Length: 5 Days

Audience: Anyone interested in the Linux Operating System for work or personal use.

Prerequisites: Students must have an understanding of operating system functionality and concepts. Experience with DOS or UNIX is helpful. No prior Linux knowledge is required.

Overview: This course is designed to teach basic Linux user skills. It covers both command line and GUI interfaces as well as installing and setting up a Linux workstation.

Course Topics:

Introduction

UNIX History and Principles
GNU Project, FSF, and the GPL
Linux Origins and Benefits
Red Hat Linux Offerings
Recommended Hardware Requirements
Red Hat Linux GUI Environments

A Quick Tour of Red Hat Linux

Components of the Red Hat Linux User Interface
Local Logins and Users
Examining the Filesystem
Command Line Shells
Running Commands, Command Options
Getting Help: man Pages and Other Utilities
Date, Time, and Calendar
Changing Your Password
Virtual Consoles

File and Shell Basics

The Current Working Directory
File Names
Absolute and Relative Pathnames
The Home Directory and System Directories
Changing Directories
Listing Directory Contents
Checking Free Space
Copying, Moving and Renaming Files and Directories
Creating and Removing Files Directories
Determining File Type
Viewing and Editing Text Files
Filename Pattern Matching
Hands-on Lab: File and Directory Operations

Users and Groups

Users and Groups
The Red Hat Linux Security Model
The root User and Other System Users and Groups
User Information Commands
Changing Your Identity
Hands-on Lab: User Information

File Access Permissions

Red Hat Linux File Security
Examining Permissions on Files and Directories
File Permission Types
User Categories
Default File Permissions
Changing Access Permissions
Special Permission Types
Hands-on Lab: File Permissions

The Red Hat Linux Filesystem

Red Hat Linux File Hierarchy Concepts
ext2/ext3 Filesystem Details
Hard and Soft Links
Mounting Removable Media
Finding and Processing Files
File Compression and Archiving Utilities
Hands-on Lab: Red Hat Linux Filesystem Essentials

The bash Shell

bash Heritage
Shell and Environment Variables
Which Command is Executed?
Command Recall
Command-Line Expansion
Protecting from Expansion
Command Return Values
Aliases
Shell Functions
Startup and Shutdown Scripts
Login Shells
History Tricks
Command Completion and Editing Tricks
Configuring the bash Shell
Hands-on Lab: The bash Shell

The X Window System and the GNOME and KDE Desktops

The X Window System
The X Protocol
The GNOME and KDE Desktop Environment
Original X Environment
Window Managers
Switching Desktop Environments
Mouse Configuration
Copying and Pasting in X
Starting XFree86
GUI Terminals and Editors
Nautilus: the GNOME File Browser
GNOME Desktop Applications
Web Browsers and Mail Clients
GNOME Office Applications
OpenOffice.org Applications
Image Utilities
Audio Applications
KDE Applications
X Customization
Hands-on Lab: Customizing the Graphical Environment

Standard I/O and Pipes

Redirecting Input and Output
Overwriting and Appending
Redirecting Standard Error
Redirecting Both Standard Output and Error
Using Pipes to Connect Processes

Introduction to String Processing

Counting Words, Lines and Characters
Sorting Data
Printing Unique Lines of Files
Printing Selected Columns and Fields
Rearranging Columns and Fields
Other String Processing Tools
Determining Differences Between Files
Spell-checking Files
Formatting Text
Hands-on Lab: String Processing

String Processing with Regular Expressions

Pattern Matching with Regular Expressions
Wildcards, Modifiers, and Anchors
Regular Expressions in Combinations
Searching for Patterns in Files
Modifying Streams of Data
Searching Files
Extended Regular Expressions
Using awk
Hands-on Lab: String Processing with Regular Expressions

Introduction to Processes

What is a Process?
How Processes Are Started
Process Ancestry and States
Viewing and Terminating Processes
Sending Signals to Processes
Altering Process Scheduling Priority
Running a Process in the Foreground and Background
Suspending a Process
Listing and Resuming Background and Suspended Jobs
Compound Commands
Hands-on Lab: Process Control

Using the vi and vim Editors

Starting vi and vim
Three Modes of vi and vim
Cursor Movement
Entering and Leaving Insert Mode
Changing, Deleting, Yanking, and Putting Text
Undoing Changes
Saving and Exiting
Filtering Text through Linux Commands
Searching, Replacing, and Regular Expressions
Configuring vi and vim
Expanding your Vocabulary
Hands-on Lab: vi

bash Shell Scripting

Scripting Basics
Creating Shell Scripts
Making Scripts Executable
Generating Output
Handling Input
Exit Status
Conditional Execution
Loops
Breaking Out of Loops
Using Positional Parameters

Printing and Mailing

Printing in Red Hat Linux
Printer Control
Printing From Applications
Printing Utilities
Email Topology
Email Clients
Email Delivery via POP and IMAP
Email Filtering
Fetchmail

Basic Networking

Determining Connectivity to a Host
Getting Information About Routes and Interfaces
Listing the Route to a Particular Host
Translating Between Hostnames and IP Addresses
Listing DNS Records
Listing Domain Contacts
Transferring Files Across the Network
Checking the Status of Network Ports
Secure Shell
Hands-on Lab: Basic Network Clients

System Tools

Terminal Configuration
Getting Information About Your System
Scheduling a Process to Execute Later
Scheduling Periodic Processes
RPM Package Manager Queries
System Administrator Duties
Hands-on Lab: System Tools