Lab 01: First Contact

Field	Value
Lab ID	LAB-01
Related lesson	Day 01: Introduction to Linux and PowerShell
Difficulty	Beginner
Time	45–60 minutes
Risk level	None. Read-only commands only.

Objective

Become comfortable opening both shells, identifying exactly which user, machine, OS and shell you are working on, and using built-in help to discover command options. You will finish by writing a one-line identity report you could paste into a change ticket.

Required Environment

• Linux: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (VM, WSL2 or physical) with a normal (non-root) user account.
• Windows: Windows 11 with Windows PowerShell 5.1. PowerShell 7 is optional for Task 1.3.
• The course repository downloaded or cloned (for Task 5), or just the two script files from the Script Library.

Initial Conditions

• You are logged in as a normal user, not root or Administrator.
• No files need to exist. You will create one output file in your home directory: lab01-report.txt.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Task 1 — Open the shells and identify them

LinuxWindows

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+T (or open the Ubuntu tab in Windows Terminal).

2. Run:

   echo "$SHELL"
   echo "$BASH_VERSION"
   

1. Open Windows PowerShell (not PowerShell 7) from the Start menu.

2. Run:

   $PSVersionTable.PSVersion
   $PSVersionTable.PSEdition
   

3. If PowerShell 7 is installed, run pwsh in the same window, repeat both commands, then type exit to return.

Task 2 — Record identity and system facts

LinuxWindows

whoami
hostname
pwd
uname -r
uname -m
grep PRETTY_NAME /etc/os-release
date -u -Iseconds

whoami
$env:COMPUTERNAME
Get-Location
Get-ComputerInfo -Property OsName, OsVersion, OsArchitecture
(Get-Date).ToUniversalTime().ToString('o')

Task 3 — Use help to discover options (no web search)

LinuxWindows

1. Use man ls (search inside with /) to find the options for: long format, show hidden files, human-readable sizes, sort by modification time.
2. Use ls --help | grep -i -- '--reverse' to confirm the reverse-sort option.
3. Run the combined command and list your home directory sorted newest-first, including hidden files.

1. Run Get-Help Get-ChildItem -Parameter Force and Get-Help Get-ChildItem -Parameter Depth.
2. Run Get-Command -Noun ChildItem and note every command returned.
3. List your home folder, including hidden items, sorted newest-first: Get-ChildItem $HOME -Force | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 10

Task 4 — One-line identity report

Build a single command that prints user@host | OS | kernel/build | UTC time, then save it to lab01-report.txt in your home directory.

Task 5 — Compare with the course script

Run the course's system-information script (read it first: never run scripts you have not read):

LinuxWindows

cd ~/linux-powershell-professional-mastery/scripts/linux
less system-info.sh          # read it, press q to quit
bash system-info.sh

Set-Location ~\linux-powershell-professional-mastery\scripts\powershell
Get-Content .\System-Info.ps1 | more
powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\System-Info.ps1

-ExecutionPolicy Bypass applies only to this one process. It does not change the machine policy. Execution policy is explained on Day 19.

Expected Results

• Task 1: Linux shows /bin/bash and a version like 5.2.21(1)-release. Windows PowerShell shows 5.1.x / Desktop, and PowerShell 7 shows 7.x / Core.
• Task 2: seven (Linux) or five (Windows) facts, all matching your machine.
• Task 3: Linux combined command ls -laht ~. Windows lists ten items, newest first.
• Task 4: a file containing one line such as student@ubuntu-lab | Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS | 6.8.0-48-generic | 2026-11-08T10:15:00+00:00.
• Task 5: the script prints a report whose user, host, OS and time match your manual results.

Verification Steps

LinuxWindows

cat ~/lab01-report.txt
wc -l ~/lab01-report.txt          # should print 1

Get-Content $HOME\lab01-report.txt
(Get-Content $HOME\lab01-report.txt).Count    # should print 1

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
grep: /etc/os-release: No such file or directory	You are not on Linux (perhaps Git Bash on Windows). Use a real Ubuntu terminal or WSL.
Get-ComputerInfo is slow	Normal: it queries WMI. Keep -Property short.
Get-Help shows only syntax	Run Update-Help in an elevated Windows PowerShell, or use Get-Help ... -Online.
.\System-Info.ps1 cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled	Use the powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File form shown above (process scope only).
bash: system-info.sh: No such file or directory	You are in the wrong directory. Use pwd, then cd to scripts/linux.

Questions

1. Which PowerShell edition did you open first, and how did you prove it?
2. Is your kernel release the same as your Ubuntu version? Explain the difference.
3. Which ls options did you combine in Task 3, and what does each do?
4. Why is the report time in UTC?
5. What did the system-info script report that you did not collect manually?

Solution

Show full solution

Task 1

echo "$SHELL"          # /bin/bash
echo "$BASH_VERSION"   # e.g. 5.2.21(1)-release

$PSVersionTable.PSVersion   # Major 5 Minor 1 ...
$PSVersionTable.PSEdition   # Desktop  (Core in PowerShell 7)

Task 3

ls -laht ~     # -l long, -a all (hidden), -h human sizes, -t newest first
ls -lahtr ~    # -r reverses: oldest first

Task 4 — Linux

echo "$(whoami)@$(hostname) | $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$PRETTY_NAME") | $(uname -r) | $(date -u -Iseconds)" > ~/lab01-report.txt
cat ~/lab01-report.txt

$( ... ) is command substitution: Bash runs the inner command and inserts its output. . /etc/os-release loads the file's variables (such as PRETTY_NAME) into the subshell.

Task 4 — Windows

$os = Get-ComputerInfo -Property OsName, OsVersion
"$env:USERNAME@$env:COMPUTERNAME | $($os.OsName) | $($os.OsVersion) | $((Get-Date).ToUniversalTime().ToString('o'))" |
    Out-File -FilePath $HOME\lab01-report.txt -Encoding utf8
Get-Content $HOME\lab01-report.txt

$( ... ) inside a double-quoted string is a subexpression: PowerShell evaluates it and inserts the result.

Answers to questions

1. Usually Windows PowerShell 5.1, proven by $PSVersionTable.PSEdition = Desktop.
2. No. The kernel release (e.g. 6.8.0-48-generic) is the Linux kernel version. Ubuntu 24.04 is the distribution version: the whole collection of kernel, tools and packages.
3. -l long listing, -a include hidden, -h human-readable sizes, -t sort by time.
4. UTC is unambiguous across time zones and daylight-saving changes, and it sorts correctly.
5. Typically CPU model, core count, memory, disk usage, uptime and IP addresses. These are covered in later days.