GNU/Linux Introduction
from the perspective of I/O

Preface

I decided to write an introduction to the GNU/Linux based operating systems (I will call them “Linux” for the sake of simplicity) because throughout my undergraduate study and current working, I kind of begin to understand really how operating system really works and how the GNU tools (well basically they are just command-line commands, or if you like, executables and built-ins) designed for the Linux Kernel make life easier. I am definitely not an expert in any of operating systems or kernels, nor am I an experienced programmer, but I find out that Linux commands starts to become a part of life (even when I use Windows, I will use Linux commands provided by cygwin), and that everyone in the region of computer science should learn (at least a bit) about Linux.

Well another reason for me to write this is that my girlfriend has just become a freshman in Computer Science...❤️

Knowledge keeps driving humanity. Any that might help, I will give. Just like the Ash in Dark Souls who will never give up knowing the faintness of Fire.

I think here I should tell you a little bit about Linux. If you only talk about plain Linux, it is a kernel, rather an OS. The GNU project made tools around the Kernel. And…

So it happened that at the same time there was a project for a kernel without tools (Linux), and a project with all the tools but without a kernel (GNU). As both were written with the same UNIX mindset it was possible to combine them into a full operating system which people aptly called “GNU/Linux”. 1

I won’t talk so much about what exactly is Linux or who made Linux (sorry Linux Torvalds) because my aim is not here. You really should check out the Wikipedia page if you are really interested. Instead, I would like to introduce you the GNU/Linux, on Ubuntu, with its command-line interface and command-line tools from the perspective of I/O. (However I/O is much too important for me to tell you about the whole thing in this short intro.)

Though an introduction, this tutorial still targets people with a few experience in Computer Science. If you are a beginner or a new-comer, please be sure that your basic knowledge in either programming or operating systems is solid enough. I will not teach anything basic about how to program in Linux.

Enjoy!

Index

Contributions

If you have anything to supplement or you find any error, just comment below the web page, or contact me via admin@rebuild.moe!

References

  1. Why do people call Linux a kernel rather than an OS?