things memorized.

How tech savy do you have to be to have a Linux-only computer?
Q. I don't know Unix codes, but I do know a little (Vbasic, Java, C+) programming. How long does it take to learn the proper Unix/Linux codes to properly operate and customize a Linux system?

A. Basic use of Linux is just point and click like Windows and Mac.
There are some differences in the way you do something, in Linux you download most programs through the built-in application manager. For instance in Ubuntu Linux you use Add/Remove program under the Applications menu. It would be good to learn the names of programs that do the tasks that you want to do. This site will help with that. http://linuxappfinder.com/all

Just like Windows and Mac, if you want to do advanced system functions it requires learning to use the command console.
It is much easier to learn than a programing language.
You can do much with learning a few commands and config file locations
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/introduction_to_linux/linux_The_most_important_configuration_files.html
http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/commands.htm



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Sunday, February 10, 2013

How much Linux do I know to qualify for some of these jobs out there?

Q. I'm an MCSE/MCITP have my bachelors, and 8 years experience but never touched Linux. I noticed a lot of jobs require some Linux. Obviously I'll never be a guru as I don't use it on the job and never have, but what's a good place to start and how much of it do I need to know to get around comfortably?

A. Get a hold of a few old computers, set up a LAN, and learn how to do anything you can think of. Start learning basic shell commands and how to look up such commands, "man" looks up the manual (docs) for each command, "apropos" searches man pages for a word to find a related command, etc.

If you have a network printer figure out how to use that. Set up apache webserver. Play around with bind9 configuring DNS zones for your LAN. Learn how "samba" interacts with Windows file and printer sharing and WINS. Set up a couple of mail servers using sendmail or postfix and learn how to successfully send mail between them.

And when you get comfortable enough with it, set up a Linux computer as your internet router, masquerading your private LAN from the internet, port forwarding, and other firewall rules (basically learning "iptables").

I am 1700 miles from our factory, so I am not sure what all they use Linux for. But it has been used as a safe public smtp interface for our mail, forwarded into/out of our internal Exchange server. They use Smoothwall Linux for "squid" web proxy (I use IPCop on an old K6-2/400 cpu for squid). Our document retrieval system for literature and drawings is apache webserver in Linux with search pages/scripts written by our network guru.

How to cut and paste something in Linux, using the terminal?
Q. How do I go about cutting something in one directory and placing it into another directory in the terminal?
What are the "commands" (not sure if that's what they're called) and what are their arguments? I would appreciate anyone with helpful information's assistance.

Thank-you.

A. 1) If you are talking about copying text from the terminal, you can copy with ctrl+shift+C, and paste with shift+insert (might be 'ins' on the keyboard).

2) I'm assuming that you are actually talking about moving, or copying files in your computer. Here are some basic commands;
ls - lists files in the current dictory

[john@Aaarch ~]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png 64roms Desktop
[john@Aaarch ~]$

cd - change dictory

[john@Aaarch ~]$ cd ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

cd ./ will let you change to a subdictory within the dictory you are already in. cd / will change to a dictory from the beginning of the filesystem. cd /home/john/Desktop is would be the same as cd ./Desktop, if I are already located in /home/john. To move to /home/john, my home dictory, I could also use cd ~/.
so, I could also do cd ~/Desktop, because "Desktop" is a subdictory within /home/john. If you login as another user, you will have a different home dictory, and to change to john's dictory, you will have to use cd /home/john. Home dictories are usually located in the /home dictory.

Another feature is to move up to the parent dictory with cd.
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ cd ../
[john@Aaarch ~]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png 64roms Desktop
[john@Aaarch ~]$
Simply type cd ../

To switch to another user, you would use su. Don't worry, this will only effect the terminal use issue su on, and you can always switch back.
To switch to the root user (administrative user), you can simply type in su. You will be prompted for the password. Be very carefull when working with the root user. You can damage your system. Only use the root user when needed.

If you get lost, you can use pwd to find your location.
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ pwd
/home/john/Desktop
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

To copy and remove files you would use these to commands:
cp - copy
rm - remove
There is as a command to just move files (cut and paste), but I don't use it too often.
mv - move
Too copy and remove dictories, you can use the -r arguement.
cp -r
rm -r

[john@Aaarch ~]$ cp ./43375-coolarch.png ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch ~]$ cd ./Desktop/
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$ ls
43375-coolarch.png
[john@Aaarch Desktop]$

Keep in mind that Desktop is a dictory. Dictories are usually a different color, if your terminal supports that. To get even more information of files, you can use ls -l instead.

Another useful command is man. man will let you view the manual pages of a command, if there is any availabe. Most distros come with the manual pages installed, and can be very help if learning new commands.

These are just some of the basics, but you will be using these commands as long as you use the terminal. I suggest you read some linux guides and documentation. I'll list a few that I know of, but remember that google is your friend, and also try posting on some forums as well.

http://www.linux.org/docs/
http://www.linuxhq.com/guides/LUG/guide.html (pretty old, but explains the basics)
http://learnlinux.tsf.org.za/

What is the Fastest way to teach myself EVERYTHING about computers?
Q. Without taking classes, or minimal classes, considering I have basic computer skills. How can I learn programming, web design, hacking, and other basic IT skills? What books should I read? Best answer gets the points.

A. You could study the rest of your life and you still would never know EVERYTHING about computers. I'll recommend a few books though.

Install Linux on your computer (you want to know EVERYTHING, right? That must include Linux) and get comfortable with it. I recommend Ubuntu because it's easy for beginners. Here's a link to a free ebook that will you help you get acquainted with it:
http://www.ubuntupocketguide.com/index_main.html

If you want more advanced Linux skills, I recommend Linux Command Line and Shell Scripting Bible by Richard Blum. It's pretty detailed and by the end of it you'll be good with the command line and bash scripting.

If you want to learn web design, you should learn HTML - no book recommendation here because you can just google for an HTML tutorial. It's not a programming language, it's not hard, and if you find a long book on HTML it's surely a waste of time.

You'll also want to learn Javascript, probably, for web design. I recommend Object-Oriented Javascript by Stoyan Stefanov. It's a pretty concise book and might be hard to follow if you haven't had any previous programming.

If you want to learn PHP for web development, I really can't recommend anything. I read a fabulous PHP book a few years ago, but it was on PHP 4, and PHP 5 is standard now, so I'm not going to recommend a PHP 4 book. I think PHP may be losing favor to Python though.

Everyone seems to love Python nowadays. Try Learning Python by Mark Lutz. It's 1200 pages long and rather detailed, and the author seems to assume you've had some math, but you need to learn math anyway if you're going to learn EVERYTHING about computers.

That'll keep you busy for a while. After that, you might see how impossible it really is to try to learn everything. You can learn a lot though, and sometimes it's more important to be able to find the information you need than to have things memorized.



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