9 useful Linux commands everyone should use!

[LazyLion]

http://blogs.howtogeek.com/tuxgeek/2008/09/09/explained-9-useful-linux-commands-everyone-should-use/

Just switched from Windows and still a bit scared about the command line? You shouldn't be! The command line is a very powerful, fast and intuitive tool to get things done without clicking buttons and navigating through windows.

"Under Linux there are GUIs (graphical user interfaces), where you can point and click and drag, and hopefully get work done without first reading lots of documentation. The traditional Unix environment is a CLI (command line interface), where you type commands to tell the computer what to do. That is faster and more powerful, but requires finding out what the commands are."

So let's listen to the manual, start the mighty 'Terminal' and learn some cool commands:

are these commands distro independent?

 

[reech]

are these commands distro independent?

pretty much with the exception of apt which is debian and derivative based AFAIK - redhat based distros have yum, gentoo has emerge??

 

[Bismuth]

I have only ever come across apt in Ubuntu, in my limited experience, so it is probably specific to debian and derivatives, as reech said.

I still love the ability to drop to the command line in Linux, and fix something, have had to do it at least twice with Ubuntu so far. In that other OS, a complete reinstall would have been required.

Sometimes I drop to the command line for the hell of it, gives me fond memories of my DOS days.

B

 

[Lord-Nikon]

I've been using Linux (Suse) in my work environment for almost 4 years now and wouldn't even know where to begin if I have to use the GUI instead of the CLI...

For me Linux is CLI and the GUI is just there. Once tried to use it in an effort to learn more of Linux but has given that up in a matter of minutes...

If something breaks I honestly don't know how to fix it under the GUI of Linux. Using the CLI, in seconds I can fix the problem I takes a lot to get used to, but once you know what you're doing, I can guarantee you you won't be looking back

 

[Nod]

Here is a useful place to look up commands for various OS's (mostly unix). Remember to use the man pages for more information on each command.