Linux Commands

notice USB device has to be formatted with FAT32 file system.

1. Plug in the USB device to one of the USB ports on the front of the Host computer.

2. Open a Terminal Window.

3. Enter the following commands to become root:

   1. Type: su-

   2. Type: <root password>

4. Type: mountUSB

5. Exit root.

6. Exit the Terminal Window.

1. Open a Terminal Window (if not already open).

2. Enter the following commands (if not already at root permission):

   1. Type: su-

   2. Type: <root password>

3. Type: unmountUSB

4. Exit root.

5. Exit the Terminal Window.

The cd command changes directories. It's a very common navigation command that you'll end up using, just like you might have done in MS-DOS.

You must put a space between cd and the ".." or else it won't work; Linux doesn't see the two dots as an extension to the cd command, but rather a different command altogether.

The ls letters stand for list. It basically works the same way as the dir command in DOS. Only being a Unix command, you can do more with it.

Typing ls will give you a listing of all the files in the current directory. If you're new to Linux, chances are that the directories you are commonly in will be empty, and after the ls command is run, you aren't given any information and will just be returned to the command prompt (the shell).

There are “hidden” files in Linux, too. Their file names start with a dot, and doing a normal ls won't show them in a directory. Many configuration files start with a dot on their file names because they would only get in the way of users who would like to see more commonly used items. To view hidden files, use the -a flag with the ls command, i.e. ls -a.

To view more information about the files in a directory, use the -l flag with ls. It will show the file permissions as well as the file size, which are probably what are the most useful things to know about files.

You might occasionally want to have a listing of all the subdirectories, also. A simple -R flag will do, so you could look upon ls -R as a rough equivalent of the dir /s command in MS-DOS.

You can put flags together, so to view all the files in a directory, show their permissions/size, and view all the files that way through the subdirectories, you could type ls -laR.

This command simply shows what directory you're in at the moment. It stands for “Print Working Directory”. It's useful for scripting in case you might ever want to refer to your current directory.

The program tail allows you to follow a file as it is growing. It is often used to follow /var/log/messages, by typing tail -f /var/log/messages. Of course, you can use anything else, including the other logs in /var/log/. Another file you may want to keep an eye out for is /var/log/secure.

If you want to leave that running all the time, it's recommended you have some sort of terminal program in X, logged in as root through su.

Another program you may want to look at is head. It monitors the top of the file specified, instead of the bottom.

This program shows a lot of stuff that goes on with your system. In the program, you can type:

M for memory usage information

P for CPU information

q to quit

Typing w will tell you who is logged in. This can be helpful if you're the only one who uses your computer and you see someone logged in that's not supposed to be.

Another alternative is who.