Learning Unix

Beerbaron

Beerbaron

Beerbaron

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This week my uni application to study MSc Computer Forensics was accepted :D As part of the course i will be learning to use Unix, no idea which version. As i have never used Unix before and have until Oct before the course starts i thought i would start early.

What/where is the best way for a unix n00b to start? :o

Thanks
 
Have you used Linux before?
The only big boys left are Solaris, HP-UX and AIX with the latter 2 being non-free and running on proprietary hardware
I'd recommend you get a spare PC and download Opensolaris or even Solaris 10 and start from there
 
Well being pedantic, Unix and Linux are not the same. GNU Linux is actually the correct term for Linux , GNU is a recursive acronym meaning 'GNU not Unix' .Anyway, went a bit away form what you asked there. For Unix/Linux in general I would look at the basic commands, get yourself a decent cheat sheet. Navigating the file system, moving files, renaming them etc will help a lot.

Debian, FreeBSD, Gentoo ( Linux ) all have excellent online documentation you can look at.( Although I would avoid using Gentoo at this early stage, unless you want to dive into the deep end ). So I'd probably grab Debian and tinker with it. You'll find loads of scientific software in the repo's ( software repositries ) , possibly even the one you'll be using at uni.
 
rick827 said:
Have you used Linux before?
The only big boys left are Solaris, HP-UX and AIX with the latter 2 being non-free and running on proprietary hardware
I'd recommend you get a spare PC and download Opensolaris or even Solaris 10 and start from there
Click to expand...

Yeah I think you need to know if you will be using Linux or Unix. My university doesnt distinguish between the two unfortunately, and when I studied unix network administration , we actually used Debian.:(
 
I'd recommend opensolaris then, most Solaris 10 users have support contracts so there's little online assistance. Opensolaris is community driven so there's a good growing base for support.

Head to http://www.opensolaris.com/ and download the live CD, install from there just like you would for Ubuntu
 
Can recommend OpenSolaris for a new user (who is able and willing to learn).

The community is small but growing and quite vocal. I'm trying to learn a bit more about Solaris in my spare time but its going slowly.
 
Email the school at the university and ask which variant of unix or linux they use, there should be someone there at admisions level that either a. knows or b. will ask/put you on to someone who does. Will save you a fair bit of time knowing what to aim for.

Would recommend looking at gentoo for the ground up approach to linux, its a lot to take in at once but following the install handbook does explain a lot about how the different commands work (and when things go wrong you can learn from a more knowlageable position).

Other than that wang your self a copy of open solaris (they sent me the install dvd's for free a few years back when they were dishing out 10 i think) or if you have a bit of insanity find your self a copy of sco-unix (evil poeple) as that came with a monster manual... (yeah i used to have to play with that a little when i was really young as it was on my dads pc with the internet!!! in like 94)
 
I have just fired off an email to my course leader to find out. This stuff should keep me busy for now :D

Are there a lot of Unix users on ocuk?
 
Great to see the education institutes are up to date, teaching you an OS which hasn't been supported in almost 20 years.

Or do they mean Unix Like OSs?


I have Linux, AIX, Solaris and HP-UX on my test stand at work.
 
Don't forget Mac OS X. It's Unix now. :p

As above, find out what OS they're using in instruction and use that one. If you can't get the one they use for free OpenSolaris would be a good compromise since it uses some wacky System V architecture that Linux moved away from or never used in the first place.
 
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