Some really good bash tips here: http://www.ukuug.org/events/linux2003/papers/bash_tips/
To use my vim settings, create this ~/.vimrc:
" Prepend the path to my custom settings and search for "vimrc" there.
set runtimepath^=$HOME/dotfiles/vim_settings
runtime vimrc
Or just symlink: ln -s $HOME/dotfiles/vimrc ~/.vimrc
To use my shell settings (bash and inputrc customizations), add the following line to the bottom of ~/.bashrc:
export MY_SHELL_SETTINGS=$HOME/dotfiles/shell_settings
test -s $MY_SHELL_SETTINGS/settings.bash && source $MY_SHELL_SETTINGS/settings.bash
Symlink the tmux configuration: ln -s $HOME/dotfiles/tmux.conf ~/.tmux.conf