Table of Contents

Pitfalls when switching to Linux

Common newbie mistakes

From Windows

Files and Folders

File and folder names are case sensitive.

File system hierarchy

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

From Mac OS X