Linux (Ubuntu Questions)?

Question

I am very new to Linux and I have a few questions. First of all, the distribution that I am using is Ubuntu.

Question 1: Now lets say I launch something as root from the Terminal, or do anything in the Terminal for that matter. Is it safe just to close the Terminal with all that code in it, or is it better to reset the Terminal and then close it? Or does it make a difference? I am asking this because I shut the Terminal down after launching something as root but I DID NOT hit the reset button, and I don’t know if Linux stores any of that information somewhere in the computer. (I am just trying to take some security precautions.)

Question 2: Besides “sudo,” what are some important commands that I should know to use Linux effectively?

Question 3: How do you change your password in Linux?

Thank you for your time and I will give the best answer 10 points.

Answer 1

Much of the work in Ubuntu can be done via the Synaptic Package Manager without touching the Terminal. Here is the Official Ubuntu Synaptic Package Manager Documentation https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto



Should you need to use it.Here additionally is the Official Ubuntu Terminal Documentation https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingTheTerminal



Here is a tutorial on changing your password in Ubuntu http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/resetpassword



LUG.

Answer 2

1. If you give a command in the terminal like firefox it will open the browser and it will continue to run until you close the terminal, or cancel the command in the terminal. As Jessica said if you add the & at the end the command will persist after you close the terminal. The rule of thumb is: if you get back to the command prompt $ you can close the terminal and it will not affect any program. See the link below for more info on the terminal and some more common commands. The second link is a list of all bash commands. The third link is all you ever wanted to know about the terminal.

3. You can also change your password in the terminal: passwd.

Answer 3

1. It records your history but that doesn't matter, there isn't really any security issues involved. You should be able to type away in terminal, then close it, and not have to worry about it anymore. You don't have to "reset Terminal" or anything."



2. This may help:

http://freeengineer.org/learnUNIXin10minutes.html



3. To change password in Terminal, you type:

passwd USERNAME

Answer 4

1. If you use the "&" sign after the command (sans quotation marks), then you can close the terminal, and the process will continue.



If you're asking if the command history is somewhere, yes it is. It's in the ~/.bash_history file



2. You don't really need to know any commands. What are you trying to do?



3. Go to System > Administration > Users & Groups and double-click on your username