Linux Fundamentals

A Practical Guide to Learning Linux

Matthew West

Legal Notice

2005-01-25 19:55:37

Revision History
Revision 0.0.1 01/NOV/2004
Initial version

Table of Contents

1. Details of requirements for the courses
Machine Requirements
Course Pre-requisites And Outcomes
A theory that works
Pre-requisite knowledge and outcomes
2. Linux Distributions and Certifications
Licensing and availability details for Debian, Red Hat and SuSE
SUSE Linux
Red Hat
Debian GNU/Linux
On Line Classmates Information and Registration
Certification
Linux Professional Institute Certification
SAIR Linux and GNU Certification
Red Hat Certification
3. History and Politics A Business Oriented Background
Introduction
Open Source and Free Software Licenses
The History of Open Source Software
Benefits of the Open Source Development methods
The Cathedral and the Bazaar
Why is Free Software not used extensively in the Enterprise environment?
Does Linux meet industry standards i.e. POSIX, IEEE, X/OPEN ?
Exercises and Quiz
Setup of Linux Emulator for Fundamentals Course
4. Essentials
What is Linux?
Structure of a Linux Based Operating System.
Hardware
Kernel
Standard Library of Procedures
Standard Utilities and User Applications
Lateral thinking with further details on the Operating System Simone Demblon
Logging into a Linux System
Login
The Password File
The Shell Command Interpreter
Different Shell Command Interpreters
The Command History within the shell
Configuring your shell environment
Shell Command Processing
The Shell Environment
Using Shell Commands
Files and Directories
Files under Linux
Inodes
Linux FS Hierarchy
Editing Files under Linux
Working with normal data files
links
File permissions/security
chmod
chown and chgrp
umask
File Redirection, Named and un-named pipes
stdin
stdout
stderr
Appending to a file
Piping
Other commands
A. Linux Professional Institute (LPI) Certification
Introduction
Junior Level Administration (LPIC1)
Intermediate Level Administration (LPIC2)
B. Linux kernel version 2.6
The Wonderful World of Linux
Index

List of Figures

4.1. Operating Systems Layers
4.2. Filesytems, Cylinder, Inodes and Superblock Layouts
4.3. Debian Directory listing
4.4. Empty vi buffer
4.5. Movement keys in vi
4.6. Different ways of getting into Insert Mode, and how that effects the place where text is inserted.
4.7. stdin, stdout, stderr
4.8. piping from one process to another

List of Tables

4.1. /etc/passwd
4.2. File Permissions Table
4.3. File Permissions example 1
4.4. File Permissions example 2
4.5. File Permissions example 3
4.6. Symbolic File Permission switches
A.1. LPI exam 101: Hardware and Architecture
A.2. LPI exam 101: Linux Installation & Package Management
A.3. LPI exam 101: GNU & Unix Commands
A.4. LPI exam 101: Devices, Linux Filesystems, Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
A.5. LPI exam 101: The X Window System
A.6. LPI Exam 102: The kernel
A.7. LPI Exam 102: Boot, Initialization, Shutdown and Runlevels
A.8. LPI Exam 102: Printing
A.9. LPI Exam 102: Documentation
A.10. LPI Exam 102: Shells, Scripting, Programming and Compiling
A.11. LPI Exam 102: Administrative Tasks
A.12. LPI Exam 102: Networking Fundamentals
A.13. LPI Exam 102: Networking Services
A.14. LPI Exam 102: Security
A.15. LPI Exam 201: The Linux Kernel
A.16. LPI Exam 201: System Startup
A.17. LPI Exam 201: Filesystem
A.18. LPI Exam 201: Hardware
A.19. LPI Exam 201: File and Service Sharing
A.20. LPI Exam 201: System Maintenance
A.21. LPI Exam 201: System Customization and Automation
A.22. LPI Exam 201: Troubleshooting
A.23. Exam 202: Networking
A.24. Exam 202: Mail & news
A.25. Exam 202: DNS
A.26. Exam 202: Web Services
A.27. Exam 202: Network Client Management
A.28. Exam 202: System Security
A.29. Exam 202: Network Troubleshooting