workshop · for absolute newcomers

Linux for
the Curious

What Linux actually is, how to pick a distro, and a first real tour of the terminal — a hands-on two hours.

you@workshop:~ 
$ whoami
gorm reventlow
$ linux for the curious
## format

How the Next Two Hours Work

part 1 ~50 min · theory

What Linux is, the kernel, distros and their families, release models, package managers, desktops — and how to pick your first one.

part 2 ~60 min · hands-on

Nine small tasks in the terminal: navigate, make and edit files, move and delete them, then the power tools — man, tldr, btop.

TASK When a slide has this amber badge, it's hands-on-keyboard time. Finished early? Help a neighbor.
# prerequisites: curiosity (required) · a laptop (recommended) · questions welcome at any time
$ linux for the curious
you@workshop:~$ cd part-1/

Part 1

What is Linux?
$ linux for the curious
## concepts

What Is Linux?

A free, open-source operating system built on the Unix tradition.

>

At its core sits the kernel — the part that talks to your hardware.

>

Licensed under the GPL: anyone may read, change and share the code.

>

Built by thousands of volunteers — no single company owns it.

already running on
Most of the web's servers
All 500 fastest supercomputers
Every Android phone
Routers, TVs, cars, ATMs
A helicopter on Mars
…and the network you're on right now
$ linux for the curious
## concepts

A Short History

1969
Unix is born at Bell Labs — the grandfather of nearly every serious OS.
1983
The GNU project starts building a free Unix — tools, compilers… but no kernel yet.
1991
Linus Torvalds, a student in Helsinki, posts his hobby kernel online — "just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu."
today
The largest collaborative software project on Earth — thousands of contributors, every industry.
$ linux for the curious
## concepts

The Kernel

you typing, clicking
↓
apps & shell firefox, bash…
↓
distro ubuntu, fedora, arch…
↓
kernel the boss
↓
hardware cpu, ram, disk, wifi

The kernel is the middleman between your programs and your machine. It handles:

Processes — starting, scheduling, stopping programs
Memory — who gets RAM, and how much
Drivers — speaking every device's language
Filesystems & network — storing bytes, moving packets
Security — users, permissions, isolation
# strictly speaking, "Linux" is only the green box
$ linux for the curious
## concepts

What's a Distro?

Nobody runs "just Linux". You run a distribution — the kernel bundled with everything that makes it a usable OS.

kernel
the engine
+
package manager
installs software
+
software & tools
apps, libraries
+
desktop
optional, for servers
=
a distro
Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch…
# same engine, different car. hundreds exist — most share a few big ancestors.
$ linux for the curious
## concepts

A Tour of Distros

Ubuntu

The friendly default. Huge community, everything just works.

Debian

The rock. Stable, no-nonsense — runs half the internet's servers.

Fedora

The fresh one. Newest tech first, polished desktop.

Mint

The familiar one. Feels like classic Windows — gentle landing.

Arch

The DIY kit. You build it piece by piece. (Users will tell you. btw.)

Kali

The locksmith. Security-testing toolkit — a tool, not a first distro.

Raspberry Pi OS

Debian tuned for the little boards in every hardware project.

SteamOS

Arch tuned for gaming — it's what runs the Steam Deck.

# several hundred more exist. these eight cover most conversations.
$ linux for the curious
## concepts

Commercial vs. Community Distros

commercial — run by a company
moneypaid support contracts, certifications, training supportprofessional, guaranteed — with an SLA and a phone number pick whena business needs someone to call at 3 AM
RHEL · SUSE SLES · Ubuntu (Canonical)
community — run by volunteers
moneydonations and sponsors — no profit motive supportforums, wikis, chat — often excellent, never guaranteed pick whenyou're a human with curiosity — like this room
Debian · Arch · Fedora (Red Hat–sponsored)
# the line blurs: Ubuntu has a company and a community. Fedora is community-run, corporate-sponsored — and open decision-making is the norm in both worlds.
$ linux for the curious
## concepts

Release Models

How often does your distro change under you?

fixed release

A new version every 6–12 months. Predictable upgrades.

Software can feel dated near the end of a cycle.

ubuntu · fedora
rolling release

No versions — updates flow in continuously, forever.

Always the latest. Occasionally the latest bug, too.

arch · openSUSE tumbleweed
LTS

Long Term Support — boring on purpose, patched for ~5 years.

The choice for servers and people who like sleep.

ubuntu LTS · debian stable
$ linux for the curious
## concepts

Package Managers

An app store, decades before app stores — one command installs, updates and removes software. Each distro family has its own:

debian / ubuntu / mint
$ sudo apt install btop
fedora / RHEL
$ sudo dnf install btop
arch / steamOS
$ sudo pacman -S btop
why it beats downloading installers

Signed packages from a trusted archive, dependencies resolved for you, and one command updates everything at once.

snap & flatpak

The newer, distro-agnostic ones — sandboxed apps that run anywhere, at the cost of bigger downloads.

$ linux for the curious
## concepts

Desktop Environments

The look and feel is a separate, swappable layer. Same OS underneath.

GNOME
Clean and modern. The default on Ubuntu & Fedora.
KDE Plasma
Tweak absolutely everything. Rich and configurable.
COSMIC
The new kid, built in Rust by System76. Default on Pop!_OS.
Hyprland
Keyboard-driven tiling, famously flashy. The one in all the screenshots.
# try a few — you can install several and pick at the login screen.
$ linux for the curious
## concepts

Choosing Your First Distro

"I just want it to work"
→
Ubuntu / Mint
"I want the newest shiny things"
→
Fedora
"This laptop is older than my nephew"
→
Mint XFCE / Lubuntu
"I want to understand every bolt"
→
Arch (later!)
# there is no wrong answer. distro-hopping is a rite of passage — try them from a USB stick first.
$ linux for the curious
you@workshop:~$ cd ../part-2/

Part 2

The terminal
lids up. terminals open. this part is hands-on.
$ linux for the curious
## the shell

Why the Terminal?

>

Faster — one line beats twelve clicks.

>

Scriptable — anything you can type, you can automate.

>

Universal — same commands on every distro, every server, over SSH.

>

Honest — it tells you exactly what happened, and why not.

the plan for part 2 
$ pwd · ls · cd
→ find your way around
$ mkdir · touch · nano · cp · mv · rm
→ make, edit, move, delete
$ man · tldr · btop
→ help yourself + watch your machine
# every hacker movie lied about what it looks like. the real thing is better.
$ linux for the curious
TASK 0 hands-on — everyone

Get a Terminal

already on Linux

Press Ctrl+Alt+T, or find "Terminal" in your app menu.

# you're done. smug is allowed.
on macOS

Open Terminal.app. macOS is Unix family — nearly everything today works the same.

# use brew instead of apt
on Windows

PowerShell as admin → wsl --install, reboot — a real Ubuntu inside Windows.

# or boot a live USB instead
→
Checkpoint: everyone sees a blinking cursor before we move on. Neighbours help neighbours.
$ linux for the curious
## the shell

Reading the Prompt

alice@laptop:~$
alice

who you're logged in as

laptop

which machine — matters over SSH

~

where you are — ~ means your home folder

$

normal user. if it shows # you are root — extra careful

$ linux for the curious
TASK 1 hands-on

Find Your Way: pwd · ls · cd

type along 
$ pwd
/home/alice
$ ls
Desktop  Documents  Downloads
$ ls -la   # hidden files start with a dot
$ cd /
$ ls       # the root of everything
$ cd       # no argument = back home
pwdprint working directory — "where am I?" lslist what's here cd dirgo there cd ..one level up cdstraight home
# superpowers: Tab completes names · ↑ repeats the last command
$ linux for the curious
TASK 2 hands-on

Make Things: mkdir · touch

type along 
$ cd
$ mkdir sandbox
$ cd sandbox
$ touch notes.txt
$ ls
notes.txt
$ mkdir -p projects/first   # nested, in one go
mkdirmake a directory (folder) touchcreate an empty file — or update its timestamp -pcreate parent folders as needed
This sandbox folder is where we play for the rest of the workshop.
# no "are you sure?" dialogs. it just does it. that's the deal here.
$ linux for the curious
TASK 3 hands-on

Edit a File: nano

GNU nano 7.2 — notes.txt
Ideas: revive the old laptop, learn the terminal_
^O Write Out ^X Exit ^K Cut

That ^ means Ctrl — so Ctrl+O saves, Ctrl+X quits. The cheat sheet is always on screen.

type along 
$ nano notes.txt
# write a line or two
# ctrl-o, enter = save
# ctrl-x = quit
$ cat notes.txt   # did it stick?
# yes, we skipped vim. you're welcome.
# trapped in it one day: Esc :q! — remember that.
$ linux for the curious
TASK 4 hands-on

Read Files: cat · less

type along 
$ cat notes.txt
Ideas: revive the old laptop, learn the terminal
$ cat /etc/os-release   # your distro's ID card
$ less /var/log/syslog  # something properly long
   scroll: arrows · search: /wifi · quit: q
catdump the whole file — great for short ones lesspage through long ones at your own pace qthe escape hatch — also works in man
# cat = curiosity. less = curiosity with scroll.
$ linux for the curious
TASK 5 hands-on

Copy & Move: cp · mv

type along 
$ cp notes.txt backup.txt
$ mv backup.txt ideas.txt   # rename = move
$ mv ideas.txt projects/
$ ls projects
first  ideas.txt
cp from tocopy — add -r for folders mv from tomove — which is also how you rename. There is no rename command; this is it
# mv will happily overwrite a file with the same name. no warning. remember that.
$ linux for the curious
TASK 6 hands-on — careful now

Delete Things: rm

type along 
$ rm projects/ideas.txt
$ mkdir junk
$ rm -r junk        # -r = folder + contents
$ rm -i notes.txt   # -i asks first — answer n!
rm: remove regular file 'notes.txt'? n
# keep notes.txt alive — we still need it.
⚠ there is no trash can

No undo. No "recently deleted". Gone means gone.

And never run the infamous sudo rm -rf / — it deletes the entire system. People online suggest it as a "joke". It is not.

$ linux for the curious
TASK 7 hands-on — your first install

Help Yourself: man · tldr

type along 
$ man tar               # behold. q to escape
$ sudo apt install tldr
[sudo] password:         # typing shows nothing — normal
$ tldr tar              # first run updates its cache
$ tldr mv
$ tldr ls
manthe official manual — complete, authoritative, ~1,100 lines for tar. Every flag since 1979 tldrcommunity cheat sheets — the 8 examples you actually wanted, ready to copy sudo"do this as administrator" — asks for your password
# fedora: sudo dnf install tldr · arch: sudo pacman -S tldr
# man = the reference. tldr = the friend who just tells you the answer.
$ linux for the curious
TASK 8 hands-on

Watch the Machine: btop

btop
cpu
38%
mem
61%
net↓
2.1M
pid name cpu% mem%
4242 firefox 31.0 24.8
1337 spotify 4.2 11.3
# the answer to "why is my laptop fan screaming?"
type along 
$ sudo apt install btop
$ btop
Find the hungriest process — open a video tab, watch it climb.
Explore with arrow keys; you can even kill a process from here.
Quit with q.
# older cousins: top (everywhere) · htop (classic). btop is the pretty one.
$ linux for the curious
## reference

Cheat Sheet

# photo-friendly slide
navigate
pwd — where am I
ls -la — what's here
cd dir — go there
create
mkdir dir — new folder
touch f.txt — new file
nano f.txt — edit it
read
cat f.txt — print it
less f.txt — page it
q — escape less/man
move & delete
cp a b — copy
mv a b — move/rename
rm a — delete. forever
help
man cmd — the manual
tldr cmd — just examples
btop — system monitor
install stuff
sudo apt install x — debian
sudo dnf install x — fedora
sudo pacman -S x — arch
# superpowers: Tab completes · ↑ repeats · Ctrl+C cancels · Ctrl+L clears
$ linux for the curious
## after the workshop

Where Next?

install the thing

Put Mint or Ubuntu on an old laptop — or dual-boot. A live USB lets you try before you commit.

read the good docs

The Arch Wiki is the best Linux documentation anywhere — useful whatever distro you run.

ask humans

Linux people love to help. Find a local user group, a forum, or the colleague who already runs it — and ask.

$ linux for the curious
you@workshop:~$ exit

Thanks — go
break something.

(In a folder called junk. You know how to make one now.)

logout
Connection to workshop closed.
$ linux for the curious