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Next Previous Contents The Unix and Internet Fundamentals HOWTO by Eric S. Raymond v1.6, 6 March 2025 This document describes the working basics of PC-class computers, Unix-like operating systems, and the Internet in non-technical language. 1. Introduction 1.1 Purpose of this document 2. What's new 2.1 Related resources 2.2 New versions of this document 2.3 Feedback and corrections 3. Basic anatomy of your computer 4. What happens when you switch on a computer? 5. What happens when you log in? 6. What happens when you run programs from the shell? 7. How do input devices and interrupts work? 8. How does my computer do several things at once? 9. How does my computer keep processes from stepping on each other? 10. How does my computer store things in memory? 10.1 Numbers 10.2 Characters 11. How does my computer store things on disk? 11.1 Low-level disk and file system structure 11.2 File names and directories 11.3 Mount points 11.4 How a file gets looked up 11.5 File ownership, permissions and security 11.6 How things can go wrong 12. How do computer languages work? 12.1 Compiled languages 12.2 Interpreted languages 12.3 P-code languages 13. How does the Internet work? 13.1 Names and locations 13.2 Packets and routers 13.3 TCP and IP 13.4 HTTP, an application protocol Next Previous Contents