Get a Basic Text Terminal Without Exiting the GUI

There are a number of ways for you to get a command prompt when running a Linux GUI. This can be important if you need quick access to commands or you are not familiar with the GUI menu option layout.

Using a GUI Terminal Window

You can open a GUI-based window with a command prompt inside by doing the following:

• Click on the Fedora logo button in the lower-left corner of the screen.

• Click on Systems Tools and then Terminal.

Using Virtual Consoles

By default, Linux runs six virtual console or TTY sessions running on the VGA console. These are defined by the mingetty statements in the /etc/inittab file. The X terminal GUI console creates its own virtual console using the first available TTY that is not controlled by mingetty. This makes the GUI run as number 7:

• You can step through each virtual console session by using the Ctrl-Alt-F1 through F6 key sequence. You'll get a new login prompt for each attempt.

• You can get the GUI login with the sequence Ctl-Alt-F7, only in runlevel 5, or if the GUI is running after launching startx.