Hello fellow Linux Lemmings!
I’ve been tasked with putting together a 20 hour class for “Introduction to Linux” and I’d like to solicit your opinions for topics that should be covered.
The class is targeted for at least minimally technical people - maybe developers, or future developers, but regardless of background they’ve never seen or worked with Linux before.
I plan to do a VERY short overview of installing Linux (to a VM - so they have a “real” environment to learn with) and the GUI but the primary focus will be CLI. Imagine tools and tasks you come across while working on a “real” server (or VM).
A high level overview of the topics I currently have allocated is :
- Super brief history of Linux
- Benefits and use cases of Linux
- General overview of the file system and the purposes of the pre-defined directories (
/dev, /proc, /etc, /home, /bin
, etc) - “Everything is a file”
- File extensions don’t matter (windows users : )
- Note on responsibility - you can delete “in use” files. It will do exactly what you tell it with sometimes minimal guardrails.
- Everything from here down is CLI only!
- What is a terminal/CLI and how do we use it?
- How do we navigate the file system using the CLI
- How to list, create, copy, move, delete, and read files/directories
- EDIT: Basic file editing with
nano
- How to search for files (
find
… maybelocate
) - Archives and compression (
tar, gzip, bzip2
) - Overview of permissions (read/write/execute, owner, group,
chmod
,chown
) - Brief overview of different shells (
bash, zsh
, etc) - How to get help on the CLI (
man, info, --help
) - Tab completion,
history
- Shortcuts / control codes (
ctrl+c, ctrl+d, ctrl+a, ctrl+e
, and coverage ofctrl+z
later) grep
- Checking processes (
top, ps, kill
) - Signals (
sigterm, sigkill
, etc - related to kill above) - Backgrounding and multitasking (
ctrl+z, fg, bg, jobs, nohup, &
) - Linking (
ln
) STDIN, STDERR, STDOUT
and redirection- Redirection (
>, >>, <
) - Command pipes (
|
) - How to access a remote machine via SSH with UN/PW
- How to access a remote machine via SSH with key auth (think cloud VMs like EC2)
- Administrative commands and tasks (
su
,sudo
, how it works, when to use it) - Add users and groups
- How to change your
passwd
(maybe how to change your default shell too) - Restart, shutdown, halt
- How to install/remove software (package managers, packages, pre-compiled binaries, maybe compilation with
make
if time allows) - Configuring your profile for customizing your environment
- ENV variables and
alias
es - Network information (
ifconfig
) and tools (curl, wget, netcat
, etc)
Everything from here down is “extra” if time allows (AKA - ensuring I don’t run out of material :)
- Encryption (
gpg
- symmetric and asymmetric) - Backups (
rsync
, maybedd
) screen
/tmux
- How to setup key based logins/auth
- EDIT: More advanced CLI text editing with
vim
sysreq
commandssrm
/shred
- Shell scripting basics
init
vssystemd
, how to start/stop/status services.- Maybe how to create a simple service
- Run levels
sed
,awk
basics- File system types, file system checking, formatting… I hesitate to get into partitioning but it’s always an option if I need it.
- Alternatives to well known win/mac utilities and how to find them. EG: GIMP to replace Photoshop.
What do you think?
Did I miss anything that you deem super important?
Anything that I should definitely keep in the “only if I run out of material” category?
O, and if you have any good ideas for practical exercises I’d love to hear those too. I want to keep them <15min but things like “create a new directory, cd into it, touch a file, list the contents of /
and write the output into the file you just created” are perfect.
Thanks!
Thanks bud!
Just wondering - do you plan on actually installing a Linux distribution right in front of them? During the installation you could fill the waiting times with the information provided in the “before CLI” section. That sounds like a really cool way to do it if I were to take your class to show how easy it is to switch.
That is an excellent idea on time management.
Yes - I’m planning to walk them through a real install to a VM and have them follow along so they have a local instance that they can play with on their (win or mac) system. It requires me to spend a little extra time for setting up VirtualBox, but I think it’s worth it since they can then play along and experiment as we discuss each topic. I know that’s how I learn best - you can tell me something multiple times but it’s only when I truly do it that it’ll stick in my memory forever.
Covering the intro, history, etc would be perfect topics to go over while the install runs.
EDIT : I should point out that I’m going to distribute thumb drives to the students that will contain VirtualBox (win+mac) installers, a Linux ISO that we’ll use (probably Ubuntu), as well as that thumb drive being a live Linux bootable drive in case they ever want to plug & boot without using a VM. This will hopefully cut down on wasted class time for “now everybody go download this 4GB ISO” - they’ll already have it available and all in the same drive/directory/etc for every student. From past teaching experience, there’s always at least one that doesn’t come prepared with downloads and such no matter how much I harp on it… that and the ever present “I saved it somewhere and now I can’t find it” 😆