Clueless at the Prompt Issue 26

"Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun!"

Clueless at the Prompt

By Mike List,

Welcome to installment 10 of Clueless at the Prompt,

Here's this month's account of the triumphs, trials and tribulations that I caused myself or encountered since the last time, and a couple tips that may come in handy and increase your understanding of Linux.

*Splitvt and Screen:

Last month, I suggested splitvt as a substitute for virtual consoles when using a serial terminal. I still recommend splitvt since you can work in two separate windows that are in sight of each other- cut and paste with gpm is a snap for scavenging previously written scripts or.... But several people wrote to tell me about screen, which is an even better substitute for virtual consoles when using that dumb terminal. I'm still working on making screen work fluidly, Alt-F* took a little getting used to at first. Instead of the A-F* combination you use the C-a* keys to open a new window. There are some other features that I have only read about, the only difference between screen and virtual consoles is that each new screen is already logged on.

Like I said, I'm not familiar with all of screen's features, but to use it, basically you type:

        screen progname

and your screen session is started in VT0. To add more VTs you can use:

        Ctrl-a c

and to change from one screen to another:

        Ctrl-a 0-9

and you can change from screen to screen, depending on how many you have opened. Note that the screens are numbered 0-9 rather than 1-10, the only clumsy feature of this program, IMHO.

*Back to basics:

Some friends of mine, the nefarious UGD folks have a page "User Guide Dog"which details many, if not most of the usual commands that a new user might find useful but not clearly documented. I don't have to tell you that man pages can be pretty hostile to a gnubee (ever wonder what that picture was?), but if you check them out after using the programs to do the things you most commonly need to do, you will most likely achieve enlightenment - the information is suddenly much more clear. The UGD Project is shaping up as a good vehicle for this journey, if you can take the ride. Bring along your sense of humor, one of the guys is a Canadian from out on the tundra ; ).

*Some stuff you may not hear anywhere else (so basic they forgot to tell you):

Here's some stuff you probably already know about, if you've been into Linux (or other unices) for a while.
Filename Completion
: If you aren't an enthusiastic typist, you'll find this of value. Just type enough of the filename to make it unique, then hit
```
tab
```
and it will complete the filename so you can get on with your life and file manipulation. Play with this feature, if you haven't typed enough of the name to be unique, it will sit and stare at you, try another character or two. Likewise, if you specified the wrong directory, you'll get nada.
Quick cd
: Another keystroke saving apparatus is:
```
..
```
and its close relative
```
.
```
The details for a quick cd areas follows: as you may be already aware, the dots represent your current directory(single dot) and parent directory (double dot).By CDing to
```
..
```
you will be magically transported to the parent directory, ie from /usr/bin to /usr.You can use:
```
cd -
```
to return to the previous directory, and to go up two or more levels:
```
../../and so on
```
will work. The single dot is not as useful in terms of cd, but it does have its use. If you are in a directory that's not in your path, or dont have
```
.
```
in your path statement, you must give a path to run an executable file. This is easily accomplished by typing:
```
./execuname
```
which will give the relative pathname, allowing it to be found and run. There are a few good reasons why using the single dot in your path statement isn't a good idea, suffice to say, if you'd like more info on that subject, you should read up on system security.
GPM
: This has been so basic to my Linux experience that I would be crippled without it, in fact once when I flubbed an installation and didn't have it running, it became my first priority to correct that little oversight. The mere fact that the non unix OS seem not to have this is reason to upgrade to Linux, although I found a dos program that allows a similar use of the mouse on simtelnet. In a related matter, if you dual boot(most home boxes, I'd imagine)you might find yourself using
```
ls -aF
```
when you actually meant to type
```
dir
```
or
```
cp
```
when what you wanted was
```
copy
```
you can create batch files(like shell scripts) named for your favorite unix commands, using your favorite switches. Not as cool as dosemu or just plain staying in Linux, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.