10-08-2012
I would suggest you learn about using the Bash (or other) shell on Ubuntu first like previously suggested, much of what you learn will transfer to any Unix-based OS which also has the Bash shell (most of them, I think).
Use the terminal to accomplish tasks like you suggest, but also learn to use it for tasks like file management, configuring programs to do what you want, and especially to get an introduction to scripting, or writing a series of commands in a file which will accomplish a certain task. This can all be done from inside the Desktop environment just by using whatever Terminal program you DE has.
Getting familiar with this way of running and managing a Linux machine means you can then progress to running an Ubuntu server, if you choose to stay with Ubuntu. This would normally be managed completely by command line, it does not install with a GUI by default. This can of course be run as a virtual machine in VirtualBox.
As a side note, Ubuntu is largely what I learnt on, and the UbuntuForums are very good for specific help. I now manage RHEL and Solaris servers for a living.
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LEARN ABOUT DEBIAN
gen_keymap
GEN_KEYMAP(1) Ubuntu General Commands Manual GEN_KEYMAP(1)
NAME
gen_keymap -- generate a keyboard map decision tree
SYNOPSIS
gen_keymap list ...
DESCRIPTION
gen_keymap generates a decision tree from a set of keyboard maps which can be used to help a user decide which keyboard map to use. The pro-
gram using the decision tree typically asks the user to press some keys; at each step, it examines the returned keycode and uses it to prune
the list of possible keyboard maps until there is only one left.
OPTIONS
--version
Show program's version number and exit.
-?, --help
Show help text.
-v, --verbose
Be more verbose.
-mMINLEN, --minlen=MINLEN
Too-short keymaps are skipped (default: 30 entries).
-g, --graph
Generate a hopefully-nice-looking .dot file.
--maps
Print the to-be-processed keymaps
-i, --installer
Input files are in d-i map form.
-IDIRS, --inc=DIRS, --include=DIRS
Add a directory to the search path.
-oFILENAME, --output=FILENAME
Set output file (default: stdout).
-fFILTER, --filter=FILTER
Include only the branches leading to these keymaps.
-uUSEONLY, --useonly=USEONLY
Start generating the tree based only on these keymaps. (The difference between --filter and --useonly is that the former generates the
whole tree and then prunes it, while the latter only generates a reduced tree to begin with. This may have implications for perfor-
mance on large trees.)
-sSKIP, --skip=SKIP
Keymaps to skip.
-t, --test
Test the generated maps.
--interactive
Ask user to choose among indistinguishable keymaps.
AUTHORS
gen_keymap was written by Matthias Urlichs <smurf@debian.org>. This manual page was written by Colin Watson <cjwatson@ubuntu.com>.
Ubuntu September 5, 2006 Ubuntu