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