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Posted by Hai Le
Hai Le
Courses Plus Student 911 Points

How do i learn console if i'm on windows

Because I'm using windows 8 and it's not feasible for me to buy a mac device due to its high price tag. Even installing Linux on my machine seems to be difficult because of new Windows 8's UEFi (file system???) Is there any way to help me move around it?

Adam Sackfield
Adam Sackfield
Courses Plus Student 19,663 Points

Use command prompt and learn that

Hai Le
Hai Le
Courses Plus Student 911 Points

I really don't think so because what Treehouse teaches are only applicable to Unix

Adam Sackfield
Adam Sackfield
Courses Plus Student 19,663 Points

Most of the Unix commands look the same as windows eg

ls - lists files mkdir boo - create dir named boo

and so on. The systems are different but the goal when using them are mainly the same therefore if it can be done on a Mac terminal, Unix, or windows it can be done on the others maybe different terms

4 Answers

Oliver Gibbs
Oliver Gibbs
9,771 Points
Oliver Gibbs
Oliver Gibbs
9,771 Points

Running an instance Linux on a PC is easy using what's known as virtualization software. A free option is Virtual Box - https://www.virtualbox.org/ Once you've got that software running on Windows 8 you can install another operating system inside it such as Linux (or it's variants) or different versions of Windows. It normally works great on newer PC's and I assume since you're already running Windows 8 your PC is most likely up to running this type of software. It's not quite the same or as fast as having Linux installed on 'bare metal' but it does have some benefits like being able to run your instance of Linux on a different PC if you copy your software across, and it's also safer if you're trying something that could potentially leave your computer vulnerable to hackers like learning to run your own web server. If you get into lower level programming languages using virtualization software can also be safer as it protects you from messing up your computers core OS. Good luck!

Mike Morales
Mike Morales
19,833 Points
Mike Morales
Mike Morales
19,833 Points

Hai -

I have the virtualbox installed on my windows 8 computer, and I downloaded Ubuntu onto the virtualbox. So I basically have an operating system within an operating system. Using the virtualbox is a lot safer than trying to partition a linux flavor directly on to your win8 computer.

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

If you want to learn to move around your host system (Windows) learn powershell. If you want to learn to move around a development VM or a hosting account you SSH into learn the *nix commands.

Here's a great tutorial which teaches both side-by-side

http://cli.learncodethehardway.org/book/

Rick Rakin
Rick Rakin
6,531 Points
Rick Rakin
Rick Rakin
6,531 Points

If you go through the Treehouse Git tutorial it will mention using Git Bash for Windows. This basically lets you play with Linux command line in a window in Windows 8. Found here:

VMware player is also a free way to install as many virtual Linux machines as you want in Windows. But will cost you a few hours in installing and learning.