Getting Started with GNU/Linux

Jon Beck

Don Bindner

Caleb Jorden

Copyright © 2003, 2005 Jon Beck, Donald J. Bindner, Caleb Jorden

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU General Public License."

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

The Linux Kernel
The Unix Filesystem
The Shell

2. Getting Started

Logging in
Logging out
Starting the X Window System

3. Working with Files and Directories

Getting information about files

Displaying information in a file

Creating and using directories

File security

Users and groups
File types
Permissions for regular files
Permissions for directories
Default permissions

4. Managing Your Working Environment

Environment variables
Common environment variables
Changing .bashrc

5. Editing Files with Vi

Modal editing
Starting Vi
Stopping Vi
Common tasks
Gaining proficiency
Endorsement

6. Editing Files with Emacs

Important Emacs commands

7. Working Within the Truman Network

Retrieving and saving files with Samba

Accessing Windows shares with smbclient
Accessing Windows shares using smbmount

Connecting to other computers using SSH

Transferring files with SSH tools

Transferring files with sftp
Transferring files with scp

Using the Truman VPN from Linux

Basic VPN setup
Advanced routing with VPN

8. Finding Things on a Linux system

Directory structure on a Linux system

Programs for finding files

Finding files with grep
Finding files with locate
Finding files with whereis and which
Finding files with find

Programs for finding people

Listing who is currently logged on
Finding information about an individual

9. Managing Jobs and Processes

The ps command

Job control

Foreground and background
Working with jobs
Putting a foreground job into the background

10. The X11 Graphical Environment

The X Window System as a network application

Simple X11 display forwarding
X display forwarding with SSH

Customizing the keyboard map

Mapping single keys with xmodmap
Mapping the entire keyboard with xmodmap
Other customizations and information about using xmodmap

11. Documentation and Help

The Texinfo system

Other sources of help

Getting help from programs themselves
Miscellaneous documentation
The power of Google

12. Getting GNU/Linux for Yourself

Distributions

Installation

Loading a kernel
Partitioning a hard disk
Installing packages and setting up the system
Making the computer boot

Keeping current

13. Summary of useful commands

A. Advanced: Customizing file associations with ~/.mailcap

Helper scripts

Editing ~/.mailcap

Lesson 1 - PDF files
Lesson 2 - HTML files
Finishing up

Other resources

B. Advanced: Password-less Authentication With SSH

Generating SSH keys
Creating an authorized_keys2 file.
Using ssh-agent
Killing ssh-agent

C. Advanced: Off-site Email Using SSH

Forwarding ports
Configuring your email client
Disconnecting the tunnel

D. GNU General Public License

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

Section 0
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
Section 6
Section 7
Section 8
Section 9
Section 10
NO WARRANTY Section 11
Section 12

How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

List of Tables
3-1. File type designations
6-1. Important Emacs Commands:
7-1. smbclient commands
7-2. sftp commands
13-1. Commands:

List of Examples
1-1. Typing a command in the shell
3-1. Basic ls command
3-2. A long file listing
3-3. A file listing with wildcards
3-4. Using the file command
3-5. Displaying an account's group memberships
3-6. Long listing with permissions
3-7. Using chmod to change the mode of a file
3-8. Using chmod to change the mode of a directory
3-9. Using umask to set the file creation mask
4-1. Shell variable assignment
4-2. Exporting variables in the shell
7-1. Connecting to the U: drive with smbclient
7-2. Navigating in smbclient
7-3. Mounting a Windows share
7-4. Unmounting a Windows share
7-5. Basic ssh example
7-6. Using ssh with a different remote username
7-7. Get and put with sftp
7-8. Copying with scp
7-9. /etc/vpnc/default.conf
8-1. Printing the home directory
8-2. Finding text with grep
8-3. Finding with locate
8-4. Using whereis and which
8-5. Finding a file with find
8-6. Finding out who is logged on
8-7. Using the last command
8-8. Who am I?
8-9. Fingering a single account
8-10. Grepping for finger information
9-1. Basic ps invocation
9-2. Running ps with x option
9-3. Running a background task
9-4. Suspending a task
9-5. Running and suspending a second task
9-6. Listing jobs
9-7. Resuming a job
9-8. Moving a job to the background
10-1. Invoking X with the -query option
10-2. Viewing the DISPLAY variable
10-3. Forwarding X11 via SSH
10-4. Assigning one key with xmodmap
10-5. Assigning an accented character to the keyboard
10-6. Saving the current key map
10-7. Changing the entire key map
11-1. Viewing the ls man page
11-2. Learning about the stand-alone info browser
11-3. Getting help from the gzip program
11-4. Viewing the mutt user manual.
B-1. Generating a key pair.
B-2. Making authorized_keys2
B-3. Invoking ssh-agent and loading a key
C-1. email-tunnel.sh

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