As of this moment, ROS can only run on the operating system called Linux (specifically on a distribution called Ubuntu), so it is essential to be familiar, or at least comfortable with Linux to be able to use ROS effectively.
Linux, in its entirety, is an enormous topic, so let me just cover the enough materials to make you dangerous.
You will largely interact with ROS through a program called terminal, which can be launched with keys CTRL-ALT-T.
Terminal allows you to interact with the OS through text commands, as determined by the ‘shell’ you are running. Most Linux distributions, as well as Ubuntu, runs a shell called bash shell. Type help into the terminal to see the list of commands (which isn’t that many).
The bash commands are programming language themselves and can be used to write simple programs that are often suffixed with .sh. For example, many program installations in Linux is done by running ./install.sh, which usually contain the bash commands is needed for installation of the pogram.
The dot front of the slash indicates that the file is in the current directory, which you can change by typing cd.
All of the linux commands run in such format: <command> <arg 1> <arg 2> .... <arg n>. For example, I can run
Other commands or marks to know is
.. indicates the directory above the current one.
~/ indicates the home directory of the user, e.g. ~/Downloads
ls lists all directory and files in the current directory
chmod +x <file name allows the file to be executable.
ssh allows you to connect to a remote Linux machine using ssh protocol
Other commands can be referenced by a simple Google search.
See:
-https://www.howtoforge.com/useful_linux_commands
-http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/basic.html
Meanwhile, you can connect to the computers with ROS (within the school network) using ssh -x <username>@<ip_address>. Both username and IP is specified on this site, as well as the password.