Getting Started with Ubuntu

Introduction to Ubuntu

• Configure a virtual machine using a DVD image of Ubuntu
• Install Ubuntu in a virtual machine
• Configure Ubuntu 14.4 with VirtualBox guest additions
• Choose a variant of Ubuntu with emphasis on Kubuntu, Lubuntu, and Xubuntu
• Install, remove, and navigate software packages using the Ubuntu Software Centre
• Use Advanced Packaging Tool or APT to install, update, remove, and search for software packages in Ubuntu
• Search with the Unity Dash feature in Ubuntu and change its privacy setting
• Enable and navigate with virtual workspaces in Ubuntu
• Configure the background appearance, brightness & lock settings, and the Unity Tweak Tool in Ubuntu
• Configure the security and privacy-related settings from System Settings
• Enable backups using the built-in backup tool
• Navigate and configure the Ubuntu File Manager
• Monitor system performance using System Monitor
• Configure software sources and additional drivers
• Get up and running with Emacs
• Get up and running with vi/vim
• Display and modify file permissions from File Manager
• Mitigate the dangers of 'rm -rf'
• Create an archive with tar, gzip, and bzip2
• Configure and use sudo
• Modify locale settings
• Share files with Microsoft Windows using Samba
• Connect to files shared by a Microsoft Windows computer
• Connect to remote computers using ssh and scp
• Configure an authentication key for ssh
• Create a symbolic link using ln

Essential Tools for Ubuntu

• Add and modify users in Ubuntu using the available graphical tools
• Add and modify groups in Ubuntu using various command line tools
• Set local and global environment variables
• Modify the .bashrc file to create command line aliases
• Change and modify user and group ownership of files and directories
• Create, copy, and move files and directories on the command line
• Use the df and du utilities to query how storage space is being used
• Compare files for differences using the GNU diff utils
• Perform a find on the command line
• Use grep to search text with regular expressions
• Manipulate and parse text using awk
• Process text using sed
• Explore the head, tail, more, and less utilities
• Use kill to terminate a running process
• Use wc to count the characters, words, and lines in a given file on the command line
• Use curl to make HTTP requests from the command line
• Use openssl to create a message digest on the command line
• Install and configure a simple nginx web server
• Install MariaDB as a drop-in replacement for MySQL
• Install and configure php5-fpm
• Configure a basic LEMP (Linux, nginx, MariaDB, PHP) stack
• Create a certificate signing request and self-sign it with openssl
• Modify the /etc/hosts file to point a domain to a local web server
• Use avconv to format shift video formats and extract audio from a video file