Beginner · 5h 56m · 22 lessons

Linux Basics

Find your way around Linux, run the commands that matter, and stop fearing the terminal.

What you'll learn

✦Explain what Linux is, what a distribution is, and how Linux differs from Windows and macOS
✦Navigate the filesystem tree from / and name what 4 key folders hold: /home, /etc, /var and /tmp
✦Use ls, cd, cp, mv, rm, cat and grep to find, copy, move, delete and read files
✦Read a file’s permissions, change them with chmod, and decide when sudo is safe to use
✦Find running programs with ps and top, and stop a stuck one with kill
✦Install, update and remove software with a package manager such as apt or dnf
✦Edit files in the terminal with nano and customise your shell with .bashrc
✦Get yourself unstuck with man, history, df and other everyday helpers
✦Test a network connection, manage services with systemctl, and read logs to find why something failed
✦Schedule a job with cron, write a small shell script, and check disk and memory health

Part of these career paths

Syllabus

Module 1 · 57m

Meet Linux Free

What you'll be able to do

Can explain what an operating system and the Linux kernel do, and name 3 places Linux runs
Can pick a first distro and tell whether its family installs software with apt or dnf
Can tell the terminal, the shell and the prompt apart, and read what $ and # mean
Can split any command into command, options and arguments, and run pwd, ls and echo

Module 2 · 59m

The filesystem Locked

What you'll be able to do

Can sketch the Linux tree from / and say what /home, /etc, /var and /tmp hold
Can write an absolute and a relative path to the same file, using ~, . and ..
Can move around with cd and pwd, and read the output of ls -l, ls -a and ls -lh
Can create, copy, move, rename and delete files and folders, and check before using rm

Module 3 · 1h 3m

Users, permissions & processes Locked

What you'll be able to do

Can check who you are and which groups you belong to, and explain why root is used only briefly
Can read a permission string like -rw-r--r-- for the owner, the group and everyone else
Can change permissions with chmod (letters or numbers) and use sudo only for the command that needs it
Can find a process with ps or top and stop it with kill, keeping kill -9 as the last resort

Module 4 · 1h 11m

Everyday Linux Locked

What you'll be able to do

Install, update, and remove software with apt or dnf, and explain the difference between update and upgrade.
Edit a file with nano and customise a shell by adding an alias to ~/.bashrc.
Chain commands with a pipe, and pick the right helper (cat, grep, du, df, man, history) for a situation.
Run and chain real Linux commands safely in a live sandbox.

Module 5 · 52m

Linux at work Locked

What you'll be able to do

Check whether a host is reachable, fetch a URL's headers, and list this machine's listening ports.
Start, enable, and cleanly restart a service with systemctl, instead of reaching for kill -9.
Read a service's logs with journalctl or /var/log to find why it failed, oldest entries first.

Module 6 · 54m

Power user Linux Locked

What you'll be able to do

Read and write a five-field cron line, and explain why a working command can still fail when scheduled.
Write a short shell script with a variable and a shebang, and fix a "Permission denied" error with chmod +x.
Check free disk space and memory with df, du and free, and read free -h's available column correctly.