At the time you installed your system, you were given the option of working entirely in a graphical environment, such as KDE, or logging in from console mode, which is non-graphical.
If you're like many new Linux users, you're familiar with graphical environments such as Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh or IBM's OS/2.
So it's a fairly safe bet that you chose to work in a graphical environment when you installed BL2000.
You'll find plenty of opportunities to ''point and click'' on applications - either on your desktop or from the menu at the bottom of your desktop. But we're going to spend much of our time working from the ''shell prompt.''
Why? Because at the same time you accomplish tasks, you can learn a little more about how your system works.
Unlike a graphical presentation, a ''shell prompt'' is a way of typing commands directly to the ''shell.'' You need a shell to use Linux, because it's the tool you use to interact with your operating system.
There are a number of ways to get a shell prompt, depending on the kind of graphical environment (such as KDE) that you're using. Depending on the environment chosen, just by right- or left-clicking in a blank space on your desktop, you'll see a reference to xterm. In KDE the fastest way to open a shell window is by clicking an icon on the panel that resembles a terminal.
By ''dragging'' your cursor over that item you will open a shell prompt window. Other times, you'll find you can get a shell prompt window through the menu on your desktop.
In addition to xterm, other references which will give you the shell prompt include:
We'll use KDE as our example.
To begin, take your cursor to the K-menu on the panel at the bottom of the desktop.
Now, left-click once on the K-menu (see Figure fig:f1), and a menu of ''folders'' will pop up. These folders represent categories of various software groups on our system. There are utilities, graphics programs, Internet applications and many more.
Once the menu pops up, move the cursor to the Utilities section. Once the cursor is over the folder, a new menu pops up to the right of the Utilities folder.
Here, in the first entries of this new submenu, there is a choice of terminal windows: Konsole, Terminal (kvt) and X Terminal (xterm) (as shown in Figure fig:f2). To get a shell prompt, position the cursor over the terminal window of your choice, and click the left mouse button.
There is an alternative way to access K-menu items. It works as follows: You click on the K-menu, hold down the mouse button and "drag" the pointer to the desired location, releasing the button once you are there. Releasing the button works like clicking i.e. it starts the program. This behaviour is more natural to some experienced users of Linux. The great thing about KDE is that you can use whichever technique you are used to.
Of the choices in the Panel ->Utilities menu, the Terminal option offers the ability to set background color and other preferences most easily.
Now, it's time to take your first steps.