www.RogerWendell.com
Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic EvolutionSM
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Unix Logo UNIX:
(and Linux)
Arrow Pointing Right Click Here for my main computer page...
Arrow Pointing Right Click Here for my PERL page...

 

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UNIX
(UNiplexed Information and Computing System - originally spelled "Unics")

"When Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie first wrote Unix at AT&T Bell Labs [1969], it was for their own use and for their friends and coworkers. Utility programs were added by various people as they had problems to solve. Because Bell Labs wasn't in the computer business, source code was given out to universities for a nominal fee. brilliant reserachers wrote their own software and added it to Unix in a spree of creative anarchy, which has been equaled only with Linus, in the introduction of the W Widnow System, and especially the blend of Mac and Unix with Darwin included in Mac OS X."

- Shelley Powers, Jerry Peek and Mike Loukides in O'Reilly's UNIX Power Tools, 3rd ed., p.3.

 

Open Source and Linux

"If you haven't heard of Linux yet, you need to read the newspaper a little more often! Linus Torvalds, while a student, expressed his frustration over the high cost of most versions of UNIX by building his own. What makes this story special is that Torvalds licensed his UNIX clone, dubbed Linux, in a unique way. Linux is an open source operating system, distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL), which means (among other things) that anyone who purchases a copy receives full access to it source code, the building blocks of the operating system. Free access to the source code gives software developers the power to modify the operating system to meet their needs. This has led to the rapid development of a wide variety of applications, including some of the most commonly used web and e-mail servers on the Internet. In most cases, both the Linux operating system and Linux applications are available for free download from the Internt, although vendors like SuSE and Caldera sell boxed versions, and charge for support services. For all intents and purposes, Linux is a full featured clone of UNIX."

- Mike Meyers (2004)
Managing and Troubleshooting Networks, p. 303

 

Some basic UNIX Commands and Definitions:

  • . = current directory
  • . = hides file when in front of file name
  • * = substitution - matches zero or more characters
  • # = remark line
  • ? = matches exactly one character
  • / = Root Directory
  • | = pipe = connects two commands together
  • > = redirection
  • >> = causes standard output to be appended to the specified file
  • ^ = caret
  • = Escape
  • = End of File
  • bash = Bourne Again Shell
  • bg = run in background
  • cat = concatenate = displays contents of a file
  • cd = change your current directory
  • cd .. = Move Back One Directory
  • cd / = Change Directory to Root
  • chmod = change permissions:
    • owner/group/others
    • -rwxrwxrwx = all three can read, write and execute
    • example = chmod 700 test.txt = -rwx------ test.txt
  • cp = to make a copy of a file
  • cut = used to extract data from a file (kind of opposite "paste")
  • date = diplays date and time
  • diff = finds differences between files
  • echo = prints whatever you happen to type on the line
  • ed - editor with similar commands to "sed" and "vi"
  • find = descends the directory tree and locates files
  • fg = run in background
  • ftp = file transfer protocal
  • grep = searches files for various patterns:
    • grep -l = lists file names without data
    • grep -n = line number
    • grep -v = invert
    • example = grep ^-v[0-9][0-9]-[0-9] file.txt
    • !grep = re execute most recent grep command
  • history = most recently run commands
  • ln = linking a file so that it has more than one name
  • ls = Directory Contents
  • ls -a = also shows hidden files
  • ls -l = shows permissions
  • man = format and display the on-line manual pages
  • manpath = determine user's search path for man pages
  • Metacharacters = are a group of characters that have special meanings to the UNIX operating system:
    • * = A wild card character that matches any group of characters of any length
    • ? = A wild card character that matches any single character
    • [ab] = match a or b
    • $ = inidcates the following text is the name of a shell variable
    • \ = Used to "quote" the following metacharacter so it is treated as a plain character, as in \*
    • mkdir = Make Directory
    • mv = renaming a file - also used to move a file
  • paste = can bring two files together (kind of opposite "cut" command)
  • ps = processes running on the system:
    • PID = the process
    • TTY = terminal number
    • TIME = Amount of computer time
    • COMMAND = the name of the process
  • pico = UNIX text editor
  • ping = talk to another machine
  • pine = Program for Internet News & Email
  • pipe = the "|" symbol, allows you to take the output of one command and feed it directly into the input of another command
  • PuTTy = Telnet/SSH Client
  • pwd = present working directory (where am I?)
  • Regular Expressions = provide a consistent way of specifying patterns:
    • . = any character - example "a.."
    • ^ = beginning of line - example "^fred"
    • $ = end of line
    • * = zero or more occurrences
  • rm = remove a file
  • rmdir = remove directory (doesn't work if there are files in directory)
  • rm -r = removes directory and all its files - BE CAREFUL!
  • Script is a file with an execution capability
  • sed = stream editor (commands similar to "ed" and "vi")
  • sh = Shell - the program to talk to UNIX
  • sort = sort lines of file
  • ssh - Secure Shell (because Telnet is unsecure)
  • Standard Input = the place commands normally read their input from (usually your terminal/keyborad by default)
  • Standard Output = the place commands normally write their outputs (usually your terminal/monitor by default)
  • Standard Error = the place most UNIX commands write their error messages
  • TAB once = completes file name
  • TAB twice = completes extension
  • TCP/IP = Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (it's built into UNIX and is the standard data transmission method for networks and the Internet)
  • Telnet = Terminal Emulation - It's not secure, see ssh
  • touch = creates a file
  • tr = translate or character for character exchange (uses "<" to bring data into it)
  • tty = port
  • u = UNIX
  • UNIX Kernel = Operating System
  • vi = UNIX editor (commands similar to "ed" and "sed")
  • wc = word count
  • who = users currently logged on
  • xv = view

 

RAW's COmputer Foot in Japan Some UNIX related links:

 

USE THE BEST

Linux for servers

Macintosh for graphics

Palm for mobility

Windows for solitaire

 

Some vi Commands:

  • $vi filename = starts the editing session
  • i = Insert - gets you into the editor
  • = back to command line
  • ZZ = Exits vi and saves changes
  • :w = writes current file
  • :wq = Writes changes to current file and quits edit session
  • :q! = Quits edit session (no changes made)
  • h = back
  • j = down
  • k = up
  • l = right
  • <number> = goes to that line
  • $ = End of file
  • a = append
  • x = Deletes current character
  • dd = Deletes current line
  • dw = Deletes the current word
  • d) = Deletes the rest of the current sentence
  • D, d$ = Deletes from cursor to end of line
  • P = Puts back text from the previous delete
  • yy = Puts the current line in a buffer. Does not delete the line from its current position.
  • p = Places the line in the buffer after the current position of the cursor.
  • $ = End of file
  • u = undo last command
  • x = Deletes current character
  • YY = Puts the current line in a buffer. Does not delete the line from its current position.

 

Other Reference Materials:

 

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RSX-11M

Okay, RSX-11M doesn't have much to do with UNIX but I mention it here because it was my first real experience with an operating system not related to Microsoft. In the late 80s I was an Electronics Technician where we were using RSX-11M for process control. I don't remember much about it now, two decades later as I'm adding this entry in 2008, but have fond memories of the huge PDP-11 computers, stacks of platters (discs) and other related equipment that'll be fun to encounter in a museum somewhere!

- Roger J. Wendell

 

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Links:

  1. 0Spam (Zero Spam)
  2. 1728 All kinds of online calculators!
  3. 404 Not Found
  4. Active State - Dynamic Tools for Dynamic Languages
  5. Anfy applets
  6. Annoyances Fixing problems with Microsoft Windows
  7. Anti-Phishing
  8. Arachnophilia - the Paul Lutus CareWare page
  9. AVG Anti-Virus
  10. Bitmek "Let the power of the Internet work for you!"
  11. Blackholes.us - IP address blocks
  12. Bug Me Not - Avoid Internet registrations
  13. Button generator
  14. Button maker by Cool Archive
  15. Button maker by TomaWeb
  16. Central Ops - Free online network utilities
  17. CGI Scripts
  18. CNet
  19. Colors in HTML - 16 million of 'em!
  20. Computer Recycling
  21. Computer Stuff - by me!
  22. CrackSpider
  23. Crucial Memory. It's Curcial.
  24. CSS tutorial
  25. Deal Catcher
  26. DirectNic
  27. DMOZ - Open Directory Project
  28. Domain ownership privacy
  29. Dot Easy Web Hosting
  30. Downloads from me!
  31. DropLoad Free file transfer
  32. Entity References
  33. Eprompter Free Email Retrieval and Notification
  34. Flaming Text
  35. FrontPage Techniques
  36. Gentoo Linux
  37. Ghostscript, Gohstview, and GSview
  38. Gizoogle Textilizer
  39. GNOME Project - Free desktop environment
  40. GNU Project - Free Unix-like operating system
  41. Gotapex deals
  1. House Call Virus Scan
  2. HTML Character Reference by Webreference.com
  3. HTML Character Set by Walter Ian Kaye
  4. HTML Ordered Lists
  5. Infinite Monkeys Eclectic Software
  6. JavaScript Source - "...an excellent JavaScript resource"
  7. K7 Net Unified Messaging
  8. Keir.net - Robin Keir's software utilites page
  9. Kephyr - Nice software for nice people
  10. Launchpad - services for projects in the open source universe
  11. McAfee Stinger Virus Removal
  12. Microsoft Windows Update
  13. Memory Hole Resucing knowledge, freeing information
  14. Mozilla Foxfire webrowswer (free!)
  15. Net Mechanic Power Tools for Your Website!
  16. Open Office
  17. Parcom Web Hosting
  18. PC Hell
  19. PC Pitstop free automated tests...
  20. Perl - by me!
  21. Perl introduction
  22. Perl - The source for Perl
  23. Perl Directory
  24. Pic Search
  25. PGP by me!
  26. Protonic "free fast technical support"
  27. Slash Dot News for Nerds. Stuff that matters.
  28. Slick Deals
  29. Save This
  30. SDF - Super Dimension Fortress (a networked community of free software authors...)
  31. Softpedia The encyclopedia of free software downloads!
  32. SpyBot Search and Destroy!
  33. SYMANTEC Security Check
  34. Tech Bargains
  35. Test Page that allows me to test stuff!
  36. Toast Net Connection Performance Test
  37. Unicode
  38. Ubuntu - UNIX for Humans!
  39. Validome HTML / XHTML / WML / XML Validator
  40. W3 World Wide Web Consortium
  41. Wayback Machine - Internet Archive

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