Hardcore

[BevvyB]

Ok

Who knows

UNIX
LINUX
'Real' programming
Stuff


We need hardcore 'know it alls' and sys geeks for the future

Unix shell merchants and the like

and NEWBIES willing to have a go

this is the end of the month

and this thread will close

please

If you know anyone with skilz please divert them here and their knowledge will be warmly welcomed

This months thread has proved that beyond doubt the future is fruitful, if not technical

Get over it folks

Start talking unix

Or forever hold your piece

Best
Bev

[jimlongo]

Okay I'll bite. I'm no geek, know-it-all or hardcore, but as a neophyte I have found out a few things to share with someone just getting their feet wet.

First of all philosophy. Unix tools in general are extremely simple one shot apps. They don't believe in big monolothic things are able to do many things, like an audio workstation. Since it's so simple it is so stable. The beauty becomes apparent when you can combine a bunch of little single shot apps to do what you want. You're just not going to ever see PTs on Unix. But you will find a superior mp3 encoder for instance. The nice thing about all of this is that you can now get things like that unix encoder and run it on MacOSX for free in most cases.



I think the first thing you need to start to get comfortable with is the Terminal.app in your Utilities folder because that is basically where you are going to start interacting with the Unix (FreeBSD) layer. First of all you had to install it when you installed Jaguar, or go back and install it now. They call it the BSD layer . . . some of it is there regardless but you will want all of it.

Open up the Terminal up and type in the list command - ls -la, so you can see the directory you are in. It should be your Home Directory. You will see something like this

[jimlongo:~] jimlongo% ls -la
total 88
drwxr-xr-x 23 jimlongo staff 782 Apr 28 16:21 .
drwxrwxr-t 8 root wheel 272 Apr 15 13:32 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 jimlongo staff 3 Feb 25 15:11 .CFUserTextEncoding
-rwxr-xr-x 1 jimlongo staff 12292 Apr 28 16:21 .DS_Store
-rw-r--r-- 1 jimlongo staff 0 Feb 25 18:54 .MCXLC
drwx------ 3 jimlongo staff 102 Apr 28 16:13 .Trash
drwxr-xr-x 2 jimlongo staff 68 Mar 10 18:41 .java
drwxr-xr-x 4 jimlongo staff 136 Mar 11 03:12 .jpi_cache
-rw-r--r-- 1 jimlongo staff 38 Mar 12 19:42 .login
-rw-r--r-- 1 jimlongo staff 39 Mar 12 19:42 .logout
-rw-r--r-- 1 jimlongo staff 39 Apr 28 12:01 .lpoptions
-rw------- 1 jimlongo staff 3402 Apr 28 18:05 .tcsh_history
-rw-r--r-- 1 jimlongo staff 35 Mar 12 19:42 .tcshrc
drwxr-xr-x 12 jimlongo staff 408 Apr 28 16:24 Desktop
drwx------ 17 jimlongo staff 578 Apr 22 09:55 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 8 jimlongo staff 272 Apr 28 15:19 Downloads
-rw-rw-rw- 1 jimlongo staff 0 Feb 26 17:20 Icon?
drwx------ 42 jimlongo staff 1428 Apr 25 11:39 Library
drwx------ 21 jimlongo staff 714 Mar 8 17:22 Movies
drwx------ 8 jimlongo staff 272 Mar 5 23:22 Music
drwx------ 13 jimlongo staff 442 Apr 3 15:04 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x 5 jimlongo staff 170 Feb 26 09:38 Public
drwxr-xr-x 16 jimlongo staff 544 Apr 28 16:21 Sites
=====================
Lines that begin with d are folders. Followed by the files permissions, number of files in the folders, owner, group, disksize, date, time and name.


Want to find out more about the ls command type man ls and you will get the manual for LS.
These manual pages are there for every command in the operating system, so they can be very helpful.

Now let's explore the disk. To do that we need to change directoryType cd /and you will go to the ROOT of you drive. Notice the prompt changed to your new location. Type ls -la again to see what's there.

If you are on the root of your drive you can use ls -la usr/binfor instance to see what's in the usr/bin foler. There are thousands of files on the root that you don't see on the Mac finder that are really what make the system and the unix innards go.

You can get back home by typing cd ~ at any time.

Don't worry about screwing anything up because (unless you've screwed with your permissions) you won't be allowed to delete (rm), rename (mv), or otherwise wreck your files since you don't have permission to do that you naughty newbie hacker.

For that you will need to use a command called sudo SuperUserDoOnce. But that's for later.

So get comfortable with ls and cd for navigation.

Next copying and renaming.

Let's create a file. On your Desktop.
So we want to cd ~ to get to your home and then cd Desktop to go to your desktop. (There's a quicker way of course but you'll soon figure that out) Do an ls -la to verify where you are.

Now we'll open another application it's a text editor called pico. Type picoand the application will launch inside the terminal. Type some gibberish into the window and then according to the commands at the bottom of the screen type control-x to quit. You will be asked if you want to save the file, select yes and then give it a name like test.txt

If you click on your desktop there will be a text file there with the name you have chosen. Since it's a text file it will open in TextEdit if you double click it.

Now to rename or move (it's the same thing in unix) a file u use the move command. Type mv test.txt ../Pictures/tested.txt and you will simultaneously move and rename the file. It will be called tested.txt and it is in your pictures folder! The beauty of this becomes apparent when you learn how to use wildcards and ? in your descriptions of the files you want to move or rename.
For some jobs there is no doubt that the Finder is way more efficient but there are plenty of big moving and copying operations where the Terminal can do things the Finder is very ackward at doing. Don't forget to look at man mv while you're here.

copy which is cp works in the same manner, you specify the command then the file(s) you want to operate on followed by the final result you want.

If you're comfortable with that simple stuff then go to MacDevCenter and read some of Chris Stone's tutorials on working in the Terminal where he actually does something as you learn.

You mean it's all typing in a command line environment! I use a Mac to get away from all that!!!
Well you asked! But as a matter of fact there are programs that run in a windowed environment and use a mouse in UNIX.
After you get accustomed to using the Terminal to do things then you can look at installing a windowing program for Unix programs like the GIMP or Abi Word. But that's for another day!

HTH

[fishtop_records]

I'm a hardcore geek. 30 years professional development.
All languages, all operating systems. 20 + computers
in my house, etc.

Only been doing the project studio, gear lust, madness
for a few years.

Was at a startup trying to provide legal and profitable
to all music over the internet, until the bozos
at RIAA decided that if you said "Internet" and "music" in
the same paragraph, you were napster. Sigh.

I don't think the world will evolve back to shell hacking.
Even the latest Red Hat linux does a huge amout
of stuff without the shell. The consumer world
will not tolerate shell commands, and if linux is to take
over the world, it has to be GUI.

Whatcha need?

[BevvyB]

Need you just to hang here and help out!

How about 'Top 10 things you can do in the shell to stop your system getting screwed' kind of stuff.

There is really no simple to follow documentation out there just for keeping your system in check, apart from the odd bit of software which acceses the unix commands anyway.

I think it's in everyones interests if we get out of that habit and get our hands a bit dirtier, will save a lot of grief in the long run.

Also, you don't see much 'well, here's what happened in my system, what happened in yours?' banter because no one has the chops yet. We can all go on at length aout incompatibilities and system extension clashes in 9, but when it comes to OS X it doesn't seem as simple to talk about it. Yet.

Please just hang out!

[jimlongo]

Originally posted by fishtop_records
until the bozos at RIAA decided that if you said "Internet" and "music" in
the same paragraph, you were napster.

I hear they've changed their tune

[µ¿ z3®ø™]

Originally posted by jimlongo
I hear they've changed their tune

but not in canada yet i hear.
bevvy, i hear what U are sayin' but....
comin' from someone that has worked in X windows on and off for gettin' close to twenty years i have to say that there is something inside my head that is screaming, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO"
a newbie can screw up everything very quickly. let me rephrase that. anyone can screw it up very quickly. even me. i once erased my entire hard drive while on "auto pilot" just because i wanted more hard drive space and I WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION.
don't get me wrong, when i heard that jobs was going back to apple (the buyout) i KNEW that we were gonna have a unix based OS on apple. i was overjoyed. i KNEW that we finally would have a real OS and that with it would come stability.
oh well, i guess that i gotta hang out here now. the cat is OUT OF THE BAG.

[jimlongo]

Originally posted by µ¿ z3®ø?
but not in canada yet i hear.

Don't worry we'll be next, and not too long I don't think. We are after all the 51st state.

from someone that has worked in X windows on and off for gettin' close to twenty years i have to say that there is something inside my head that is screaming, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO"

But everyone has to learn starting somewhere. And at least OSX won't let you wipe your whole system without really knowing what you're doing.

[µ¿ z3®ø™]

Originally posted by jimlongo
Don't worry we'll be next, and not too long I don't think. We are after all the 51st state.

i know, but the american exchange will kill us.
wait, our dollar just went over ¢70 US.

"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white
guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is
Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of
arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men
in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon.' Need I say more?"
a quote from one of canada's greatest exports, chris rock. no not the black comedian, the white hoser dj.

[jimlongo]

Everything you ever wanted to know about fsck

[BevvyB]

wicked

[jimlongo]

Did you know that OSX includes the Apache webserver. Okay so you did, well this 4 part series of articles at O'Reilly.com will help take a lot of mystery out of that part of the operating system.

It gives you a really good introduction to Apache, cgi, perl, php, etc,. The great thing about these tutorials is that in the course of doing them they touch upon many cl applications that form the basis of OSX.

I used this to set up a bulletin board similar to the one your reading now on an imac for internal use in the studio.

Pretty cool.

They also used have a great tutorial on the Terminal where they instruct you on how to have the cron jobs (daily, weekly, monthly) run at different times and email you the results. Unfortunately those tutorials only work on 10.1.x. But again they give you instruction on working within the unix layer of the OS.

[BevvyB]

Today I bought UNIX POWER TOOLS by O'Reilly, weighing in at over 1000 pages...gulp....

but already things are 'better'

I'm sure there's a script that can be run from the terminal that corrects all bad drumming in every audio file

[jimlongo]

They (O'Reilly) are really good. Both their website and their books.

I guess they have been an open source source for years, but they have really latched on to OS X in a big way. As have a lot of other open source people.

[fishtop_records]

O'Reilly's books are wonderful.
I've got more than 20 of them within
arms reach. Or maybe it is 30. I can't
count that high.

Just a quick warning: many of them are written as
reference books and assume a level of general
computer knowledge.
I love their level and detail, but it may
confuse some folks just starting out.

I will buy an O'Reilly book over any other
publisher.

And please, let me know the exact spelling
of the beatlessdrummer.fix file