Ethereum - Ubuntu for Beginners

Introduction

Goal: Teach basic Ubuntu concepts and skills in order to encourage home staking on Ethereum. The target audience is anyone with basic tech skills and a desire to learn.

This is part of a broader Ethereum educational effort. Find other Eth2 community resources here.

Table of Contents

Ubuntu 20.04: Introduction || Applications || Terminal || Practice

Ubuntu 20.04 - Desktop

Ubuntu desktop has several features that make it ideal for running a validator on Ethereum 2.0:

• Comprised of Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS)
• Wide support and documentation with the Ethereum ecosystem

• User friendly, easy to learn

• Designed to boot as a live USB for generating Eth2 keys offline

If you'd like to try Ubuntu, you can use these instructions to create an Ubuntu live USB:

Windows || macOS || Linux

Ubuntu - Security

Ubuntu is secure right out of the box and is generally resistant to viruses and malware. The best way to maintain a secure environment is to use it as a dedicated Ethereum machine. No other applications.

Home PC vs "Headless" Server

Ubuntu has both desktop and server versions. Servers have no graphical user interface (GUI), which means the only access to a server is through terminal commands (CLI).

Ubuntu desktop allows you to operate in a normal desktop environment (GUI) while still using CLI.

For most users, a home PC is easier to operate and more secure than a remote server because you have direct physical access, which allows you to disable remote logins and prevent the majority of attacks.

Ubuntu - Applications

You can click the icon in the bottom left corner to show the installed applications.

Application Names: Windows vs Ubuntu

	Windows	Ubuntu / Linux
Document Writer	Microsoft Word	LibreOffice Writer
Spreadsheets	Microsoft Excel	LIbreOffice Calc
Presentations	MS Powerpoint	LibreOffice Impress
Web Browser	Internet Explorer	Firefox
Photo Editor	Adobe Photoshop	GIMP
Image Editor	MS Paint	Image Magick
PDF Viewer	Adobe PDF	Document Viewer
Text Editor	Text	Text Editor
Email Client	MS Outlook	Thunderbird Mail
Command Line	Command Prompt	Terminal
Computer Settings	Control Panel	Settings
Software Updates	Windows Updater	Ubuntu Software

Open-source applications have come a long way in recent years, and many FOSS programs are now as good or better than their closed-source counterparts.

File Viewer (aka Files)

You can visually explore different directories and files using the Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Text Editor

Basic text editor for simple documents and copy/pasting

Terminal

Running an Ethereum validator requires entering commands directly into the terminal (aka command line interface). CLI can be intimidating at first, but it's fairly intuitive and easy to learn.

You can use the following shortcuts for Linux CLI:

• Ctrl + Alt + T || Open new terminal window

• Ctrl + Shift + C || Copy selected contents from terminal window

• Ctrl + Shift + V || Paste contents into terminal window

• Ctrl + C || Stop a running terminal process

• Up/down Arrows || Cycle through last used commands

Screenshot

This tool is helpful if you have an error and want to post a screenshot in the EthStaker Discord for help.

Dual View - CLI & GUI

Open a terminal window with Ctrl + Alt + T and move it alongside the file viewer. This allows you to see information displayed through Command Line Interface (CLI) and Graphical User Interface (GUI).

The screenshot below shows the contents of the Home directory through both CLI and GUI.

Linux - Directories

Linux systems do not have "drives" like with Windows (e.g. C: or D:).

The entire Linux directory system is a series of nested directories, with the top being the /root directory.

Root Directory

AVOID USING ROOT ACCESS

The root directory contains all other directories, and the root user has control over the entire system. A mistake while working as root user can cause irreparable damage.

The best practice is to generally never use root access, and instead have regular users that can use the sudo command

Sudo Command

Adding sudo to the front a command runs the terminal command as administrator. This helps prevent accidents because the user doesn't have root access, but they are still able to run commands as admin when needed.

If you get an error that you don't have permission to perform this action, you may need to use sudo

Username

This guide was created on a PC named ubuntu with the username ubuntu You'll notice that CLI below starts with ubuntu@ubuntu which identifies user@pcname

You can use the command whoami to see the current user name.

Important Directories

When you open a new terminal, it will begin in the home directory

Directory	Description
/	Root directory
~	Home directory ( same as /home/YOURUSERNAME)
~/Desktop	Desktop directory
~/Documents	Documents directory
~/Downloads	Downloads directory
/media/YOURUSERNAME	Directory for USB and other external devices
/var/lib/goethereum	Go Ethereum directory
/var/lib/lighthouse	Lighthouse directory
/var/lib/lighthouse/validator	Lighthouse validator directory
/var/lib/lighthouse/beacon	Lighthouse beacon directory
usr/local/bin	Directory used to run Lighthouse binary

Linux Terminal - Basic Commands

This table shows a list of commands, but the following section will discuss in greater detail.

Command	Description	Sample Code
clear	clear terminal window (fresh screen)	clear
cd	change directory	cd ~
ls	list contents of current directory	ls
ls -l	show file permissions	ls -l sample.txt
pwd	print working directory (show current directory)	pwd
history	shows history of terminal commands	history
sudo	gives root permission to run programs or make changes	sudo
mkdir	make a new directory	sudo mkdir ~/test
nano	create or edit system files	sudo nano test.txt
rm	remove file	sudo rm test.txt
rm -r	delete directory and all contents (remove recursively)	sudo rm -r testfolder
cp	copy/paste a file	cp test.txt ~/Documents
chown	change ownership of a file/directory	sudo chown -R goeth:goeth /var/lib/goethereum
chmod	change permissions of a file/directory	sudo chmod g+r sample.txt
adduser	create new user	sudo adduser mikejones
deluser	delete user	sudo deluser mikejones
update	update system database for new packages	sudo apt-get update
upgrade	upgrade packages (run after update)	sudo apt-get upgrade
install	install applications	sudo apt-get install geth
remove	remove applications	sudo apt-get remove geth
help	display help info (use -h or -help or --help)	geth --help

Now that we've covered directories and commands, let's practice with a few exercises.