Problem:

Do you have any tips relating to feeling comfortable with using UNIX?
 
 

Solution:

If you're not already comfortable using the unix command line, this should be your first goal. As in any other environment, comfort will take time, but here are some of the basic tasks that you will want to become familiar with:

  • changing directories (cd)
  • creating, moving, and removing directories (mkdir, mv, rmdir)
  • listing the contents of a directory (ls)
  • copying, moving, and removing files (cp, mv, rm)
  • running programs
  • reading manual pages (man)
  • editing text files

If you're using a graphical user interface, you may be able to perform some of these tasks using graphical tools, but I recommend that you learn how to do them from the command line as well. Otherwise you may find yourself at a disadvantage if you ever log in from a PC or a remote location.

You can learn all of the above commands and more from these online tutorials on unix: