Linux

Linux is a family of free and open-source software operating systems built around the Linux kernel. Typically, Linux is packaged in a form known as a Linux distribution for both desktop and server use.

Linux is a community of open-source Unix like operating systems that are based on the Linux Kernel. It was initially released by Linus Torvalds on September 17, 1991.

It is a free and open-source operating system and the source code can be modified and distributed to anyone commercially or noncommercially under the GNU General Public License.

Initially, Linux was created for personal computers and gradually it was used in other machines like servers, mainframe computers, supercomputers, etc. Nowadays, Linux is also used in embedded systems like routers, automation controls, televisions, digital video recorders, video game consoles, smartwatches, etc.

The biggest success of Linux is Android(operating system) it is based on the Linux kernel that is running on smartphones and tablets. Due to android Linux has the largest installed base of all general-purpose operating systems. Linux is generally packaged in a Linux distribution.

inux distribution is an operating system that is made up of a collection of software based on Linux kernel or you can say distribution contains the Linux kernel and supporting libraries and software.

And you can get Linux based operating system by downloading one of the Linux distributions and these distributions are available for different types of devices like embedded devices, personal computers, etc. Around 600 + Linux Distributions are available

What Is Linux?

Just like Windows, iOS, and Mac OS, Linux is an operating system. In fact, one of the most popular platforms on the planet, Android, is powered by the Linux operating system. An operating system is software that manages all of the hardware resources associated with your desktop or laptop.

To put it simply, the operating system manages the communication between your software and your hardware. Without the operating system (OS), the software wouldn’t function.

Syllabus:

• The following are explained while installing Linux or during the first boot-up
• History
• Distributions
• Devices and Drives in Linux
• Filesystem Hierarchy
• Components: Kernel, Distribution, XFree86, Sawfish, Gnome.
• User Software
• GNOME Basics. Changing the desktop background, adding menu items, plugins.
• Changing the screen resolution
• Evolution - the default e-mail client in Fedora.
• Mozilla - Web browser
• OpenOffice - Productivity tools. Word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software.
• gaim - Chat application
• XScreensaver
• How user preferences are stored in your home directory
• Updating your system with up2date / yum.
• How to restart X11: Ctrl-Alt-Backspace
• The command-line
• The command-line (shells, tab completion, cd, ls)
• file management: cd, df, find, locate
• nano, the text editor that replaces pico.
• man pages - the help system
• ssh - secure text-based connectivity to other machines. Demonstrate X-Forwarding.
• Handling compressed archives with zip and tar.
• GNU screen - The ability to resume command-line sessions from anywhere.
•  Basic Administration
• Adding users, groups
• su - the obsoleted way to become the root user.
• sudo - the modern way to run processes as another user.
• Changing users passwords with the passwd command.
• Printing with CUPS.
• Installing new software with yum (if Fedora) or YaST (if SUSE)
• Installing new software with rpm
• Installing webmin for easy web based systems administration
• System Administration
• logfiles. Using tail -f to watch /var/log/messages
• Configuring Kerberos authentication
• Explaining file permissions, including setuid.
• How to enable and disable services
• ntp - Setting up time synchronization
• Setting DNS settings by editing /etc/resolv.conf
• Changing XFree86 settings in /etc/XFree86/XFree86.conf
• Apache and MySQL administration
• About the Apache webserver.
• About the MySQL database engine.
• About the PHP scripting language.
• Enabling the Apache with PHP and MySQL services
• Using MySQL Administrator
• PHPMyAdmin - web based administration and query console for MySQL.
• Adding a MySQL user in phpmyadmin
• Installing WordPress- a popular blogging software that uses MySQL.
• Installing Coppermine - a popular photo gallery software that uses MySQL.
• Windows Integration
• Connecting to your Linux machine from Windows using PuTTY and WinSCP.
• WINE - free Windows API compatibility layer, for running Windows applications in Linux. We will use mIRC as a sample application.
• Samba basics.
• Configuring Samba to authenticate using ADS
• rdesktop - Windows Terminal Server Client.
• smbclient - an FTP-like client for SMB shares
• smbmount - Mounting samba shares to a local directory (explain mount)
• smb4k (unless Konqueror decides to work)
• Automation
• cut - cutting out the good parts of your input
• sort - sorting files
• uniq - finding the unique lines in a set of input
• sed - searching and replacing, tail, head
• find -exec - running a command on a large set of files
• Writing a shell script
• Scheduling tasks with cron.
• System Administration II
• Mounting disks
• Killing processes with kill
• Where to find software: freshmeat.net
• Fetching files with wget
• Compiling software: configure, make, make install
• Reviewing find and du for finding out where your disk space went to.
• Single user mode
• X: Networking Tools
• ping - check if a host is online
• traceroute - see your hops between hosts
• telnet - diagnostics
• nmap - seeing what ports are open on a host
• - the "internet super server". TCP/IP service manager.
• lsof - list open ports and files
• ethereal - Packet Sniffer Extraordinaire.
• Final Test
• For the final test, I will present a badly beaten Linux machine. It's got numerous problems on it, and they need to be fixed. Here are some problems you will run up against:
• You don't know the root password. (Pay attention to how single user mode works, and how to change users passwords)
• You don't know the MySQL root password, but need to get access to the database. You will need to use Google to research the answer to this one.
• The settings in XFree86 are not right for the current monitor, so it is not starting up.
• The /var partition is full.
• Customizing your user environment
• symbolic links
• The Z Shell
• aliases, including -s types in zsh.
• variables
• PATH
• prompts
• Terminal transparency
• adding things to your X startup