Majority of basic commands in Linux are typical for any Unix-like environment. Check out the Basic Unix Commands for the full listing.
Basic Linux Commands
This said, there's a few commands that are unique to Linux but would still be considered basic enough to be learned at the very beginning.
Here they are (this is a work in progress!)
- ip – show and configure network addresses and interfaces
- lspci – this command shows you the list of all peripheral devices on your system. Because all of them are connected via PCI bus of some sort, your laptop will report all its devices like fingerprint sensor or built-in webcam here.