Linux Stuff

The Differences between linux and windows are quite vast, to the point that it is nearly impossible to sum them all up using a concise statement such as this one. It might be easier to look at their similiarities than their differences. But I shall start with differences nevertheless. You see, ignoring the internals of the operating system code, Windows is this giant behemoth of a user-interface, where everything is completely embedded in everything else. It's all integrated, and therefore, it's all a big sloppy mess of code.

Linux on the other hand, is a very modular system. There are components that are interchangable with other components, and thus there is no quintessential "Linux" system. But rather, you get various linux "builds" each of which have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Now, if you wish to learn linux, then you really have to learn the Bash Shell. The Bash shell is a program that allows you to interface with other programs on system. The environment of the Bash Shell puts you, the user, in a home directory, of which you can interact with anything in that director, or even navigate away to a different directory.

Now, when using the bash shell, one must simply type the name of a program to execute that program. The Bash Shell will look in the current directory, and if it can not find the program in the current one, then it will look in a path of directories that are set in a file called .profile. An example of a program that can be used is ls, which lists the contents of the specified directory.

The more programs you know, the more control you have over what youc an do in the bash shell. And well, that's pretty much it. For a list of basic commands, you can type, simply enough, "help", "info", or "man [topic]". Where if the topic is available as a manual page, then it will appear in the screen.