UNIX Desktop Questions & Answers

I am trying to learn Shell scripting in UNIX. Could Any one please suggest on how to get UNIX account or any other free stimulator available for download on which I can practice Unix shell script?

Thanks,
sam70

Cant you install linux in some partition ? Little space is enough.

Or try Ubuntu from Live CD.

Download and install Oracle (former: Sun) VirtualBox and choose any Free UNIX (OpenSolaris, *BSD, Linux) to install.

Thanks for suggestion. I think cygwin is simplest for me. Can we practice shell script in cygwin?

thanks,
sam70

I have installed cygwin on a couple of different PC's. And yes, you can use to practice scripting commands - I use it to try and test certain commands.

Have fun...

cygwin's a good way to build a UNIX program in Windows without completely rewriting it; so cygwin lets a UNIX shell run inside windows. But cygwin is written overtop of windows and therefore still subject to many Windows idiosyncrasies(not allowed to open devices more than once; case insensitive filenames; and other things more obscure). Some basic UNIX features may be either implemented in a very strange and roundabout way, or missing entirely(how may consumer versions of windows even have working symbolic or hard links?) And you still don't have basic UNIX tools unless you install them too. It's little use to have a UNIX shell without ls and so forth.

So, cygwin is useful for building and running programs in Windows that'd otherwise require large amounts of modification. But as a teaching tool I think it stinks. It's not a standard environment; the lessons you learn won't necessarily have anything to do with real UNIX behavior.