Linux Live! via USB thumbdrive

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Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,798
Recently I figured out how to make a Bootable version of Linux mint V19.1 Code name Cinnamon, and I thought I'd share I downloaded a program named Rufus from a very good site named Major Geeks. It is very much like AAC except their focus is computers, operating systems, and helping folks fight and solve malware issues. So I downloaded an ISO file of Linux that was 3.1 Gig and used Rufus to make the specialty thumb drive. Linux mint Cinnamon resembles Window a lot, so I was able the delete leftover file from a fresh install of Win 7 windows would not let me touch. I used a thunbdrive of a Win7 install disk I had madeto reinstall Win7.

So here is the question. What can I use this new OS to learn about Linux.

Discuss?
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
10,234
It will depend on what you want to learn about Linux. As a desktop operating system, Linux can be treated like Windows and you can focus on which graphical desktop applications are available and how to use and maintain them. But, for me, the power of Linux (and any UNIXy OS) lies in the terminal.

The Linux command line offers an incredibly rich and powerful world where many things are possible that simply can't be done in the GUI in practical ways. The traditional UNIX shell and its utilities are flexible, powerful, fast, and (for some of us great) fun.

My advice, if you are inclined, is to learn bash (the Linux shell program) and the standard utilities that can be used to maintain your OS, it's files, and to process and manipulate text and other files with amazing speed and ease. The learning curve can be steep, the rewards and power are very great.
 

Ramussons

Joined May 3, 2013
1,568
is to learn bash (the Linux shell program) and the standard utilities that can be used to maintain your OS, it's files, and to process and manipulate text and other files with amazing speed and ease
Can you suggest some online books for this?
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
10,234
My first pass on this is to look at the catalog of O’Reilly media. They have excellent titles for many of these topics both slim-lets and in depth.

When I can, I will try to make specific recommendations.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
18,326
Can you suggest some online books for this?
When I started learning Unix, I read the manpages - all of them. I also read papers, articles, books written by Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, Bill Joy, Aho, Weinberger, and Kernigan. The latter three were the creators of awk.

A decade later, I was interested in learning more about the Unix kernel and read The Design of the Unix Operating System by Maurice J. Bach.
 
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Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
10,234
Thank you all.
I must apologize, I was running on the treadmill when I replied to your question and not only did I say something semi-incoherent (what ever "slim-lets" is, I intended "simple"), I didn't remember to follow up.

Self-research can be very helpful here. I would suggest you start with these topics which will have a lot of coverage online:

bash
man
awk
sed
perl (this is one of my special interests, people will no doubt argue with me, but I still think it is my most powerful command line tool for dealing with programmatic manipulation of files and controlling other programs)

Further research should suggest itself as you go.

I find the command line very rewarding and you will find that after a while it is comfortable and surprisingly powerful. There will be times when a GUI is very helpful, but here on MacOS, which is my constant "home", at least half the windows are terminals.

Have fun.
 

bogosort

Joined Sep 24, 2011
696
perl (this is one of my special interests, people will no doubt argue with me, but I still think it is my most powerful command line tool for dealing with programmatic manipulation of files and controlling other programs)
Agreed! For whatever reason, perl has fallen out of favor with the younger generation, but it truly is a Swiss-army chainsaw.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,321
Agreed! For whatever reason, perl has fallen out of favor with the younger generation, but it truly is a Swiss-army chainsaw.
Perl is too deep for the younger generation dude.

I ran a little test to see what old Linux versions would still boot on an old PC once used for machine control.
Slackware and RH 7.1 from my Linux distro cd archive passed the test by detecting and setting up the SCSI controller correctly.



 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
10,234
Agreed! For whatever reason, perl has fallen out of favor with the younger generation, but it truly is a Swiss-army chainsaw.
I believe that a sysadmin without Perl is severely crippled. It is so powerful in the context of the shell, it is, for me, mandatory. Now to be clear, I am talking about Perl 5. Perl 6 is a great language, but it is different and while it is amazingly powerful, it doesn't have the same bang for the buck in this role.

Also to clarify, Perl 6 does not replace Perl 5. Perl 5 will be around a long time.
 
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