Essential Linux Commands

1. Dr. D. P.
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Digitally signed by Dr. D. P.
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Date: 2023.02.14 10:04:46 +05'30'

2. OS Installation & Configuration

3. 8 best Linux Distributions of 2022
1. Mx Linux - MX Linux is based on a stable Debian branch, this Linux
distribution is simple, easy to use, and highly effective.
2. EndeavourOS - community-driven OS, and comes well-equipped
with a few handy desktop environments
3. Linux Mint - Ubuntu-based Linux Mint is a versatile Linux operating
system that caters well to both beginner and experienced users.
4. Manjaro – one of the best arch based OS
5. Pop!OS
6. Ubuntu
7. Fedora
8. Debian
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4. Tools for creating bootable USB from ISO
• CD and DVD writers are a thing of the past. You are not likely to find
them in modern-day laptops.
• If your goal is to create a bootable medium, then creating a bootable
USB drive from an ISO file remains your best option.
• Some of the widely-used utilities for creating a bootable USB drive
from an ISO file in Linux desktop systems.
1. Rufus
2. Unetbootin
3. Balena Etcher
4. Ventoy
5. Universal USB Installer
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5. 1. Rufus
• It’s a free tool to create bootable
USB pen drives, memory sticks, etc.
• Helpful for creating a USB
installation medium
• Rufus is a portable utility with a
small footprint – 1.3MB only.
• No installation is required.
• Creating USB bootable medium from
an ISO image of your choice (both
Windows and Linux).
• Rufus is only supported on Windows
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6. Preparing a Bootable USB
• Check the computer BIOS or UEFI.
• Download Rufus.
• Locate and run Rufus.
• Rufus application main window.
• Select the USB flash drive.
• Locate and select the Ubuntu ISO file.
• Select the partition scheme and target system.
• Start flashing the USB drive.
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• First, check whether your computer’s motherboard is BIOS (Legacy) or UEFI.
• UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a set of specifications written by the UEFI
• UEFI provides enhanced computer security features and supports most existing BIOS systems
with backward compatibility.
• UEFI supports drive sizes up to 9 zettabytes, whereas BIOS only supports 2.2 terabytes. UEFI
provides a faster boot time.
Press WIN+R to open the Run dialog, type msinfo32, and press Enter.

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BIOS MODE

9. 2. UNetbootin
• Free and cross-platform utility for creating live bootable USB drives
using an ISO image from all the major Linux distributions
• Apart from creating a Live bootable medium, you get other system
repair tools and utilities for example:
• Parted Magic
• SystemRescueCD
• Smart Boot Manager
• Dr.Web AntivirusF-Secure Rescue CD
• Super Grub Disk
• Backtrack
• Ophcrack
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10. 3. Balena Etcher
• Etcher is a cross-platform
tool and is available for
download on Windows,
macOS, and Linux (both 32-
bit and 64-bit).
• It provides a very elegant
yet simple UI that provides a
smooth experience while
writing your images files.
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11. 4. Ventoy
• Ventoy yet another utility that lets you not only create an ordinary
USB bootable medium but also allows you to create a multiboot.
• USB drive with several OS options.
• Notable features include:
• Support for both Legacy and UEFI BIOS modes.
• Support for ISO images larger than 4GB.
• MBR and GPT partition style supported (1.0.15+).
• USB drive write-protected support.
• You can directly boot from ISO/WIM
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12. 5. Universal USB Installer
• Live Linux Bootable USB Creator
Software that allows you to easily
create a bootable USB from your
favorite Linux distribution or
Windows installer.
• Find a list of all the supported ISO
files.
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13. Virtualization
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Step 1 − To download VirtualBox, click on the following
link https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads Now, depending on your OS, select which version
to install. In our case, it will be the first one (Windows host).

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Step 2 − Once the option is selected, click on “Next”.

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Step 3 − You have the option asking where to install the application. We can leave it as default
and click on “Next”.

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Step 4 − Once the options are selected as shown in the following screenshot, click on Next.

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Step 5 − A dialog box will come up asking whether to proceed with the installation. Click “Yes”.

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Step 6 − In the next step, click on “Install”.

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Step 7 − Tick the start VirtualBox check box and click on “Finish”.

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Step 8 − VirtualBox application will now open as shown in the following screenshot. Now, we are
ready to install the virtual machines.

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Step 1 − To begin with, click on the “Oracle VM VirtualBox” icon on the desktop as shown in the
screenshot below.
Creating a VM with VirtualBox

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Step 2 − The next step is to click on “New” button, which is in the top left hand side of the screen.

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Step 3 − A table will pop-up requesting you the parameters for the virtual machine. These will be −
•Name − We have to put a friendly name for this Virtual Machine.
•Type − Enter the OS that is going to be installed on it.
•Version − Enter the specific version for that OS, which we have selected earlier.
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Step 4 − Select the amount of memory that you need to allocate in this VM → Click on “Next”.

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Step 5 − Check one of the three options for the HDD and click on “Create”.

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Step 6 − Select a file extension for your virtual HDD (It is recommended to use a common file
extension that most of the hypervisors use like VHD) → click on “Next”.

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Step 7 − Choose whether you want the Virtual HDD as dynamic or fixed. This is based on your
needs → Click on “Next”.

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Step 8 − Put a name for your virtual HDD file and select the disk size for your VM → Click on
“Create”.
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The virtual machine created will be displayed

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https://www.onworks.net/ --- Free Cloud Hosting

31. Essential Linux Commands
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Computer Hardware
User
Interface

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36. What Is a Linux Command?
• A Linux command is a program or utility that runs on the CLI – a
console that interacts with the system via texts and processes. It’s
similar to the Command Prompt application in Windows.
• Linux commands are executed on Terminal by pressing Enter at the
end of the line. You can run commands to perform various tasks
• For using Linux, you need to use a shell – a program that gives you
access to the operating system’s services.
• Tasks that require multiple steps on the GUI can be done in a matter of
seconds by entering commands into the CLI.
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37. Important Commands
• $ man <command> to get manual : man pages are essential tool , to
learn as developer
• $ ls - Inside a folder you can list all the files that the folder contains
using the ls command -
• ls accepts a lot of options. One favorite option combinations is -al
• $ ls –al /bin
• $ cd <directory name > change directory - Once you have a folder,
you can move into it using cd command
• You can use the cd .. special path to indicate the parent folder
• $ mkdir fruits
• $ mkdir cars
• $ cd fruits
• $ cd ../cars
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38. Important commands .
• $ pwd : Whenever you feel lost in the filesystem, call the $ pwd
command to know where you are:
• It will print the current folder path
• $ mkdir < directory name > for creating directory
• $ mkdir fruits
• You can create multiple folders with single command
• $ mkdir dogs cars
• You can also create multiple nested folders by adding the -p option:
• $ mkdir –p fruits/apple
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39. Important commands ..
• $ rmdir <directory name > - for deleting folder/directory
• $ mkdir fruits
• $ rmdir fruits
You can also delete multiple folders at once
• $ mkdir fruits cars
• $ rmdir fruits cars
• To delete folders with files in them, we'll use the more generic rm
command which deletes files and folders using –rf option
• $ rm –rf fruits cars
• Be careful as this command does not ask for confirmation and it will
immediately remove anything you ask it to remove.
• There is no bin when removing files from the command line, and recovering
lost files can be hard.
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40. Important commands …
• $ mv command used to move files around
• You can specify file current and new path
• $ touch test
• $ mv test test1
• $ touch pear
• $ touch apple
• $ mkdir fruits
• $ mv pear apple fruits // pears and apple moved to fruits
• mv command is used for renaming files and folders
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41. cp Copy Command
• $ cp - copy command used to copy files
• $ touch test
• $ cp apple another_apple
• To copy folders you need to add the -r option to recursively copy the
whole folder contents:
• $ mkdir fruits
• $ cp -r fruits cars
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42. touch command
• You can create an empty file using the $touch command:
• $ touch apple
• If the file already exists, it opens the file in write mode, and the
timestamp of the file is updated.
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43. cat command
• Cat command is used to print file content to standard output
• $ cat file
• $ cat file1 file2
• using the output redirection operator > you can concatenate the
content of multiple files into a new file:
• $ cat file1 file2 > file3
• Using > > you can append the content of multiple files into a new file,
creating it if it does not exist
• $ cat file1 file2 >> file3
• $ cat -n file1 - for printing line number
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