This article kicks off a 10-part beginner-friendly series designed to help non-technical users build confidence with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9—one simple step at a time.
So you've fired up Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9. Maybe you're staring at a black terminal window wondering if you've entered the Matrix. Or maybe you're just trying not to press the wrong button like it's a digital bomb. Don’t worry—you’re not alone, and no, you (probably) won’t break anything.
This article is your safety net. Here are five harmless but confidence-boosting things you can try right now in RHEL 9. Let’s go!
📚 Table of Contents
- Meet Your New Identity Crisis: whoami
- Find Out What Time It Is Without Looking at Your Phone: date
- Create a Safe Playground: mkdir testfolder
- Peek Inside the Filing Cabinet: ls and cd
- Get Help Without Googling: man
- Bonus: Nothing Broke, Right?
- Real Talk
Meet Your New Identity Crisis: whoami
First things first: who... are you?
That’s not a philosophical question. This command literally tells you which user you’re logged in as. If it says root, put your coffee down—you have superpowers. Be careful. If it says your username, great! You’re a regular user, and you’re less likely to accidentally delete the internet.
Find Out What Time It Is Without Looking at Your Phone: date
Feeling fancy? Ask the system what time it thinks it is, the output will look something like this:
Congratulations—you’ve just had your first polite conversation with Linux.
Create a Safe Playground: mkdir testfolder
Let’s make a space where you can experiment freely—no judgments, no risks.
This creates a folder (called a “directory” in Linux-speak) called testfolder. You can call it whatever you want. Go wild. Name it after your dog if you like.
Peek Inside the Filing Cabinet: ls and cd
Want to see what’s in your current folder? Just say:
ls
This will list all the files and directories. Want to go into that new folder you made? Now you’re inside it. Welcome to your new digital sandbox. Type pwd to see where you are:
Nice, right? You’re practically a sysadmin now.
Get Help Without Googling: man
Say you’ve heard of a command called ls, but you want to know what else it can do. Linux has help built-in:
This shows the manual (“man”) page for the ls command. Scroll with the arrow keys and press q to quit.
Alternatively, many commands also support:
This gives you a quick summary of options right in the terminal.
Bonus: Nothing Broke, Right?
Good news: You just interacted with a powerful enterprise operating system—and you didn’t break anything. You poked around, created something, asked for help, and the system responded.
That’s the beginning of becoming comfortable in Linux. You don’t need to know everything. You just need to start.
Next Up: In Part 2, we’ll explore where everything lives in RHEL 9—the filesystem. Spoiler: it's not just a chaotic jungle of folders (okay, maybe it is a little).
Want to suggest what we cover later in the series? Drop your ideas below!
Real Talk
A quick personal note: I should’ve wrapped up the #30DaysLinuxChallenge about a week ago. But, like a lot of beginners—especially those of us coming from non-technical backgrounds—imposter syndrome came knocking. And when it shows up, it can really mess with your confidence.
Here’s what I’ve learned: that feeling is normal, and it’s okay.
What matters is not letting it stop you. Thanks to the encouragement and support of the #CloudWhistler community, I kept going—and I’m so glad I did.
That’s also why I’m sharing these articles: to give back and help you push through those tough moments too. If you’re new to Linux, you’re not alone—and you can do this.
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