Copyright © 2003 Eric Nodwell
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Abstract
This is an introductory guide for people learning to use a Linux system. It focuses on command-line usage. This is not because everyone will be doing everything at the command line. On the contrary, there are many useful GUI tools and programs in Linux, and some people will be content to stay with these. However, in contrast to GUI programs, which can be learned largely by "click and try", the command-line requires some deliberate learning, and reading documentation. The benefit of this investment is that you will learn the tools and tricks of the command line which are in many cases faster, more powerful, and more flexible than any GUI program.
There are many other introductions to Linux on the web; this one is customized for users in UBC Physics and Astronomy.
Since I don't want to cover all the possible cases and variations, I'll also assume that you're sitting at an X-terminal of some sort - in other words, a fancy GUI with lots of windows and things. I'm going to assume that you've figured out how to open a terminal or console window (look for something called Konsole or Gnome Terminal). I'm going to assume that your shell is the bash shell. If you don't know what that is, don't worry - it's the default Linux shell.
You may also want to read Matt Choptuik's introduction to Unix, which you can find here.
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