Linux Reference
A complete linux reference is out of the scope of this document.
RHEL window manager
Linux uses a desktop manager to provide a Graphical User interface.
Unlike Windows or MacOS there are many different desktop managers available.
The one used on the analysis machines is Xfce. More info on Xfce is available at
https://www.xfce.org/
Linux Shell (bash) commands
The most general way to work with a Linux system is via the command line.
If you are not familiar with the Linux command line, a good place to start is the software carpentry site
Here is a brief list of commands to refresh your memory
General commands
| command | what it does |
|---|---|
| man | manual or help on commands |
| ls | list the contents of a directory |
| mkdir | make a new directory |
| cd | change directory |
| rm | rm a file |
| mv | move a file |
| cat | see the contents of a file |
| more | a file content viewer with pagination |
| top | monitor the computer for cpu memory usage |
| ln -s | create a symbolic link |
| chmod | set permissions for a file |
| eog | Picture viewer |
| nano | a terminal based text editor |
| gio open | open a file with its default program |
Commands specific to the analysis machines
| command | what it does |
|---|---|
| finddata | returns a path to a given run number on the given instrument |
| fix-firefox-settings | kills the firefox session that is currently running on another computer in analysis so you can run firefox in your current session |
| firefox | a web browser |
| gedit | a text editor |
| oocalc | the libreoffice spreadsheet |
Useful Keyboard shortcuts
From 10 commands every Linux user should know
| Key combination | what it does |
|---|---|
| CTRL+K | Cuts text from the cursor to the end of the line |
| CTRL+Y | Pastes text |
| CTRL+E | Moves the cursor to the end of the line |
| CTRL+A | Moves the cursor to the beginning of the line |
| ALT+F | Jumps forward to the next space |
| ALT+B | Skips back to the previous space |
| ALT+Backspace | Deletes the previous word |
| CTRL+W | Cuts the word behind the cursor |
| Shift+Insert | Pastes text into the terminal |