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When do you use the linux shell over the linux terminal?

I hear the linux terminal is like Windows command prompt. And linux terminal run in the GUI but the shell does not run in the GUI. When do you have to run the shell? Is the shell some thing like the command prompt but only if the GUI is not loading or you have video problems you can start the shell and fix the video problem or deal with driver problems or other problems? Similar to windows safe mode with command prompt only?

The shell is like the terminal just does not run in the GUI? The linux terminal have more features than the linux shell?

2 Answers

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  • 3 weeks ago

    The GUI effectively runs in place of one terminal.

    Try using shift-alt and a F key (eg. F2 or F5), you will probably find you can switch to different terminals. shift F1 (or shift F6?) should take you back to the GUI screen.

    The "shell" is the terminal's command line interpreter, that converts your instructions to doing things.

    It's the same whether run in a GUI terminal or outside of the GUI.

    You can select between different shell versions in many types of linux / unix.

  • Anonymous
    3 weeks ago

    "Shell" refers to the command interpreter program (Bash, Ash, Korn, etc...). The "Terminal" is the text device or pseudo-device that displays the output of the shell, or programs run from it. A terminal can be accessed from within a GUI (such as with rxvt, Konsole, GNOME terminal), switched to from the GUI on a locally attached monitor (press Ctrl, Alt, and one of the function keys), from a serial terminal (common on servers and routers), or remotely, with telnet or SSH.

    You would want to run programs in a terminal that is not within a GUI if you need to close the GUI (such as when upgrading or installing display drivers), or you are running programs that conflict with the GUI, such as programs that render to the framebuffer directly. An example of this is fbi, an image viewer. You would also run it separately if you do not want/need a GUI on the system at all, or do not want to use a remote desktop program.

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