Linux Dummies 9th

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Part IV: Junior Administrator Boot Camp
Shells come equipped to perform certain functions. Most of these features
have evolved over time to assist the command-line jockey with myriad tasks.
Although we only scratch the surface here, you’re encouraged to read the man
page for the bash shell because it’s likely one of the more complete and readable
man pages in existence. You can read all about how to use man pages (the
online Help system in Linux) in the “Using Help” section later in this chapter.
Playing the Shell Game
You need a way to tell the computer what you want it to do. In Linux, one of
the ways to communicate with the computer is through something called the
shell. A shell isn’t a graphical thing; it’s the sum total of the commands and
syntax you have available to you to tell the operating system what to do so
you can do your work.
The shell environment is rather dull and boring by graphical desktop standards.
When you start the shell, all you see is a plain window with a short
prompt (such as a $) followed by a blinking cursor that awaits your keyboard
entry. (Later in this section, we show you a couple of methods for accessing
the shell.)
The default shell used in Linux is the bash shell. This work environment is
based on the original UNIX shell, which is called the Bourne shell and is also
referred to as sh. The term bash stands for the Bourne again shell. The bash
shell comes with most Linux distributions.
Getting a shell
You can start a bash session by using a terminal application in your GUI
desktop. The terminal application you use depends (of course) on your
desktop:
✓ Terminal: This is the default terminal used in the GNOME desktop.
To start Terminal from the GNOME menu, choose Applications➪
System Tools➪Terminal if you’re in Fedora, or choose Applications➪
Accessories➪Terminal in Ubuntu. Figure 17-1 shows the Terminal.
Notice the prompt — that’s the shell’s command-line prompt. You
enter your commands there.
✓ Konsole: This is the default terminal used in the KDE desktop. In the
KDE world, choose K Menu➪Applications➪System➪Konsole. The
Konsole interface is shown in Figure 17-2. The command-line prompt
appears in the window.