From 3cf3093654579932750fe82afa4504dbef96b937 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: spiralman Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2002 19:14:13 +0000 Subject: moved each chapter to a separate file. --- (limited to 'docs/usermanual/embeddedkonsole.sgm') diff --git a/docs/usermanual/embeddedkonsole.sgm b/docs/usermanual/embeddedkonsole.sgm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4ba0287 --- a/dev/null +++ b/docs/usermanual/embeddedkonsole.sgm @@ -0,0 +1,163 @@ +Embedded Konsole + +EmbeddedKonsole is Opie's terminal emulator. From here you can do pretty much +anything (since Linux is actually a command line based OS by itself). I will +not go into much detail on using the linux command line, as that is covered in +many other places (http://www.tldp.org is a good place to start, or read +O'Reilly's Running Linux for a comprehensive look at Linux +for the beginner). I will, however, give a quick overview of using a Linux +shell. + + +
Using Embedded Konsole + +Along the top of the window is a row of menus and icons. The "Font" menu lets +you select the font size that you want the console to use, while the Options +menu lets you select various options. Below this row of menus and icons is a +pulldown list with various common commands in it. + + +
Options Menu + +The first submenu in the options menu is the "Command List" menu, which lets +you edit or hide the command list pulldown. The "Tabs on top" or "Tabs on +bottom" (depending on which is currently enabled) allows you to select where +the tabs representing multiple terminal sessions are drawn. The "Colors" +submenu lets you select from a color scheme, or make your own, and the "Scroll +Bar" submenu lets you select where or if the scroll bar is drawn. + +
+
Icons + +The row of icons to the right of the menus allows you to type common keystrokes +without having an input method visible, as well as some other things. + + +The icon all the way on the left will open a new terminal session in a new tab, +while the icon all the way on the right will paste text from the clipboard into +the terminal. + + +The other icons are the same as typing (from left to right) enter, space, tab +(for tab completion), up, and down (for the command history). + +
+
Command List + +The command list is a pulldown menu with a list of commonly used commands. +Selecting one will type the command into the terminal wherever the cursor is. +You can edit or hide this menu from Options&arrow; +Command List. + +
+
+ +
What is a Shell + +A shell is a program that accepts input from a user, and runs commands. Each +"command" in the shell is actually a separate program (unless you are using a +shell like BusyBox, which makes some of the more common commands part of its own +program in order to save space). Shells can actually be very powerful, and many + +of them allow you to write something called "shell scripts" which are just a +sequence of commands, sometimes with some flow control statements, saved to a +file and run each time the script is run. For the most part, the average user +does not need to know about any of this, though. If you are running Opie on the +Familiar distribution, it is advisable to install the bash shell (ipkg install +bash) because it offers things like tab completion, use of the backspace key, +and a command history, as well as offering a more advanced scripting languauge +than most other shells. + +
+ +
Running Programs + +To run a program or a command (remember, a command is just another program), you +simply type the name of the program and hit "Return" (in Linux, program names +do not have a special suffix like they do in windows, in fact the "." +character has no special meaning unless it is at the begining of a filename, in +which case it makes the file "hidden"). When you type a program name and hit +"Return" the shell looks in a special list of directories called your +"path", and if it cannot find it in any of those directories, it stops looking +and tells you it could not find them. If you want to run a program that is not +in your path, you must specify an absolute or relative path to that program. +For instance, to run a program that is in the directory you are currently in, +you would type ./program ("./" is a special directory that +is explained below), or to run a program in /home/username/ you would call +/home/username/program. + + +Most programs take "arguments" when run from the command line. An argument is +a string that contains no spaces that changes how the program behaves (a text +editor, for instance, might take a single argument, which would be the name of +the file you wish to edit). Usually, you can use the arguments "-h" or +"--help" to get a list of the common arguments that that program takes, along +with a short usage description, and a short description of what each argument +does. + +
+ +
Basic Navigation + +The command that you will use most often in the shell is probably the "cd" +command, which stands for "change directory." With this command, you can move +around in the file system, by issuing the command like this: cd +[new directory], where [new +directory] is the directory you want to move to. +This directory name does not have to include the entire directory structure, but +can be "relative" which means it assumes you are talking about directories +relative to the directory you are in. For example, if you are in a directory +called /home/username and you want to move to the directory +/home/username/other/dir you could simply type cd +other/dir and you would end up in /home/username/other/dir. You can +also specify a full, or "absolute" path, by specifying the entire path name +starting with / ( / is a special directory called the "root" directory, and does +not have a "parent" directory, which means that it is not in any other +directory). There are also two special directories called "./" and "../". +The "./" directory is the current directory you are in, and you will probably +never use this in conjunction with the cd command (why would you want to move to +the directory you are already in?). The "../" directory represents the parent +directory of the directory you are currently in, so if you are in +/home/username, ../ is the same as /home. You can string several ../'s +together, so if you are in /home/username/dir/ ../../ represents /home. There +is one other special directory, called "~/" that points to your home +directory (usually /home/username or /root for the root user). + +
+ +
Moving Files + +To move files around, you need to use the "cp" (copy) and "mv" (move) +commands. Both of these are run the same way: command originalfile +newfile. The only difference is that cp creates a new file without +touching the old one, while mv deletes the original file. The two path names +can be either absolute or relative. If you only specify a directory for the +destination, and no filename, it will use the filename for the original file. + +
+ +
Deleting Files + +To delete a file, run the "rm" command, and to delete a directory, run the +"rmdir" command, each of them take the file to be removed as their only +argument. The rmdir command requires the directory to be empty, so if you want +to delete a directory that is not empty, along with all its contents, run +rm -r dir. + +
+ +
Linking Files + +In Linux, you can have a special file called a "symbolic link" that acts just +like a copy of another file, except it takes up less space. This is convinient +if two applications are looking for the same file in two separate places, +because the file can be in both places at once, without taking up any extra +space, and any change to one is automatically applied to the other (really, +there is only one file, the link is just a file pointing to the original file). +This is also useful for naming applications independant of their version number. + For instance, you could have a link called "application" that points to +"application1.0". To create a link, use the following command: +ln -s originalfile link. + +
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