NOS 120 Linux/Unix Single User Study Guide

  1. Introduction
    1. Guide to General Policies
    2. Importance of this Course
    3. Scope of this Course

  2. The Textbook
    1. Read the Preface
    2. Always Read the Chapter Summaries
    3. End-Of-Chapter Review Exercises

  3. Introduction to Linux (Chapter 01)
    1. Operating Systems
    2. The Linux OS
      1. Kernel Versions
    3. History of Linux
    4. Linux Distributions
      1. Amazing Timeline http://futurist.se/gldt (Click to Enlarge)
      2. Note the importance of Slackware, Red Hat, and Debian
    5. Common Uses of Linux
      1. Web Servers
      2. File and Print Servers
      3. Supercomputers
      4. Workstations
    6. Chapter Summary
    7. Key Terms: Beowulf, closed source software, cluster, command line interface, cracker, development kernel, distribution, Fedora, GNU, GPL, graphical user interface, hacker, kernel, Linux Torvalds, Linux, major version, minor version, multitasking, multiuser, open source software, operating system, production kernel, Red Hat, revision number, server, source code, SuSE, UNIX, workstation, X Windows
    8. Review Questions: 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19
    9. Discovery Exercises: 7

  4. Notable Players in the History of UNIX & Linux (Instructor Topic)
    1. AT&T Bell Labs [Bell Labs History]
    2. Ken Thompson [Wikipedia Biography]
    3. Dennis Ritchie [Home Page]
    4. Linus Torvalds [Video: Origins of Linux]
    5. Eric S. Raymond [Home Page]
    6. Richard Stahlman [Stallman.org]
    7. Free Software Foundation [www.gnu.org]

  5. Linux Installation and Usage(Chapter 02)
    1. Installing Linux
      1. Preparation
      2. Hardware Compatability List (HCL)
      3. Installation Methods
      4. Installing Virtual Guests OS from an ISO
    2. Basic Linux Usage
      1. Shells and Terminals
      2. Basic Shell Commands
      3. Getting Help
      4. Shutting Down or Rebooting
    3. Chapter Summary
    4. Key Terms: ATA, BASH, dual booting, ext4, extended partition, filesystem, firstboot wizaard, GRUB, HCL, logical drives, man pages, metacharacters, partition, primary partition, SATA, shell, SCSI, swap, terminal, virtual memory
    5. Review Questions: 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20
    6. Hands-On Projects: 1 (Installation Checklist & HCL), 2 (Follow Instructor Videos for VirtualBox & Fedora), 3 (remember Ctrl+Alt+F8 to return to GUI), 6 (Are there other places to find help?), 7 (Disabling Security Simplifies Classroom Instruction)

  6. Exploring Linux Filesystems (Chapter 03)
    1. Linux Directory Structure
    2. Viewing Files and Directories
      1. File Types
      2. Filenames
      3. Listing Files
      4. Wildcard Metacharacters
    3. Displaying the Contents of Text Files
      1. cat & tac
      2. head & tail
      3. more & less
    4. Displaying the Contents of Binary Files
    5. Searching for Text within Files
      1. Regular Expressions
      2. grep
    6. Editing Text Files
      1. vi & vim
      2. emacs
      3. gedit
      4. Other Editors
      5. Why Are We Doing this the Hard Way?
    7. Chapter Summary
    8. Key Terms: . (dot), .. (dot-dot), ~ (tilde), absolute pathname, cat, cd, command mode, concatenation, device file, directory file, filename, filename extension, gedit, grep, head, home, less, ls, metacharacter, more, parent directory, regular expressions, subdirectory, tab-completion, tac, tail, text file, vi, wildcard
    9. Review Questions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20
    10. Hands-On Projects: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
    11. Discovery Exercises: 1, 2, 3, 6, 9 (optional)

  7. More vim (Instructor Topic)
    1. www.vim.org

  8. Linux Filesystem Management (Chapter 04)
    1. Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS)
    2. Managing Files and Directories
    3. Finding Files
    4. Linking Files
    5. File and Directory Permissions
      1. Understanding Ownership
      2. Managing Permissions
      3. Default Permissions
      4. Special Permissions
    6. Chapter Summary
    7. Key Terms: /bin, /boot, /dev, /etc, /home, /lib, /mnt, /opt, /proc, /root, /sbin, /tmp, /usr, /var, chmod, cp, Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, group, inode, mkdir, mv, owner, PATH, permissions, primary group, recursive, rm, rmdir, touch, umask, user, which
    8. Review Questions: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20
    9. Hands-On Projects: Complete all 10 hands-on projects, in the given order (about 4 hours)
    10. Discovery Exercises: 4, 5, 6, 10

Last Updated: March 2012