I’m a Linux and openSUSE noob who’d like to get more familiar with the terminal in order to both be more productive than with the GUI and more quickly review/update configs, would this book be a good starting point please:
That’s command by command, I’m actually looking for a book which groups them according to purpose (e.g. networking via command line, text manipulation via BASH, etc.) not just man pages, thanks.
You should note the difference between using a shell (in this case bash), which allows you to give commands (but has also a lot of features and some programming structures) and the tools which you are most probably then call with those commands.
While learning the shell (by reading a book, an on-line course or a “physical” course will doubtless teach you a lot of general commands “on the go” (like ls, grep, sort, …), in the end you will have to dig into the tools as such. And the number of them is more or less boundless.
The categories of commands you name are all in the realm of managing the operating system, And even there there are many. Growing every day, differing in importance by distribution (no zypper on Unbuntu) and OTOH some will grow old and become unused. You learn these by the documentation af e.g. network management and then refine that by reading the man pages.
It is huge. But starting to learn about using bash is a good point, because when you then start on e.g. network commands, you can go and test them while you are understanding why and where you have to use e.g. quoting, etc.
Learn interactive bash & tools and some bash scripting like piping, conditions, parameters. For more complex logic, bash will annoy you, so consider a mainstream programming language. Python3 is a good choice. Write logic as python programs and use bash to compose them.
And then, there’s “Unix for the Impatient” – 1995 – Addison-Wesley Professional – ISBN 0201823764 – ISBN13: 0785342823769
[HR][/HR]May I suggest that, if you have a local book store, use it – simply take these ISBNs to them and ask if they can order them – a good book store has access to a book retailer’s network which is usually independent of J. Bezo and, they’ll also, probably, have access to used books sources and, they can usually have to the orders delivered within a day or two at a price better than what Bezos offers …
Sorry I wasn’t clear, yes: I meant common linux commands to admin/configure your own system (networking, device drivers, peripherals, Xorg/Wayland, partitions, boot options, etc.) and text manipulation in the shell also geared towards that (using VI or Nano to edit configuration files), I’m using openSUSE mainly, but Manjaro too, so the more disto agnostic the better (e.g. ifconfig/ip), but also distro specific tools (e.g. zypper and pacman), thanks.
Thank you very much, I’ll look into those. FYG I’m based in north west Italy but use systems in English and need manuals in that language, so the options at local book stores are very very limited (I often need to rely on Amazon).
RE: Learning the bash Shell: Unix Shell Programming, 3rd Edition 2005
Could provide the necessary intro, but seems more suitable for server admins or programmers rather than power users, no?
RE: bash Pocket Reference , 2nd Edition 2016
Great handy reference for writing shell scripts it seems, will I need that to admin/config my own system? I’m genuinely asking, not challenging the idea.
RE: bash Cookbook: Solutions and Examples for bash users, 2nd Edition 2017
The back cover says:“You’ll learn ways to handle input/output, file manipulation, program execution, administrative tasks, and many other challenges”, which sounds more in line with administering and configuring my own workstation, right?
RE: Unix for the Impatient, 2nd Edition 1995
“A handbook you can use both for learning and as a ready reference. Clear, concise, and readable, the book is written for the technically oriented UNIX user who doesn’t want to wade through verbose tutorials but isn’t already an expert. Its functional organization makes it easy to find the right tool for any task, with a complete alphabetical summary providing fast lookup of commands, options, and subcommands” sounds exactly like what I was looking for, but the publishing date concerns me: came out in 1995 and it’s not terribly outdated (full of deprecated commands and without the present standard ones)?
In the meantime I’ve downloaded and will start reading Introduction to Linux 1.27 Edition 20080606 by Machtelt Garrels and Bash Guide for Beginners Version 1.11 Last updated 20081227 Edition by Machtelt Garrels from http://tldp.org/ (thanks malcolmlewis!).
Though the Bash Reference Manual https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.pdf comes as a PDF, it is typeset as a book and so you can print it out and you will find that page numbers alternate left and right as in a proper book, etc.
Even “Power Users” sometimes write «small» scripts – basically, the shell itself can be viewed as a single line of script – a shell script is basically a collection of CLI commands with occasionally some logical decisions included for automation purposes.
One needs the basic knowledge of the shell’s details to understand a portion the SysAdmin scripts included with the system – the rest of the System Administration shipped with the system is written in other scripting languages.
SysAdmin is a part but, there are also User space cases where User Data needs to be examined and computed – the question is, is it better to use a Spreadsheet or, is it better to use a CLI tool (bash, sort, cut, grep, awk, some other scripting language … ) ?
Yes, the eternal question: “How to learn UNIX® and therefore also Linux?” – one can “go back to the roots” and use “UNIX for the Impatient” or “UNIX System V” or, one can begin with “Linux for Dummies”: ISBN-13: 9780470467015 – Publisher: Wiley.
Alternative: “Linux in a Nutshell”: ISBN-13: 978-0596154486 – Publisher: O’Reilly
[HR][/HR]Searching for other printed books currently doesn’t deliver very much – possibly because due to the way in which UNIX® evolved – originally offered by Bell Labs to various Universities – and therefore, the “just use it” and “take a look at the manual pages” mentality – Linux simply followed this “way of life” …
First contact with UNIX®: 1986 – internal company schooling …
Yes, I suspect that, that’s also the case for quite a lot of people:
The “West European Islands” are quite spoiled: “Foyles” is, AFAICS, still alive and well …
The US Americans still have “Barnes & Noble” …
I’m absolutely spoiled – my local (small) corner book store is capable of ordering everything I ask them for – even on-demand prints from small publishers located where ever …
Please note that, Barnes & Noble are currently not accepting any non-USA orders but, Foyles are still delivering to Western Europe: <https://foyles.co.uk/help-delivery>.
Not paper, but…
I also endorse the Linux Documentation Project for general Linux commands, and how to write snippets of BASH scripts.
The tldp project is not easy to read partly because it compresses so much into as few words as possible but it’s the place to start and then if something is unclear look for blogs on that topic for more examples and perhaps friendlier text.
I’m not aware of a similar comprehensive collection of openSUSE commands, but as I’ve encountered various needs and uses over the years, I’ve collected them in my Wiki for my personal reference which can be helpful to others.
You’ll find a collection of simple commands, many which illustrate a particular method https://en.opensuse.org/User:Tsu2/Scripts_and_Scriplets
The main part of my Wiki describes numerous useful utilities and how to use them, examples of bigger, more complex scripts, some alternative documentation, more. A big pot of miscellaneous stuff… https://en.opensuse.org/User:Tsu2
Consider, you can’t beat the price of information posted on the Internet…
Authors also need to make a living, support their families, and do what ever else that one does when not isolated on a desert island in the middle of an ocean …
Yes, you can live the life of a Hobo and jump onto freight trains to get around but, the chances that, you’ll be able to finance access to the Internet are slim …