Intro to UNIX

Khalid Mahmood (Melbourne Bioinformatics, The University of Melbourne)

Knowledge of the Unix operating system is fundamental to the use of many popular bioinformatics command-line tools. Whether you choose to run your analyses locally or on an HPC system, knowing your way around a command-line interface is highly valuable. This workshop will introduce you to Unix concepts by way of a series of hands-on exercises. The training material is freely available here.

Completion of this workshop will provide the background knowledge required for other Melbourne Bioinformatics workshops that require command-line skills.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Access a Unix machine either locally or remotely

• Organise your files into directories

• Change file permissions to improve security and safety

• Create and edit files with a text editor

• Copy files between directories

• Use command line programs to manipulate files

• Automate your workflow using shell scripts

This free workshop is available to staff and students at The University of Melbourne and its affiliated institutes.

You must register for this event using an affiliated institutional email address or your registration may be cancelled.

This workshop does not require any previous experience. This is an in person hands-on workshop and attendees must bring their own computers (laptop chargers also recommended). The following is required:

• Access to internet via UniWireless or Eduroam
• Web browser (Firefox or Chrome recommended)
• Participants should register for a Galaxy Australia account using their institutional email address

You must install the following (free and open-source) software prior to attending the workshop:

• Mac or Linux users: FileZilla, for file transfers between a local computer and remote server
• Windows users: PuTTY, a terminal emulator, and FileZilla, for file transfers between a local computer and remote server.

If you require any further information, or have any access requirements in order to participate in this workshop, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss your requirements:

We recommend following our Eventbrite page if you wish to be alerted when we release new workshops for registrations. If you require any further information, please contact Melbourne Bioinformatics at: [email protected]

Starting 1 August 2025, participants who miss two or more workshops without proper notice (less than 48 hours or attending under 50%) within 12 months will be placed on a 6-month waitlist for full workshops. To avoid being marked as a no-show, cancellations must be made at least 24 hours in advance, with exceptions allowed for emergencies.Please read the full policy here: https://mbite.org/guides/policy/

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