>Duh, just realised what a dumb question my last one was. Of course, Linux
>is running just fine. It's just waiting for a command from me and since I
>don't know any UNIX commands as yet, I don't know what to tell it to do.
*grin*
congratulations, Frank.. you've just taken you first step on the road to
unix gurudom. we've all started there, and the laugh i'm having is *not*
at you.. it's at the flood of nearly identical memories from my own past.
a tip:
# kill -9 -1
isn't something you want to do as root. it won't trash the machine or
anything, but it's embarrassing if you happen have a guru looking over your
shoulder at the time. that was the day first heard the statement in PP1.
;-)
>Ah well, fire up my web browser and point in the direction of Amazon.com.
>Anyone got any recommendations for a good basic UNIX book (preferably
>Linux specific and even more preferably Red Hat Linux specific).
my two favorites are both from O'Reilly & Assoc.:
"UNIX Power Tools"
by Jerry D. Peek, Tim O'Reilly, Mike Loukides
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565922603/002-8885520-0581219
which is really a cookbook of how-to tips. it doesn't really teach you
unix itself, but shows you the unix mindset. that consists mostly of
acquiring a bag of been-there-done-that tricks and familarity with the
standard tools for operation X. what *are* the standard tools for
operation X? everybody has their own preferences, and this book will walk
you through the arguments from each camp.
also:
"Running Linux"
by Matt Welsh, Lar Kaufman
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565921518/002-8885520-0581219
which is specific to the RedHat distribution O'R&A sells as a beginner's
unix kit. it goes through and explains the whats, hows, and whys of
running a Linux system with the tools bundled in the RedHat distribution.
once you've ingested those, you'll have a whole batch of more specific
questions, and the background vocabulary to get meaningful answers out of
the next layer of references.
>Until then...how do I close my Linux system down? Or can I just turn it off
>like the old DOS boxes?
as others have said, the usual command is
# shutdown -h now
where the 'h' stands for 'halt' and the 'now' says when to do it. on
multi-user systems, it's usually standard to use a 10 minute delay, thus
giving the other users a chance to save their files and log out. as soon
as you enter the command, every user on the system is warned, and there are
usually a set of countdown warnings for the truly thick of skull.
another variant of the shutdown command is to call for a reboot:
# shutdown -r now
which is one of the system administrator's best friends.
you never want to shut a real OS down without warning, because one of the
services it provides for processes is called 'memory-mapped file handling'.
basically, that means it keeps a buffer of RAM which it uses to speed up
the process of reading data to & from the drive platter. at any given
moment, the file you think you've written to disk may in fact be sitting in
the buffer, while the system waits for a lull in system activity to do the
actual write.
one of the most important parts of the shutdown process is to flush that
buffer and make sure all the internal records that keep track of what's
stored where get updated correctly. cutting power without calling for a
proper shutdown is roughly like sneaking up behind someone and hitting them
in the back of the head with a stick. when they wake up, they tend to be
a mite testy at having their train of thought interrupted in such a manner.
mike stone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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