Workshop · Linux
Linux workshop: from zero to the command line, hands-on.
Every lesson is an instrument, not a slide. Students tap the picture and the real command is typed for them, or they type it themselves, and the picture reacts: a cd walks the path, cp flies a file across, kill pops a runaway process. Each lesson runs on a simulated Ubuntu machine in the browser, with the same output and error messages as the real one.
Book this workshop- Length
- About 3 hours: one long session, or two of 90 minutes
- For
- First-year students who have never used a terminal; Computer science and IT departments, before operating systems or networking courses; Faculty development programmes and tech clubs
- Students need
- None: no Linux or programming experience; A laptop or lab PC with a web browser
- Setup
- Nothing to install. Every lesson has its own simulated Ubuntu terminal in the browser, so it runs the same in a lab full of Windows PCs.
We build the course the workshop runs on
A workshop is only as good as what students have in front of them. For this one we made two things:
Interactive lessons with a live terminal
34 lessons in 9 parts. Each one says plainly what the thing is, then hands students something to tap, drag or type, and the picture answers with the real Linux behaviour.
Try the first lessons ↗Mission labs
The Path Lab (ten navigation missions with a live explorer and route map) and a final challenge of seven missions that uses everything: files, grep, sudo, apt, processes and a script.
What students build, step by step
Module 1 · Find your way
What Linux is, how the terminal works, and moving around the one big tree.
- 01What an operating system is, and what Linux is
- 02Kernel, shell and terminal: a command’s journey
- 03Reading the prompt, and your first commands
- 04Command, options and arguments
- 05One tree from /, and what lives in each folder
- 06pwd, ls, cd, absolute and relative paths, and shortcuts
- 07Lab: the Path Lab navigation missions
Module 2 · Work with files and permissions
Making, moving, reading and protecting files, and when to borrow root’s power.
- 01Create, copy, move, rename and delete (there is no recycle bin)
- 02Reading files with cat, less, head, tail and wc
- 03Wildcards, and editing with nano
- 04Users, groups and root
- 05Reading rwxr-xr-x, and changing it with chmod
- 06sudo: one command as the administrator
Module 3 · Power tools and the running system
Combining commands, and looking after a running machine.
- 01Redirection and pipes
- 02Finding things with grep and find
- 03Processes: ps, top and kill
- 04Installing software with apt
- 05Environment variables and PATH
- 06A first shell script
- 07Networking: ping, curl and ssh
- 08Final challenge: seven missions
By the end, students can
- Move around a Linux machine with pwd, ls and cd, using absolute and relative paths
- Create, copy, move, delete and read files safely from the terminal
- Read and change file permissions, and use sudo only when it is needed
- Chain commands with pipes and redirection, and search with grep and find
- Find and stop a misbehaving process, and install software with apt
- Write and run a small shell script, and log in to another machine with ssh
Run it at your college
Tell us the date, roughly how many students, their year, and whether it’s in person or online. We can run it, or hand your faculty the materials to run it themselves.
Book this workshop