Overview

This workshop is designed to provide scientists and researchers from academia and industry with a comprehensive understanding of the basics of GNU+Linux. participants will learn how to navigate both local and remote server environments, manipulate file outputs, and install software. Additionally, participants will learn about the basic architecture of Linux/Unix, as well as how to recognize and work with other operating systems found on servers.

Motivations

Comfort with “the Terminal” is an essential skill for conducting research in a range of scientific fields, and mastering it can help to streamline and speed up the research process. Additionally, becoming proficient in GNU+Linux can open up new opportunities for collaboration and communication with other researchers, many of whom are likely already using Linux/Unix (i.e. MacOS), in their own work.

There are many tasks that can be easily automated through the combination of freely available tools (e.g., image-resizing and cropping), awareness is often the limiting factor. Finally, working in the command-line can help participants to develop important technical skills that will be beneficial throughout their careers, and make them more marketable to potential employers.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Navigate the command-line with confidence
  • Manipulate file outputs using sed, grep, and awk
  • Install software and understand the basic architecture of Linux/Unix
  • Recognize and work with other operating systems found on servers
  • Streamline their research and develop important technical skills

Lesson Outline

  1. Introduction to GNU+Linux and the command-line interface
  2. Basic architecture of Linux/Unix, filesystems
  3. Where to find pre-installed programs, what to expect on a fresh server
  4. Navigating the filesystem with cd, ls
  5. Reading, writing, and manipulating files
  6. Installing software
  7. Other operating systems found on servers

Workshop Format

This workshop will be delivered through a combination of lectures, hands-on exercises, and group discussions. Please note that this workshop has a minimum time format of 3 hours as it covers a lot of material.

Participants will have access to a virtual machine with Linux already installed, so they can practice the skills they learn during the workshop. By the end of the workshop, students will have a solid understanding of the basics of GNU+Linux, as well as the skills and confidence they need to navigate new computational resources for their research.

See the workshop structure page for more information about general workshop format.