[sanjuro]

Do all those commands translate to something in english? I remember using dos way back in the day, the comands were mostly acronyms or abbreviations. For example to change directories you'd use CD\ (acronym for Change Directory) to view the contents of the directory you'd use a dir (abbreviation for directory), if the list of files was too big to view on the screen you'd use a /p tag to PAUSE when the screen fills, or a /w tag to list the files in colums the entire WIDTH of the screen. Maybe it's just a different computer jargon and that's why the commands in unix and linux seem so foreign, still I see absolutely no correlation between the command names and what they actually do.

The big difference from an users standpoint is pipes. You can redirect the output of the commands to another command.

For example dir /p would page the directory listing. The equivalent command would be ls | more.

However, if you wanted to sort in reverse order, you could use this command ls | sort -r. Or if you wanted to just the 5-10 characters in each filename: ls | cut -c5-10.

You also do multiple pipes, like cat file | sort | uniq, to give you an unique listing of the lines in the file. DOS never had that kind of functionality.

 

[Toshi]

Did you know GNU stands for GNU is not Unix...

did you know that less is more than more? heh

(of course. i read slashdot. sheesh.)

 

[Kornphlake]

The big difference from an users standpoint is pipes. You can redirect the output of the commands to another command.

For example dir /p would page the directory listing. The equivalent command would be ls | more.

However, if you wanted to sort in reverse order, you could use this command ls | sort -r. Or if you wanted to just the 5-10 characters in each filename: ls | cut -c5-10.

You also do multiple pipes, like cat file | sort | uniq, to give you an unique listing of the lines in the file. DOS never had that kind of functionality.

So there is some reasoning behind the naming of commands, it's just a different jargon and syntax than anything DOS based?

Is there really any reason for a home user to use the added functionality other than to say they can? I've poked around in Linux a little, not enough to become comfortable, I've just seen people on tech forums raving about everything from firewall capabilities, to stability, to superiority of media players written for linux. I've also seen many people like myself who thought they could do something really cool with linux only to find that everything is command based, and those commands are a foreign language. For the hassle of learning another OS all together I'd gladly trade a popular and widely supported OS although it may be inferior.

I've still yet to figure out how to install the Java Plugin in Linux (see my post in the Tech Forum.) Maybe it's time to ditch the live CD and install a full version on a spare harddrive.

 

[Toshi]

So there is some reasoning behind the naming of commands, it's just a different jargon and syntax than anything DOS based?

that syntax has been around for much longer than DOS. and, since it's still widely used in business, academia, and in linux, of course, some *nix knowledge is a good thing to have.

that said, if you can live with windows and see no compelling reason so switch, don't switch. i stick with os x, the best of both worlds: pretty gui, terminal at hand with a full bsd system underneath.

 

[Pau11y]

its been done !!

http://www.llamma.com/xbox/beowulf.htm

Woooo, that prime number project looks like a fun one for my next programming class. It doesn't look that difficult to code, just lots of brute power to run.

Edit: Wait, on 2nd thought... Wouldn't 1,000,001 be a prime? Hum.. might actually be kinda boring to code.

 

[Pau11y]

Probably. The real geeks tend to gravitate towards FreeBSD. I run Fedora Core 1 on my home PC. I need to reinstall Core 4 at some point, but I like not fu**ing with my home PC. I do enough of that crap at work.

Pulled the DVD iso of FC4 over a day and a half (Comcast cable sucks ass, or maybe it's CU's FTP server...?). I think I'll start w/ FC4, altho I've heard Suse is also pretty good. They also have SunOS, Solaris, SunLinux, and all sorts of Redhat versions:
mirror.colorado.edu Login/passwd: anonymous/<none>

 

[sanjuro]

So there is some reasoning behind the naming of commands, it's just a different jargon and syntax than anything DOS based?

Keep in mind Unix was developed in 1970 by Bell Laboratories, where DOS was developed in the early 80's by whoever Bill Gates ripped off.

There is a whole host of commands which are used frequently by Unix admins but never on a PC: ps, uptime, df. These commands relate to processes and diskspace, which is way more sophisticated than any DOS machine.

Keep in mind that the 100+ cpu, petabyte diskspace, multiple interface (or the linux equivalent of 1000's of machines), still run the same unix which runs on one machine.

Is there really any reason for a home user to use the added functionality other than to say they can? I've poked around in Linux a little, not enough to become comfortable, I've just seen people on tech forums raving about everything from firewall capabilities, to stability, to superiority of media players written for linux. I've also seen many people like myself who thought they could do something really cool with linux only to find that everything is command based, and those commands are a foreign language. For the hassle of learning another OS all together I'd gladly trade a popular and widely supported OS although it may be inferior.

I've still yet to figure out how to install the Java Plugin in Linux (see my post in the Tech Forum.) Maybe it's time to ditch the live CD and install a full version on a spare harddrive.

I do not have a linux box in my house. I like the desktops of linux, but I need my games and I am careful enough to avoid viruses. Frankly, I am too lazy to spend time at home installing o/s's, configuring networks, and the other great things about unix.

And I just start a VPN to work to get all the computer work I want...