Linux 101 • Embedded Systems at Purdue • Embedded Systems @ Purdue

Level: Beginner | Offered: Fall 2026 | Time: 1–2 hours

📑 Slide deck

This workshop is designed for beginner and intermediate Linux users. Most of the talk is focused on the basics, but some topics covered are outside what is normally covered and are intended for those who know the basics, but are interested in the inner workings.

To complete this workshop, follow along in the slides and complete the tasks on your computer as they appear.

Tasks

Task 0: Requirements

Log in to your machine
Open your terminal.

On Windows, it is called cmd or PowerShell (ps), either should work.

On MacOS, open the Terminal application.

On Linux, open your terminal emulator of choice.

Make sure you are using the stock ssh binary, other clients (eg. kitten ssh) will not work.

Type the following command:
```
  ssh <your Purdue username>@workshop.esap.dev
```
For example: ssh bondarv@workshop.esap.dev

Follow the instructions to log in:
- For the secret word, it will be announced in class.
- Then go to your email, and copy the code
You will then be placed into a shell, eg:
```
bondarv@esapworkshop:~$
```
(raise your hand if you have any issues)

⚠️ Warning
Please do not do anything bad with this access. Bad things will happen.

⚠️ Warning
Please do not do anything bad with this access. Bad things will happen.

Task 1: Run your first command

Try the following commands, and see what they do:
```
 whoami
```
```
pwd
```
```
date
```
```
echo "test"
```
Write a command to welcome yourself
Scroll and and down through your commands with the up and down arrows, and through a command with a side to side arrow
Clear the screen with clear
Auto complete da with the <Tab> key

Task 2: Working with files

Go to your home folder (~ is "home"):
```
cd ~
pwd
```
Make a folder for the workshop and move into it:
```
mkdir workshop
cd workshop
```
Create an empty file:
```
touch notes.txt
ls
```

Write a line into the file (> overwrites, >> appends):

echo "First line" > notes.txt
echo "Second line" >> notes.txt

Read the file:
```
cat notes.txt
```
Edit the file in a text editor:
```
 vim notes.txt
```
or
```
nano notes.txt
```
- Add a line of your own.
- Save and exit (clear on nano, :wq in vim normal modee)
Copy the file:
```
cp notes.txt notes-backup.txt
ls
```
Move the file:
```
mv notes-backup.txt old-notes.txt
ls
```

Make a subfolder and move a file into it:

mkdir archive
mv old-notes.txt archive/
ls archive

Go up one level and back down:
```
cd ..
pwd
cd workshop
```

Delete (permanently) a file

rm archive/old-notes.txt
rmdir archive
ls

Task 3: An aside on Linux itself (system files, users, processes, sudo)

System files

Look at the very top of the file system. / = root
```
ls /
```
Peek at a few important folders:
```
ls /etc 
ls /home 
ls /var/log 
```
Find out which Linux you're running:
```
cat /etc/os-release
```

Users

See your user ID and the groups you belong to:
```
id
```
See the list of users on the system:
```
cat /etc/passwd
```
Look at file ownership and permissions:
```
ls -l ~/workshop
```
- The first column (e.g. -rw-r--r--) shows who can r - Read, w - Write, x - eXecute
- The next names show the owner and group.

Processes

See the programs you're running in this terminal:
```
ps
```
Start a program in the background (& runs it in the background):
```
sleep 300 &
ps
```
Stop it using its process ID (PID) from the ps output:
```
kill <PID>
ps
```
See everything running on the machine (press q to quit):
```
top
```

sudo

Try to read a protected file:
```
cat /etc/shadow
```
You'll get Permission denied.
Run it again as the administrator (root) using sudo:
```
sudo cat /etc/shadow
```

Sudo is a very powerful tool, and you should only use it when it is nedded

Task 4.1: Let's make a basic website - Creating the files

Create the folder ~/website
Create the file ~/website/index.html

Add to it

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Hello</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Hello from Linux!</h1>
    <p>Botton Text.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Save
Check it was saved using cat

Task 4.2: Let's make a basic website - Learning about programs and install nginx

Find where ls lives:
```
which ls
```
Look at some of the other programs installed:
```
ls /usr/bin
```
Check whether nginx (a web server) is installed yet:
```
which nginx
```
No output means it isn't installed.
Update the list of available packages:
```
sudo apt update
```
Install nginx and curl
```
sudo apt install -y nginx curl
```
Check it's installed now:
```
which nginx
```
Check that nginx is running as a service:
```
systemctl status nginx
```
Check if it apears to be active.
Requst the page using the curl command:
```
curl http://localhost
```
Go to https://workshop.esap.dev/<your purdue username>/80/

Ex. https://workshop.esap.dev/bondarv/80/

Check out your website there

Try stopping and starting the service, refresh the browser to see the result:
```
sudo systemctl stop nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
```

Task 4.3: Let's make a basic website - Putting everything together

Look at where nginx keeps its web pages:
```
ls -l /var/www/html
```
Notice the files are owned by root.

Copy your page there (use sudo):

sudo cp ~/website/index.html /var/www/html/index.html

Check it's there:
```
ls -l /var/www/html
```
Refresh your previously opened page
Make a change to your page:

Add a new line, e.g. <p>test</p>, then save and exit.

Publish the update and refresh the browser:

sudo cp ~/website/index.html /var/www/html/index.html

See what nginx logs:
```
sudo tail /var/log/nginx/access.log
```

Extra Resources

Debian Documentation
Arch Wiki, good resource, even if you are not using Arch

Contributions

Slide deck and exercises: Vlad Bondar