Beginners Guide to Linux

One of the most powerful tools in linux is the terminal, this gives command line access to the computer but has a lot of power that you can access with only a little training. 

 You can right click on a folder or the desktop and select ‘open in terminal’ and will get a new window:

[username@computername Desktop]$

In the terminal you can type commands and upon hitting enter, the commands are executed

Useful Beamline Linux commands

Command

Function

Command

Function

olex2

Opens Olex2

mercury

Opens Mercury

shelxt filename

runs shelxt on your file (make sure you are in the same directory)

xprep

Runs xprep

shelxle

Opens Shelxle

Common Linux commands

Command

Function

Command

Function

pwd

shows the directory path. eg /path/data/structure

ls

lists the content of the directory, eg. all the files and folders.

ls -lrt

lists contents with details, most recently changed/added items at the bottom

cd /directory/subdirectory

changes your directory to /directory/subdirectory. eg, /path/data/structure

cd..

moves back one directory. eg /path/data/structure will move to /path/data

cd../..

moves back two directories. eg /path/data/structure will move to /path

cd~

changes directory to the user directory; /data/home/user3bm1

cd /

changes directory to the highest level (root directory)

mkdir newdirectory

makes a new directory (within the directory you are already in), here called newdirectory

rm filename.ext

deletes the specified file. Be careful when using this, it won’t ask you for confirmation, it will just delete.

rmdir directoryname

deletes the specified directory. Again, be careful.

[Ctrl]-c

halts all active tasks within the terminal