Using the Terminal for Newbie's
Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 6:04 pm
I thought I would write a little piece for everyone who is new to Linux (& Mint). Having just converted myself I have found that a lot of people refer to the Terminal or Command box. After initially not knowing what this was yet alone what it did I have managed to find some useful information for Newbies to help you along the way.
To find the Terminal for now press CTRL & ALT & T alltogether. I deal with a better route at the end of this post.
To find out what Terminal is all about see Ubuntu's description of the Terminal here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingTheTerminal
Don't be afraid that it says Ubuntu OS and not Linux Mint - it's the same codes and ideas. There are some great starting tips on that website - have a play with your Terminal screen to find out what it does - don't worry about any codes messing up your system - nothing on that webpage will do that. A good one to try out is: (this shows you the type of operating system you are using)
You will see a lot of people referring to the Terminal so don't be afraid to use it. I have also found that it's sometimes a pain to get to the Terminal when looking at a webpage with a code on it, then remembering what it was copy/paste (note that CTRL & V does not work in terminal and you have to 'right click' and choose PASTE in order to do the same) etc so I use the software/program called "guake".
This program allows you to access the Terminal with 1 key (f12) on your keyboard and when it comes up it is see-through so you can still read what is underneath the Terminal. If can easily be downloaded via the Software Manager in Mint 12 - and I recommend this way as its easy, you can check out Guake's website here:
http://guake.org/
Once you have dowloaded Guake - have a look at the Guake Preferences in the Menu seach bar of Mint - and you can see the special access key (basically its f11 & f12). However in order for it to be open all the time you need to add it to your startup menu by doing the following:
1. Open Menu in Mint & search for "startup applications" - open this app.
2. Click on "add" and under the tab NAME enter "Guake"; and under the tab COMMAND enter "/usr/bin/guake"
3. Click on Save.
4. NOTE - all of the above in quote "" marks the text inbetween the quote marks should be entered and not quote marks themselves.
I hope this has helped some people.
To find the Terminal for now press CTRL & ALT & T alltogether. I deal with a better route at the end of this post.
To find out what Terminal is all about see Ubuntu's description of the Terminal here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingTheTerminal
Don't be afraid that it says Ubuntu OS and not Linux Mint - it's the same codes and ideas. There are some great starting tips on that website - have a play with your Terminal screen to find out what it does - don't worry about any codes messing up your system - nothing on that webpage will do that. A good one to try out is: (this shows you the type of operating system you are using)
Code: Select all
lsb_release -aThis program allows you to access the Terminal with 1 key (f12) on your keyboard and when it comes up it is see-through so you can still read what is underneath the Terminal. If can easily be downloaded via the Software Manager in Mint 12 - and I recommend this way as its easy, you can check out Guake's website here:
http://guake.org/
Once you have dowloaded Guake - have a look at the Guake Preferences in the Menu seach bar of Mint - and you can see the special access key (basically its f11 & f12). However in order for it to be open all the time you need to add it to your startup menu by doing the following:
1. Open Menu in Mint & search for "startup applications" - open this app.
2. Click on "add" and under the tab NAME enter "Guake"; and under the tab COMMAND enter "/usr/bin/guake"
3. Click on Save.
4. NOTE - all of the above in quote "" marks the text inbetween the quote marks should be entered and not quote marks themselves.
I hope this has helped some people.
