Contents

• Introduction
• Why use an Operating System?
  • Introduction
  • The First Generation of Electronic Computers (1930-1955): Vacuum Tubes and Plugboards
  • The Second Generation of Computers (1955-1965): Transistors and Batch systems
  • The Third Generation of Computers(1965-1980): ICs and Multiprogramming
  • The Fourth Generation (from 1980): Personal Computers
• What are the Functions and Components of a Operating System
  • Files
  • Processes
  • Shells
• Users & Passwords
  • Changing your password
• Files & Directories
  • Directory Contents
  • How to view other Directories
  • Running a program
  • Creating & Deleting Directories
  • Deleting files
  • Displaying and Creating Files
  • Moving and Copying Files
    • Moving Files and Relative Paths
    • Copying Files
  • Removing Directories and their Contents
  • Crossreferences to Files: Links
    • Hard Links
    • Soft Links
    • A last note on Links
  • Hidden files
  • Access permissions
  • Groups
  • Wildcards
• Piping & Redirection
• Process Management
  • Listing users
  • Listing processes
  • Virtual Memory
  • System usage
  • Running multiple processes
  • Sending Signals to Processes
• Editing Files
  • What exactly is editing and an editor
  • Using ed
  • Using vi
  • Using EMACS
  • Conclusion about Editors
• Printing
  • Printing Files
  • Monitoring Printing
  • Stop Printing
  • Controlling Printers
• Shells
  • Environment
  • Aliases
  • Scripts
  • Initialisation Files
• The Internet
• X-Windows
  • What X-Windows really is
  • Window Managers
    • Things Window Managers do not do
    • Things Window Managers do
      • Window location
      • Window size
      • Input Focus
      • Raising of Windows
      • Menus
      • Virtual Desktops
      • Icon Management
  • Authorization
    • xhost - Allowing computers access
    • X Authority - Allowing users access
      • The xauth program
  • Remote clients
• Other useful UNIX Commands
  • Finding out the System Time & Date
  • Displaying the Online Documentation
  • Text Search
    • Regular Expressions
      • Examples
  • Scheduling programs to run unattended
    • at
      • Examples
    • crontab
      • Examples
• Manual Pages
  • chmod - Changing File Access Permissions
  • ed - The Line Editor
  • vi - Visual editor
    • Short Command Reference for vi
  • EMACS Reference Card for Version 19
  • grep - Text Search
• Some FTP and WWW Sites
• Window Managers
  • Tab Window Manager
  • Motif Window Manager
  • F Virtual Window Manager
  • Open Look Virtual Window Manager
• About this document ...