01
Programming Methods and Techniques I
Introduction to UNIX System
Andrzej Głowacz, Ph.D.
2010-10-04
Task 1 Starting Kubuntu Linux
1. Start with turning your computer on. Then choose operating system Kubuntu to boot up. Kubuntu will start
boot program.
2. Next the system kernel and hardware drivers will be loaded. After system is ready to work, you will see
graphic environment KDE. Type following URL address in browser:
http://eit.agh.edu.pl/spe/PMaTI_en
.
Read all published documents: a) course rules, b) lectures and c) laboratory instructions.
Task 2 Using Konsole
1. In the system taskbar select and click Konsole shortcut - it is located in Start > System > Konsole (icon
displaying terminal screen).
2. After console is started you will see window with prompt message
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$
3. This notation means that you are logged as user „ubuntu”, into operating system „ubuntu”, and working
directory is tilde („~”). Tilde is general shortcut to your home directory. In this case you are logged in local
system and storage system is located on local hard disk. Note that Kubuntu is specific version of Ubuntu
Linux.
Task 3 Linux commands
1. There are many commands and combinations of them in UNIX system. This is advantage for programmers
and UNIX systems are commonly used for advanced tasks. A command consists of its name, options and
parameters, which can be typed in console window.
command [options] [parameters]
2. Option (or switch) is a sequence of characters usually starting with “-“. It defines various behavior of the
same command. For example,
ls
command will print files in working directory, whereas command with
option
ls –l
will print additional information.
3. Parameters (or arguments) define objects of command operation. For example,
ls –l Desktop
in Kubuntu
will print the content of directory Desktop. Let us notice, that command is mandatory, whereas options and
parameters are not required (we write it with square brackets []).
4. Basic commands are:
ls
prints files in directory;
uname –a
prints information about system;
date
prints
local time,
pwd
prints working directory.
Task 4 Using documentation
1. Most commands are well-documented in UNIX system. Manual pages for specified command can be
displayed by typing
man command
. For example,
man ls
(notice that ls is parameter for command man)
prints manual for a command ls. You can move across man pages with
Page down - combination of "^V" (CTRL+V) or space,
Page up – combination of "^B" (CTRL+B),
"/" –search,
"Q" - quit.
2. For some commands, documentation can be displayed with
info command
, e.g.
info type
.
3. Some commands prints a short usage description after typing
command --help
, e.g.
ls --help
. There are
additional possibilities:
whatis command
prints brief command description,
whereis command
prints
command and manual localization,
type command
prints type of the command.
4. For search keyword in the whole documentation, there is command
apropos keyword
. This prints pages,
where keyword is found.
Task 5 Users
1. UNIX users are divided into groups of different privileges. Users and groups are created by superuser (root).
Each user has its own ID number, which can be checked with command
id
.
2. There can be many users logged in remotely at the same time and each user can have concurrent sessions.
List of logged users can be checked with one of the following commands:
who
,
w
,
finger
. The difference here
is in options and results. For example,
finger user
prints following information about user: username,
