Welcome

In this micro-course, we're going to explore the basics you need to know to work with Linux systems. This author has been working with Linux systems for close to 20 years now, and everything I'm showing you here constitute the basics I use everyday. With this knowledge, you'll be a lot more comfortable on the Linux command line which will make your life easier. This is especially true if you're at University studying and you need to use Linux for an assignment, but it's also true if you simply want to explore running a server or two at home; at the office; or in Cloud. Linux is a tool that's suitable for a lot of things, and you'll even find skills with using it translate elsewhere, like Docker, where most container images use some Linux variant.

Overall, these are life-long skills that you're about to learn. If you take the time to practice them and use them on the regular, then they will pay you back in dividends.

Prerequisites

To take full advantage of this course, we recommend you use a Linux Virtual Machine (VM) or the Windows Sub-system for Linux (WSL) so that you can follow along. It's a very hands-on course, with a lot of commands for you to try.

Take great care...

You have to take great care not to run up charges when using Cloud services. You also have to make sure your server is secure, which might be outside of your skill range right now. To ensure your server doesn't get hacked, consider deleting it after you've completed your studies so it's not an active target.

If you can't run a VM locally, or the WSL isn't an option (i.e. you're on a Mac), then you can use a remote VM in AWS Lightsail or DigitalOcean. These are relatively easy services to use and you can have a cheap Linux VM running 24/7 for about USD $5 per month. This remote VM can also double as a public, Internet facing server you can use to host a website and test your skills to the fullest.