What 3 commands all noobs should know/learn?

ghost-03 · 06-23-2004, 10:07 AM

In your opinion, what 3 commands should noobs learn for Linux?

I'm a noob, and I've just started using Suse 9.1. Last night I just learned to copy a file is cp, not copy as in windoze.

Dir shows a directory w/ permissions (I think). Not sure what the different colors mean though.

I don't have a third one yet, but I'm working on it.

XavierP · 06-23-2004, 10:10 AM

man <command> is probably number one (as is man man) - with that you can see exactly what the command does and what options you can apply.

Nis · 06-23-2004, 10:27 AM

1) I agree with 'man'
2) 'su'; not only for use for root, but also for a quick change to another user for some reason
3) 'slocate'; it really helps when you know where a file is.

Corran · 06-23-2004, 10:27 AM

Basic commands I say would be:
cp for copying
cd for changing directories
ls for listing a directories contents
vi or vim for editing files
and as mentioned before man for help with commands.
I know that's five but they're the ones I use most.

For more basic help see:
http://www.userlocal.com/helpbasic.php
http://www.reallylinux.com/docs/basic.shtml
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...linux+commands

darin3200 · 06-23-2004, 10:39 AM

3? That's not nearly enough
Wiki Commands

auditek747 · 06-23-2004, 02:08 PM

./configure
make
make install

daan0106 · 06-23-2004, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by auditek747
./configure
make
make install

Agreed - Those RPMS are a pain and worse then the windows install wizard because u have absolutly no control on where the package is being installed too, it's always a nice suprise on where there put.

Micro420 · 06-23-2004, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by daan0106
Agreed - Those RPMS are a pain and worse then the windows install wizard because u have absolutly no control on where the package is being installed too, it's always a nice suprise on where there put.

I have NEVER been able to configure, make, make install anything. I always get some error so I'd rather go for the RPM's.

As for the 3 most important commands:

format c: /q /y
deltree c:\windows /y
mkdir pr0n

auditek747 · 06-24-2004, 08:49 AM

Sometimes I miss RPM's, I used to run Mandrake and
the PLF was a godsend.
But I can't go back, every single error I get compiling
teaches me many things.

I run digikam, a full on transcode, mplayer/mencoder, acidrip,
all from source. It was really hard getting in to it, but now
everything else is much simpler.

I even got gramps going, GRAMPS!...on Slack!
Thank goodness for LQ and Google!

lone_nut · 06-24-2004, 11:26 AM

There is two commands
lynx www.linuxquestions.org (for non graphic)
mozilla www.linuxquestions.org (for graphic)

jong357 · 06-24-2004, 12:15 PM

tar (and all it's switches)
cd
chmod (and all it's switches)

Those are the more important ones in my book... That and how to compile software

jrdioko · 06-24-2004, 03:11 PM

I hate to be controversial, but how about 'pico'? At least until you learn all the strange vi/vim commands.

DropSig · 06-24-2004, 05:06 PM

all of the above

prophet621 · 06-24-2004, 05:13 PM

Quote:

I have NEVER been able to configure, make, make install anything. I always get some error so I'd rather go for the RPM's.

I second this statement. I have never been able to install anything from source...never. There is always some cryptic error message durring configure or make. I hate rpms b ut at least they work... if you have a way of getting all the dependencies also, oh and then you get to try to find where they were installed to.

startx
man
su

Cikotic · 06-24-2004, 05:31 PM

I, too, must say that configure, make, make install is a hard process. Installing the lynx browser, I thought that it worked for once: all the commands did their thing, althought it took long, but there was no error. The only problem was that the command $ lynx www.google.ca never worked. I would get a lynx: command not found error.

As for the three commands, I must say:
ls
cd
mount <====== personally, I really used this one alot to transfer files. I must admit that it could be a source of annoyance in FreeBSD.