First commands

Your First Commands

ls command command to list content of directory

copy command - command for copy file or directory

mkdir command - command to create directory

Let’s run some commands. Type each one and press Enter.

Who Am I?

whoami

This prints your username. The computer is confirming who you’re logged in as.

What Machine Is This?

hostname

This prints the name of the computer you’re connected to. Useful when you’re managing multiple servers.

Where Am I?

pwd

pwd = print working directory. This shows your current location in the file system.

You’ll see something like:

/home/yourusername

This is your home directory - your personal space on the system.

What’s Here?

ls

ls = list. This shows files and folders in your current directory.

If you just installed, it might be empty or show a few default files.

What Time Is It?

date

This prints the current date and time according to the system.

Clean Up the Screen

clear

This clears all the text and gives you a fresh screen. You can also press Ctrl+L as a shortcut.

Challenge

Now try this on your own:

Task: Disconnect from SSH, reconnect, and run all six commands from memory.

  1. Type exit to disconnect from SSH

  2. Reconnect using ssh username@ip-address

  3. Run: whoami, hostname, pwd, ls, date, clear

Verify: If you can do all of this without looking at notes, you’ve completed Module 1.

Hint:

The SSH command format is:

ssh username@ip-address

Replace username with your actual username and ip-address with the IP you wrote down earlier.

Summary

You just:

  • Created a Linux virtual machine

  • Installed Ubuntu Server

  • Found your VM’s IP address

  • Connected remotely via SSH

  • Ran your first Linux commands

You have a working Linux environment. You typed commands and got results. That’s the foundation everything else builds on.

Next module: We’ll do more things, then explain what’s actually happening.

Definitions

Virtual Machine (VM): A computer simulated in software, running inside your real computer.

Ubuntu: A popular distribution (version) of Linux, known for being beginner-friendly.

SSH (Secure Shell): A protocol for securely connecting to remote computers over a network.

IP Address: A numerical address that identifies a device on a network, like a house number on a street.

Terminal: The text-based interface where you type commands.

Console: Direct access to a machine, as if you were physically sitting at it. In a VM, the console window simulates this.

Home Directory: Your personal folder on a Linux system, usually /home/yourusername.