CLI Tutorials/Emulators

tg0000 · 05-17-2023, 11:18 PM

I thought the obvious place for something like this would be the 'Tutorials' section of LQ. But after I found nothing there, I went to the general search with queries like "CLI Tutorials" and "CLI Emulators".

I'm not trying to ask any questions, but rather sharing my experience and soliciting the advice of others if they have similar helpful resources along these lines.

I'm trying to relearn even the little that I used to know at the CLI, and it occurred to me to use ChapGPT as an emulator to help me; so I typed in the following prompt ...

"Can you emulate a Linux CLI, and give me a few exercises to do at the Linux CLI and assess my progress? I would like you to prompt me for each response before moving on to the next one."

*edit --> For clarification, I'm looking for an emulator that gives prompts and looks for a response from me before moving on to the next exercise. The best one that I've found is https://www.webminal.org/login/ but I'm looking for other good ones (using the AI seems to be pretty good).

Anyone else tried this before? Or does anyone know of any free CLI emulators online that will teach me step by step?

pan64 · 05-18-2023, 12:23 AM

you don't need an emulator, just use it. The real one.
https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/command...ers#1-overview
This is an online course, but it is payware: https://www.udemy.com/course/linux-t...-for-beginners

chrism01 · 05-18-2023, 01:25 AM

These 2 are pretty old, but pretty comprehensive and bash hasn't really changed that much (for a beginner).
There are prob a million bash tutorials on the web; these should at least give you a good start ...

https://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-...tml/index.html
https://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/

Te other thing to do is just look at (research) code snippets posted on LQ and try to follow them.
The important thing is what you learn by trying to understand them, not whether you fully comprehend them the first few times . It just takes practice ...

See also http://linux.die.net/man/ or the 'man' pages on your own system.

HTH

edorig · 05-18-2023, 01:49 AM

I am not sure this is what you are looking for, but the Unix Historical Society has a book online, Life with Unix with a chapter on the shell commands.
On bitsavers.org, you can find some documentation for AT&T Unix System V http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stut.../pdf/att/unix/ (link to the german mirror). You can also search in the documentation on XENIX (a Unix clone sold first by Microsoft, then by SCO that predated Linux) in the altos, sco directories, on HP-UX, AIX, SunOS for a tutorial on the Unix shell. If you use bash or zsh it is largely compatible with ksh which was standard on Unix System V.
Finally, you can find some guides on bash shell scripting on the Linux documentation project https://tldp.org/guides.html.

lvm_ · 05-18-2023, 03:26 AM

On windows native WSL (windows susbsystem for linux) and 3d-party cygwin (https://cygwin.com/) provide reasonably authentic linux experience.

dugan · 05-18-2023, 04:46 PM

This book has a good reputation:

https://linuxcommand.org/tlcl.php

teckk · 05-18-2023, 06:17 PM

Code:

ls ${PATH//:/ } > commands.txt

Those are the "commands" on your machine.

Look at the ones that interest you.

Example:

Code:

man basename
basename --help
apropos basename

tg0000 · 05-19-2023, 10:15 AM

All of these resources are really good ones, but I don't see any other emulators that provide a prompt and response. I just remembered https://www.webminal.org/login/ so I edited my original question about to include that. But using an AI seems pretty good as well, since it gives a sort of "study partner" experience.

frankbell · 05-19-2023, 08:42 PM

Try a web search for "linux terminal simulator."

It turns up a number of online sites/tutorials that seem relevant to this question. Note that I have no experience with any of them.

I will also second chrism01's recommendation of the Bash Guide for Beginners. I still have a printout of it on my bookshelf.

chrism01 · 05-22-2023, 01:05 AM

Also, I agree with pan64; just use the terminal on your actual Linux box....
Use any/all of the other suggestions as tutorials to follow OR improvise as you see fit.

GentleThotSeaMonkey · 05-22-2023, 01:31 AM

http://linuxJourney.com

Install tldr

My fav list of basic CLI: https://www.busybox.net/downloads/BusyBox.html

Books, esp. Cert training. Amazon ratings will tell you what's popular. You can probably find PDFs on the internet.

Wise web searches, like: examples of using <cmd>

Beware: chatGPT lies, a lot!

Experiment, wander, dig in ...

https://explainshell.com

Eureka! Go find lym.pdf 128pages of great CLI, and zillions more!