Introduction to Linux

Linux is an open-source OS that can be

installed on a variety of different types of
hardware

Today, Linux is the most installed operating

LINUX UBUNTU system globally.

Numerous programming languages are

LAB 1 available for Linux, as well as more than
70,000 different applications.
Examples using Linux:
• Space X Falcon 9 rocket
• International Space Station
• Web servers
• All supercomputers

Role of Open Source Welcome to Linux

Open source philosophy – you have the right to obtain the Linux is Free and Open Source Software (FOOS)
software and to modify it for your own use.
 The Linux kernel was developed by Finish student Linus Torvalds
in 1991 as a project in University of Helsinki, Finland.
 Humans write software in source code
 Compilers translate source to machine code  Torvalds chose to distribute Linux under a free software license
 If you have the source , you can make changes and see how called the GNU General Public License (GPL).
it works
 Open Source means you can inspect and change the source  Programmers around the world extend the kernel and develop
other tools.

 Linux is a free operating system.

GNU project was building their own OS and a base set
of tools that go along with UNIX OS. Linux uses most
of the GNU tools.
 Linux Distributions Linux Distributions (cont)
Many different flavors of distributions that focus on running servers , desktops,
industry specific tools like electronics design , statistical computing , science.
The different Linux distributions are often divided into three
categories:
Kernel + tools + installation + package management = distribution ■ Full core Linux distributions - contain a kernel, one or more
graphical desktop environments, and just about every Linux
Android , sponsored by Google, most popular Linux distribution for mobile
application that is available, precompiled for the kernel
devices , such as phones and tablets
■ Specialized distributions - based on one of the main
Red Hat and Debian - most popular on the market distributions but contain only a subset of applications that
would make sense for a specific area of use.
Red Hat Debian
■ Live CD test distributions - create a bootable CD that contains
a sample Linux system.
RHEL Scientific Linux UBUNTU

CentOS Fermilab Linux Mint

Fedora

Fermilab’s Scientific Linux to create HELiOS, a Linux distribution for

healthcare applications.
Other distributions
SuSE – in Europe ; for business needs.
Slackware - in multiprocessor environment.
Fermilab uses Scientific Linux to control and monitor all
high-energy particle accelerators on site from the main TurboLinux - in Asia; has clustering abilities.
accelerator operations room - Collider Detector (CDF)
- Large Hadron Collider in CERN Mandrake - similar to Red Hat , with enhancements for
easy use.
Knoppix - based on Debian.
Gentoo – with frequently updated software.
 Special Distributions Linux Mint is the new sensation based on Ubuntu and Debian

Kali Linux - Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking Linux Distribution

Clement Lefebvre
Kali Linux includes many well known
security tools, including:
•Nmap
•Aircrack-ng
•Kismet
•Wireshark
•Metasploit Framework
•Burp suite
•John the Ripper
•Social Engineering Toolkit
•Maltego
•Ettercap
•OWASP ZAP

What is so good about Linux

Main Components of Linux
Hardware layer
Linux very stable and rarely crashes. Kernel − It is the core component of
Operating System, interacts directly
with hardware, provides low level
Linux is very secure - account privileges are services to upper layer components.
Shell − An interface to kernel, hiding
assigned; runs on different architectures ; complexity of kernel's functions
distributions. from users. The shell takes
commands from the user and
executes kernel's functions.
Ubuntu Linux can be obtained free of charge. Utilities − Utility programs that
provide the user most of the
(https://www.ubuntu.com) functionalities of an operating
systems.

The Linux Community - When you start to use

Linux , you become part of this community.
 Ubuntu: African Philosophy
Core components of Linux System Ubuntu project was started in 2004 by Mark Shuttleworth, a South
African entrepreneur. Ubuntu is commercially sponsored by Canonical, a
private company owned and run by Shuttleworth.
Boot Loader – creates the boot sequence of operating system images
or kernels – GRUB , LILO
The name Ubuntu has African origins and means humanity to others
Kernel - the central component of the system that communicates
directly with the hardware. and a person is a person through other persons.

Daemons – background processes for different services Ubuntu Linux philosophy is:
Shell – a program that uses Terminal for entering commands 1. Every user has the freedom to download , run, copy, distribute , study ,
share , change , improve the software without paying any license fees.
X Window Server – a graphical replacement for the shell
2. Every user can use the software in his native language .
Desktop Environment – GNOME , KDE 3. Every user is given opportunity to use the software even if he works
under a disability.
File System – ext3 , ext4
Devices as files - Ubuntu is extremely aggressive when incorporating new versions of
software and makes new releases on a six-month schedule.

Power icon
Ubuntu 18.04(“Bionic Beaver”)
desktop

Default desktop is GNOME3

Dash called GNOME Shell

Ubuntu 18.04 will ship with Linux Kernel 4.15

Color emojis are now supported 👏👏👏

Show Applications
 Files File Manager
File Manager

LibreOffice

 Launcher provides easy access to applications,

mounted devices, and the Trash.
 All running applications on your system will place an
icon in the Launcher while the application is running.
 Applications currently running will have one or more
triangles on the icon indicating the number of Files file manager displaying your home directory.
application windows open.

Getting Started with the Shell

•SHELL is a program - takes keyboard commands and
passes them to the operating system to carry out.

• SHELL is a command interpreter - uses the system

kernel to execute programs, create files etc.

•Default shell is bash-“Bourne Again SHell”, an enhanced

replacement for sh, the original Unix shell program written
by Steve Bourne.

• When using a graphical user interface, we need another

program called a terminal emulator (Terminal) to
interact with the shell.

CTRL+ALT+T
 Two ways to use the shell
SHELL Prompt
Interactive mode – the user types a single command
student@myPC: ~ $ - The first part is the username—the or a short string of commands that are immediately
user account we use to log in to the PC. executed and the result is printed out
- After the @ sign is the hostname of the PC, which we
also chose when installing Ubuntu. In shell scripting – the user types the whole program
- the sign ~ is a shorthand for the user’s /home into a text editor , save it and execute it as a shell
directory script
- the sign $ indicates being currently logged in as an
ordinary user, as opposed to the root user.
- If you were to log in as root, a hash (#) would appear
instead of the $ symbol prompt.

Examples of commands
Try Some Simple Commands
You can enter a command along with options at the prompt.
$ ls -l - displays a line of information about each file , its size,
date and time when it was last modified .
$ pwd - prints working directory
$ cd /tmp– changes working directory to one that follows the
command
You can enter a command on several lines by typing \ before
ENTER.
You can enter several commands on the same line by
separating them with (;)
$ ls ; date
 Ls command Man pages
 man – manual and help file .
 man <command name> to display information
about the command. For example: $ man ls
 To navigate through a man you use the following
commands:
 q – exit (quit) the man page
 SPACE or f – forward to the next page
 b – backward to the previous page
 e – forward one line
 y – backward one line

Linux File System Directories in LINUX System

 Linux does not use drive letters in pathnames.

 Linux stores files within a single directory structure, called

a virtual directory. The virtual directory contains file
paths from all the storage devices installed on the
computer, merged into a single directory structure.

 The Linux virtual directory structure contains a single

base directory, called the root ( / ).