So how do you setup, change and pimp out Linux / UNIX shell prompt?

Most of us work with a shell prompt. By default most Linux distro displays hostname and current working directory. You can easily customize your prompt to display information important to you.

By default, the root account password is locked in Ubuntu - Canonical neither supports nor advocates enabling the root account. This means that you cannot login as root directly or use the su command to become the root user. However, since the root account physically exists it is still possible to run programs with root-level privileges.

Enabling the root account in ubuntu is rarely necessary. Almost everything you need to do as root of an Ubuntu system can be done via sudo or gksudo. If you really need a persistent root login, the best alternative is to simulate a root login shell using the following command... It is tested in ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala also.

Here is a cool trick to make your bash prompt look like a dos prompt. Why would you do it? You shouldn’t; unless you have something for dos prompts. But you could always do this to fool your coworkers or friends and give them a moment of, “WTF”? (I know I will)

In a recent text configuring colors for the Bash prompt was discussed. In this text a method of messing with the prompt is expanded upon by actually inserting a shell code function inline with the bash prompt.

Not long ago, there were several discussions on UbuntuForums regarding a malicious command which was deliberately posted in the forums in order to make users damage their system if they typed it in a terminal using root privileges. The command is 'sudo rm -rf /' and means 'use root privileges to recursively remove, without asking for permission, the root directory / and its entire contents.

Question: How do I open a shell prompt or gnome-terminal at the current location while browsing directories and files via nautilus file manager?

There might be the situation, that your root filesystem runs out of space, so it has to be expanded. With filesystems other than the root filesystem this could easily be done for instance with gparted. With the root filesystem this is not possible, as gparted could only expand filesystems that are not mounted, which is impossible with the root filesystem.

You'll spend plenty of time in the terminal, so why not customize it to suit your tastes? This article steps you through installing and configuring bashish, a terminal prompt theming utility.