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--- linux-survival [2025/10/08 10:15] – jonas
+++ linux-survival [2025/10/09 15:11] (current) – [Logging in to a remote Linux server] jonas
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 ===== Why Linux? =====
-Linux is the //de facto// operating system for scientific computing thanks to its high performance and extensive customisability. Most of the software used for processing and analysing neuroimaging data runs under the Linux operating system (OS). There are good reasons for this - Linux is fast and powerful (all of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world run Linux and most CGI effects in films are made on Linux computers), widely used (major online providers like Amazon and Google run Linux and 96% of the top 1 million most visited websites are run by Linux, as are 85% of smartphones - Android being a derivative of Linux) and highly customisable - for example, NASA uses it to fly helicopters on Mars!
+Linux is the //de facto// operating system for scientific computing thanks to its high performance and extensive customisability, and most of the software used for processing and analysing neuroimaging data runs under Linux. There are good reasons for this - Linux is fast and powerful (all of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world run Linux and most CGI effects in films are made on Linux computers), widely used (major online providers like Amazon and Google run Linux and 96% of the top 1 million most visited websites are run by Linux, as are 85% of smartphones - Android being a derivative of Linux) and highly customisable - for example, NASA uses it to fly helicopters on Mars!
 Equally importantly, as the premier open source project in the world, Linux embodies the spirit of open science - free and accessible for anyone, without being reliant on licensing and subscription fees or forcing users to be tied into a specific software or hardware ecosystem. Even if you use open source software on Windows or MacOS, you are still reliant on closed source, commercial software to underpin anything you do. Linux frees you from such constraints, and is also much more secure than Windows and MacOS, so you don't in general need to worry about viruses or malware.
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 UNDER CONSTRUCTION
-<del>  ***//SSH//**
+***//SSH//**
-SSH stands for Secure Shell. It is a command-line protocol which provides strong password authentication and public key authentication, as well as encrypted data communications between two computers connecting over an open network, such as the internet. To be able to connect to the server //psycomp.rhul.ac.uk// over SSH, open the command-line terminal and use the following command:
+SSH stands for Secure Shell. It is a command-line protocol which provides strong password authentication and public key authentication, as well as encrypted data communications between two computers connecting over an open network, such as the internet. It is run from the command line as follows:
+<del>
+To be able to connect to the server //psycomp.rhul.ac.uk// over SSH, open the command-line terminal and use the following command:
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-==== The Linux terminal ====
+===== The Linux terminal =====
 Although modern Linux versions have a look and feel that is similar to Windows or Mac, a lot of the power of Linux resides in the use of the //terminal// - the software tool used for running programmes from the command line. Almost everything in Linux can be done from the command line, and although it can seem daunting and cumbersome at first to have to enter commands by typing rather than pointing and clicking you will soon realise that it is both much faster and allows automating (scripting) tasks that would take a very long time to do using the mouse. Once you get the hang of it it is straightforward to write scripts and even programmes without having to be a seasoned software engineer.