Let’s assume you’re a Windows user who has decided to get acquainted with the Linux operating system, constantly hearing about Linux distributions while never having used them yourself. You’re tired of not knowing, wanting to learn new things and progress regardless of your age or the job you’re in. You have an older computer where you could install the Linux operating system, or you have a fast and powerful computer with plenty of hard disk space to install a virtual machine and one of the Linux distributions on it.
The first step is to do some research, question yourself about what kind of Linux distribution you would like to use. There are many Linux distributions for different purposes, some may be more appealing to you while others are not, tastes differ; maybe you would want to limit yourself to your own criteria or simply see what’s on offer and what other Linux users are using. Therefore, before you make your decision, we recommend that you look at the list of the Top 50 Linux distributions; take a look here; before you make a decision.
And then, once you’ve made the right decision, read some text about your distribution or watched a video on the YouTube channel on how to install it, and if you’ve gathered enough courage and installed the Linux distribution you like and have chosen yourself, then you’re ready to sail into the world of Linux and become one of the significant users of the Linux operating system and its huge community on the Internet. We won’t hold it against you as a beginner if someone else helped you install your Linux distribution or if you simply got it pre-installed with your new laptop.
When you start your already installed Linux distribution and enter the correct password, the graphical desktop of your Linux distribution will appear. Of course, this is provided that you are not using a Linux distribution that does not use any graphical environment. Such a Linux distribution is definitely not for beginners. But since you probably have one of the most common graphical environments like Xfce, KDE, GNOME, and others, customized with themes, colors, and the appearance of your Linux distribution, it is obvious that after starting and logging into your Linux distribution, you will see the desktop of your Linux distribution. Take a good look at the desktop of your Linux distribution and look for a button on the navigation menu, which has an icon with a black window drawn on it, similar to the Command Prompt in the Windows operating system.
This button is usually visible on the navigation bar because it is frequently used. If this is not the case with your Linux distribution, look for Terminal or Console in the menu or search bar. Then start the mentioned application and expand its window so that you can comfortably type Linux Terminal commands. This application is generally called Terminal although a terminal itself is a smaller computer, i.e., an embedded system. A terminal emulator is software that runs on general-purpose machines that implements the behavior of a real terminal. You won’t be wrong if you call the Terminal emulator Terminal, because most Linux users have such a habit and because it is a shorthand that covers all types of Terminal emulators.
The most commonly used Terminal emulator in more popular Linux distributions is Bash Shell, but you also have Zsh, Ksh, Fish, etc. Zsh, for example, offers numerous advantages and improvements over Bash Shell, due to better autocompletion, support for multilingual characters, more advanced configurations and personalizations, integration with plugins, and more options for managing command history. In recent years, it has been increasingly used although Bash Shell is spread across many more Linux distributions.
From Windows Explorer to Terminal: Navigating Linux Like a Pro

