Quote:> Could you point me towards a list of commonly used, DOS-equivilant
> commands and syntax?
Here is a very incomplete list, there is a small probability you will find
it useful:
dir -> ls
type -> cat (or, better, more)
edit -> ee
cd -> cd
md -> mkdir
rd -> rmdir
copy -> cp
ren -> mv (better than rename, can 'move' files from anywhere to anywhere)
del -> rm (use with care, you will get no "Are you sure?")
help -> man
\ -> / (in file paths, do not try to use the \ backslash character)
Network tricks are mostly the same:
ftp -> ftp
telnet -> telnet
tracert -> traceroute
ping -> ping
Here are a few that have no DOS equivalents; these are things that are safe
to try without knowing what they do:
id
whoami
hostname
uname
ps
top (push q to get out again)
df
And a few that you will need eventually, but that are NOT safe to try
without knowing what they do (read man first!)
kill
passwd
chpass
And a few important tips for if you are totally new:
1. everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is case sensitive. boourns, Boourns,
and BOOURNS are three different files.
2. Speaking of filenames, there is nothing magic about filenames with 8
characters, a dot, and 3 characters. If you should choose to give your
files dos-style extensions ("something.abc") anyway, there is nothing magic
about the ".abc". For instance, naming a file blah.txt does not indicate in
any way that its contents are a text file, except perhaps to a human reading
the filename.
3. If you ever find yourself in the vi full screen editor, the (rather
non-intuitive) way out is to type
:q!<enter>
If you find yourself looking at some text file, with no $ prompt anywhere
and no menu or instructions of any kind anywhere on screen, you are probably
in vi.
4. Don't just shut the power off when unix is running; it doesn't like that.
To reboot type "reboot", or if you want to power off type "shutdown -h now"
as root and wait for the "The operating system has halted" message.
5. Pressing ctrl-s usually freezes the terminal output, then ctrl-q starts
it again. If the screen seems to have frozen, you may have pushed ctrl-s by
accident. Or scroll lock, which lets you use the arrow keys to look at
stuff which has scrolled off the top of the screen (handy!). It is
extraordinarily unlikely that the operating system will actually freeze,
unless you have hardware problems.
6. An error beginning with "panic" is the equivalent of the Windows Blue
Screen of Death. If you ever see one of these, something is seriously wrong
and you should probably ask somebody if you don't know how to fix it.
7. Pressing ctrl-z usually suspends the currently running program, moving
it to the background and returning you to the command prompt. After doing
this, "fg" will probably get it back again. (also something that can happen
by accident)
8. Try alt-F1, alt-F2, etc. and you will find multiple virtual terminals.
9. When asking questions, please be as specific as you know how to be.
Nobody can answer a question like "X doesn't start up, why?"
Hope this helps you get started and avoid a few frustrations...
M.D.
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