Learn the basics of Linux in just 8 weeks! Tero teaches all the classes in h5001, Mondays 12:00-15:45.
Moodle page (login required).
Agenda
1 Installation w03
2 Desktop Linux, Licenses w04
3 Command Prompt w05
4 Package Management and Administration w06
5 Apache Web Server w07
Winter holiday, play with Linux at home w08
Tero lecturing in Belgium w09
6 OpenSSH Server and Client w10
7 Exam w11 Mon 2013-03-11
Course ends at the exam in the end of the period. There might be changes to this initial agenda.
Evaluation
Course grade consists of homework (50%) and exam (50%).
Homework is evaluated with homework reports and quizzes at class time. Homework reports are returned weekly, for example by publishing on the web and returning the link. We’ll talk about homeworks at the beginning of each class, and you can get oral feedback on your work. All homework is evaluated at the end of the course with one grade, based on a package of combined homework. Still, each individual homework must be completed before next class.
Previous Courses and Links
Feel free to check comments from previous courses.
Course description.
Course uses Xubuntu Linux (xubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Units_of_information
Homework 1: Burn yourself a Linux Live-CD. Try Linux Live-CD on a computer outside the lab (e.g. at home). Create a web page or a blog.
Report your findings. Be specific: write while working, what you did and what happened; describe environment. Link to course and any other sources you use.
64-bit Xubuntu CD can see more than 4 GB of memory:
http://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/ubuntu-cdimage/xubuntu/releases/precise/release/xubuntu-12.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso
Homework DL w06:
Do & report: try 3 new command line commands or flags. Choose commands that are new to you, not mentioned in the class or “Command Line Basics”.
Just learn: Learn “Command line basics” by heart. Practice the commands a lot. There will be class quiz.
http://terokarvinen.com/2009/command-line-basics-4
Homework DL w07. Do and report:
Search and install 3 pieces software (using command line).
Create ‘sudo apt-get install’ line of your dreams (to install your favorite software).
Do something to create a new line in the logs. Analyze (explain in great detail) this line.
Just learn by heart and practice: http://terokarvinen.com/2008/commands-for-admin-4
“Burn ISO” or “Burn image” feature is required for burning ISO images.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto
http://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/ubuntu-cdimage/xubuntu/releases/precise/release/xubuntu-12.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso
Review TCP/IP (you should know most of this already)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_protocol_suite
EDIT: link to TCP/IP Internet protocol suite (not just TCP).
Homework 8 DL w09: Install Apache2 and make user homepages. Start from scratch, like a live CD.
Create log lines showing both normal web browsing and errors. Analyze these lines.
Bonus tasks:
a) Play SQLzoo (no reporting for SQLzoo).
b) Hello PHP world.
c) Install MySQL.
Remember, no Linux Basics class on w09.
d) Read MySQL database from PHP.
Last homework: find an old Linux Basics exam and solve that.
Return a compilation of all homeworks for evaluation (including this one). A link is fine, too.
Bring picture ID to the exam. Prepare well.
It was a very interesting course. At the beginning I didn’t know anything about Linux. Now I am able to install it and work with it. As I am not an IT student I wont be able to use it for my job live but I think I will install Linux at my home computer. I learnt not only to work with Linux but I now understand using computers in general in a better way and I don’t feel afrait anymore to try something out.
A very interesting course with nice homework topics. Unfortunately the lessons were not very useful to me, some more explanations in general would have been nice.
I had actually never tried linux before I started Linux basics course, so of course I must’ve learned something on this course, because now I can start linux with live-cd, I understand the basics of using command prompt etc.
I think the most useful thing taught on this course is using the live-cd, because when you handle that, you are free to try your linux on any computer in the world basically. It also might come in handy that if a person has protected his files with default windows password, with linux live-cd you can access the files without needing to know the password.
I think I will start to use linux as my main os, when steam provides all games for linux. However I don’t know how long will that be.
And the most interesting class of course was the first class, because you learn to use linux.
Did you learn something?
I did. I didn’t use linux before this class. I’ve even never seen it before.
Was it usefull?
Quite useful. I practiced a lot at home, but not with php. it would be better to write a shell script cause i learnt how to do it 🙂
How are you going to use skills after course?
Im seeking for a job now and for most of possition I need to use Linux
Which class was the most interesting?
about ssh and apache2
Would you recommend this course to a friend or a collegue?
all my friends wew with me on this course.
Anything else on your mind?
I hate broken computers. just you to know.
It was very interesting not just because of Linux itself but also because of energy that teacher has been putting to encourage students.
I was never keen to use command line before and I remember struggling even creating a directory in my web server so I was all relying on the ftp softwares with graphical user interfaces. Now, I have two servers in digitalocean.com which were bare at first and I did all installations via ssh. One is running Apache with php for wordpress, while another is running Apache with phusion passenger for Ruby On Rails application. So, I can only say this course was very fruitful and I am now fluent in doing regular linux tasks via commandline.
Overall it was a fun course and topic and I definitely learned a lot. Still, huge minus for not having any instructions on Moodle or the webpage – if you are unable to come it’s almost impossible to find out what was done in class and how to do homework. Even if you were on class but forget how to do something, you can’t find any info on the lesson on the course page. This was especially painful since we weren’t allowed to take notes (seriously, what).
I think the course was usefull. When I chose this course, I didn’t even knew what Linux was. I had heard some people talking enthusiastic about it, so I was curious.
Now I know what Linux is, how I can use it and for what purposes. I know what the advantages are, but also the disadvantages. I think I’ve leard the most important basics and I think that is usefull.
I don’t know how I will use this skills after the course, because I think the world is still too adapted to Windows, so it is easier for me to use it too. But I will make the switch when I feel the time is right, because I like Linux a lot more.
If I had the chance, I would recommend this course to a friend.
In my point of view the course was very useful, but I hope that I won’t have to do it again (I mean I hope I’ll pass the exam). Before the course my knowledge was zero, after the course – well, the results of the exam will be a good measure of my progress. But I think that I have learned quite many new things in quite short time. What would be good to improve? Maybe I would like this course to be longer or have some continuing courses in English. Summarizing, the course is excellent, teacher helpful and the knowledge I got can be easily applied in real life.
very interesting course where I found out a lot of new things for me and got basic understanding hot to use Linux in basic. I would reccomend this course to wide audience)
I enjoyed the course. Didin’t know anything about Linux prior to the course but after I feel pretty confident about my skills and I’ll definately try to study Linux even more on my free time. Classes were interesting and the pace was good. Not sure how well I did in the exam, but I’m pretty sure I’ll pass, at least I did all my homework.
The course was very usefull and interesting.
Both the material and teacher’s enthusiasm made lectures interesting and engaging. It was exactly as intense as it needed to be to make a person learn.
While I have not performed as well as I could have personally, this course has never the less taught me a lot. I hope to be using Linux in the future (mostly for personal purposes) and would definitely recommend this course to anyone who is interested.
I learned how to install xubuntu, burn and use a LIVE CD, use the command line. I also accidentally learned how to install Windows, which was a plus. I don’t usually use Linux so I cannot say if it is useful for me NOW, but I am pretty sure that in the future it could be useful. It’s always better to know more than less. I was kind of hoping to get constructive feedback from the homeworks during the course, mainly because I didn’t know if I did them correctly. All in all it was a pretty good course to learn the basics of Linux and I am glad I took it.
It was very intersting and attractive courses. specially, ssh that is how to user access the computer from remotely. In general, I have got a knowledge of how to use ubunutu and lot of commands and also I can able to do with ubuntu. you teaching way is very fine so keep it up.
Hello,
I thought this was a good course. I was a complete beginner with linux, had basically never seen it before and had never used a command prompt, so there were pretty many new things on this course for me. I feel like the teaching was good and we practised a lot. Having homework was good, because it forced me to practise and in a way analyze my own work. The only downside was that we only had a few weeks to learn quite a lot. Thanks for the course, hopefully I can also fit the next linux course to my timetable!
I found the basics that are needed in the everyday usage very usefull and will be using them at home from now on. The apache and ssh were interesting subjects but there could have been even more focus on them and probably I’m going to look more deeper into them on my own. The course in general was good, could have lasted longer though.
Before taking the course my knowledge of Linux was very limited. I decided to take the course as I find the concept of open source very interesting and would like to see if some percentage of my PC usage could be moved from the OSX on my mac to Linux.
The course has been very structured and thanks to that we got to cover relatively much of Linux. The atmosphere in class has been good despite the dry humor that I suspect comes from working with the OS 😉
The course has certainly open my mind and encouraged me to get started working with Linux and I now have both Ubuntu and Xubuntu running on Parallels desktop on my mac, which I believe has improved the possibilities of my computer.
But yeah, back to the course, which I would highly recommend!
I must say this is really an interesting course. Attending the lectures with such an energetic teacher was much more interesting and the way he teaches was good. Probably i will start using Linux more in near future.