Welcome to the course: Introduction to Linux¶

This material

Here you will find the content of the workshop “Introduction to Linux”.

Documentation about Linux at some of the Swedish HPC centres
Documentation from Software Carpentry: https://swcarpentry.github.io/shell-novice/

Prerequisites

You need access to a Linux system.
You will use your own computer or any other computer (including computing access at computing centers) you have access to and that runs Linux.
The course project will be on Tetralith, for those that do not have other access to a computer that runs Linux.
- For those using Tetralith, there is a Get started guide for NSC here.

Learning outcome

This NAISS course aims to give a brief, but comprehensive introduction to the Linux operating system.
What is Linux and why should I use it?
You will learn about
the command line interface (CLI)
navigating and modifying the file tree
- ls
- mkdir
- cd
- mv
editors on the Linux system
pipes, sorting, filters
- redirection
- pipes
- etc.
patterns
scripting
some handy hints and tricks
This course will consist of lectures and type-alongs, as well as a few exercises where you get to try out what you have just learned.

This course has been reworked based on previous participant input. We would be grateful if you will fill the evaluation survey so we can further improve the course:

Cluster-specific approaches

The course is given by HPC2N (Kebnekaise), but will be done under NAISS on the NAISS system “Tetralith”. There is a Get started guide for NSC here.

This is only relevant if you are using Tetralith!
The login node for Tetralith is tetralith.nsc.liu.se.

It looks like this when I (x_birbr on “Tetralith”) login the first time from my computer “defiant”:

bbrydsoe@defiant:~$ ssh x_bibr@tetralith.nsc.liu.se
The authenticity of host 'tetralith.nsc.liu.se (2001:6b0:17:140::1:10)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:dwFmOFzy59e+OdZmMLAW3fj+GeMGACYwjPgc7LKZgSU.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
Warning: Permanently added 'tetralith.nsc.liu.se,2001:6b0:17:140::1:10' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
Password:
Verification code:

The verification code it asks about is a 2FA that you need to set. See here: https://www.nsc.liu.se/support/2fa/.

Important info¶

There is an “important info” page for this course, containing info on the course project, login info for Tetralith, etc. It can be found here: https://umeauniversity.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/HPC2N630/EQISMsSvKEpNruWFi2rewP4BhU-JpM4BLASnNHRol2NDUQ?e=9OZZhQ
There is a Q/A page for use during the lectures. Since the lectures are recorded, you may get recorded if you ask questions in the Zoom, but you can always write questions on the Q/A and get answers there. It also has the advantage that you can go back and look at the answers later. The Q/A page can be found here: https://umeauniversity.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/HPC2N630/EXoIQT8MQkRIsSLV1Z_yFbcBVipJlLa82lmFC2jjV5DwjQ?e=v3K1uv

Preliminary schedule¶

Time	Topic	Activity
9:00	Welcome+Syllabus
9:10	Introduction to Linux, motivation	Lecture
9:25	The command line (CLI)	Lecture+code along
9:45	Navigating the File System	Lecture+code along+exercise
9:55	Modifying the file tree	Lecture+code along+exercise
10:05	Editors	Lecture+code along
10:20	BREAK
10:35	Piping	Lecture+code along+exercise
10:55	Finding patterns	Lecture+code along+exercises
11:15	Scripting	Lecture+code along
11:30	Hints and tricks	Lecture+code along
11:45	More time for exercises
11:55	Summary
12:00	END

Preparations¶

In order to type along and do the exercises, please prepare your course environment now:

Login to the system you are using (Tetralith, your own computer, other system)
Open a terminal if you do not already have one open.
Create a directory to work in (mkdir intro-linux) and then switch to it (cd intro-linux)
Download the exercises with wget https://github.com/hpc2n/intro-linux/raw/refs/heads/main/exercises.tar.gz
Extract the exercises with tar zxvf exercises.tar.gz
Enter the directory that was created: cd exercises