A lot of Linux newbies are very afraid of the command line. As you may realize, the Linux command line is extremely powerful. However, command line interfaces are intimidating to people who have not used them before. Here is a helpful hint that should significantly reduce the intimidation factor.
You see that tab key on your keyboard? Think it's just for indenting the first line of a paragraph? Think again. If you are a Linux user you will be using tab all the time. Practice hitting it, you're going to be doing it a lot.
Here's an example to show you the awesome power of the tab key. We are currently in a directory on my Desktop named test. I used the ls command to list all the files in the directory. There are four files here. Can you name them?
apreche@apreche:~/Desktop/test$ ls Awesome foo.txt geeknights.html Song.mp3
Now I want to delete the file named Awesome. To do that, I must use the rm command followed by the filename like so.
apreche@apreche:~/Desktop/test$ rm Awesome
But you know what? Typing the word Awesome is pretty hard. It takes so long, and I have to hit so many keys. There must be a way to make it easier, right? Of course! This is the best OS in the world we're talking about here. Here is what you do. Type the following, but don't hit enter.
apreche@apreche:~/Desktop/test$ rm A
If we push enter now, that's not going to do us any good. There are no files named "A" to remove. We'll get an error that there is no such file or directory named A. Instead of hitting enter, let's hit our magic tab key instead.
apreche@apreche:~/Desktop/test$ rm Awesome
OMG! It typed the rest of the filename for me! The terminal knows I was trying to type a filename, and it knows the only file beginning with A is Awesome. By pressing tab, I told it to help me out, and it completed the filename for me. This is why we call it tab completion. You type the beginning of the command, and you press tab to complete it. It saves a lot of typing!
But wait, there's more! Sure, it's pretty great that tab completion can do that, but it can do so much more! What if there were two files beginning with A? Pressing tab would list them all! Let's say one file begins with Ab and one begins with Ac. You could type a b or c after your A and hit tab again to save more typing.
Do you think that's it? HAHAHAHA, you are a fool! Tab completion doesn't just complete filenames. It completes anything. Try just pressing just the letter s and then pressing tab. It will list every command that begins with s! Type sc and press tab. It will list every command beginning with sc!
There are many more uses of tab completion on the Linux/Unix/OSX command line, but I will let you figure them out for yourself. Just remember one thing. If you aren't sure what to type, hit the tab key! If you know what you want to type, but you've already typed enough of it, hit the tab key to save effort. If you become a regular Linux command line user you will wear out your tab key in no time.
What does HDA mean in linux? Google isn't much help. I'm guessing it means Hard Drive A... I'm not sure what the A is for though.
Remember, in UNIX/Linux everything is a file. Everything is a file. Everything is a file. Your soundcard is a file, your video card is a file, your files are files, your drives are files, and everything else is a file. /dev/hda is the file which represents the first IDE block device. This device is usually your very first IDE hard drive. /dev/hdb is the second IDE block device. /dev/sda is the first SCSI/SATA block device. /dev/hda2 is the second partition on /dev/hda. /dev/sdb4 is the fourth partition on the second SATA/SCSI drive. Get it? This is just how we name the files that represent block devices, which are usually hard drives.
Remember, in UNIX/Linuxeverythingis a file.Everythingis a file.Everythingis a file. Your soundcard is a file, your video card is a file, your files are files, your drives are files, and everything else is a file. /dev/hda is the file which represents the first IDE block device. This device is usually your very first IDE hard drive. /dev/hdb is the second IDE block device. /dev/sda is the first SCSI/SATA block device. /dev/hda2 is the second partition on /dev/hda. /dev/sdb4 is the fourth partition on the second SATA/SCSI drive. Get it? This is just how we name the files that represent block devices, which are usually hard drives.
So installed Ubuntu in my parents computer and they love it because according to them is very user friendly however, I can seem to install the internets on this computer. The wireless card is broken, by that I mean that the antenna on the back is broken ( the inside is ok but it cannot bend). But my dad told me that it used to work in windows. I want to know if I can see my systems characteristics the same way I can see them in windows (you know if there is a problem with a driver there is a "x" next to it), and if so how can I fix it. The wireless card is about 4 years old so I assume that it might be compatible with Ubuntu.
So installed Ubuntu in my parents computer and they love it because according to them is very user friendly however, I can seem to install the internets on this computer. The wireless card is broken, by that I mean that the antenna on the back is broken ( the inside is ok but it cannot bend). But my dad told me that it used to work in windows. I want to know if I can see my systems characteristics the same way I can see them in windows (you know if there is a problem with a driver there is a "x" next to it), and if so how can I fix it. The wireless card is about 4 years old so I assume that it might be compatible with Ubuntu.
This is basically a two-step process. First, you need to figure out what wireless card you have. If you run the command lspci you will get a list of all devices on the PCI bus. It is very likely that your wireless card will be listed there. Once you figure out which wireless card it is, just search on Google or the Ubuntu forums for instructions on how to make it work. You will most likely have to use something called ndiswrapper.
Thanks Scott, my father figure it out how to do it and he is not very computer literate :P. Now if he can do it, everyone can. By the way he is loving Ubuntu like there is not tomorrow. Thanks Scott for showing us the light
Just wondering, but is Kubunutu as easy to use as good ole Ubunutu? Just picked up a 320gig 7200rpm eide drive from Wal-Mart for like $102. So now it's time to go grab a 'buntu to install as my primary OS. I noticed that a lot of the things I wanted to use in Ubunutu were set up for kde, and they didn't work so well, if at all, under gnome. any real downsides to going to kde? I remember having both kde and gnome installed back in the days. WAY back in the days. Redhat 4/5 days... Yeah, aside from messing with Feisty Fawn, it's been a long time since I've used linux in any sort of capacity.
Just wondering, but is Kubunutu as easy to use as good ole Ubunutu? Just picked up a 320gig 7200rpm eide drive from Wal-Mart for like $102. So now it's time to go grab a 'buntu to install as my primary OS. I noticed that a lot of the things I wanted to use in Ubunutu were set up for kde, and they didn't work so well, if at all, under gnome. any real downsides to going to kde? I remember having both kde and gnome installed back in the days. WAY back in the days. Redhat 4/5 days... Yeah, aside from messing with Feisty Fawn, it's been a long time since I've used linux in any sort of capacity.
It's just a matter of choice. The main difference between Gnome and KDE is user interface philosophy. KDE is designed to give power users all the options they want. This is why users like Linus Torvalds prefer it, and this is why KDE apps have a million menu options and checkboxes everywhere. The philosophy of Gnome is to choose intelligent defaults and give the user as few options as necessary. That is why Gnome apps have much simpler interfaces with less clutter. There is also one called Xfce, which is similar to Gnome, but it's even lighter and faster. There are about a zillion other different desktop environments and window managers in Linux. I think we did a show on them way way back. Fvwm, IceWM, FluxBox, WindowMaker, Enlightenment, OpenBox, ratpoison, and ion are just a few that I am able to think of off the top of my head.
If you already have experienced all the different desktops, and you know which one you want, then install the distribution that goes along with it. Install Ubuntu for Gnome, Kubuntu for KDE, and Xubuntu for Xfce. If you have never tried any of them, then install Ubuntu. Once you have Ubuntu installed you can install kubuntu-desktop and xubuntu-desktop. This will allow you to choose from the three desktops when you login. Just go to options->sessions on the login screen to choose your desktop.
It's really just a matter of personal preference. I have changed desktops many times over the years, and I'm likely to change again. At the present time I prefer Gnome, but I like many KDE applications which are very high quality.
Yeah, I tried running Kubuntu, apt-get installed nvidia-glx, nividia-xconfig'ed, and restarted x (sudo /etc/init.d/kdm restart) and upon start up, I liked the look of kde, I liked how it felt. And I LOVE fiddling with options. However, display options aren't worth dick if Kubunut sees a single generic vga card that can't do higher than 800x600, on a generic monitor that can't do higher than the same. Ubuntu, on the other hand, saw that I was running 2 7300 gt's sli with a 22in widescreen at 1680x1050(well, actually it detects 1600x1200, which is just beyond what my monitor can do, but oh well). And that is with the exact same setup from the prompt. Well, except replace the kdm with gdm, of course. Oh well, I'm out for the day. Gotta go get some sodas and some snacks. Me and the old lady are going to go see spidey 3 at the drive-in theater tonight. Double features, either spidey 3 and vacancy, or spidey 3 and are we done yet. I'm pretty sure we are going to watch vacancy as well. I hope.
Well, now I have a problem. After my father's succed with Ubuntu I decided to put it on my computer and this time Ubuntu does not recognize my wireless card. That is a DWL-G510 Wireless PCI Adapter from D-link. I am gonna find the drivers for Linux wish me luck. Edit: How do I use the ndiswrapper?
Well, now I have a problem. After my father's succed with Ubuntu I decided to put it on my computer and this time Ubuntu does not recognize my wireless card. That is a DWL-G510 Wireless PCI Adapter from D-link. I am gonna find the drivers for Linux wish me luck. Edit: How do I use the ndiswrapper?
1. Go to Google. 2. Search for "ubuntu dwl-g510" without the quotes. 3. Visit the top link, which happens to be this. 4. Oh look, it's the Ubuntu Forums. Hmmm, maybe that's a good place to go when you have a problem?
I'm happy to answer people's questions here, but seriously. I don't know how to get a DWL-G510 to work. What do I look like, some encyclopedia of wireless cards? If you were to ask me, all I would do is go to Google and find out. Have the common courtesy to ask Google your problem before you ask me, or anyone else.
I reworked an old P4 2 GHz machine and put Feisty Fawn on it. I was supposed to be giving it to my wife's friend, but now she doesn't want it. Hooray! I get to keep it for myself! I got the parts for my new AMD machine, but I'm going to have to buy a heat sink b/c I couldn't make any of my old ones work and I'm going to have to buy a power supply for the same reasons. Probably tomorrow at lunch. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to run Linux on that machine or an old win2k license. Decisions, decisions.
I reworked an old P4 2 GHz machine and put Feisty Fawn on it. I was supposed to be giving it to my wife's friend, but now she doesn't want it. Hooray! I get to keep it for myself! I got the parts for my new AMD machine, but I'm going to have to buy a heat sink b/c I couldn't make any of my old ones work and I'm going to have to buy a power supply for the same reasons. Probably tomorrow at lunch. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to run Linux on that machine or an old win2k license. Decisions, decisions.
Comments
You see that tab key on your keyboard? Think it's just for indenting the first line of a paragraph? Think again. If you are a Linux user you will be using tab all the time. Practice hitting it, you're going to be doing it a lot.
Here's an example to show you the awesome power of the tab key. We are currently in a directory on my Desktop named test. I used the ls command to list all the files in the directory. There are four files here. Can you name them?
apreche@apreche:~/Desktop/test$ lsAwesome foo.txt geeknights.html Song.mp3
Now I want to delete the file named Awesome. To do that, I must use the rm command followed by the filename like so.
apreche@apreche:~/Desktop/test$ rm AwesomeBut you know what? Typing the word Awesome is pretty hard. It takes so long, and I have to hit so many keys. There must be a way to make it easier, right? Of course! This is the best OS in the world we're talking about here. Here is what you do. Type the following, but don't hit enter.
apreche@apreche:~/Desktop/test$ rm AIf we push enter now, that's not going to do us any good. There are no files named "A" to remove. We'll get an error that there is no such file or directory named A. Instead of hitting enter, let's hit our magic tab key instead.
apreche@apreche:~/Desktop/test$ rm AwesomeOMG! It typed the rest of the filename for me! The terminal knows I was trying to type a filename, and it knows the only file beginning with A is Awesome. By pressing tab, I told it to help me out, and it completed the filename for me. This is why we call it tab completion. You type the beginning of the command, and you press tab to complete it. It saves a lot of typing!
But wait, there's more! Sure, it's pretty great that tab completion can do that, but it can do so much more! What if there were two files beginning with A? Pressing tab would list them all! Let's say one file begins with Ab and one begins with Ac. You could type a b or c after your A and hit tab again to save more typing.
Do you think that's it? HAHAHAHA, you are a fool! Tab completion doesn't just complete filenames. It completes anything. Try just pressing just the letter s and then pressing tab. It will list every command that begins with s! Type sc and press tab. It will list every command beginning with sc!
There are many more uses of tab completion on the Linux/Unix/OSX command line, but I will let you figure them out for yourself. Just remember one thing. If you aren't sure what to type, hit the tab key! If you know what you want to type, but you've already typed enough of it, hit the tab key to save effort. If you become a regular Linux command line user you will wear out your tab key in no time.
Happy tabbing!
Also, thanks!
On Linux it is far more helpful as some tarballs have real long names.
http://digg.com/linux_unix/IMAGE_Dell_Makes_Ubuntu_Official
*light bulb turns on* Got it.
lspciyou will get a list of all devices on the PCI bus. It is very likely that your wireless card will be listed there. Once you figure out which wireless card it is, just search on Google or the Ubuntu forums for instructions on how to make it work. You will most likely have to use something called ndiswrapper.If you already have experienced all the different desktops, and you know which one you want, then install the distribution that goes along with it. Install Ubuntu for Gnome, Kubuntu for KDE, and Xubuntu for Xfce. If you have never tried any of them, then install Ubuntu. Once you have Ubuntu installed you can install kubuntu-desktop and xubuntu-desktop. This will allow you to choose from the three desktops when you login. Just go to options->sessions on the login screen to choose your desktop.
It's really just a matter of personal preference. I have changed desktops many times over the years, and I'm likely to change again. At the present time I prefer Gnome, but I like many KDE applications which are very high quality.
I am gonna find the drivers for Linux wish me luck.
Edit: How do I use the ndiswrapper?
2. Search for "ubuntu dwl-g510" without the quotes.
3. Visit the top link, which happens to be this.
4. Oh look, it's the Ubuntu Forums. Hmmm, maybe that's a good place to go when you have a problem?
I'm happy to answer people's questions here, but seriously. I don't know how to get a DWL-G510 to work. What do I look like, some encyclopedia of wireless cards? If you were to ask me, all I would do is go to Google and find out. Have the common courtesy to ask Google your problem before you ask me, or anyone else.