[Techtalk] New to the list...new to linux

[Tianna Thomas]

Unfortunatly, I'm working with the box remote...so gnome is out of the
question.  Is there a web GUI for this type of stuff?  I know that Win2k has
a nice web based admin...anything similar available for linux?

I am SO hiring a Unix admin on Monday...wonder if it's too late to get the
ad in the sunday paper? Oh wait...they won't let me...I gotta learn all of
this on my own.  DARNIT.

Tianna


-----Original Message-----
From: Akkana [mailto:akkana at shallowsky.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 6:09 PM
To: Tianna Thomas
Cc: techtalk at linuxchix.org
Subject: Re: [Techtalk] New to the list...new to linux


Tianna Thomas writes:
> All of this command line stuff is giving me a serious headache...any help
> here would be appreciated.  Specifically, I need to copy the entire
contents
> of one directory into another directory...is there a way to do this all at
> once or do I need to do it file by file? (Now's the time when I miss
> drag-n-drop and copy/paste).  Exact commands would be helpful...I'm
> completely lost (and a little nutz by now).

Well, if you run X and a desktop (e.g. gnome or kde), then you can
just drag-and-drop just like on Windows or the Mac.  You do have
to be root when you run the desktop (or have write permission
in the directory you're copying to) in order to do that.
(Some desktops give you a warning when you run them as root,
since it's awfully easy to do something bad accidentally.
Most of us prefer to do our sysadmin tasks using the command
line for that reason.)

But if you want to do it with the command line, try this:
  cp -R dir1 dir2
(While I was writing this someone else recommended -a, and I
looked it up and I agree, -a is probably what you want.)

General hint: the online help system can be a big help.
In this case, you start by using the "apropos" program to get an
idea of what command you need.  "apropos copy" gives you a rather
long list, unfortunately; but the simplest entry is "cp: copy
files".  So do a "man cp" to see the manual page for that command.
(Sometimes you may have to look at several man pages before
finding the right one.  Unfortunate, but hey, Windows online
help never gives me any useful information at all. :-)

At first, when you start using apropos and man, you will feel
overwhelmed and you'll get the impression that none of the manual
pages make any sense.  That's normal. :-)  Don't panic: after a
while you'll start getting the hang of the way they're organized,
and then you'll find that you can usually figure out what you need
using the online help.

Most linux distributions also have their own help systems, including
some "getting started" pages; try going to the equivalent of the
start menu (usually in the same position, lower left in kde or gnome
desktops) and browsing there for a "help" item.

	...Akkana