Years ago when I was starting out with Linux this video helped me so much... It just came up in my recommended and watching it is bringing back so many memories. Great video!
The original Unix system had two disks: one for the operating system (/) and the other for user home directories (/usr). When the operating system grew they had to move some stuff over to the other disks and so the various /usr/someting directories were born. At some point they could afford a third disk and then the user home directories were moved from /usr to /home. So "Unix System Resourses" and such are such backronyms with no actual meaning. The /usr directory was the original place for the home directories but the letters 'u', 's' and 'r' soon lost their original meaning.
I bet there were arguments to move the usr/something directories to the third disk and leave the original user data in /usr. I'm a little surprised they didn't do that.
Thank you for making this video, very informative about how to work with files in linux. Using the "touch" command to create a bunch of files while showing them open in the file browser is a great way of showing that the command-line and GUI are interacting with the same system. Neat little trick: If you want to get to the home directory, you can just type "cd", no need to type "cd ~".
This video was recommended by my Linux instructor in my Intro to UNIX/Linux class and it was well worth the time. Thank you very much for a thorough explanation as well as the visual confirmation showing the file creations populating in the GUI from the CLI. Subscribed.
As a Windows user, I find this directory structure more logical and compact. No problems with spaces in file names, the directory tree is shallow, system, users, temp and caches are separate and movable instead of buried into one another.
Im going to comment here because the actual video that inspired my switch has comments turned off. Thank you joe. You inspired me to make the switch to linux full time and I love it. Im still a beginner but now im 18 months in and thanks to what I learned from your channel, ive gotten to where I prefer to boot straight into the command line and my friends and family look at me like I'm a super nerd. I got called turbo brain today and all i wasn't doing was putting mint iso's on some flash drives to give to a friend who's laptop's resources wont allow him to run windows 8.
Last night I watched bash commands and was an excellent class, great teacher you are! I’ll keep watching since you explain concepts very clearly. Thanks a lot. Got subscribed.
One reason for so many directories was that Unix came from an era of tiny disks, by today's standards. One or a few important directories could fill a disk. Directories like /home ,/var and even /tmp, could need their own disks. It also allowed core system programs to be kept on syste m disks, often write protected. Data files were kept on their one disks. The Unix tree structure allowed the same overall structure to be common, while their may be one disk or dozens. Disks were physically larger, while not hold near as much data. They also could damage themselves rather easily. The file tree shows directories needed to start, run and fix the system are kept apart from common user programs. A nice video. thanks.
Bahahahaha shit I was just about to write a douchey comment saying how the hell did you not know usr = user !!! Glad i watched the video first, ive always thought it was user since the first time I used a linux distro!! lol
great guide! i've been using linux for more than 10 years and from this video, i just found out that the USR directory doesn't mean user....wow! *Mind Blown*
Very enlightening/enjoyable intro to linux filesys. Linux is like going for a ice cold swim. Until you get all the way in & really get all warmed up, it's absolutely mind numbing.
Brilliant Joe. I'm already knee deep into Linux, with Ubuntu, Fedora on physical machines and Kali and CentOS on VMs, but in all the tutorial stuff I have or have seen, no one has taken the time to introduce the file system in this way. I think they assume if you have your ass in gear enough to want to even try Linux, you must be aware, but it's not the case. OK, I have learnt a few things, but it's good to have another insight. Cheers
From a long time windows/dos user (win 3.11) THANK YOU SO MUCH! I've always scratched my head when I dabbled in the linux file indexing system (that's what I call it so I don't confuse it with file system such as NTFS and EXT4)
Nice explanation about contents of Linux directories, mounting in Linux, filenames being case-sensitive, hidden files that have dot at the beginning plus Samba
hi I have been a pc user for 30 years on windows, and been using ubuntu for 5 yrs now thanks for this info all my family didnt like idea of switch to linux at the start but use it every day now, videos like this offer small bits of info to us that we can take on board easily and we don't feel things are to hard to understand, thanks
I have been using open source operating systems since Mandrake/Mandriva and MEPIS. I have not understood directory structures until now. Thank you Joe Collins!
Found this a really interesting and useful video. I don't get to use my Linux PC much as it's still at my parents house, but I'm loving learning how to use Linux and the differences with Windows. Many thanks for the great videos Joe!
THANKS for this lucid description AND with the comparison to Windows locations. Been wondering about these folder purposes for years, now it's clear!!!
It is accepted that Linux is based on Unix. The directory name /usr is based on the word user, not Universal System Resource. In early Unix systems it was where you stored your files (/home didn't exist).; See page 48 of The Unix Programming Environment by Kernighan & Pike
I am a Linux new user. This class was very helpful for me to understand a lot of things. I really appreciate your help. Also I will like to learn more so I can switch completely to Linux. Right now I have all my computers dual boot with Linux distros. Ubuntu Studio, MX Linux, Fedora and a Virtual Box with Kali. I been investing more than 4 hours daily to learn more about programming and working on Linux environment. There's only one thing I have not make work on Linux, that is Spectrum TV app and Netflix all because of flash player. Thanks.
That's a good, simple tutorial, thanks. Don't be afraid to switch from Windows, folks. I use Linux Mint on an old Macbook and it's (functionally) pretty much the same as Apple's operating system of its time - but of course it gets updates frequently and it's free.
Just for the record - Windows can also mount hard drives, folders and network shares as if they were folders on your main drive. It's discouraged because it's far more common with Windows systems to have removable drives and it's easy to forget that it's a drive when you do a mount point. But if you have a multi-drive system where the drives are fixed in the system, that's fine.
I always knew it was possible in Windows... well... I have since Windows3 (I think?)... I was just cautioned against it because Windows had a tendency to be too stupid to still treat it as a drive (like being able to stop it before you unplug the thing on an external)... and you could lose your data. :o)
The fact that Unix was made for colorblind people is why Linux GUIs are needed by the fully-sighted to do file operation- so the folder avatars can be adorned with icons that always visually show in a glance the removability of a drive.
Have watched quite a few of your vid's in the past. I posted on another vid of yours yesterday. I 've just installed mate 16.04 on my laptop. I have a lot to learn about linux. Your vid's are really informative. Learning lots from you. :)
/usr was always intended to mean "user" ; www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy/html/usr.html No slight against Joe Collins but certainly a lesson that if you intended to get into IT it is important to be able to research and verify information as it may be critical to a project you are working on. In this case not such a big deal but I had to close the open loop.
"Lets call this folder USR, nobody will be confused by that!" ;) And PWD? Is it just me who thinks this should have something to do with passwords? ROOT isn't the root. This could be why Windows people get confused by Linux. Someone didn't have their head screwed on straight when they named some of these things. ;) Still, a handy video, finally helped me with some of these things. I still feel the operating system is overly paranoid when it comes to constant password prompts, but given the history, I understand it.
Palunon I remember them having passwords. I guess it depends on the system you used back then. But Linux? No passwords? I find that VERY hard to believe. ;)
Neil Roy Not Linux, but very early Unix. A lot of mainframes back then didn't use passwords, especially in places like the MIT and Bell Labs. We're talking somewhere between 1969 and 1973, not the 80's... At the time, Print Working Directory was a nice name.
Your welcome for clicking on the video, but more importantly, thank you for making the video! We keep each other alive Mr. Collins. We keep each other alive.
Good video. Something you forgot to mention is how the file extension system works. In Windows, you need to convert a file format before it's useable (e.g. Word to PDF). In Linux, you can tell the system what file you have just created by changing the file extension. When it's first created, a Linux file is in a neutral format. All you have to do is simply add an extension at the end and the system will treat it as such (e.g .mp3, .docx, .mp4, .pdf etc).
Uh, I'm not entirely sure if I get what you mean, but if you just mean changing the file extension of an existing file in the file explorer... then, you can do that in Windows as well, and it will treat it as that file. If I have an "mp4" file, I can easily just "show file extensions" and change it... Or, when I create a file, I would just create a text file and as I choose a name, replace the "txt" with whatever I want? Maybe I didn't completely understand what you meant there, but, from what I got out of it, you *can* just change the file extension of a file, and it will be treated as that file (the contents of it could be wrong though)
@@annieperdue6140 I've used both Floppy types 5.25 and 3.5... I even used Cartridges for Terminal-Keyboard setup where the computer was built into the keyboard and there was a slot on the side for a Cartridge. If you booted up the system, there was but wasn't an operating system... In other words, There was no running application but the terminal and kernel itself... there were no "bash or dos commands"... The terminal had a built in parser for the Basic Language... You could literally write a program from the terminal... It only lived as long as the computer was running, unless if you had a record-able cartridge drive with a blank write-able cartridge... This was back in the early to mid 80's... 10 var x = 10 20 var y = 20 30 var z = x + y 40 print z 50 goto: 40 Then execute... or something like that... it's been so long since I've written any Basic... Then came Apple II and II e... which was okay... but Dos 6.0 and Win 3.1 or 3.11 was where it was at! Why? Microsoft can thank ID Software for it's Dos Game DOOM! Without it, MS with DOS and Window's might not have gone that far! Doom is Window's Samwise Gamgee... Window's (Frodo) wouldn't have gone very far without Doom!
@@skilz8098 That era of computing fascinates me. I don't know what it is. Maybe it was the fact you could tap into the raw nerve of the computer itself.
thank you very much , you helped me alot to better understand the system all your tutorials are so easy to be understood even if english is not my mother language but thanks to you i can deal with linux the easiest way possible thank you again a please keep up the great work :)
Such a well thought out and put together video, my god. thank you for taking the time to create this. I have watched other paid videos and none provide as much detail as this ! Very easy to understand with great windows to Linux comparisons !!!
I **Tried* to use Linux. every time I did, I failed because I couldn't figure out how the hard drives worked. I had 2 hard drives on my machine and couldn't address them separately . (I was too used to the C, D, E way of identifying the drives.) I had so many books and yet still couldn't figure out how the hard drives worked. You shed some light but I'm still messed up because of the old windows ways. I eventually gave up on Linux.
There is so many relevant things i needed to know in that video of course including the main subject. Started very recently on Manjaro and like it as much as i thought id do and more since i knew almost nothing. I like how the Linux community is really dedicated and motivate in helping and sharing the OS. Of course that kind of thing has to ( cause its the same thing everywhere ) cause trouble among ppls sometime making " Linux folks " looking like they're always bickering and fighting against each other on the " how to " . Obviously its not true and YES sometime being presented aspects in a more simplistic manner is infinitely more practical then absolute precise facts. As long as the idea reflect the point its all good. Anyway we'll get there and figure soon enough if something had been explain simplified. Easier for the help and the helped. Awesome video , the longest 5 secs of my life before you change that " Y " but it was worth it ! Blow em all !!! XD
One correction; the /bin tends to hold most important system programs and some legacy programs, but not *most* programs. Most programs install to /usr/bin these days.
WolfireGaming bin is utilities, programs are refer if what you write, applications is not really in your bin,applications and programs being separate things,the bin is referred as utilities as contains constant sets of things used which change and can be altered r changed by your preference as in UNIX where long term unity concludes the bin content isn't governor definite use?
7 лет назад
No since /usr move happend, just like on other unixes.
@Mike Rotch-Wreeks How has ClassicShell been doing since the author abandoned it due to it being almost impossible to keep functioning across Windows10 updates and open-sourced it? I totally gave up on it there.
/bin holds all your base system stuff. /usr/bin holds your installed stuff. that way if you want to start fresh, you can chuck /usr/bin and not hose the entire system. In theory. In practice...
Thanks Joe for nice Videos. As newbie to Linux coming from Windows DOS, Vista, XP & Window 7 where softwares I can no longer affords. Your free tutorials is a welcome relieve not to mentions practically most linux softwares are "free". My difficulty now is to select the so-called linux free distribution...& the overall hardware/software is malware free. Perfect for beginner and academic audiences alike. Keep the good works.
Very helpful video. 👍 I played around with Linux Puppy a few years ago but was intimidated by it. I'm now using Linux MX (alongside Win 7) so I want to actually understand it. This was a big help for me.
When i saw the USR folder i was like, "hue hue hue, i know what that's called. The USR (User) folder." Little did I know that it meant Universal System Resources. Thanks
very nice video. I'm just learning linux. I'm having difficulties in several areas, and with several things. I've decided to start from the beginning. This video was very good. I wrote 4 pages of notes. every word I did not know was written.... obfuscation.. damn you. But really thank you.
I'm burning a DVD right now... And DVDs and CDs are sold at major retailers. Just because some douche comes along and calls it "legacy" doesn't mean you're old, or that it is outdated. I wouldn't even buy a computer that had no optical drive. What would be the replacement?! USB sticks are way too expensive per GB to be a backup/give to your buddy solution. Compare a 4GB SD card with a DVD, or an 8GB SD card with a DL DVD....compare a 64 GB USB stick with a BDR disc... does not compute. Optical drives are extremely useful and will continue to be for many years.
Thaddeus3rd considering Linux itself has only been around in any real capacity since the mid-90s, the cdrom folder itself would be legacy from the early days
