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From: Digestifier <Linux-Activists-Request@news-digests.mit.edu>
To: Linux-Activists@news-digests.mit.edu
Reply-To: Linux-Activists@news-digests.mit.edu
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 92 01:15:12 EST
Subject: Linux-Activists Digest #147
Linux-Activists Digest #147, Volume #1 Wed, 25 Mar 92 01:15:12 EST
Contents:
(DOS) Beginner's Guide (semi-final), suggestions wanted... (Chuck Boyer)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: boyer@sumax.seattleu.edu (Chuck Boyer)
Subject: (DOS) Beginner's Guide (semi-final), suggestions wanted...
Date: 25 Mar 92 05:27:44 GMT
(DOS) BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO LINUX v0.95a
======================================
Compiled by Chuck Boyer with help from the persons on the
'alt.os.linux' newsgroup.
====================
Following are the 'copyright' for Linux, followed by the
guide itself. The 'Beginner's Guide' is in a 'draft' mode
and will be posted with updates about one weekly until
the target date of April 15, 1992 in which case I plan to
be done with its basic form.
====================
RELEASE NOTES FOR LINUX v0.95
Linus Torvalds, March 7, 1992
COPYRIGHT
Linux-0.95 is NOT public domain software, but is copyrighted by me.
The copyright conditions are the same as those imposed by the GNU
copyleft: get a copy of the GNU copyleft at any major ftp-site (if
it carries linux, it probably carries a lot of GNU software anyway,
and they all contain the copyright).
The copyleft is pretty detailed, but it mostly just means that you
may freely copy linux for your own use, and redistribute all/parts
of it, as long as you make source available (not necessarily in the
same distribution, but you make it clear how people can get it for
nothing more than copying costs). Any changes you make that you
distribute will also automatically fall under the GNU copyleft.
NOTE! The linux unistd library-functions (the low-level interface
to linux: system calls etc) are excempt from the copyright - you
may use them as you wish, and using those in your binary files
won't mean that your files are automatically under the GNU
copyleft. This concerns /only/ the unistd-library and those (few)
other library functions I have written: most of the rest of the
library has it's own copyrights (or is public domain). See the
library sources for details of those.
==================
(DOS) BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO LINUX/UNIX
==================
INSTALLATION
Installation of Linux is covered in two documents;
INSTALL-0.11
and
LINUX.FAQ
INSTALL-0.11 is the installation documentation that accompanied
version 0.11 of Linux and dealt with installing Linux onto a hard
disk, among other things. LINUX.FAQ is the linux
'Frequently-Asked-Questions' documentation file. Grab a copy of
these for future reference. Most of the material will be beyond
your understanding for a little while, but once you have installed
your Linux copy for yourself you should have gained an
understanding through the process to understand much of what is
included in these documentation files.
It is assumed that you have a working knowledge of how to grab a
document, file, etc. from an archive site through Internet. You
use 'ftp' to call up and log onto the system, 'binary' to set the
mode of transfer, and 'get filename' to transfer the file from the
logged onto system ftp site to your home directory of the machine
you have called out from.
It is also assumed that you have a basic working knowledge of DOS
and can get around well enough. (Perhaps you know how to create
batch files using your favorite editor, or 'copy con' command line
statement, and how to use the basic DOS utilities; fdisk, copy,
erase, etc...). I am only trying to create a documentation here for
DOS users who are totally unknowlegable of Unix system calls,
utilities, commands and lastly; being a System Administrator (which
you will be once you have Linux up and running on your 386/486
machine).
In a later chapter I will describe the commands and utilities, etc.
that are available to you. I, too, am a 'beginner' unix system
user, so much of the explanations found here have been 'donated' in
time and effort by programmers/concerned users of Linux from the
'alt.os.linux' newsfeed.
Anyway, back to installation of Linux on your machine. Basically,
you can run Linux one of two ways; either from your floppy drives
only, or from your hard disk/drive. If you just want to play around
with Linux and get the 'look and feel' of using a Unix Operating
System (as opposed to a DOS operating system) then you might want
to choose to just run it from the floppy drive.
Basically, the logic here would be that, you don't want to screw up
anything on your hard drive (which is loaded with Windows, word
processors, graphics programs, data-base programs, etc.), and you
have either spent long and hard learning hours to have it set up
that way, or you had someone else set it up for you and you
wouldn't have a clue on how to re-set it up yourself. Running Linux
from your floppy disk drive will not screw up your hard drive,
basically.
There 'are' programs on the Linux disks that you will have access
to that 'can' ruin your hard drive though. (typing 'mkfs /dev/hda'
for instance may render your hard drive unreadable by DOS, but then
you wouldn't know how to do that yet...). Or, you could run Linux
from booting from the floppy drive and thereafter having it run
from the hard disk drive. The differences between these two methods
are that Linux will run a lot (10 times?) slower if you choose to
run it solely from the floppy disk drive, and you will be limited
to the commands and utilities that you can run using the floppy
drive only situation.
On the other hand, running from the hard disk drive will run Linux
much faster/quicker as well as give you space to have many more
programs and utilities to run/use, but it also entails you having
to learn to 1) create a Linux partition on your hard disk drive,
and 2) learning how to maintain this partition with a handfull of
sub-directories.
===================
When you boot up Linux 0.95a with the two floppies, the second
(rootimage floppy) will put into Linux as the system admin-
istrator ('root', as well as '/'). You are presented with
a blank screen other than your line prompt ('#'). You are
sitting on a drive/directory which is the beginning directory.
You are root ('system administrator', or '/'). If you issue
a command 'ls(ENTER)' (that's; type 'ls' and hit ENTER), you
will be presented with a listing of the directories;
# INSTALL dev mnt usr
bin etc tmp
====================
This is the '/root' ('/') directory on the Linux 0.95a
distribution file; 'rootimage.0.95a' at tsx-11.mit.edu 3/23/92.
(issue the command; 'ls -l' to get this type of listing;)
====================
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 160 Mar 17 19:33 INSTALL
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 432 Mar 17 18:14 bin
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1232 Mar 17 19:18 dev
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 272 Mar 22 08:45 etc
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 32 Mar 17 17:06 mnt
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 32 Mar 17 14:20 tmp
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 48 Mar 17 18:15 usr
====================
These are 'all' directories. You can mount another drive using
'mnt', 'tmp', or 'usr' directories. You can move into a dir-
ectory by issuing the command; 'cd directoryname'. Try, for
instance,; 'cd INSTALL'. Do an 'ls -l' or 'ls' and see what
files are there.
Read the files with the command; 'more filename' (where 'file-
name' is any filename that you choose, i.e.; 'install' or
'readme', etc.). If the file is large and keeps scrolling across
the terminal screen then use 'ctrl-s' to stop it and 'ctrl-q'
to resume printing to screen. (the 'more' utility sends the
output of 'filename' to stdout, which is an abbreviation for
'standard out', which is just the term used to describe what
the process is doing). (stdin/stdout are two terms you will
see often in discussions here in the 'linux' newsgroup at times.
They stand for 'standard in, or 'the standard/default place
for input to come from = keyboard', or 'standard out' 'the
standard/default place for output to be sent = screen/monitor/
terminal').
====================
These are the files in the '/bin' directory on the Linux 0.95a
distribution file; 'rootimage.0.95a' at tsx-11.mit.edu 3/23/92.
====================
This is a listing using the command; 'ls'
(This ends the examples of using the 'ls' (straight, without
any 'switches' selected in the command line for optional output
in different formats.)
====================
cat login mv sync
compress ls pfdisk tar.Z
cp mkdir rm umount
fdisk mkfs rmdir uncompress
fsck mknod rootdev
getty mkswap sh
ln mount swapon
====================
These are the files in the '/bin' directory on the Linux 0.95a
distribution file; 'rootimage.0.95a' at tsx-11.mit.edu 3/23/92.
====================
This is a listing using the command; 'ls -l'
====================
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 29700 Mar 14 22:02 cat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 37892 Mar 14 22:02 compress
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 37892 Mar 14 22:02 cp
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 41988 Mar 15 10:39 fdisk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 37892 Mar 14 22:02 fsck
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 29700 Mar 14 22:02 getty
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 33796 Mar 7 23:58 ln
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 46084 Mar 14 22:02 login
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 50180 Mar 14 22:02 ls
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 29700 Mar 14 22:02 mkdir
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 37892 Mar 14 22:02 mkfs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 21508 Mar 14 22:02 mknod
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 21508 Mar 14 22:03 mkswap
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 21508 Mar 14 22:03 mount
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 33796 Mar 14 22:03 mv
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 50180 Mar 15 17:57 pfdisk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 29700 Mar 14 22:03 rm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 25604 Mar 14 22:03 rmdir
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 25604 Mar 14 22:03 rootdev
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 78852 Mar 14 22:03 sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 21508 Mar 14 22:03 swapon
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 9220 Mar 14 22:03 sync
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 84603 Mar 16 19:47 tar.Z
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 21508 Mar 14 22:03 umount
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Mar 17 18:14 uncompress -> compress
====================
These are the files in the '/dev' directory on the Linux 0.95a
distribution file; 'rootimage.0.95a' at tsx-11.mit.edu 3/23/92.
====================
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 2, 28 Mar 7 23:51 PS0
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 2, 29 Mar 7 23:51 PS1
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 2, 8 Mar 7 23:51 at0
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 2, 9 Mar 17 19:18 at1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 1 Mar 7 23:51 console
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 0 Mar 7 23:51 hda
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 1 Mar 7 23:51 hda1
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 2 Mar 7 23:51 hda2
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 3 Mar 7 23:51 hda3
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 4 Mar 7 23:51 hda4
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 5 Mar 7 23:51 hda5
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 6 Mar 7 23:51 hda6
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 7 Mar 7 23:51 hda7
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 64 Mar 7 23:51 hdb
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 65 Mar 7 23:51 hdb1
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 66 Mar 13 18:25 hdb2
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 67 Mar 13 18:25 hdb3
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 68 Mar 13 18:25 hdb4
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 69 Mar 13 18:25 hdb5
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 70 Mar 13 18:25 hdb6
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 3, 71 Mar 13 18:25 hdb7
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 1, 2 Mar 7 23:51 kmem
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 1, 1 Mar 7 23:51 mem
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 1, 3 Mar 7 23:51 null
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 1, 4 Mar 7 23:51 port
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 2, 16 Mar 7 23:51 ps0
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 2, 17 Mar 7 23:51 ps1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 128 Mar 7 23:51 ptyp0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 129 Mar 7 23:51 ptyp1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 130 Mar 7 23:51 ptyp2
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 131 Mar 7 23:51 ptyp3
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 132 Mar 7 23:51 ptyp4
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 133 Mar 7 23:51 ptyp5
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 134 Mar 7 23:51 ptyp6
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 135 Mar 7 23:51 ptyp7
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 136 Mar 7 23:51 ptyp8
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 137 Mar 7 23:51 ptyp9
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 138 Mar 7 23:51 ptypa
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 139 Mar 7 23:51 ptypb
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 140 Mar 7 23:51 ptypc
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 141 Mar 7 23:51 ptypd
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 142 Mar 7 23:51 ptype
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 143 Mar 7 23:51 ptypf
brw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 1, 1 Mar 7 23:51 ram
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 5, 0 Mar 7 23:51 tty
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 0 Mar 7 23:51 tty0
crw--w--w- 1 root other 4, 1 Mar 7 23:51 tty1
crw--w--w- 1 root other 4, 2 Mar 7 23:51 tty2
crw--w--w- 1 root root 4, 3 Mar 7 23:51 tty3
crw--w--w- 1 root root 4, 4 Mar 7 23:51 tty4
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 5 Mar 7 23:51 tty5
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 6 Mar 7 23:51 tty6
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 7 Mar 7 23:51 tty7
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 8 Mar 7 23:51 tty8
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 192 Mar 7 23:51 ttyp0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 193 Mar 7 23:51 ttyp1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 194 Mar 7 23:51 ttyp2
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 195 Mar 7 23:51 ttyp3
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 196 Mar 7 23:51 ttyp4
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 197 Mar 7 23:51 ttyp5
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 198 Mar 7 23:51 ttyp6
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 199 Mar 7 23:51 ttyp7
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 200 Mar 7 23:51 ttyp8
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 201 Mar 7 23:51 ttyp9
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 202 Mar 7 23:51 ttypa
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 203 Mar 7 23:51 ttypb
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 204 Mar 7 23:51 ttypc
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 205 Mar 7 23:51 ttypd
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 206 Mar 7 23:51 ttype
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 207 Mar 7 23:51 ttypf
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 64 Mar 17 18:06 ttys1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 65 Mar 17 18:06 ttys2
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 66 Mar 17 18:06 ttys3
crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4, 67 Mar 17 18:06 ttys4
====================
These are the files in the '/etc' directory on the Linux 0.95a
distribution file; 'rootimage.0.95a' at tsx-11.mit.edu 3/23/92.
====================
-rw-r--r-- 1 root sys 204 Mar 7 23:52 group
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 29700 Mar 7 23:53 init
-rw-r--r-- 1 root sys 128 Mar 14 13:07 inittab
-rw-r--r-- 1 root sys 68 Mar 17 17:19 issue
-rw-r--r-- 1 root sys 365 Mar 17 17:19 motd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 26 Mar 22 08:45 mtab
-rw-r--r-- 1 root sys 152 Mar 13 18:33 passwd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root sys 654 Mar 15 10:47 rc
-rw-r--r-- 1 root sys 51 Mar 13 18:34 securetty
-rw-r--r-- 1 root sys 14322 Mar 16 20:11 termcap
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 9220 Mar 14 22:03 update
-rw-r--r-- 1 root sys 224 Mar 22 08:46 utmp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root sys 1624 Mar 22 08:46 wtmp
total 9
====================
====================
'/mnt'
and
'/tmp'
are empty of any files as they are the 'mounting' points for
floppy drives, hard drives, and other file systems that you
wish to mount to.
====================
These are the files in the '/usr/bin' directory on the Linux 0.95a
distribution file; 'rootimage.0.95a' at tsx-11.mit.edu 3/23/92.
====================
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 29700 Mar 7 23:58 chmod
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 33796 Mar 7 23:58 chown
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 41988 Mar 17 18:07 more
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 33796 Mar 7 23:58 setterm
====================
An explanation of the above files' listing;
-rwxr-xr-x
are the 'permissions' settings for the files/directories.
1 root
is the owner of the file (root in this case.)
sys
is the kind of file (a system file.)
29700
is the size of the file in bytes.
Mar 7
is the date the file was created (or last modified.)
23:58
is the time the file was created (or last modified.)
chmod
is the filename.
====================
EXPLANATIONS:
====================
Given the above example again of a directory listing of the
file 'chmod' in the directory '/usr/bin':
====================
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 29700 Mar 7 23:58 chmod
The 'permissions' settings for the files/directories.
'r' means 'read' permission (can read the file).
'w' means 'write' permission (can write to the file, i.e.
edit/change it.)
'x' means 'execute' permission (can execute the file,
if it is an executable/binary file.)
-rwxr-xr-x
0123456789
There are nine place holders for settings in 'all'
cases of permission settings on all files.
The '0' place is for the type; file, or directory.
The '1' place is for 'read' for 'sysadm/root'.
The '2' place is for 'write' for 'sysadm/root'.
The '3' place is for 'execute' for 'sysadm/root'.
The '4' place is for 'r' for 'group'.
The '5' place is for 'w' for 'group'.
The '6' place is for 'x' for 'group'.
The '7' place is for 'r' for 'all/anybody'.
The '8' place is for 'w' for 'all/anybody'.
The '9' place is for 'x' for 'all/anybody'.
The idea here is that a file can be set for security reasons
to be readable by some, all, nobody, writeable by some, all,
nobody, executable by ..... etc. It is for system security
reasons that the system administrator has the ability to set
file attributes/permissions so that only she/he can run certain
system routines, as well as other things. Also, any other user
can open up a directory and its files (or only certain files)
for others to read, others to write to (group that they all
belong to, for instance), or others to execute. So everybody
gets to set/change file attributes in one fashion or another.
The command to change a file that has just been written for
instance so that you can read it afterwards for instance is;
'chmod u+r filename'
To have it read and write and execute;
'chmod u+rwx filename'
To have 'all' read and execute it;
'chmod a+rx filename'
The three designations for changing files attributes then are;
read, write, and execute permissions set to either on or off.
Also, there are three sectors affected by these permission
settings; user, group, all. ('u', 'g', 'a').
=====================
ERROR CODES and their MEANINGS
=====================
You can find these by looking in /usr/include/errno.h and in
/usr/src/lib/estdio/errlist.h . However this will be a problem if
you can't get you system up and running. (by the way, most programs
report "EPERM" instead of "error 2", which just depends on how
one compiled the program.
Here comes /usr/src/lib/estdio/errlist.h:
/* EUNKNOWN 0 */ "Unknown error",
/* EPERM 1 */ "Not owner",
/* ENOENT 2 */ "No such file or directory",
/* ESRCH 3 */ "No such process",
/* EINTR 4 */ "Interrupted system call",
/* EIO 5 */ "I/O error",
/* ENXIO 6 */ "No such device or address",
/* E2BIG 7 */ "Arg list too long",
/* ENOEXEC 8 */ "Exec format error",
/* EBADF 9 */ "Bad file number",
/* ECHILD 10 */ "No children",
/* EAGAIN 11 */ "No more processes",
/* ENOMEM 12 */ "Not enough core",
/* EACCES 13 */ "Permission denied",
/* EFAULT 14 */ "Bad address",
/* ENOTBLK 15 */ "Block device required",
/* EBUSY 16 */ "Mount device busy",
/* EEXIST 17 */ "File exists",
/* EXDEV 18 */ "Cross-device link",
/* ENODEV 19 */ "No such device",
/* ENOTDIR 20 */ "Not a directory",
/* EISDIR 21 */ "Is a directory",
/* EINVAL 22 */ "Invalid argument",
/* ENFILE 23 */ "File table overflow",
/* EMFILE 24 */ "Too many open files",
/* ENOTTY 25 */ "Not a typewriter",
/* ETXTBSY 26 */ "Text file busy",
/* EFBIG 27 */ "File too large",
/* ENOSPC 28 */ "No space left on device",
/* ESPIPE 29 */ "Illegal seek",
/* EROFS 30 */ "Read-only file system",
/* EMLINK 31 */ "Too many links",
/* EPIPE 32 */ "Broken pipe",
/* EDOM 33 */ "Math argument",
/* ERANGE 34 */ "Result too large",
/* EDEADLK 35 */ "Resource deadlock avoided",
/* ENAMETOOLONG 36 */ "Filename too long",
/* ENOLCK 37 */ "No locks available",
/* ENOSYS 38 */ "Function not implemented",
/* ENOTEMPTY 39 */ "Directory not empty"
=========================================
=================
COMMANDS and their USAGE
=================
(I must admit that I too am a beginner, so I have not included
the explanation for all of the commands available in Linux.
You will have fun learning from other books, reading news
discussions on the net, etc. I have given examples of the
utility programs that you will find most helpful and most
useful during your first stages of learning.)
In my examples I will give you a listing of the command to
type and what you will type will be enclosed in single
quote marks; 'type this'. Then always assume to hit the
ENTER key. Also, where command affects a file for you
to use then I will give a generic name to the file
for the examples' sake of 'filename' where you supply
the actual name of the file.
=================
bawk
pattern matching language
cat
concatenate files and write them to standard output
This means that using 'cat' you can list the contents
of a file to your screen.
'cat filename'
(you can also use the 'more' command as the standard
file 'browser' utility. 'less' is an enhanced 'more.')
cd
change working directory
'cd ..' moves you backup one directory in the directory
tree. (branches, root).
'cd /' moves you to the root/beginning.
'cd /usr/bin' from anywhere that you are moves you to
that subdirectory.
chmod
change access modes for files, directories.
comm
print lines common to two sorted files
compress
compress a file
'compress filename' creates; filename.Z
'uncompress filename.Z' creates; filename
cp
copy a file
'cp filename /usr/bin/filename' copies the file
to the /usr/bin directory.
cut
cut out columns in a file
dd
disk dumper
df
report free disk space and i-nodes
You can use just 'df' to see a report of how much free
disk space you have.
du
print disk usage
file
guess at file's type by contents.
find
find files meeting a given condition
grep
search a file for lines containing a given pattern
'grep anything filename' will find each occurance
of 'anything' in the file 'filename.'
group
group identity
head
print the first few lines of a file.
'head filename' prints the first 5 lines of the file.
issue
system identification file
kill
send a signal to a process
ln
(link)
link a file
using 'link' you can save file space in bytes. You issue
a command line command to make a link in this directory,
to a file which resides in another directory. The file
in the other directory stays there. A 'name-marker' in
the inode table is given a number and a filename in the
current directory that you are in. The new 'name-marker
filename' link runs the file in the linked from file/
directory.
So;
'ln /usr/lib/gcc cc'
would give you a link in this current directory called
'cc' to an actual file in /usr/lib named 'gcc'.
The benefit of this is that the link filename is only
the length in bytes as the filename place marker is.
That's usually about 18 bytes. If /usr/lib/gcc was 180
thousand bytes, then this would be a huge savings in
disk spaced used/saved. Thus the benefit of 'link' which
in Linux is 'ln'.
As in the example, 'ln' can also be used to make a second
name for a file that is actually pointing to the first
filename. (In the root floppy image of Linux distribution
in /usr/bin directory 'uncompress' is actually linked to
'compress', in the same directory. They both 'call' the
same program at run time.
ls
list the contents of the directory. (Show all files)
(list contents of directory tree with files to standard
out), (standard out is another name for the terminal,
or monitor screen). (standard out in computerese is
referred to as 'stdout', so one may find that title
referred to in a description.)
'ls(ENTER)' gives;.....
file1 file2 file3 file4 readme file6
file7 file8 file9 file10 file11 file12
file13 file14
output to stdout.
'ls -l(ENTER)' gives;.....
f.....rwxr--r-- 01234 Mar2 10:00 file1
f.....rwx------ 443 Mar3 1:39 file2
f.....rw-rw-rw- 8930 ----6:00 file3
etc. (output on down listed vertically on the screen.
(Scrolls).
'ls -lFR(ENTER)' gives.....
/bin
/docs
file1
file2
file3
file4
file6
file7
file8
file9
file10
file11
file12
file13
file14
readme
/bin/docs/old
file1
orchestrate.1
moonbeams.txt
etc.....
You can fit the output of the directory listing command
through the use of a director (greater-than symbol key)
and put it into a file instead of to stdin/stdout
(keyboard, screen). 'ls > filenames'
Would save the output of the 'ls' command to a file
named 'filenames.' Then you can type the contents of
'filenames' to screen (stdout).
make
a program to run a 'Makefile' which is a script file
to run a 'compile' process on a group of files to
compile a program.
man
display manual pages
mkdir
make a directory.
'mkdir dirname' creates a directory called 'dirname.'
mkfs
make a file system
You use this on a pre-formatted DOS disk to render
it readable by the Linux Operating System. Or use
it on a hard drive partition. You have to supply the
size for mkfs to setup the drive/disk to. On floppies
it's;
'mkfs /dev/at0 1200' for 5 1/4" 1.2M disks -and-
'mkfs /dev/at1 1400' for 3 1/2" 1.4M disks.
For a hard drive partition you would first issues
the command 'fdisk' to get a readout of the sizes
on your partitions that fdisk reports. Then mkfs
your partition size using that reported information.
'mkfs /dev/hda2 20000' if it were the 2nd partition
on your first/only hard drive and fdisk had reported
the 20000 size.
mknod
make a special file (/dev/***).
more
pager
mount
mount a file system
You mount a file system so that you can access it.
'mount /dev/at0 /mnt' would mount the disk in
the floppy drive to the filesystem name '/mnt'
(which is provided for you on the distribution as
an empty filesystem for this purpose.)
'mount /dev/hda2 /usr' to set up second partition
on first hard drive mounted to the '/usr' file
system.
mtab
mount table
mv
move or rename a file
'mv filename newfilename' would rename 'filename'
to 'newfilename'.
patch
patches up a file from the original and a diff
pr
print a file
rm
remove a file
'rm filename' would erase the file.
rmdir
remove a directory
'rm dirname' would erase the directory only if it is
first empty of any files. (You would have to remove
all of the files first).
sh
shell
When you boot up Linux 0.95a you are in the shell.
The shell in 0.95a is 'ash'. You can get 'bash'.
Bash is larger but has more features.
stty
set terminal parameters
sync
flush the cache to disk
tail
print the last few lines of a file
'tail filename' would print to stdout/screen the last
ten lines of 'filename'.
tar
tape archiver/files w/sub-directories attached into
a compressed 'tar' file.
'tar cvf tarnamefile dirname' would compress and
keep in order all directories and files in the
directories into the tar file 'tarnamefile' from
the directory name you supplied 'dirname'.
('tar xvf tarname.tar' would uncompress it back
to its original form.)
tty
print the device name of this tty
umount
unmount a mounted file system
'umount /dev/at0' unmounts the filesystem and
drive a: (remember the name does 'not' include
an 'n' in it. It's not 'unmount' but 'umount').
utmp
user accounting data
END of (DOS) BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO LINUX/UNIX
=================
------------------------------
** FOR YOUR REFERENCE **
The service address, to which questions about the list itself and requests
to be added to or deleted from it should be directed, is:
Internet: Linux-Activists-Request@NEWS-DIGESTS.MIT.EDU
You can send mail to the entire list (and alt.os.linux) via:
Internet: Linux-Activists@NEWS-DIGESTS.MIT.EDU
Linux may be obtained via one of these FTP sites:
nic.funet.fi pub/OS/Linux
tsx-11.mit.edu pub/linux
tupac-amaru.informatik.rwth-aachen.de pub/msdos/replace
The current version of Linux is 0.95a released on March 17, 1992
End of Linux-Activists Digest
******************************