maemo.org - Talk - X Terminal questions from a noob

Quote:

Originally Posted by HellFlyer (Post 863872)

http://www.tuxradar.com/content/comm...ks-smart-geeks

You can google linux xterm commands , almost all of them are similar :)

From his post I think those commands might be a little too complex. The easiest way to navigate through xterm if you only use it to troubleshoot and fix small stuff is the very basic commands.

First some info: the minus (-) symbol is used for flags. Flags may define further options to a command. Eg: -help usually brings out a help about a command.

Code:

cp -help

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So some basic commands:
cp = copy. You can use it like this: cp origin destination
You can use the -R flag to copy recursively (ie. everything inside too)
To copy hello.txt from /home/user/MyDocs to /home/user

Code:

cp /home/user/MyDocs/hello.txt /home/user/

To copy a whole folder called hello:

Code:

cp -R /home/user/MyDocs/hello /home/user/

Move works in similar ways. The difference is that the files are removed from the first location. Eg:

Code:

mv /home/user/MyDocs/hello.txt /home/user/

ls - lists files in a directory. Pressing TAB (on screen button) twice lists files in the current directory:

Code:

ls /home/user/apps/

mkdir - creates a new directory:

Code:

mkdir /home/user/newdir

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To search for files you can use the following command: find
You can be creative with this command. You always need the -name flag to specify the name. You can use an * for a wildcard.

Ex this searches in /home/user/MyDocs for files ending with .mp3

Code:

find /home/user/MyDocs -name *.mp3

This searches for files that have abc anywhere in the filename:

Code:

find /home/user/MyDocs -name *abc*.*

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To see or edit config files etc:
You can use the vi command to see what a file contains. Example:

Code:

vi /usr/share/applications/hildon/abc.desktop

You can use leafpad (once installed) to edit files too like this:

Code:

leafpad /home/user/abc.txt

If a file requires root access to be editted you can start leafpad while rooted and it will work.

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Installing and updating:
These require you to be rooted. Some useful flags: -f (force), -fix-missing (fixes missing dependencies (hopefully))

Code:

apt-get update

Updates the catalogs.

Code:

apt-get upgrade

Upgrades the packages that have an upgrade available.

Code:

apt-get install something

Installs a package called something

Code:

apt-get install -reinstall something

Reinstalls a package.

Installing packages manually uses the command dpkg. Now this has many flags. Like: -i (install), -force-all (installs a package without caring for missing dependencies(may result in a broken app).

Code:

dpkg -i /home/user/MyDocs/install.deb

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To set permissions to a file I would first recommend try setting permissions NOT as root. If you can't..then gain root.

Code:

chmod +x /home/user/file

You can also use:

Code:

chmod 777 /home/user/file

Both should give enough permissions to work. you can research the difference if you like.

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Finally if you don't know I will tell you how to access root. Please be careful when in root. Nothing will stop you from deleting important configuration files.

1. Install the package called 'rootsh' from an application manager.
2. Open Terminal
3. Type 'sudo gainroot' OR just 'root'

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These are the commands I can think off the top of my head. You should start with these..then advance little by little. xterm is great because it gives you feedback of what it is doing..unlike a GUI.

You can also troubleshoot an app by launching it in xterm. To do so you need to find its launcher..ex launch it by typing:

Code:

/home/opt/app1/app1

or a python app:

Code:

python /home/opt/pythonapp/pythonapp.py

One final thing. the TAB button (it's on screen) is very useful. It completes commands and directories example typing '/h' and pressing tab will complete it to '/home/'. You can select text by pressing the mouse button and dragging on screen and copy and paste from the drop down menu at the top.

Hope this helps.