I am not undermining linux by that statement, but it's just a thought for all those who have never seen or experienced linux, there is a complete new world of Operating System which is Bug free, spyware free and virus free. It is not necessary that you swtich to linux based OS, but you can always give it a try, and see the difference yourself.
When I say love Linux, I actually meant, experience it, see the difference yourself, and then decide what you want to do, I think that's a fair statement . To being with, you can either have it installed on the other partition of your PC so that you continue to use the existing OS and yet get the taste of Linux. In case you do not want to part ways with your Hard disk for whatever reason, you can get a copy of VMWARE application (
http://www.vmware.com/) installed on your system and run the virtual image of Linux, this is what i have been doing for past one year, this tool gives you the freedom to use/test different types of Linux distros.
Like most of us, i always feared of UNIX-like OS, b'cos of its resemblance with UNIX, and i always imagined UNIX administrators running through complex commands via command line interface , and i always asked myself, without any knowledge of commands, how am i going to find and run my favorite applications, how am i going to deal with listening to audio or watching movie, these were some of my fears when i thought of UNIX from a beginners point of view.
I googled and found lot of stuff about Linux, soon I got to know that, there are Desktop packages that gives you Desktop-Environment similar to Windows so that you can easily work through your Linux, A “desktop environment” can mean anything ranging from a simple window manager to a complete suite of desktop applications, such as KDE or GNOME.
So, Solaris / Redhat / Ubuntu.. all can have a desktop :) , for this article, we shall only concentrate on one such application called GNOME:
What is GNOME:Acronym for GNU Network Object Model Environment. (Pronounced guh-nome.) GNOME is part of the GNU project and part of the free software, or open source, movement. GNOME is a Windows-like desktop system that works on UNIX and UNIX-like systems and is not dependent on any one window manager. The current version runs on Linux, FreeBSD, IRIX and Solaris. The main objective of GNOME is to provide a user-friendly suite of applications and an easy-to-use desktop.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOMEIn case you want to work from command-line, no one is stopping you : Just open the "Terminal", and play with commands if your main purpose is to deal in commands. That's it, i installed redhat, and got familiar with the look of it, what is where etc, but i must say, its so quick and easy to work through commands, and it is not tough, its just a matter of getting use to, i googled to look for article on the web and found of millions of page dedicated to Linux forums where you can get direct help from other Linux users, i slowly started working with commands, and in the process, i learnt , how to "unzip" (gunzip) file in Linux, what is "Kernel" , "Directory structure" , "daemons (Programs) " ,"services", "Libraries" , "tar" , what is "package", how to move/ copy/ delete / edit / how to setup FTP etc . It was slow process, but i did not mind b'cos my Job did not depend on it, I was learning it as a hobby, which indeed made me more relax and patient and that helped me in digging further in to "UNIX commands".
Over the past year, since i first saw the Linux, i have worked on Redhat, Ubuntu and Solaris and believe me, most commands work the same on these different flavors, therefore handy UNIX commands will help you any day on any flavors. For those who are least interested in commands, and just looking for more reliable, bug free environment and yet wants to retain the user friendly features of Windows can always work with window managers provided by KDE/GNOME.
I still consider myself a novice here, but that does not mean complexity on the Linux side , i just like to be like that, Linux is a journey for me not a destination , discovering virus free environment where my PC not only works faster than before it even runs similar applications like Office (word, excel, power-point) which i have been use to for ages. Further, you never know when this extra bit of skill will come handy at your current job space, or even lend you a better job than the one you currently have. So, why shy away, go ahead and befriend Linux.
We all feel good, when we work through command line, don't we ;) , even though same can be achieved via GUI, because that lifts our confidence in the command-line world . On this point let me introduce you to what is called :Terminal, command line, Shell etc.
The command line is also known as the terminal or the shell. People also call it a terminal window, or a shell prompt, or a command prompt.
Terminal window = command prompt = shell , its one and the same.Running a command, means typing something at the command prompt then pressing the ENTER key to execute the command.
Let's take a look at some of the basic commands that are the most useful:
1.
View directory contents with 'ls''ls' command, the purpose of this command is to list the files that are in the current directory. At the command prompt, type in 'ls' without the quotes. Then press the ENTER key. You will see a list of files that are in the current directory. Let's look at an example of how to use this command:
user@linux~> ls
2.
Make a directory with 'mkdir'How can we create a directory? There is a command called 'mkdir' that is used forthis. You use this command using this as a pattern:
mkdir [insert directory name here]
3.
Remove a directory with 'rmdir'Once we have made a directory, can we remove it? Yes. We use the 'rmdir'command. This command is similar to the 'mkdir' command in regards to how to useit:
rmdir [directory you want to remove]
You just replace the "[directory you want to remove]" with the actual name of the directory you want to remove. For example:
user@linux:~> rmdir myfiles
4.
Change to a directory with 'cd'Let's say that we have just created a directory called 'myfiles'. How do we then go into that directory? This is what the 'cd' command is for. It is used to "c"hange"d"irectories. This is how we will use this command:
cd [directory name]
How do we get back out of the directory? Instead of providing a directory name,we just put in two dots for the name. This just means, "I want to leave the directorythat I am currently in." This is what using the command looks like:
user@linux:~/myfiles> cd ..
5.
What directory am I in? Using 'pwd'How do we know what directory we are in? There is a very simple command forthis. It is called 'pwd'. That just means "p"resent "w"orking "d"irectory. You use itlike this:
pwd
And it tells you what directory you are in. Using this command will help youknow if you are in the right place.
6.
Copying files with 'cp'Now that we know some commands for working with directories, let's look atsome ways to work with files. To begin with, we will look at copying a file. Thecommand 'cp' will do this for us. Its usage is thus:
cp [source file] [destination file]
You just replace "[source file]" with the file you want to copy. You replace the"[destination file]" with the place you want that file copied to. For example, if I hada file called 'mybooks.txt' and I wanted to make a copy of it called 'somebooks.txt', Icould run this command:
user@linux:~> cp mybooks.txt somebooks.txt
7.
Moving files with 'mv'If you want to move a file instead of copy it, you can use 'mv'. The syntax ofhow to use this command is very similar to the 'cp' command:
mv [source file] [destination file]
Replace "[source file]" with the name of the file you want moved. Replace "[destination file]" with the filename you want it moved to. You may notice that you can also use this command to rename a file, "moving" it from one filename to another. Example:
user@linux:~> mv myfile.txt yourfile.txt
8.
Deleting files with 'rm'What about if we want to delete a file? This is the purpose of 'rm'. Thiscommand will permanently remove a file, so be careful with it. The way you use this is as follows:
rm [file to delete]
Again, use caution with this command. Its effects are permanent. Here is anexample:
user@linux:~> rm myfile.txt
9.
Viewing text files with 'cat'Many files in Linux are text files. How do we view the contents of such textfiles? If the file is relatively small (its contents won't fill up more than one screen),we can use the 'cat' command. This command will just output the contents of the filestraight to the screen. Its usage is as follows:
cat [filename to display]
10.
Viewing text files with 'less'What if the file is too long to fit on one page? If it is a really big file, it may justdump large amounts of text to your screen. This will make it scroll up way fasterthan you can read it. Is there a solution to this problem? You bet. It is the 'less'command. This is how you use it:less [filename to display]
11.
What time is it? What is the date? Using 'date'One very easy command is called 'date'. This displays the current date and time.Use this command as follows:
date
In addition to these commands, Sometimes, you will runinto a situation where you may need some help learning how to use a particular command. Fortunately, there is a help system built into Linux which can assist you with this. It is the 'man' command, which displays help on using other commands.
Using 'man' to find helpTo use 'man', the following is the syntax:man [command]
