Newcomer's Guide to Linux

The following is a brief orientation into how the Linux operating system works, written for the complete newcomer. It is intended as an introduction and not as a highly technical HOW-TO document. Those who feel very experienced in computers in general may just skim along, or find new nuggets of helpful advice.

While this is not a highly technical document, it does explain in general terms how Linux works, and how it is put together. This sort of understanding is very useful in becoming self-sufficient with any new operating system, even if you do not intend to become a computer software engineer.

Some terms will be introduced in each section. These words are usually not arbitrary, they're the common jargon for the concepts or software under discussion. If you are reading this document to understand more about the subject, then you may find these words to be useful when asking others for help or for information about specific topics.

Also, a good www search engine such as Google is indispensible. This document gives several sample google searches to get you started after each section here. When searching for specific solutions, the Linux community generally uses the single word "howto" as a keyword for easy searching.

Table of Contents     About the Linux™ kernel, GNU/Linux, and Distributions     Things to Know before Installing Linux         Find Your Own Answers         Consider Your Own Commitment         Always Mount a Scratch Monkey     How Linux Starts on a Computer         Device Search         The Boot Loader         The Kernel         The Init Process         The Run Level Daemons         User Environments     Users, Files, Permissions, and warnings about Root         The Filesystem         Users and Groups         Permissions and Privileges         The Root, or Super User     Don't Judge a File by its Filename     The Whole Shebang, or What's in a Script     Consoles, Terminals, Shells and the Environment         The Difference between Consoles, Terminals and Shells         The Environment             $PATH             $HOME             $TERM, $USER, $PS1     Widgets Inc., or Inside Graphical Environments         X, X11, XFree86         Window Managers and Widget Toolkits         Client Environments         Choosing between STARTX and XDM

Table of Links  "always mount a scratch monkey"  "what is bios"  bios cmos battery clock settings  bios device boot sequence  boot computer cdrom floppy network  common scripting languages  comparing kde and gnome  diskless network boot  enlightenment twm sawfish  gnu project free software  gnu richard stallman  grub gnu linux loader  http://www.distrowatch.com/  inserting linux kernel modules  laziness impatience and hubris  lilo linux loader  linux command line tutorial  linux learning bash shell  linux learning xterm shell  linux backup script howto  linux bash PATH variable  linux compare kde gnome  linux daemons services  linux documentation project  linux etc inittab  linux file formats and magic numbers  linux file mode permissions  linux file permissions  linux getty bash consoles  linux gnome  linux graphical login  linux gtk qt toolkits  linux init inittab  linux irc openprojects servers  linux kde  linux kernel arguments  linux kernel init process  linux kernel introduction  linux kernel trademark  linux linus torvalds  linux man manual info pages  linux managing run level scripts  linux mime file types  linux sbin init  linux security auditing tips  linux security hardening howto  linux security privacy tips  linux shebang notation  linux shell commands scripts  linux startx xinitrc  linux sudo root howto  linux window managers  linux x x11 xfree86  linux x11 xfree86  linux xdm desktop manager  lsb linux standard base  mbr master boot record  reinstalling linux  x11 tunnel over network  x11r6 protocol server

Contact Ed Halley by email at ed@halley.cc. Text, code, layout and artwork are Copyright © 1996-2005 Ed Halley. Copying in whole or in part, with author attribution, is expressly allowed. Any references to trademarks are illustrative and are controlled by their respective owners.