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Bijay Kumar Pun
Bijay Kumar Pun

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[unedited/draft] Notes from Linux Command Line and Shell Scripting Bible ; The Book!

Chapter 2:
Getting to the Shell:

  • In past: Linux console terminal where shell commands are entered
  • Command line environment and how to 'reach it' ?
  • Terminal emulation packages ?

Reaching the command line

  • CLI = Command Line Interface ; alowed text inputs/outputs only, plus some rudimentary graphics
  • Dumb Terminal = dumb text input/output environment; EG. A monitor and keyboard connected to Unix system vaia coummunication cable in the past days
  • console = physical terminal
  • shell = command line interpreter
  • To enter shell commands, still need a text display to access the shell's CLI , problem now is getting to one? 'makes no sense!'
  • "sometimes finding a way to get a CLI in a Linux distribution is not an easy task" page-23

Console Terminals

console: physical device that emulates a terminal
terminal: a text mode only for writing commands

Graphical Terminals

  • Alternative to using virtual console
  • aka Terminal Emulation Package

Graphical terminal emulators can be thought as CLI terminials "in the GUI"

Virtual console terminals as CLI terminals "outside the GUI"

Accessing CLI via a Linux Console Terminal

Ctrl+Alt+ function key F1 through F7

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