I forgot all about this thread, .............
Beginners should learn to use the : 'man' command.
To get started.
Yes experience is maybe the best teacher, that is why it is good to listen and
read what people with experience write or say. The developers that write the manuals, in most cases have first hand experience.
Always use GUI programs
is absurd, and how does one learn anything about administering a system if they limit there selves to only using a
GUI ?
First things first, don't run any command, until after reading the manual about that command. If the manual is not clear enough, then some searches or even asking experienced users, as well.
GUI's are terrible, and maybe the most dangerous thing for a beginner to use.
Besides that, if one wants to learn to administer a Unix server, or Unix like server, they need to understand and know how to use the command line.
I would have titled the topic. "10 commands that beginners should not use, until the read the manual and understand how to use the commands" or something like that, but it would not have fit in the subject line any way.
A real life, true example, funny in some ways, but it goes to show how dangerous the GUI's really are:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=134240
===========================
This guy, really did climb onto the keyboard, and then while standing on the keyboard, he also grabbed the mouse with his beak, he managed to highlight/select all the files in a directory, and when he grabbed the mouse with his beak, and moved it , selected "delete", and "clicked" again, and the files were deleted. Fortunately I had back up copies of my /home/garry/ directory, and nothing was lost,..
It would have not happened , if it had just been the terminal, and he had to type in the command:
RM(1) General Commands Manual RM(1)
NAME
rm - remove directory entries
SYNOPSIS
rm [-dfiPRrv] file ...
DESCRIPTION
The rm utility attempts to remove the non-directory type files specified
on the command line. If the permissions of the file do not permit
writing, and the standard input device is a terminal, the user is
prompted (on the standard error output) for confirmation.
The options are as follows:---------snip------
Any way, the point is, it is much less likely a parrot or "beginner" would be
able to type in the complete command, and then press the enter key, compared with the GUI, where a completely clueless parrot, or 3 year old child, or beginner, can easily <select>, "click", and "clicky", this or that silly icon, click again, and it happens to be the "yes" button or silly icon, ...GUI's are far more dangerous then the command line. That is why beginners should NEVER,
NEVER, NEVER perform tasks that require root privileges using a GUI.
The 'dd' command is the most dependable command for various tasks, not just writing to USB, (usb stick or device), Any beginner should learn how to properly use the command, it is very use full and much more reliable then any GUI that I know of.
DD(1) General Commands Manual DD(1)
NAME
dd - convert and copy a file
SYNOPSIS
dd [operand ...]
DESCRIPTION
The dd utility copies the standard input to the standard output, applying
any specified conversions. Input data is read and written in 512-byte
blocks. If input reads are short, input from multiple reads are
aggregated to form the output block. When finished, dd displays the
number of complete and partial input and output blocks and truncated
input records to the standard error output.
The following operands are available:----snip---
Some examples:
Clone a HD
Back up a partition:
Imagine, how many beginners find their selves helpless, and lost, because they did not make a back up, and they messed everything up while using the GUI, ? The forum is full of examples of this, if they had just learned to use the 'dd' command, and made a backup, they then could also use the same 'dd' command to restore the data they lost.
Those are just a few, basic things that can be done with the 'dd' command, obviously a beginner should start out with simple uses, and when they learn more they can get into more advanced tasks,...
Any way, I am bored with this now,.... bye!