Tukuk-OSWhen I finally managed to install Ubuntu on that old computer, the first thing on screen was a black background with blinking text. My heart pounded. I had read friends say that one wrong command could destroy a system, so sitting in front of a terminal felt like holding a knife without knowing how to use it.
Why Linux, Not Windows?
My choice of Ubuntu was not because I knew much about Linux. It was because Windows on that machine had become too slow and the licence was no longer valid. Ubuntu could be installed for free, it was light, and it came with a web server already included. I did not realise at the time that the "free" choice would open the door to my entire career.
After installation I spent the first two hours just finding where my files were. I looked for "My Computer" and found nothing. I looked for a menu bar at the bottom and only saw a line of text.
I Was Scared of My Own Commands
In the first week I used the graphics only. I opened files, double-clicked, and avoided the terminal completely. But every tutorial I read started with sudo apt update. Every time I pasted that command I bit my finger. I did not know what sudo meant, what apt was, and why the system asked for a password.
What calmed me was reading that sudo means "do it as administrator" — the same concept as "Run as Administrator" in Windows I had used for years. apt was simply an app store. After two weeks that command became my morning routine, like opening the phone to check the weather.
Anatomy of a Single Command
I started breaking every command into parts: the action, the options, and the target. ls -la means "list files, all files, with details". cd Documents means "enter the Documents folder". grep searches text. chmod changes permissions. When I saw a command as an ordinary sentence — verb, adjective, object — the fear disappeared.
I also learned the importance of man and --help: instead of memorising, I learned to search. My list of favourite commands lived in a text file that eventually became the "10 Terminal Commands" article on this blog.
Six Commands I Wrote on Paper
My fear of the terminal came mostly from not knowing what would happen after I pressed Enter. The solution was simple and almost silly: I wrote the command on paper first, along with the meaning of each part, before pasting it into the terminal.
That paper held only six commands for the first week: ls, cd, pwd, cat, sudo apt update, and sudo apt install. Next to each I wrote a full sentence. For example: "sudo = do as administrator; apt = package store; update = refresh the package list". When I forgot, I referred to the paper, not Google — because the paper was written in my own language.
This practice taught me something no video teaches: only memorise what you understand. A command you do not understand will be forgotten within days and, worse, will be called again by accident later. A command you understand can be rebuilt from knowledge even if you forget the exact syntax.
After two weeks the paper grew into two pages, and I later moved it into a text file that became the "10 Terminal Commands" article on this blog.
When I Broke the System (And Fixed It)
In week three I made the mistake I feared most: I ran an rm command with the wrong path and deleted a configuration folder that should have stayed. The system was still alive, but several services refused to start again after a reboot.
At first my heart stopped. Then I opened a browser and searched for the error I saw, line by line. In the process I learned about configuration files, how Linux services start, and the importance of keeping a copy of configuration before changing anything.
I fixed the system in about an hour, and it became the densest learning session I have ever experienced. After that incident I set two permanent rules: back up before changing configuration, and always read the rm command twice before pressing Enter. I still follow both rules today, including while maintaining the real Tukuk-OS server.
Most importantly I learned that a mistake is not proof that I do not belong here — it is the system telling me I have not understood a part yet.
What Linux Taught Me About Software
Linux taught me that an operating system is just a collection of files and services that can be directed. No magic. When I managed to restart a web service with systemctl restart, I realised that the web server I had been using all along — which I had always treated as a mysterious black box — could actually be fully controlled with a few commands.
That was the moment I stopped being a software user and started being a software builder. The Tukuk-OS was eventually born from that Ubuntu installation.