Hi... i am completely, one hundred percent, totally and utterly lost! I have very recently converted to linux (Ubantu) from windows but i have no idea what im doing! Please could someone explain the very basics for me with out going into the full context as way of demonstration. I like the idea of linux but im tarting to feel that i have bitten of more than i can chew..(or maybe im just a hopelessly lost newb). Please could some one help with the COMMAND TERMINAL.

Many thanks in anticipation that someone will take pity .

Well, something like https://help.ubuntu.com/11.10/ubuntu-help/index.html will give you general help on how to use Ubuntu (I don't know which version you're using, but 11.10 is the latest).

With regards to the terminal, http://linux.org.mt/article/terminal seems to be a fairly good guide, even if it was obviously written for much older versions of linux (the commands haven't changed much if at all, don't worry )

If you have a more specific problem, do post back!

Hope this helps,

Hello,

firstly i would like to ask - what do you want to do with Linux (Ubuntu - i think you tried to say)?

if you are looking to have a desktop/laptop computer, then you can just install and use the Graphic Desktop (mouse point-and-click) just as you have always done with Windows Operating System.

On the other hand, if you are looking to become a professional, or use linux as a way to install services like web-servers, file sharing and others; you will have to do a bit of learning (as with everything else in life) before you are able to take full advantage. In that case, you will need to learn terminal scripting.

please let us know what you are planning to do?

as a starting point look for BASH scripting, used by most linux distributions by default. see this tutorial
http://linux.org.mt/article/terminal


Nicolas

Hi Nicholasdiogo

Thanks for answering. I have started getting interested in more in depth use of computers as i recently started work at an IT company. I realised that i know about windows but as for more contextualised imput commands i am completely useless. I am tired of windows and its many many bugs and would like to become more proffestional...and learn how to spell lol...... i dont even know what Linux is capable of. So i just need a little nudge as how to use it to its full potential.

Another LQ member, Telengard, has put quite a few useful links in his blog:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...nd-line-32893/

For the cmd line I recommend http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz to start with.
If you want to go indepth on bash (default shell lang), see also http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-G...tml/index.html http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/
There's a load of online books/manuals at www.linuxtopia.org

About dot com has a good site about Linux. It's designed with new users in mind. It might be helpful to getting yourself right-side up in the water.

http://linux.about.com/.