File and folder names are case sensitive.
There are no different 'drives' with letters (C:, D:, …) like in Windows. Linux organises all programs and data in a single unified structure called the file system tree. It starts at the so-called root level at /
and you descend in folders divided by a slash. Here are the important folders on a root level, taken from a guide:
Directory | Content |
---|---|
/bin | Common programs, shared by the system, the system administrator and the users. |
/boot | The startup files and the kernel, vmlinuz. |
/dev | Contains references to all the CPU peripheral hardware, which are represented as files with special properties. |
/etc | Most important system configuration files, data similar to those in the Control Panel in Windows |
/home | Home directories of the common users. |
/lib | Library files, includes files for all kinds of programs needed by the system and the users. |
/lost+found | Every partition has a lost+found in its upper directory. Files that were saved during failures are here. |
/mnt | Standard mount point for external file systems, e.g. a CD-ROM or a digital camera. |
/net | Standard mount point for remote file systems |
/opt | Typically contains extra and third party software. |
/proc | Virtual file system containing information about system resources. More information: `man proc` in a terminal window. |
/root | The administrative user's home directory. Mind the difference between `/`, the root directory and `/root`, the home directory of the root user. |
/sbin | Programs for use by the system and the system administrator. |
/tmp | Temporary space for use by the system, cleaned upon reboot, so don't use this for saving any work! |
/usr | Secondary hierarchy for read-only user data; contains the majority of (multi-)user utilities and applications. |
/usr/bin | Non-essential command binaries (not needed in single user mode); for all users. |
/usr/local | Tertiary hierarchy for local data, specific to this host. Typically has further subdirectories, e.g., bin, lib, share. |
/usr/share | Architecture-independent (shared) data. |
/var | Storage for all variable files and temporary files created by users, such as log files, the mail queue, the print spooler area, etc. |
More information: FHS on Wikipedia