One of the most difficult things to learn about Linux is the terminology - the many different Linux terms. Linux has it’s own lingo (and slang language), which includes lots of wonderfully interesting, bizarre and strange terms.

But learning Linux terms, in other words, understanding the “Linux lingo”, is absolutely necessary to understanding how to use the Linux OS (operating system).

To understand how Linux works, you need to understand Linux concepts - and the Linux terms that are used over and over again in the descriptions of these Linux concepts.

Linux Tips: As part of your Linux training, you need to understand Linux terms to be able to understand Linux concepts.

The Reasons for So Many Linux Terms - That Mean the Same Thing!

Linux has developed for over ten years now, and is based on Unix, which has been around for over 30 years!

During the development of Unix (with many different versions) and Linux (with many different distributions), there have been many organizations, companies, groups of people, and individuals that have contributed to Unix and Linux. These people have worked on Unix and Linux over a long period of time and in every country in the world!

Linux Terms Example - Linux Console, Linux Terminal, Linux Terminal Emulation Window

So, someone creates a program and someone else creates a similar program and they both do basically the same thing, but both are given a different name for what they do! - and this can become extremely confusing and frustrating.

For example, to run Linux commands from a Linux desktop, you open a terminal emulation window. A terminal emulation window is also known as a “Linux terminal” or a “Linux console”, or simply “terminal”.

If you’re working at a Linux desktop, someone may say “just open a terminal and run the ls command”. Someone else may say “just go to the console and run the ls command” and both of these mean “open a terminal emulation window and run the ls command”. Fun eh?

Or, you may read one bit of Linux documentation, such as a Linux man page and see the term “Linux terminal” and read some other Linux info at a web site and see “Linux console”, but both terms mean the same thing!

Linux Tips: Watch for upcoming articles with names that end in “Linux Concepts & Terms” to learn how to “speak geek” so you can learn how to use Linux! And rather than just defining these Linux terms, these articles will describe them “in context” while using the terms to describe Linux concepts. - This is truly “Translating Linux Geek-Speak into Clear Steps for Frustration-Free Mastery!”

Written by Clyde Boom.

Can you really afford to use free Linux training materials? Learning How to Use Linux with Free Documentation - You Get Free Frustration Instead of Frustration-Free!

You can go to lots of Linux web sites and get free bits and pieces of Linux information on concepts and commands - and then try and put these pieces together to learn Linux. However, this Linux info is often poorly written, highly complex, quite dated and sometimes wrong!

Free Linux documentation is usually written by well-meaning individuals that have no experience in communicating to people who are completely new to Linux.

These free Linux training materials are usually written by someone who is already “there” and understands Linux, and so this free Linux training info is written from that perspective.

Even though it may say otherwise, most free Linux information has been written from the perspective of someone who already understands how to use Linux. Someone who, along the way to get “there” - has forgotten “how” to get “there” - and can’t explain the steps that are missing.

As a result, vital basic Linux concepts are totally overlooked in these Linux training materials. This type of “free” Linux documentation often starts at an intermediate level - and gets more complex from there!

Linux Tips: Free Linux training materials are sadly lacking in the simple Linux concepts that are required for understanding how to use Linux. And there is no foundation of Linux concepts on which to build.

Written by Clyde Boom.

These articles, with names ending in “Linux Concepts & Terms”, have been created to help you learn how to “speak geek” and understand Linux terms - and this will help you learn how to use Linux!

Linux Tips: Rather than just defining Linux terms, these articles will describe “related” Linux terms “in context”, while using the terms to describe Linux concepts. The end result is: “Translating Linux Geek-Speak into Clear Steps for Frustration-Free Mastery!”

Booting Linux to a Console or to a Desktop and Logging In to Linux You can set up Linux to 1) boot to a console, also known as a virtual terminal - or 2) boot to a Linux desktop.

To use Linux, you must log in to Linux. You log in as a user at a login prompt at a console, or at a GUI login prompt, prior to going to a Linux desktop.

Booting Linux to a Linux Console

When you boot to a Linux console, you don’t see a Linux desktop or have access to a Linux desktop, you just see a black screen with a login prompt, and the login prompt looks similar to this: Login:

Linux Tips: Linux servers are very often installed and set up so that they boot to a Linux console (a Login: prompt) instead of a Linux desktop. In many situations, a Linux desktop is not required on a Linux server and so a desktop is not installed.

To run Linux commands to do Linux system administration, you log in as the user named root - at the Login: prompt at the console, not at a GUI login prompt prior to logging in to a desktop.

At the Login: prompt, you type in root and press Enter and then type in the password for the root user at the password prompt and press Enter.

Linux Tips: For security reasons, never log in to a Linux desktop as the root user. To work as the root user from a Linux desktop, log in to the desktop as a regular user, open a terminal emulation window and run the su command, with the - (dash) option.

The Linux terms: “Linux console”, “Linux terminal”, “Linux virtual terminal”, “vt” and “terminal emulation window” are also sometimes referred to as simply “terminal” or “console”.

Written by Clyde Boom.