Survey of Operating Systems Chapter 9 - Linux on the Desktop
Root Account
All-powerful account that is only used when absolutely necessary to do advanced tasks.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Basis for Red Hat's commercially available distribution.
BASH (Bourne-Again SHell)
Default for most Linux systems, it is an enhanced version of the original SHELL program.
Path
Description that an operating system uses to identify the location of a file or directory.
Open-source software
Distributed freely with all of it's source code that anyone can access.
Terminal Window
Equivalent to a windows command prompt window, where you can experience the Linux CLI.
Switch Users
Feature that allows the currently logged-on user to leave their apps and data open in memory.
GNOME
One of two Linux's main GUI
X Window
Open group that continues work on the X Window System.
Ubuntu
Open source OS distributed by Linux. This version features a GUI.
GNU
Organization that developed a free version of a UNIX-like operating system.
Home Directory
Place in Linux where a user has full control over files and directories without requiring elevated privileges.
Symbolic Link
Points to another directory.
Daemon
Program that runs in the background until it is activated by a command.
Object code
An executable program in another language that can be interpreted by a computer's CPU
Live Image
Bootable image of the operating system that will run from disc or other bootable media without requiring that the OS be installed on the local computer.
Command-line history
Linux saves the shell commands you enter for the duration of the session and you can scroll through these commands while at the $ prompt.
Kickoff Application Launcher
Menu on the KDE GUI that is similar to the windows 7 start menu.
X Window System
Standard developed in 1984 at MIT for use with UNIX.
wild card
Symbol that replaces any character or parameter.
$ prompt
Terminal window that consists of the name of the currently logged-on user and the computer name.
Source Code
The un-compiled program statements that can be viewed and edited with a text editor or special programming software.
Launcher
This feature is on the Ubuntu Unity GUI. Bar on the left side of the screen that serves the same purpose as the OS X Dock or the pinned items feature on the taskbar on the Windows Desktop.
Apache HTTP Server
This web server software was originally written for UNIX but also runs on Linux. Another name for this is simply "Apache".
Command completion
When you enter the command name and a few more characters of the options, Linux will autocomplete the command.
owner
Who created the file.