From LQWiki
This article is an introduction to Linux. If you are already familiar with Windows, you can read migrating to Linux from Windows instead.
Contents |
Getting Help
You learn a lot when reading and writing into forums like http://www.linuxquestions.org. You can also ask questions and give answers in a chat. e.g. if you have a question regarding KDE, point your xchat to irc.kde.org, port 6667, channel #kde and start asking. If you have a question regarding Suse, just join channel #suse and so on.
Your lessons
As a beginner you might want to experience how to...
Choose a Linux Distribution
Main article: Choosing a Linux distribution
It is a good idea to use the distribution your guru next door uses, or, if you do not have a personal guru, start with a wide-spread distro like SUSE, Ubuntu or Fedora. You can just click on SUSE or another link here to find out where to get it.
Install Linux
Main article: Linux installation
You can install Linux for dual-boot so that you can choose between Linux and another operating system when you start your computer. Or you can install Linux into a VmwAre virtual machine. In this case, you can have two operating systems running at the same time. Anyway, installing Linux is basically following the install screens and answering the questions that are asked there.
Install Software
Main article: Installing Software
As opposed to other operating systems, the easiest way to install software is not to download an installer from the web. Instead, you should use the system management tools from your distribution to do this. So, find out your distro and install the software by its installation measures. E.g. to install firefox in SUSE Linux, you use
yast -i firefox
You can find a complete listing for all distributions at installing softwAre.
- Pack and unpack files
- Surf the web
- Burn a CDROM
- Scan
- Do Office tasks - word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, image manipulation and other
- Get help with Networking
- Configure Sound
- Make backups
- Play Games
- Do Multimedia tasks - listen to music, extract CDs, watch videos and DVDs
- Use Digital Cameras and Linux
- Use Camcorders and Linux
- Use Webcams and Linux
- Talk to friends online - how to access common instant messaging networks, see also IM.
Tips
Tips are clever solutions to questions that did not even come to your mind. For tips, see our Category:Tips. Here are some examples:
- KDE specific tips
- Distribution-specific tips&tricks
- Programming tips & tricks
- one-klik-installs
- Passwordless logins
Applications
See Applications.
Commands
- ls|dir : show a directory listing
- df -h : show how much disk space is left
- du -csh myfolder : show how much space is in use by the folder myfolder
- cd : change directory
- cp -r : copy a file
- rm -r : delete a file
- mkdir : make a directory
- chmod : change the file permissions
- pwd : show current working directory
- whoami : show your user name
- hostname : show your host's name
- uptime : show the uptime of your host
- top : show the top CPU consuming processes
Hard drives
You can find out your hard disk controller with the command hwinfo --storage-ctrl. You can find out what disks you have with hwinfo --block and what partitions you have using hwinfo --partition. When you found out, divide your disk devices into partitions using fdisk.
NetWorKing
- hwinfo --netcard : find out your NIC's type and abilities
- ethtool : find out if a cable has been plugged in (link detection)
- ping : find out if a computer is reachable
- ifconfig : set your IP-address
- route : set your default gateway
- nmap : find out about ports information on a computer
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