Terminal for Learner

DohZ · 2011-10-21 21:43:07

Crunchbang has brought my sub-Atom netbook back to amazing life.
I've dabbled with Linux but am now inspired to try to learn to use the terminal.

I can of course google or read some wiki etc but wonder if here is a version of or add on for terminal that makes it easier to learn easily and to build up favourite or regular terms/requests. (struggling for the right words there)

Thanks

DohZ

StratusFractus · 2011-10-21 21:53:22

I would definitely be interested in something like this as well.

dubois · 2011-10-21 21:55:03

I don't know about an add-on but here's something that helped me...

http://www.pixelbeat.org/cmdline.html
http://www.pixelbeat.org/docs/linux_commands.html

Hi. Welcome to #!. wink

Last edited by dubois (2011-10-21 21:56:16)

Anaconda · 2011-10-21 21:59:45

Cheat sheets like the above can be useful but if you want to learn a bit more try these two.

http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/cli.html This is laid out nicely for beginners.

http://linuxcommand.org/ This one will take you further if you wish.

dubois · 2011-10-21 22:02:06

^ I so forgot about tuxfiles!!

Anaconda · 2011-10-21 22:09:20

@DohZ , dubois gave me an idea. Once you get started with this maybe you should create a cheat sheet of your own. Just make a file containing a list of the commands you find the most useful or interesting. I did that myself a few years ago and it really helped.

dmhdlr · 2011-10-21 22:21:25

Cli companion:

http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2010/12/18 … r-the-cli/

Anaconda · 2011-10-21 22:23:16

One last suggestion. When you want to learn anything, use the word "tutorial" along with the thing you're searching for.

You will end up with things like this example from a youtube search. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q … orial&aq=f

sunfizz98 · 2011-10-21 22:24:31

@dubois
Make me a shirt and I might buy it too.

VastOne · 2011-10-21 22:55:53

Anaconda wrote:

@DohZ , dubois gave me an idea. Once you get started with this maybe you should create a cheat sheet of your own. Just make a file containing a list of the commands you find the most useful or interesting. I did that myself a few years ago and it really helped.

Or you could turn your favorites into aliases in .bashrc/.bash_aliases and at the same time have shortcuts and a list of your favorites..

Here is what I find useful in my

.bash_aliases

alias up='sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade'
alias get='sudo apt-get install'
alias re='sudo apt-get remove'
alias cl='sudo apt-get autoclean'
alias se='apt-cache policy'
alias upg='sudo update-grub'
alias grc='ps aux | grep conky'
alias re='source ~/.bashrc'
alias al='cat ~/.bash_aliases'

Notice the last alias is because I cannot remember them all the time.. roll

I realize this is a bit off track of the OP but it is another way to list and learn...

safetycopy · 2011-10-21 23:14:08

VastOne wrote:

Notice the last alias is because I cannot remember them all the time..

I like that one! (What if you forget it, though? big_smile )

Last edited by safetycopy (2011-10-21 23:14:25)

rhowaldt · 2011-10-21 23:35:41

oldie but goodie: http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/ & http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prog-Intro-HOWTO.html

if you are done with that: http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/

and for your prompt (the stuff that is on the line before you've entered any commands, usually your name@crunchbang $): http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prompt-HOWTO/

and look, some more! http://tldp.org/LDP/intro-linux/html/sect_07_02.html

Last edited by rhowaldt (2011-10-21 23:38:29)

VastOne · 2011-10-21 23:38:40

@ rhowaldt, Anaconda, replicant and dubois..

Thanks for posting all those great sources of information on this subject..

rhowaldt · 2011-10-21 23:46:24

@Vastone: you're welcome! actually i forgot to say something.

lurk around these forums. if you spot a thread that seems not too difficult to grasp (someone has a problem with their wifi, for example - enough of those around), just check it out. read the question and then read the answers to it. whenever you see a command you don't know, try it out in your own terminal (you might want to keep an eye on just trying out the commands that output information, not those who do 'modprobe' and actually change stuff on your system. when in doubt, Google)

when someone posts a bash-script in the Tips, Tricks & Scripts-section, check it out. copy-paste it and try it out. or try to figure out from the code what it does. look at the layout and absorb knowledge.
here are some examples for you (most of these are my own):

http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … end-firep/
http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … mmandline/
http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/post/137851/
http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/post/146793/#p146793

this last one will provide you with the knowledge i've dug up myself while learning bash and the commandline, and allows you to build it into a reference script:
http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … ce-script/

welcome to the community, and good luck. feel free to ask around if you have questions.

Awebb · 2011-10-22 07:37:03

Go through /bin, /sbin, /usr/bin and /usr/sbin and look what all those programs do. I recommend using "man name_of_program" before executing it actually.

Upanishad · 2011-10-22 09:25:40

How about http://www.playterm.org/?

Recently discussed in http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/09/2 … ine-skills.

rhowaldt · 2011-10-22 18:33:35

Awebb wrote:

Go through /bin, /sbin, /usr/bin and /usr/sbin and look what all those programs do. I recommend using "man name_of_program" before executing it actually.

thanks for that Awebb, did not yet try that myself and will.

doxanthropos · 2011-10-22 22:20:04

There is a live CD called INX (INX is Not X), that contains some good tutorials together with a nice collection of cli-apps. I think it is nice to get an idea about how to manage a daily life in the terminal.

Upanishad · 2011-10-23 15:20:06

This is also the ider behind Grml Live Linux http://grml.org/.

DohZ · 2011-10-24 20:12:36

[Resolved] what can I say, there are so many great suggestions there, and I will take these things on board.
I had another issue for which I found some workarounds the size of terminal text.
I hope you don't mind but I cheated a bit and installed Konsole - I love the way its possible to mix and match.
Thanks for Massive input!
DohZ

Digit · 2011-10-25 01:01:31

after so much great suggestions and help... dare i say... "zsh".

it has so many little advantages that make big differences. if you get your eye in with it, instead of bash first, i suspect it may just carry you further and faster. only a suspision i have though. i use bash [despite thinking zsh the superior].

i'll presume konsole makes exploring such possibilities much easier. ... but i refuse to bloat up my systems with kde dependancies these days. the odd bit of gnome is often bad enough. wink i often have my second instance of tilda use zsh.

... having said that, the links in the topic in #bash on irc.freenode.net are excellent, and the help you can find from some old gurus in #bash, is some of the best help you'll find on the net.
...and linuxquestions is another great forum for posing specific questions about the command line and scripting. not always a sure thing, as one guy put it "linux questions is just a well to throw our questions into and wish for help", but sometimes wishes come true.

rhowaldt · 2011-10-25 08:59:41

was just reading this thread and figured it'd be of use here as well: http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … es-thread/

johnraff · 2011-10-26 05:46:14

This gave me so much good advice: http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ
"These are answers to frequently asked questions on channel #bash on the freenode IRC network."

orionthehunter · 2011-10-26 05:52:10

I want to directly point out a very useful feature that a lot of new bash users don't know about, called the command history.

when in a terminal, pressing the up directional key will bring up the last command in the history. You can continue to browse the history by holding up and go back to more recent entries by pressing down.

Very useful for repeating commands you have used recently. It will save you a lot of time.

rhowaldt · 2011-10-26 09:55:13

^ to continue on the command history, i've often found myself in a situation thinking 'what was that one command-line again?' and all i remembered was something with 'killall', or something to do with 'tint2'. just do this:

history | grep killall
history | grep tint2

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#1 2011-10-21 21:43:07

Terminal for Learner

#2 2011-10-21 21:53:22

Re: Terminal for Learner

#3 2011-10-21 21:55:03

Re: Terminal for Learner

#4 2011-10-21 21:59:45

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#5 2011-10-21 22:02:06

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#6 2011-10-21 22:09:20

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#7 2011-10-21 22:21:25

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#8 2011-10-21 22:23:16

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#9 2011-10-21 22:24:31

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#10 2011-10-21 22:55:53

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#11 2011-10-21 23:14:08

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#12 2011-10-21 23:35:41

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#13 2011-10-21 23:38:40

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#14 2011-10-21 23:46:24

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#15 2011-10-22 07:37:03

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#16 2011-10-22 09:25:40

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#17 2011-10-22 18:33:35

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#18 2011-10-22 22:20:04

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#20 2011-10-24 20:12:36

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#21 2011-10-25 01:01:31

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#22 2011-10-25 08:59:41

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#23 2011-10-26 05:46:14

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