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Old 12-19-2008, 12:07 AM   #1
Ineedwords1121
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Registered: Dec 2008
Posts: 28

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Commands are not working in terminal!!! Damn small linux


Hi, so im going to get a new computer and I am totally fed up with windows bs and im not going to pay what steve jobs wants for his machines. So I look up linux. Anways so i dl damn small linux on an old 28mb ram comp and it works. Installing it was rough but i learned alot. So now my question is why when i type in simple commands like dir in the terminal does it say command is not found? I am using dsl because i want to know how to use the terminal. Any suggestions? Help is much appreciated. thanks guys and gals...

Last edited by Ineedwords1121; 12-19-2008 at 07:55 AM.
 
Old 12-19-2008, 12:21 AM   #2
linuxlover.chaitanya
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Registered: Apr 2008
Location: Gurgaon, India
Distribution: Cent OS 6/7
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dir is not a valid command in linux. If you want to list the directories use ls.
Search for linux commands on google for valid linux commands.
 
Old 12-19-2008, 12:30 AM   #3
Ineedwords1121
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Registered: Dec 2008
Posts: 28

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Thanks a bunch ive tried a couple of them but they didnt seem to work. Ill give it another go though. Appreciate the help...
 
Old 12-19-2008, 12:33 AM   #4
linuxlover.chaitanya
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Which commands did you try? Give as much info as you can. That will help people here.
 
Old 12-19-2008, 12:45 AM   #5
Ineedwords1121
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Registered: Dec 2008
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im not sure man but i found the man pages on google and im tryin them out. Most of em work so far i guess im just too used to ms dos. But when i use ls the only things that show up are event.cal and nano.sav where are all the apps??
 
Old 12-19-2008, 12:52 AM   #6
linuxlover.chaitanya
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It depends where you give the command. Otherwise ls <directory name> to list the contents of the particular directory.
 
Old 12-19-2008, 12:56 AM   #7
Ineedwords1121
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I appreciate the help again. Im so new to this i just need to get right in and mess with every command save sudo... Also how do i get my icons to show up?
 
Old 12-19-2008, 01:05 AM   #8
linuxlover.chaitanya
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Are you running X? Or should I ask have you installed X? If not then install it and then boot into runlevel 5. You can edit /etc/inittab and find a line that looks like :

id:3:initdefault:

And change 3 to 5 to change your runlevel to 5 i.e graphical boot.
Or give the command startx to go to runlevel 5.
 
Old 12-19-2008, 01:28 AM   #9
Ineedwords1121
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how do you edit? I tried typing /etc/inittab and it said permission denied. Then i became the superuser and it said the same thing?
 
Old 12-19-2008, 01:37 AM   #10
linuxlover.chaitanya
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You need to be superuser to edit the file. TO become superuser you can use sudo.
Like sudo vi /etc/inittab.
It will ask you for your password.
 
Old 12-19-2008, 01:51 AM   #11
Ineedwords1121
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Registered: Dec 2008
Posts: 28

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okay i got you. Now im scared lol

it looks like this

1 #/etc/inittab: init(8) configuration
2
3 id:5:initdefault
4
5 si::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcs

and alot of other stuff

sorry im so much trouble i just wanna learn this stuff
 
Old 12-19-2008, 03:52 AM   #12
kaz2100
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Registered: Apr 2005
Location: Penguin land, with apple, no gates
Distribution: SlackWare > Debian testing woody(32) sarge etch lenny squeeze(+64) wheezy .. bullseye bookworm
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Hya,

Welcome to Penguin world!

Can you post whatever you get after you type
1. whoami <return>
2. date <return>
3. cd <return>
4. cat /etc/passwd

Happy Penguins!
 
Old 12-19-2008, 03:53 AM   #13
CQ1ST
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Registered: Oct 2005
Location: NewZealand
Distribution: Xubuntu Trusty
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hey man, you're funny

I'd be like
sudo su
cd /
ls -al (oh crap, there's the 'permissions' (security))
cd /sbin
ls -a (these'd be the programs only su(super-user) can use)
cd /bin (or /usr/bin ?)
ls -a (the programs any-user can use)
lspci (your hardware)
dmesg (the stuff that happens when you boot up)
lsmod (the drivers that linux/dsl is using (from the kernel?))
cd ~/.fluxbox/styles
ls
mkdir wowimreallydoingit
cd wo[tab.button] (it automagically types wowimreallydoingit > just like windows does, so play with this alot ryt??)
cd ..
ls
rm -rf wowimreallydoingit
ls (gone!)
>>but most importantly "I" would definitely <<
startx (LOL)

>>28MB ram aye? man thats a vicious learning curve, did any other OS actually work with that box?!?

Last edited by CQ1ST; 12-19-2008 at 03:58 AM. Reason: i'm a goose
 
Old 12-19-2008, 07:46 AM   #14
Ineedwords1121
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Dec 2008
Posts: 28

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
kaz2100: 1 dsl 2 fri dec 19 3 blank
4 is a bit longer
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash ETC. a bunch of other linux jargon

NewB4Life thanks a bunch they all worked i think i just didnt know what the hell i was supposed to do with them. Idk about the learning curve?(obviously steep ha ha) i did not try any other distro because i didnt think anything else would fit on this heap. And when i startx i get a blank screen and it acts like its freezing up. Oh wait it just said waiting for x server to shut down. anyways, thanks for all the replies you guys. Im going to figure this thing out but i am already impressed with the "community". having any kind of linux and having you guys to help me out is better than sacrificing a 1000 dollar machine so windows can fix their bugs. If my stuff is gonna mess up at least i know its me and not a billionaire who doesnt give a crap. Thanks so much to everyone.
 
  


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