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Learn Unix on Windows - CBT

 
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Hello Dear Ranchers!

I am a pure Windows+Java guy. But somehow I feel without knowledge of Unix commands I am incomplete!

I would be extra-extra-greatful to you, if you could guide me how can I learn and practice unix commands without having any unix environment. I have a laptop at my home, and I want to learn / practice unix commands on windows environment. Is there any free CBT available or online guide or something like that.

Any kind of help is very much appreciated and I would really be thankful for advises.

THANKS!
 
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CBT?
 
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well, you could just get a unix environment to practice on. good ones come on bootable CD's these days, some of them don't require you to install anything on your harddisk; look around for Knoppix, Ubuntu, or Mandrake Move, for just three examples. there's also no end of books about Unix; look around in the computer section of your local bookstore, or on the web.

the best way of learning it, seriously, is to play around with it in real life. there's a lot there to learn, so expect to spend some time doing it.
 
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unxutils is a useful bundle of unix-tools for the win plattform.

http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/apps/unxutils/en/

They don't need cygwin, but come as native exe-files.
 
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I use the Unix Tools and they are extremely useful!
 
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For the same reasons like you i just tried the new Knoppix 3.8 M. Beck mentionend above. It booted from CD on my laptop without any probs.
It comes with a lot of programms and tools. It mounts your windows filesystem automatically. Even configuring pppoe for my DSL-internet connection was very easy. Played around with it whole sunday.
--> very recommendable
 
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You do have to install this, but Cygwin is worth a look. It runs on Windows, providing a UNIX/Linux shell.
 
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If you have access to a Unix machine through school or work, you can probably use SSH or Telnet to access it from your home machine. Until I installed Linux on a machine at home, this was the main way I worked with Unix.

Layne
 
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Get a linux install into your low end computer (cheap one). You have to use in order to learn, CBT usually just fly by and 1 week later you wouldn't remember most of the stuffs. After you setup the linux, you tend to install a lot of fun stuffs and from there you learn how to tar, zip, changing scripts, VI, setting environment getting new cool applications and to use L/Unix you have to get your hand dirty to find, research and apply. Just do a search on google of the stuffs you wanted to do, there are a vast L/Unix supports out there. Later, you might be thinking setting up web server, samba etc.
 
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Hello David,
You wrote:


I use the Unix Tools and they are extremely useful!


Can you please post a link to it? Also, how do you, or anyone else, find it compared to Cygwin?
Thanks.
Bharat
 
Stefan Wagner
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The link is in MY previous posting.

I never got warm with cygwin, because compared to linux, I felt catched in a box, and can't remember multiple virtual terminals, all all that useful stuff, I have on an original linux.
Well - I only used it for a very short time, and it's years ago.

The unixutils have full access to the surrunding windows, because they're native ports to the win-plattform, so you could write:

- could write, because there is a windows 'find.exe' which is found first in the path, if you add the unxutils-bin folder after the original path, which I did. (therefore I renamed this find to 'search').

@M. and Chris:
I don't believe a knoppix-live-cd is a good tool learn linux, because you allways have to do additional work, if you like to make something persistent, and that is a bit annoying, especially with nt-FileSystems.
Of course it is possible, and may be part-automated, but perhaps it's a bit complicated for a beginner. A dual-boot system is the best I can recommend.
 
Bharat Ruparel
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Hello Stefan,
Thanks for your response and information. I was referring to David O'Meara's post about "UNIX TOOLS". I did a google search and found them at the following address:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/sfu/default.mspx
It is 217 Megs of Executable install. Does anyone have any experience with this? I can't find any installation instructions.
Please help.
Thanks.
Bharat
 
Stefan Wagner
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Ah, sorry.
I thought that David O' was referring to 'my' unix-utils, and didn't get the difference to unix-tools.

Unix-utils are only a few MB.
 
David O'Meara
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The ones I use are available here and are not the MS ones.

[EDIT] updated the link, this one may have been out of date.
[ May 13, 2005: Message edited by: David O'Meara ]
 
David O'Meara
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The original request was for a way to run some uxiz commands and I believe that's been covered nocely with regards to Cygwin and some flavours of unix tools. I hope I'm not hijacking the thread to expand the question to 'How to run Unix and/or it's tools without discarding windows (on a single box)'.

I offer the following list:
  • Cygwin - like a unix shell in windows, run from the windows command prompt. Not to my tastes but very popular.
  • Unix tools - windows executable that behave like the Unix ones. SEveral are available. We use some of these in our standard environment at work.
  • Knoppix as a boot-disk. This allows you to boot your system with Linux without having to install it. Great if you want to play with Linux without jumping in, but warns against using to alter Windows file systems (NTFS)
  • Knoppix in an emulator. I mentoin this second, since there's a knoppix ISO available that includes the qemu emulator and allows Knoppix to run as an application inside Windows. Runs significantly slower but thats what you get with emulators. Takes about 15 minutes to 'boot'. As above for file access.
  • Dual boot windows and Linux. Not too hard to set up and easy to jump back and forwards. Also allows you to install a package for managing NTFS better, but this forces you to admin your own Linux installation.
  • Two bootable drives, using the BIOS to manage which one boots. I haven't done this with Linux since it doesn't have any real advantages over the previous. I used it to manage a 'staged upgrade' from Win2k to WinXP.
  • Virtual machines. Allows you to get a machine to pretend to be several, and 'boot' into linux within another OS. You'd have to NEED a VM to use one, otherwise previous suggestions will be much better.


  • Any useful options I've missed? I've used all of the above except the first and last.
     
    Stefan Wagner
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    Originally posted by David O'Meara:
    The ones I use are available here and are not the MS ones.


    That's what I use - just another link.
     
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