I have a confession to make....I suck at command line. I know a lot of basic commands (dir, cd, how to open a few text editors...) but my knowledge, I feel, is pretty limited with CLI.

So my goal is to start doing more command line stuff. I consider myself pretty familiar with Fedora Linux as a desktop and I've messed around with a good number of server functions....of course I do most of them through the GUI. I think sometimes I am always afraid of editting a config file in text mode for fear of mucking something up. So my goal is start doing more command line based stuff.

If you all have any additional resources from the typical "search here" or linuxcommand.org then let me know.

Wish me luck.

Good luck dude.

I was in a similar possition but over time find myself using CLI more and more - it's faster basically.

Just try doing changes with the gui version and then copy the config files (.bak or something) before you edit them. If all goes to hell then you can always boot off of a CD or floppy and change the config file back (I use knoppix boot CD).

The more I used CLI the more I left the GUI. I used to build systems with a gui for ease of some bits but now I just run init 3 and it's all fine. I try to keep a small book of good commands and it soon builds up. If it's a server you are going to be looking after or building then it shouldn't really run X (basically the more things you run the bigger security risk).

Personally I can't seem to get enough of Linux. I started with Fedore core and now gone to Whitebox which is only really good for server (it's a port of RHEL).

Well hope you're still sticking with it.

One idea is just to download the rute book, and start reading it. Almost everything in this book is CLI based. It has a good primer on grep, sed, awk and all the other cool CLI tools.

Move at your own pace, and you will be a CLI guru in no time...

Basslord1124, if you have an old computer laying around or can get your hands on one, load up linux without X, and have at it. Full immersion will help get you there faster. And check out my sig below for a couple of resources.

BTW, just a helpful tip, use 'ls' instead of 'dir'. It has colors!

LOL, ok....I have used ls a few times...but mainly just going through examples in this Linux book I got. Actually there were a few commands that allowed me to change colors. I think you can do it in top as well.

Never heard of the rute book...I'll check it out.

Basslord, Check out the Oreilly link in my sig, There is a cool list of commands you can click on.
Or just click here: http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/cmd/

Also - the following commands are your friend:
Online Linux manual, syntax is:
man COMMAND
Searches man pages for keywords. Syntax is:
apropos KEYWORD1, KEYWORD2, etc...
Note: this is the same as using man -k KEYWORD1, KEYWORD2...

Also - check this out for a good deal on scripting:

I am in the same boat as you. I know basic commands but not enought to be a power user or fix something via CMI.
This is why I am saying goodbye to my beloved Fedora Core. I am making the switch to a more power user oriented distro like Debian. I am nervous about the swap but I know this will be a great learning experience as Debian will not hold my hand as Fedora did.

I'd reccomend a good Slackware...

Another idea, If you have a couple GB of spare disk space, you could create a partition and work through the Linux From Scratch book. There is probably no better way to learn about the command line, and the composition of a Linux system.

I forgot to mention in my first post, rute is available for free online as well as in a printed version. Google will find it no prob. A lot of people here have a link to it in their sigs as well.

LFS is a great learning experience. To my surprise, learning vi has been very useful for CLI stuff as well. It has a lot in common with other CLI apps, and the more regular expression you know, the better.

For instance, I never even knew 'less' had a search function, until I was viewing a file with it, forgot I wasn't in vim, and hit / to do a search. . .