One of the really useful features almost every Unix shell has is support for command aliases – a way to run a command or a series of Unix commands using a shorter name you get associated with such commands.

After my last, rather lengthy, article about useful graphical tools , I am going to talk about another aspect of the Linux graphical user interface that I also find rather useful: Virtual Desktops. Thankfully, this should be a much shorter article!

After my last, rather lengthy, article about useful graphical tools , I am going to talk about another aspect of the Linux graphical user interface that I also find rather useful: Virtual Desktops. Thankfully, this should be a much shorter article!

Running commands one right after the other can be a tedious way to get things done from the shell. What if there was a way to "chain" these commands together? Well fortunately Linux provides some ways to allow you to type in a bunch of commands at the prompt and run them as if it was one command.

While a few commands, such as 'cd' are built directly into bash; many of the most important commands come from coreutils, a GNU package containing over a hundred commands.

Maybe it is time to retire that "math class is hard" speech chip once and for all and replace it with some often-used Linux shell commands.

A little while back, Michael Meeks published a lengthy piece about copyright assignment (not nearly as lengthy as the articles he links to on untangling Wittgenstein's net). Go on, read it (Michael's stuff, not the net). It's worth your time. When you get to the bottom, follow the link to Dave Neary's take on assignment as well.

Perhaps your company is just switching to Linux, to save on costs. Or, maybe you’re starting University, and you have no idea how to get around the Linux Systems they’ve just installed. Or if you’re like me, you’re curious about how Linux works, and you have it installed at home.

If you spend any length of time in the shell, chances are you've typed the same commands over and over. It's usually not anything you can necessarily script as the commands may vary slightly on each invocation, but there are certain commands that can be used often with a little variation on each call.