How to take first steps in learning the use of the CLI

[DaPlumber]

Hehe, nice chart. Linux really doesn't belong in that chart though as Linux is NOT a part of UNIX family. It IS a clone of UNIX based on Minix, which conforms to the POSIX standards, but as even your chart clearly shows, there is no line whatsoever connecting the UNIX tree to the Linux tree. UNIX is mostly closed source (outside of BSD) while Linux is completely open source.

Eh, No. :D Linux started out as a Comp-Sci project as a "work-alike" for a UNIX-style kernel. We could debate the various parts of an OS and also kernel and user land compared with GNU and HURD, yada, yada. But let's not. By defacto common usage "Linux" these days refers to an Operating System, even if it is strictly speaking just the name of the kernel. I started with Slackware 2.0 as my first Linux distro and over the last 20 years I've touched almost all of the major branches on this list: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Gldt1009.svg (Now THAT's a chart that needs a large format plotter to properly appreciate!) I still think that if your truly want to understand every aspect of of an OS one of the best ways is to grab a Gentoo stage-1 tarball and build from scratch, but that's a MAJOR investment in time. It will however expose you to all OS plumbing and the Linux approach to solving it. Minix is... an interesting beast. Since it was designed as a teaching tool (Genuflect: Tannebaum) it excels at that but... not much else. Wikipedia calls both Minix and Linux "UNIX-like", who am I to disagree? Also let's not open the "What is Open Source" can of Lumbricus Terrestris. :p

Not necessarily; In fact, if you have one of those DD-WRT/Tomato compatible routers, you could just flash it with the latest available ROM and it provides a very elegant and easy to use web GUI interface to set the server up.
It will set up the server, routing/bridging, and all the general heavy-lifting for you.
You may have to create the certs in a CLI, but that's just as easy as copy/paste several commands from a guide.

Eh, If you're messing around with FreeNAS, you really should consider pfSense which I regard as it's router/firewall/gateway second cousin. I was (and still am for access points) a Tomato and DD-WRT user, but pfSense is a very powerful system that will run on low end x86 hardware, is also FreeBSD based, has function packages, a great web interface and pretty good documentation (published even!). For a VPN I recommend OpenVPN as the least complicated and clients on almost any platform you can think of and then some. OpenVPN is very easy to set up on Tomato, dd-WRT and pfSense. (IPSEC is for security through obscurity commercial standards obsessed masochists. :p)

 

[Whattteva]

Eh, No. :D Linux started out as a Comp-Sci project as a "work-alike" for a UNIX-style kernel. We could debate the various parts of an OS and also kernel and user land compared with GNU and HURD, yada, yada. But let's not.

What you said is certainly true and I don't dispute that, but that doesn't change the fact that it is NOT UNIX. It certainly behaves "UNIX-like" and conforms to the POSIX standards, but it can't be called UNIX cause it shares zero source code with UNIX (hence, the absence of a connection between the trees). The BSD's, on the other hand, are direct descendants of UNIX and thus, share some of the original source code. If you dispute that, then SCO would like to have a word with you and possibly come with a lawsuit paddle (a scenario that actually did happen several years ago. IIRC, SCO won that lawsuit.). Even the BSD's don't call themselves UNIX (despite them sharing the original source code) for this legal reason. I suppose that "zero" source code may be disputed now that we know SCO found that Linux has some UNIX source code it is not supposed to have.

Eh, If you're messing around with FreeNAS, you really should consider pfSense which I regard as it's router/firewall/gateway second cousin. I was (and still am for access points) a Tomato and DD-WRT user, but pfSense is a very powerful system that will run on low end x86 hardware, is also FreeBSD based, has function packages, a great web interface and pretty good documentation (published even!). For a VPN I recommend OpenVPN as the least complicated and clients on almost any platform you can think of and then some. OpenVPN is very easy to set up on Tomato, dd-WRT and pfSense. (IPSEC is for security through obscurity commercial standards obsessed masochists. :p)

Totally agree here. pfSense is a fine product and their hardware products command fairly reasonable prices, too. Especially when you take into account that 2 of them come with 1 year of support and you can be absolutely sure you're using certified hardware that is well-tested. It makes me wonder though why they decided to base it on FreeBSD instead of OpenBSD, especially considering its role as a security/firewall solution.

I know, I probably sound a bit nitpicky but I think it's important to get the background on the history correctly. Some people care a lot about the differences between GNU licensing and BSD licensing, some people don't give 2 sh*ts about it. Some people care about history, some could care less if the spawn of satan created Linux, bla bla, etc etc... but I feel like that's something that they should decide for themselves.

 

[DaPlumber]

I know, I probably sound a bit nitpicky but I think it's important to get the background on the history correctly. Some people care a lot about the differences between GNU licensing and BSD licensing, some people don't give 2 sh*ts about it. Some people care about history, some could care less if the spawn of satan created Linux, bla bla, etc etc... but I feel like that's something that they should decide for themselves.

"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
-- George Santayana "The Life of Reason, Vol 1 Reason in Common Sense"

 

[Whattteva]

"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
-- George Santayana "The Life of Reason, Vol 1 Reason in Common Sense"

Great quote. Always wondered who said that last bit "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

 

[danb35]

If you dispute that, then SCO would like to have a word with you and possibly come with a lawsuit paddle (a scenario that actually did happen several years ago. IIRC, SCO won that lawsuit.).

No, SCO resounding lost that (series of) lawsuit(s). The fact that they themselves distributed Linux under the GPL didn't help, nor did the fact that they didn't own any UNIX copyrights in the first place. Neither did the fact that there was simply no improperly copied code there. But their biggest blunder was suing a company (IBM) whose legal department alone could buy them whole out of petty cash, and had an inviolable policy of not negotiating with terrorists. Land war in Asia, and all that.

Linux is not UNIX, but from an end-user's perspective, it might as well be. BSD is UNIX, but a different flavor. Someone who is experienced with the Linux CLI will have a good head start on FreeBSD, but will need to be aware that some things work differently.