Topics for a Linux intro course

Linux@lemmy.ml – 116 points – 1 years ago

Hello fellow Linux Lemmings!

I've been tasked with putting together a 20 hour class for "Introduction to Linux" and I'd like to solicit your opinions for topics that should be covered.

The class is targeted for at least minimally technical people - maybe developers, or future developers, but regardless of background they've never seen or worked with Linux before.

I plan to do a VERY short overview of installing Linux (to a VM - so they have a "real" environment to learn with) and the GUI but the primary focus will be CLI. Imagine tools and tasks you come across while working on a "real" server (or VM).

A high level overview of the topics I currently have allocated is :

Super brief history of Linux
Benefits and use cases of Linux
General overview of the file system and the purposes of the pre-defined directories (/dev, /proc, /etc, /home, /bin, etc)
"Everything is a file"
File extensions don't matter (windows users : )
Note on responsibility - you can delete "in use" files. It will do exactly what you tell it with sometimes minimal guardrails.
Everything from here down is CLI only!
What is a terminal/CLI and how do we use it?
How do we navigate the file system using the CLI
How to list, create, copy, move, delete, and read files/directories
EDIT: Basic file editing with nano
How to search for files (find... maybe locate)
Archives and compression (tar, gzip, bzip2)
Overview of permissions (read/write/execute, owner, group, chmod, chown)
Brief overview of different shells (bash, zsh, etc)
How to get help on the CLI (man, info, --help)
Tab completion, history
Shortcuts / control codes (ctrl+c, ctrl+d, ctrl+a, ctrl+e, and coverage of ctrl+z later)
grep
Checking processes (top, ps, kill)
Signals (sigterm, sigkill, etc - related to kill above)
Backgrounding and multitasking (ctrl+z, fg, bg, jobs, nohup, &)
Linking (ln)
STDIN, STDERR, STDOUT and redirection
Redirection (>, >>, <)
Command pipes ( | )
How to access a remote machine via SSH with UN/PW
How to access a remote machine via SSH with key auth (think cloud VMs like EC2)
Administrative commands and tasks (su, sudo, how it works, when to use it)
Add users and groups
How to change your passwd (maybe how to change your default shell too)
Restart, shutdown, halt
How to install/remove software (package managers, packages, pre-compiled binaries, maybe compilation with make if time allows)
Configuring your profile for customizing your environment
ENV variables and aliases
Network information (ifconfig) and tools (curl, wget, netcat, etc)

Everything from here down is "extra" if time allows (AKA - ensuring I don't run out of material :)

Encryption (gpg - symmetric and asymmetric)
Backups (rsync, maybe dd)
screen/tmux
How to setup key based logins/auth
EDIT: More advanced CLI text editing with vim
sysreq commands
srm/shred
Shell scripting basics
init vs systemd, how to start/stop/status services.
Maybe how to create a simple service
Run levels
sed, awk basics
File system types, file system checking, formatting... I hesitate to get into partitioning but it's always an option if I need it.
Alternatives to well known win/mac utilities and how to find them. EG: GIMP to replace Photoshop.

What do you think?

Did I miss anything that you deem super important?

Anything that I should definitely keep in the "only if I run out of material" category?

O, and if you have any good ideas for practical exercises I'd love to hear those too. I want to keep them <15min but things like "create a new directory, cd into it, touch a file, list the contents of / and write the output into the file you just created" are perfect.