Building my Linux server - part 2
Two words - “DOS prompt”. Get comfortable and back to your 1980’s roots ! You will need to get familiar with the UNIX shell commands. It’s actually not that hard, or at least it has not been a great stress for me but perhaps that is because there was UNIX somewhere, way back in the cobwebbed past of my work career to my first job out of college when I worked at Viewlogic.
Just remember things are case sensitive and the “/” forward slash is used to separate levels of directory path.
- ls - list files, directories, etc.
- cd - change directory
- rm - remove file
- rd - remove directory
You will also need at least rudimentary understanding of using the vi editor.
If you are new to Linux then you have not had the pleasure (cough) of using “vi”, the default editor that comes with the OS.
The vi editor has two modes of operation - command mode, and insert mode.
The characters “i,I,a,A,o,O” will all enter insert mode with slight variations of the cursor location. The <ESC> key will get you out of insert mode.
The most basic operations when in command mode include:
- file operations:
- “:x” - save and exit
- “:q” - quit
- cursor move operations
- “j” - down one line
- “k” - up one line
- “h” - left one character
- “l” - right one character
- “0″ - beginning of line
- “$” - end of line
- “u” - UNDO last operation (only one level of undo)



