From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Apr 10 11:07:55 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 03A9B16A400 for ; Mon, 10 Apr 2006 11:07:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from offbyone@xs4all.nl) Received: from smtp3.wanadoo.fr (smtp3.wanadoo.fr [193.252.22.28]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7793843D46 for ; Mon, 10 Apr 2006 11:07:54 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from offbyone@xs4all.nl) Received: from me-wanadoo.net (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mwinf0307.wanadoo.fr (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id 783BC1C00214 for ; Mon, 10 Apr 2006 13:07:53 +0200 (CEST) Received: from [192.168.0.4] (ADijon-151-1-56-79.w83-196.abo.wanadoo.fr [83.196.146.79]) by mwinf0307.wanadoo.fr (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id 1E53F1C001FE; Mon, 10 Apr 2006 13:07:53 +0200 (CEST) X-ME-UUID: 20060410110753124.1E53F1C001FE@mwinf0307.wanadoo.fr Message-ID: <443A3BA5.9040505@xs4all.nl> Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 13:04:05 +0200 From: offbyone User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5 (X11/20060331) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: infernus - Bluelight References: <443962BA.9020802@infernusweb.net> In-Reply-To: <443962BA.9020802@infernusweb.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Newbie help! X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 11:07:55 -0000 infernus - Bluelight wrote: > > Sorry for bothering this mailing list, but I realy need some help.. > I find awsome screenshots from FreeBSD on various sites on the net, but > on my comp, > the only thing I see is a black screen with some white text on it, and: > ________________ > $| What you are looking at is called a "prompt". It indicates that your system is ready for input from you, through an interactive program called a "shell", also called a "command interpreter". The cursor is on the "command line". The number and variety of commands that you might want to type onto the command line is immense, but you have to know what each commands is that you might want you use, depending on what you want your computer to do with it. Learning how to use the shell and which of those commands are useful to you, is the essence of learning how to use any unix/bsd computer system. It is an older and more powerful way of feeding information to the system and getting information back, than the GUI screen-shots you mentioned. Other responses to your OT have encouraged you in the direction of getting a the pretty face that you want on your computer. That's fine. But I would encourage you too, try to learn at least some of what you can do--some of the vast amount of work that FreeBSD can handle for you--starting right where you are, at that $| prompt on the command line. It is very exciting, once you do, and you don't have to install anything more than you already have.