macOS UNIX is crushing my mind grapes...

[paul.b.davis]

I did not really know where to post this, this felt like the best place.

So I have recently gotten into learning about UNIX and using the terminal to do a lot of things on my computer, just really basic stuff, and I had a few questions.

First off, what is gnome? Is it something one uses on OS X, or is it the desktop for linux distros?

Basically, I am just starting to learn this stuff and I wanted to know what is possible here.

Thanks for helping.

 

[SRossi]

Gnome is a desktop environment

Read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME

That may help you

Stephen

 

[yellow]

Intro to Darwin: http://osxfaq.com/Tutorials/LearningCenter/index.ws

 

[whatsgooddan]

Intro to Darwin: http://osxfaq.com/Tutorials/LearningCenter/index.ws

Nice one

 

[uberamd]

A great way to learn UNIX (mostly Linux really) is to install VirtualBox and then use that to install a bunch of Linux operating system virtual machines on your Mac. You can then play around with GNOME, KDE, XFCE, Fluxbox, and the other Window managers. Its a good learning experience. I recommend installing Ubuntu, maybe Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux, and FreeBSD to play around with.

 

[cube]

You can also install OpenSolaris, after all Solaris is the best *Unix*.

 

[Cromulent]

A great way to learn UNIX (mostly Linux really) is to install VirtualBox and then use that to install a bunch of Linux operating system virtual machines on your Mac. You can then play around with GNOME, KDE, XFCE, Fluxbox, and the other Window managers. Its a good learning experience. I recommend installing Ubuntu, maybe Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux, and FreeBSD to play around with.

Why bother when Mac OS X its self is a fully fledged UNIX operating system?

 

[MikhailT]

Why bother when Mac OS X its self is a fully fledged UNIX operating system?

Many of the commands are not the same or are missing on MAC OS X from *nix.

Not to mention some of the commands can have args options that are missing on mac but is there by default on *nix.

There's a reason that MacPorts and Finks exist in the first place.

 

[yellow]

Many of the commands are not the same or are missing on MAC OS X from *nix.

Not to mention some of the commands can have args options that are missing on mac but is there by default on *nix.

There's a reason that MacPorts and Finks exist in the first place.

This will quickly become a chicken & egg argument.

I'd argue the opposite, many (many, many) of the basic command line commands in darwin are the same as say, the grandpa of *NIX, BSD. It's the off-shoots (including darwin) that have the bastardized command extensions and added on args.

Personally, I've found that all my Solaris (and OSF) knowledge translated very well to Darwin back in the day. It has always been Linux that has bugged me because of all the fractured versions and their fiefish ways.

 

[elppa]

Why bother when Mac OS X its self is a fully fledged UNIX operating system?

Solairs and Leopard are the only Operating Systems in this thread which are UNIX.

 

[MikhailT]

This will quickly become a chicken & egg argument.

I'd argue the opposite, many (many, many) of the basic command line commands in darwin are the same as say, the grandpa of *NIX, BSD. It's the off-shoots (including darwin) that have the bastardized command extensions and added on args.

Personally, I've found that all my Solaris (and OSF) knowledge translated very well to Darwin back in the day. It has always been Linux that has bugged me because of all the fractured versions and their fiefish ways.

Right and the point of this thread was that somebody wanted to learn unix. A terminal based *nix in a virtual machine is a much better way to learn then actually doing it on the mac that is his main machine.

He can make a serious mistake on the mac that would affect him directly instead of just losing a virtual machine. That's another benefit that the OP should consider and I think he should learn all the trades that different OS can offer so that he can understand the point of having all of those OS. Solaris, Mint/Ubuntu, Fedora/Redhat, FreeBSD/NetBSD/*BSD, Mac and so on.

 

[yellow]

That's part of it's charm!

"I didn't RTFM, and I /dev/toaster'd my bar of soap! Halp!!"

 

[POSIXFTW]

Gnome is a Desktop Environment, for UNIX, and UNIX-like os's, started in the late 90's as a free alternative to KDE. So yeah, you could say it's a "linux thing".

 

[Cinder6]

This will quickly become a chicken & egg argument.

I'd argue the opposite, many (many, many) of the basic command line commands in darwin are the same as say, the grandpa of *NIX, BSD. It's the off-shoots (including darwin) that have the bastardized command extensions and added on args.

Personally, I've found that all my Solaris (and OSF) knowledge translated very well to Darwin back in the day. It has always been Linux that has bugged me because of all the fractured versions and their fiefish ways.

This. It's not that commands are missing, it's simply that they're different between real UNIX, BSD, and Linux. Most people thing of them as the same, but there are some subtle differences that can be really annoying.

For example, the killall command. Nowadays, people use it to kill a processes of an application. Originally, it was used to kill all processes. Still does this in Solaris, last I knew. If you're not careful, you can wind up doing something wrong