Linux, it's not Windows

1. A short introduction to the sub-department's computer systems Gareth Thomas Linux, it's not Windows

2. Overview • The operating system and Gnome desktop • Using the command line • Web and email • The text editor is your friend • The network • Office applications • Remote access • If you really want Windows

3. The operating system • Operating system is Ubuntu 10.04 • i.e. Linux • The user interface you'll be using is called Gnome and is fundamentally not too dissimilar to Windows...

4. The command line • Linux has a very powerful command line interface (the equivalent of the Command Prompt under Windows)‏ • All programmes can be run from the command line • Some useful programmes are command line only • It can be a very quick and efficient way to move around and organise directory structures • One of the most useful aspects of the command line is command completion

5. Web and Email • The systems come with several web browsers and email clients preinstalled • Primary web browser is Firefox or Chrome • Primary email clients are Thunderbird or Evolution, or you can use the web interface

6. The text editor is your friend • You'll find yourself using a plain text editor a lot during your project. • Used for writing code (IDL etc)‏ • Latex scripting • There are few different ones installed, which you'll end up using will probably depend on your supervisor • Emacs • Kate • gedit

7. The network • Linux (and Unix in general) is designed to seamlessly work in a networked environment • Your home directory and all the file storage space you'll be using won't be on the machine you're working on • You can connect to and run programmes on different machines using SSH

8. MS Office alternatives • If you find yourself needing to open MS office documents, you can use OpenOffice • ooffice 'document name' at the command line • Under the Office submenu on the Applications menu • Evolution is essentially an Outlook replacement.

9. Remote access • The AOPP systems are accessable from outside the department using SSH ssh ellinga.atm.ox.ac.uk • This can be done from Windows • "Putty" is a freely downloadable SSH client • "WinSCP" is a free SSH file transfer client • X-Windows can be opened a remotely connected Windows machine by installing Cygwin-X

10. If you really need Windows • If you really need access to Windows, it is possible... • The Physics Department provides Windows terminal servers • You'll need a Physics system login, which you won't get by default • You'll have to provide a fairly convincing reason why the local systems aren't adequate

11. Some basic Linux commands • File system commands ls : “list” the connets of the current directory ls –l –h : detailed listing, with sensible units for file sizes cd : Change directory • cd ~ : Change to home directory • cd bob : Change to the sub-directory “bob” in the current directory • cd ~/bob : Change to “bob” in your home directory • cd /home/jupiter/eodg/bob/ : Use of absolute path cp file1 file2 : Copy file1 to file2 mv file1 file2 : Move (or rename) file1 to file2 rm file : delete file

12. Some basic Linux commands • Utility commands top : Provides real time information about processes running on your machine (like the Windows Task Manager) less bob : Displays the contents of the file “bob” in the terminal window ssh bob : Allows to you log in to the a computer called “bob” man bob : Gives you the manual page for the command “bob” grep “hello” *.F90 : Searches for the string “hello” in all the Fortran 90 source code files in the current directory