The course is aimed at any person seriously wishing to embark upon a technical computer career such as programming or supporting an Intranet or Internet.

• The unique VirtualBook® interactive, multimedia learning environment
• Material presented in an easy-to-read style
• All the utilities and terminology required to acquire a solid foundation in the principles of the UNIX operating system
• Over 20 exercises to be completed in a simulated UNIX environment
• Over 40 hints, additional notes and anecdotes from the author
• A free UNIX interactive command line simulator

The UNIX simulator was specifically developed for this self-study course to enable students to master UNIX commands and functionality.

It encompasses the core design of the UNIX operating system and has been built to cover generic aspects to enable students to understand the underlying workings of the UNIX operating system regardless of what flavour of UNIX is used. The simulator;

• Requires no access to a UNIX box: students will not need to purchase costly software in order to complete the course. They will be able to practice all the commands and functionality covered in the course on the simulator.
• Provides a safe learning environment: students will not impact their PCs' operating system in any way, as the simulator is a self-contained software program that runs completely independently.
• Includes over 70 commands, file handling mechanisms, compression and decompression, backup and archive functionality: these cover the most frequently used operations in the UNIX environment. Once students have mastered them and understand the concepts they were built on, they will be well equipped to support users in a commercial environment.

Introduction

• What is an operating system?
• The history of the UNIX system
• The structure of the UNIX system
• UNIX as an operating system

Entering and leaving the UNIX Operating System

• Logging in
• Logging out
• Case sensitivity
• Installing and changing passwords
• Various UNIX scenarios

Some Basic Commands

• How to shell process a command process
• Using some simple commands
• Advanced definitions
• Interrupting program execution
• Suspending program display
• How to send electronic mail

Files and Directories

• The structure of UNIX files
• Creating ordinary files
• Learning and Manipulating the Structure of the Directory File Hierarchy
• The standard UNIX directory file and file hierarchy
• Absolute and relative pathnames

The Structure of Special Files

• More on special files
• The structure of the /DEV directory
• Other relevant device names

Commands for File Manipulation

• How to manipulate ordinary files
• Manipulating directory files
• Tools used to manipulate ordinary & directory files
• Wildcard characters

File Access and Changing Permissions

• File access permissions
• Changing permissions with CHMOD
• Setting system-wide permissions with UNMASK
• Substitute user login with SU
• The ID command

Basic Shell

• More on the Shell
• The Shell and its environment
• The login cycle - the Shell "startup" files
• How to set serial options with STTY
• Changing your personal environment
• Running background processes
• Filters

The UNIX File System

• Structuring your UNIX system
• More about file systems
• Monitoring system usage

Process and the Process Table

• How the UNIX system handles processes
• How the process table works
• A look at the process table
• Removing processes from the process table
• Other commands

Backup Commands

• The TAR command
• The DO command
• The CPIO command

Resource and Memory Management Command

• How UNIX handles the Buffer Cache
• How UNIX handles the Page Cache
• How to monitor your System's Resources

Course Outcomes

• Discuss what the UNIX operating system is
• Discuss the history and development of UNIX
• Understand the structure of the UNIX operating system
• Discuss the features of UNIX as an operating system
• Enter and leave the UNIX System
• Add or change your password
• Use simple commands such as: man, date, who, banner, cal, echo, ls
• Interrupt a running process
• Suspend a process
• Send electronic mail
• Discuss the structure of UNIX files
• Create ordinary files
• Implement the standard UNIX directory file and file hierarchy
• Discuss absolute and relative pathnames
• Discuss the structure of special files, including /dev
• Manipulate ordinary files with the following commands: cat, more, pg, cp, ln, mv, rm, file, strings
• Use commands such as: clear, uname, head/tail, last, wc, tty, compress, uncompress
• Manipulating directory files with the mkdit and rmdir commands
• Manipulate both ordinary and directory files with the following commands: copy, find, rm-r
• Use and understand wildcard characters
• Distinguish between types of file access permissions
• Change permissions with CHMOD
• Change ownership and group permissions with CHOWN and CHGRP
• Set system-wide permissions with UNMASK
• Substitute user login with SU
• Use the ID command
• Set terminal options
• Set up environment variables
• Use the Shell start-up files such as 'profile'
• Use wildcard characters
• Use quotation marks
• Redirect file input and output
• Run background processes
• Use pipes and filters
• Structure your UNIX system
• Know what a UNIX file system is including the superblock, inode table and file system recovery
• Mount and unmount file systems
• Monitor system usage
• Understand how UNIX handles processes
• Understand how the process table works
• Look at the process table using ps
• Remove processes from the process table
• Use other commands such as w and whodo
• Know 3 backup commands: TAR, DO, CPIO
• How UNIX handles the Buffer and Page Cache
• Monitor your System's Resources

Simone Roseman has been working in the UNIX and networking environment for 12 years, and in the technical computer environment for 20 years. She has experience in many of the flavours of the Unix Operating System, including SCO, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, and Sperry UNIX. Although Simone qualified as an SCO ACE in 1994, she has been writing and teaching Unix course in South Africa since 1991.

Simone has developed a method of teaching technical IT related courses that ensures that the student gains maximum knowledge and hands-on experience. Simone currently owns an IT education and training company, that is situated in Cape Town, South Africa.