Linux Basics

To get over the initial hiccups with using Linux, I recommend the following:

1. Install Ubuntu. The latest version can be downloaded as a bootable image, or can be ordered free from Canonical

2. Get to know basic commands. An excellent tutorial, hosted by the "Free Electrons" website, is here:

>> Tutorial on basic linux commands

3. Unlike in windows, most stuff in Linux can be done with no GUI present. For example, if your graphics driver crashes, etc, you can still manage a lot of stuff just running a command console. In such situations, using a command line based text editor is the only way out. vi what most people prefer. There are many quick start VI tutorials on the web. This Memento sheet can be a handy thing to have around your desk.

4. If you are doing a lot of programming, learn to use the make utility and write makefiles. To put it simply, Make is a program that looks for a specific file (called a makefile) and does whatever is written inside it. This is much more powerful than scripting batch files since the make program can make choices of what all to execute.

5. The Bash guide - an essential for learning commands