Usenet 1994 January/usenetsourcesnewsgroupsinfomagicjanuary1994.iso/answers/unix-faq/user-friendly

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FAQ (Frequently-asked Questions) for comp.unix.user-friendly
============================================================================

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============================================================================
Contents
===========================================================================
1. Novice
    1.1 Why did the people who wrote Unix use different commands from
            MS-DOS?
        1.2 What books are available for learning Unix?
        1.3 What are some basic commands and concepts for new users?
    1.4 What Internet resources are available for learning Unix?

2. Casual
    2.1 What shells are friendliest, and how can one make shells
    friendlier?

3. Expert
    3.1 What on-line documentation / help systems are available free
            on the Internet

===========================================================================
1. NOVICE QUESTIONS
===========================================================================

Subject: 1.1 Why did the people who wrote Unix use different commands from
             MS-DOS?

Unix was written first.  MS-DOS is a distant relative, tracing some of its
roots to Unix, but also incorporating other influences.

Submitted by:
        Randolph J. Herber,
        (Speaking for myself and not US, USDOE, Fermilab or URA.)
        (Trademarks belong to their respective owners.)
        @ home: {att|wheaton|uunet!tellab5}!yclept!rjh, [e-mail]

Quoting from The Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 57, No. 6, July-August,
1978, M.D. McILROY, E.N. PINSON, and B.A. TAGUE, ``Forward'':

    The UNIX story begins with Ken Thompson's work on a cast-off
    PDP-7 minicomputer in 1969.

Quoting from The Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 57, No. 6, July-August,
1978, D.M. RITCHIE and K. THOMPSON, ``The UNIX Time-sharing System'':

    There have been four versions of the UNIX time-sharing system.  The
    earliest (circa 1969-1970) ran on Digital Equipment Corporation
    PDP-7 and -9 computers.  The second version ran on the unprotected
    PDP-11/20 computer.  The third incorporated multiprogramming and
    ran on the PDP-11/34, /40, /45, /60, and /70 computers, it is the
    one described in the previously published version of this paper.

    ...

    Since PDP-11 UNIX became operational in February, 1971, over 600
    installations have been put into service.

Quoting from The MS-DOS Encyclopedia, Susan Lammers, Editor-in-Chief, 1988,
Microsoft Press (a division of Microsoft Corporation), page 19:

    In spite of such difficulties, however, the new operating system
    ran on the prototype for the first time in 1981.  In the six months
    that followed, the system was continually refined and expanded, and
    by the time of its debut in August 1981, MS-DOS, like the IBM
    Personal Computer on which it appeared, had become a functional
    product for home and office use.

Quote from ibid, page 31 (in a section on the version 2.0 file system):

    The file system was logically consistent with the XENIX file
    structure, ....

    ...

    XENIX used a forward slash as a separator, but versions 1.x of
    MS-DOS, borrowing from the tradition of DEC operating systems,
    already used the forward slash for switches in the command line,
    so Microsoft, at IBM's request, decided to use the backslash as
    the separator instead.

As the XENIX operating system is a spin-off from the UNIX operating system,
I believe that it is clear that MS-DOS itself could be called a distant
spin-off of the UNIX operating system.

===========================================================================

Subject: 1.2 What books are available for learning Unix?

A:  See [misc.books.technical]   A Concise Guide to UNIX Books

Compiled by: Samuel Ko ([e-mail], [e-mail])

This is a good selection of the "best" books and documentation on
UNIX and related areas.  The selection is based on i) recommendations
from netnews readers, ii) the US/Canada sales figures, and iii) a bit
of my own preference.

Among the subject areas covered:
   A. General Unix Texts
      a.  for beginning / intermediate users
      b.  for intermediate / advanced users
   B. Shells
   C. Unix Editors
   L. Other Lists
   M. Other Books (experimental)

The latest version is also obtainable by anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu
(in /pub/usenet/news.answers/books). If you do not have ftp or netnews
access you can get it by email from [e-mail] and the body
of your request should be send usenet/news.answers/books/unix.

===========================================================================

Subject: 1.3 What are some basic commands and concepts for new users?

Submitted by [e-mail]

Hello and welcome to the wide world of Unix...

Unix is an operating system, similar to MS-DOS, only much more
powerful. Some versions have over 300 commands in the basic system,
not including specialized applications.

Of those commands there is a small hand-full that you will use many
times, and here they are...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Command        Description        Example
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
man    print out a manual page    on the
    screen                man man
                    man intro (try these!)

passwd    change your account password
    This should be done the first
    time you log on, especially
    if you have no password. You
    must know your old password to
    change it.                passwd

ls    list a directory        ls

ls -CF    list a directory in columns,
    marking direcotries with a /,
    executable files with a *,
    and logical links with a @.    ls -CF

mkdir    make a new directory as a sub-
    directory of where you are now.
                    mkdir newdir
cd    change directory. Used to go
    up or down in the directory
    tree.                  cd dirname

vi    invoke vi editor. This is a    vi filename
    screen editor, that is, a text
    editor that makes use of the
    full screen. You must know
    this or another editor to make
    use of "elm".  For those who
    use one of the windowing
    systems exclusively, you can
    put off learning this as the
    windowing systems have a
    different e-mail system.

emacs    invoke emacs editor        emacs
                    Note: run emacs with no
                    argument and read the first screen.
                                        Not available on all systems.

rm    remove a file. (note: this is
    forever! Think before you erase) rm filename

rm -r    remove a directory, and
    *everything* in it. See note
    above.                  rm -r newdir


elm    invoke elm mail program        Note: must know an editor
                    first.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A quick computer primer: These commands are meant for use in a program
called a "shell" which is the user interface to the underlying system
programs. The major shells on this system are the Bourne shell "sh",
the "C" shell, "csh", and the three windowing systems: X-windows,
Sunview, and OpenWindows. (note that within the windowing systems you
can use sh and csh {usually csh} in something called a shelltool.)

Commands in the Unix systems usually take some sort of argument, in
the form of a name or other identifying information after the name of
the program you wish to run.

Example:   command  modifier argument
           |        |        |
           ls       -CF      newdir

Running this program will print a directory listing on your screen of
the directory "newdir" with other directories listed with a / after
them, programs with a * after them, and logical links with a @ after
them.

The unix system uses a hierarchical directory structure. This means
that there is one "root" directory, and many sub-directories to store
files in. Here is a small example of what one might look like:

             _______________(/)______________________________
        /      /           \       \                 \
             bin     lib           etc     home_____________     usr
                /                           /         \           \
        sys          headcheese         \      headcheese3
                                  \
                                   headcheese2
                                  /
                           student
                          /
                         yourdir

The directories you must go through to find a particular file in
"yourdir" are / then home then headcheese2 then student then yourdir.
In Unix you specify this "path" as

/home/headcheese2/student/yourdir/filename

This is referred to as "filename"'s "full path". The first / must be
there for it to be a full path. If you leave it off the shell will
assume it is a "relative path" and look for the path to start in the
directory you are now in. This is useful, as always having to refer to
files by their full path would get tedious. If you were in "student"
and wanted to refer to "filename" in "yourdir" you could call it

yourdir/filename

Or, if you are already in "yourdir", just

filename


O.K. That ought to be enough to get you interested and started...
Note to MS-DOS users: Unix has a hierarchical directory structure,
like MS-DOS, but uses a / to separate parts of a file path instead of
a \ (Back-slash).

For those using windowing systems, these commands can be used in the
shell windows, usually called "commandtool" or "shelltool". Pay
special attention to the "man" command.

After you understand these things, the thing to do is *PLAY*. Look
around in the directory, and when you see something, do a "man" on it.
When you think you want to know more, a trip to a math library is
in order, or maybe a good bookstore. A good publisher is O'reilly
(Nutshell). Addison Wesley is also good, but I think they are better
for advanced stuff.

Directories to look in: /bin /usr/bin /usr/local /usr/local/bin
and just about any other "*bin" directory.

Note that this method is not time efficient at first. It is however
MUCH better for retention. I went from knowing nothing about Unix to
having the professor who got me started asking *me* for advice.

===========================================================================
Subject: 1.4 What Internet resources are available for learning Unix?

Submitted by: Jean-Marc Bonnaudet

A Unix-faq is posted in comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.shell,news.answers,
comp.answers


===========================================================================
2. CASUAL QUESTIONS
===========================================================================

Subject: 2.1 What shells are friendliest, and how can one make shells
friendlier?

bash
----
from the bash man page:

Bash is an sh-compatible command language interpreter that executes
commands read from the standard input or from a file.  Bash also
incorporates useful features from the Korn and C shells (ksh and csh).

Bash is ultimately intended to be a faithful implementation of the
IEEE Posix Shell and Tools specification (IEEE Working Group 1003.2).

Bash is available from GNU sites, such as jaguar.cs.utah.edu:gnustuff

tcsh
----
is an enhanced version of the Berkeley UNIX C shell csh.  It behaves
exactly like the C  shell, with added utilities of:

1) Command line editing using vi or Emacs commands, allowing you to
correct errors in the current input line, or in previously input lines,
much more easily than with sh or csh.

2) Visual step up/down through the history list, letting you recall
previously typed lines by simply pressing the up arrow key.

3) Terminal mode sanity checking and resetting, which helps reduce
problems for users who frequently switch between various types of
terminals.

4) Interactive command, file name and user name completion, allowing you
to type the first few characters of a command, user name, or file name,
then press the TAB key to automatically complete the word.

5) File, directory, and user list display in the middle of a typed
command.

6) Interactive spelling correction of command, file, and user names.

7) Lookup of command documentation in the middle of a typed command.

8) Enhanced history mechanism for recalling previous commands.

9) Automatic locking or logout after long periods of idle time.

tcsh is available via anonymous ftp from tesla.ee.cornell.edu, among other
places.

zsh
---
More information needed-- please submit!

===========================================================================
3. EXPERT QUESTIONS
===========================================================================

Subject: 3.1 What on-line documentation / help systems are available free
            on the Internet

Submitted by Chris Siebenmann <[e-mail]>, edited.

Tkman; an X-based manual page viewer and browser. Far superior to
xman; I think it's the current best approach to man page presentation.

WWW and Mosaic. HTML looks like the leading candidate for formatted
and annotated text at the moment, so even if WWW dies, an investment
in HTML-based tools will probably continue to be useful.  Word Perfect,
BBEdit, and other vendors are beginning to support HTML editing.

Gopher seems to be the low-rent ASCII-based information delivery
system of choice, but I'm not sure it's the right choice. For one
thing, one has to fight menus to find things, which makes it reliant
on the skill of the person who set them up. Combining gopher with WAIS
for searching can create a more effective documentation system.
--
* Noel Hunter,  Academic Systems Administrator,    Wake Forest University  *
* [e-mail] TEL:[phone] MAIL:PO Box 7408 Winston-Salem, NC 27109 *