1. Why this guide?...................................................................................................................................12. Who should read this book?.................................................................................................................13. New versionsand availability..............................................................................................................14. Revision History..................................................................................................................................25. Contributions.......................................................................................................................................36. Feedback..............................................................................................................................................37. Copyright inf ormation.........................................................................................................................38. What do you need?...............................................................................................................................49. Conventions used in this document.....................................................................................................410. Organizationof this document...........................................................................................................5
Chapter 1. What is Linux?.................................................................................................................................7
2.1. Logging in, activating the user interface and logging out..............................................................182.1.1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................182.1.2. Graphicalmode.....................................................................................................................182.1.3. Text mode..............................................................................................................................202.2. Absolute basics...............................................................................................................................212.2.1. The commands......................................................................................................................212.2.2. General remarks....................................................................................................................212.2.3. Using Bash features...............................................................................................................222.3. Getting help.....................................................................................................................................232.3.1. Be warned..............................................................................................................................232.3.2. The man pages.......................................................................................................................232.3.3. More info...............................................................................................................................252.4. Summary.........................................................................................................................................282.5. Exercises.........................................................................................................................................29
4.1. Processes insideout........................................................................................................................714.1.1. Multi-user and multi-tasking.................................................................................................714.1.2. Process types.........................................................................................................................714.1.3. Process attributes...................................................................................................................734.1.4. Displaying process information.............................................................................................744.1.5. Life and death of a process....................................................................................................764.1.6. SUID andSGID.....................................................................................................................784.2. Boot process, Init and shutdown.....................................................................................................804.2.1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................804.2.2. The boot process....................................................................................................................804.2.3. GRUB features......................................................................................................................80