As we at ODIN are obsessed with Open-Source softwares, you've got to try out Linux.
We suggest everyone who intends to do development to give any Linux distribution a try. You will definitely be surprised by how efficient things can be for us devs through a terminal.
One may find OSX as an option as well for setting up development environments(OSX is pretty badass),
but then many Linux distros are FREE.
So, if you want to shell out some bucks on an Apple product, go for it!
The debate for OSX vs Linux makes for many interesting reads, as you might find it here.
Due to the open-sourced nature of the Linux kernel, it's raining distributions out there. So many forks and flavours.
All this may overwhelm a person trying to get into operating a Linux distro.
Depending on how much comfortable you are(read "Swag Level") and your requirements, this article on lifehacker.com sheds some light on the most popular distros available.
Personally, Ubuntu is the best bet for getting a balanced Linux experience and is not at all uneasy for people used to Windows.
You maybe wondering why Linux distros only? Isn't Windows compatible with development things? This is not the real case because once you start working on Ubuntu you will find it to be a Developer friendly OS while Windows was a User friendly one. You can find more differences here on askubuntu.com
New Operating System, New Environment and probably new rules too? Yeah, But Let's start with these baby steps.
- How to install Ubuntu?
- Setup Dual boot with Windows
- Customization
- Basic Terminal Commands
Personally we recommend you to install Ubuntu 14.04(Trusty Tahr) although the latest release is 15.04, as we've had some bad experiences with that version.
- Get Disc Image from ubuntu.com
At this point of time, You have the Ubuntu's installer. Now you need to decide whether you want to install it in your Host PC or in your virtual PC. We recommend to go with virtual machine first if you are not sure what you are doing.
All went good? Installed Successfully? If not, check out this Troubleshooting Guide.
Dual boot facilitates you to install Ubuntu alongside Windows on your system, allowing you to choose the OS on which you want your system to boot on. Dual boot is usually not recommended because many a times it leads to complications. It is always better to run Ubuntu on a virtual machine if you want to keep using Windows along with your preferred Linux distro.
The following links might help you get your system setup for a dual boot operation -
- http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/dual-boot-windows-8-ubuntu.html
- http://askubuntu.com/questions/343268/how-to-use-manual-partitioning-during-installation
- http://askubuntu.com/questions/235862/what-are-the-partitions-to-create-if-i-want-to-dual-boot-ubuntu-12-10-with-windo
- https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot
[COMMAND] [FLAGS_NAME]
Flags are generally seperated by space, prefixed by hypen and could include values corresponding to that flag. Basically, they are arguments that are passed by your terminal to the process corresponding to that command handler.
Commands operate in working directory only and could make use of globally/locally declared variables.
Path is addressed by a series of file system entries seperated by delimiter. In Linux based systems, the delimiter is / but in windows it is ''.
echo: Ask terminal to echo what you have written following echo command.ls: Lists all the items in the working directory (mentioned in the terminal prompt).cd dir: changes the working directory to dir.
.: Entry corresponds to current working address..: Entry corresponds to parent working address- More about cd command here.
pwd: pwd or print working directory does exactly what it means.rm dir: Remove directory dir-rf: Remove files recursively (subdirectories too)
mkdir dir: Make directory dirtouch file: Create empty filekill: kill process
Note: You can get help related to terminal commands by typinghelp _command_
