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In Debian, there are already six default Consoles ready to be used. In Debian, there are already six default virtual Consoles ready to be used.

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  • Portal/IDB/icon-terminal-32x32.pngThe Console is commonly the well known black window in which the user can write in the command line. It is actually a very powerful tool which can complement the graphic utilities on the system.

The Console is often also known as the "Terminal" or "Shell". Technically, the Console is a combination of a "Terminal" and a "Shell". Usually the two terms are used as synonyms.

How to access the Console

In Debian, there are already six default virtual Consoles ready to be used. They all can be accessed using the key combination Ctrl + Alt + FN#Console. For example, the Console #3 is accessed by pressing Ctrl + Alt + F3.

Note The Console #7 is usually allocated to the graphical environment (Xorg, etc.).

Another method is to use a graphic display terminal within your desktop environment.

  • Under GNOME: Applications> System Tools> Terminal

    • or the keyboard shortcut Alt + F2 for "Run Application" and type "gnome-terminal"

  • Under KDE K> System> Terminal (Konsole)

How to survive on the Linux Console

The usual shell commands are listed in coreutils and ShellCommands.

This section lists a selection of useful and popular programs that run from the shell.

Generic tools

  • screen -- virtual tty that allows disconnection (for ssh or X-terminal)

  • script -- for logging of a console session

  • mlocate -- assists in finding files

  • File manager

  • Editors
    • nano -- very small, very simple, very easy to use text editor

    • vim and vim-tiny -- The Vi like editor.

    • emacs

    • joe -- can emulate WordStar keybindings (jstar)

  • Shells
  • Locking the console
  • Misc
    • dict to look-up dictionaries

    • linuxvnc to export console (VNC)

Communication / Internet

Multimedia

  • Graphic conversion and manipulation
  • Graphic viewers
    • zgv which requires svgalib, so it only runs on some arches

    • fbi which doesn't require svgalib and includes fbgs (a ghostscript frontend)

  • Video
    • mplayer (mplayer -vo caca MyFile.mpg or mplayer -vo aa MyFile.mpg)

PIM

Office

  • Spreadsheet

  • Word processing
    • odt2txt (view openoffice document, see mc above)

"Graphic" editors

System Administration

  • top in the procps package -- list what's running and resource usage

  • ngrep -- Show network connections

  • apachetop -- Show active Apache details.

  • aptitude -- manage Debian packages.

  • ssh -- Remote system interaction (replaces deprecated "r" commands, telnet, ftp).

Fun


  • CleanMe : This page needs some cleanup, and needs to be improved (hint: focus on most useful tools)


CategoryCommandLineInterface