Linux

A free and open-source operating system developed by Linus Torvalds and friends and was first announced by Linus in a post he made August 25, 1991. The Linux kernel runs on numerous different platforms including the Intel and Alpha platform and is available under the GNU General Public License.

• Linux help and command listing.
• Linux variants
• Linux history.

Also see: Chrome OS, DSL, FREAX, Gentoo, Operating system definitions, Puppy Linux, Tux, Unix, Variant

Unix, Linux, and variants

Quick links

Unix ABCs
Linux ABCs
MS-DOS vs. Linux and Unix
Unix and Linux commands
Unix Top 10 commands
Unix Shortcuts
Linux variants
Unix variants
Unix and Linux history
Unix and Linux tips
Unix and Linux links
Linux and Unix news
Linux Q&A

Unix ABCs

Unix, which is not an acronym, was developed by some of the members of the Multics team at the bell labs starting in the late 1960's by many of the same people who helped create the C programming language. The Unix today, however, is not just the work of a couple of programmers. Many other organizations, institutes and various other individuals contributed significant additions to the system we now know today.

See additional Unix information and variants and information on the Unix variants page.

Linux ABCs

Developed by Linus Torvalds and further elaborated by a number of developers throughout the world, Linux (lee'nuhks/ or /li'nuks/,_not_/li:'nuhks) is a freely available multitasking and multiuser operating system. From the outset, Linux was placed under General Public License (GPL). The system can be distributed, used and expanded free of charge. In this way, developers have access to all the source codes, thus being able to integrate new functions or to find and eliminate programming bugs quickly. Thereby drivers for new adapters (SCSI controller, graphics cards, etc.) can be integrated very rapidly.

See additional Linux information and variants and information on the Linux variants page.

MS-DOS vs. Linux and Unix

If you are able to navigate using MS-DOS, you should be able to quickly pick up on the navigation of Linux and Unix. In the below chart is a listing of common MS-DOS commands with their Linux and Unix counterpart.

MS-DOS	Linux and Unix
attrib	chmod
backup	tar
dir	ls
cls	clear
copy	cp
del	rm
deltree	rm -R rmdir
edit	vi pico
format	fdformat, mount, and umount
move and rename	mv
Type	less <file>
cd	cd chdir
more < file	more file
md	mkdir
win	startx

Linux and Unix Commands

	* See the Linux and Unix overview page for a brief description on all commands on one page.
A	a2p | ac | alias | ar | arch | arp | as | at | awk
B	basename | bash | bc | bdiff | bfs | bg | biff | break | bs | bye
C	cal | calendar | cancel | cat | cc | cd | chdir | checkeq | checknr | chfn | chgrp | chkey | chmod | chown| chsh | cksum | clear | cls | cmp | col | comm | compress | continue | copy | cp | cpio | crontab | csh |csplit | ctags | cu | curl | cut
D	date | dc | dd | df | deroff | dhclient | diff | dig | dircmp | dirname | dmesg | dos2unix | dpost | du
E	echo | ed | edit | egrep |  elm | emacs | enable | env | eqn | ex | exit | expand | expr
F	fc | fdisk | fg | fgrep | file | find | findsmb | finger | fmt | fold | for | foreach | fromdos | fsck | ftp
G	getfacl | gprof | grep | groupadd | groupdel | groupmod | gunzip | gview | gvim | gzip
H	halt | hash | hashstat | head | help | history | host | hostid | hostname
I	id | ifconfig | ifdown | ifup | ip | init | info | isalist
J	jobs | join
K	keylogin | kill | ksh
L	last | ld | ldd | less | lex | link | ln | lo | locate | login | logname | logout | lp | lpadmin | lpc | lpq |lpr | lprm | lpstat | ls
M	mach | mail | mailcompat | mailx | make | man | merge | mesg | mii-tool | mkdir | mkfs | more |mount | mt | mv | myisamchk | mysql
N	nc | neqn | netstat | newalias | newform | newgrp | nice | niscat | nischmod | nischown | nischttl |nisdefaults | nisgrep | nismatch | nispasswd | nistbladm | nmap | nohup | nroff | nslookup
O	on | onintr | optisa
P	pack | pagesize | passwd | paste | pax | pcat | perl | pg | pgrep | pico | pine | ping | pkill | poweroff |pr | priocntl | printf | ps | pvs | pwd
Q	quit
R	rcp | reboot | red | rehash | remsh | repeat | replace | rgview | rgvim | rlogin | rm | rmail | rmdir | rn |route | rpcinfo | rsh | rsync | rview | rvim
S	s2p | sag | sar | scp | screen | script | sdiff | sed | sendmail | set | setenv | setfacl | settime | sftp |sh | shred | shutdown | sleep | slogin | smbclient | sort | spell | split | stat | stop | strip | stty | su |sudo | sysinfo | sysklogd
T	tabs | tac | tail | talk | tar | tbl | tcopy | tcpdump | tee | telinit | telnet | test | time | timex | todos |top | touch | tput | tr | traceroute | tree | troff | tty
U	ul |  umask | unalias | uname | uncompress | unhash | uniq | unmount | unpack | untar | until | unzip| uptime | useradd | userdel | usermod
V	vacation | vedit |  vgrind | vi | view | vim | vipw | vmstat
W	w | wait | wall | wc | wget | whereis | which  | while| who | whoami | whois | write
X	X | xargs | xfd | xlsfonts | xset | xterm | xrdb
Y	yacc | yes | yppasswd
Z	zcat, zip, zipcloak, zipinfo, zipnote, zipsplit

* In addition to each of the above explanations, additional information about a specified command for your Unix or Linux variant can be found by using the man command.

Quickly search all Linux manuals for help

Users who have the manuals installed on their computer can quickly search those manuals by typing the below command.

man -k keyword

This is great for locating a command you may not be able to remember.

Set Linux aliases for hard to remember commands

Create an alias for commands frequently forgotten, cause issues or long commands.

For example, you may type edit to edit a file when in Linux or Unix. However, users who may be new to Linux or Unix may not be able to use the edit program or this may cause an error message.

Set the edit command for an easier to use editor such as pico. Below is an example:

alias edit pico

• See the alias command page for further help and examples on this command.