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The Terminal Lab is an interactive Unix command-line tutorial that teaches essential Unix commands through hands-on practice. With 22 progressive lessons covering everything from basic navigation to advanced system administration, it’s the perfect way to learn Unix in a safe, guided environment.

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Overview

Terminal Lab features:
  • 22 Interactive Lessons: From basics to advanced topics
  • Guided Mode: Type each command to advance
  • Free Mode: Explore Unix commands without restrictions
  • Real Terminal Emulation: Authentic bash-like experience
  • Tab Completion: File and command completion
  • Command History: Arrow keys to recall commands

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Opening Terminal Lab

Launch from the CDE panel or application menu. The lab opens with a welcome screen: 
+--------------------------------------------+
|  DEBIAN CDE -- TERMINAL LABORATORY         |
+--------------------------------------------+
Guided lessons: type each command to advance.
Meta-commands: hint  skip  free  tutorial  clear

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The 22 Lessons

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Lesson 1: Navigation Basics

Learn fundamental navigation commands:
  • whoami - Display current username
  • pwd - Print working directory
  • ls - List files and directories
  • ls -la - List all files with details
  • date - Show system date and time

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Lesson 2: Working with Directories

Directory operations:
  • cd Documents - Change directory
  • mkdir project_web - Create new directory
  • touch index.html style.css script.js - Create files
  • Verify with ls

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Lesson 3: File Operations

Basic file manipulation:
  • echo '<h1>Hello World</h1>' > index.html - Write to file
  • cat index.html - Display file contents
  • cp index.html index_backup.html - Copy file
  • mv style.css styles.css - Rename file
  • rm index_backup.html - Delete file
File permissions and searching:
  • chmod 755 index.html - Change permissions
  • ls -l index.html - View permissions
  • find . -name '*.html' - Find files by pattern
  • grep 'Hello' index.html - Search text in files

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Lesson 5: Processes & Resources

System monitoring:
  • ps aux | head -5 - List processes
  • top -b -n 1 | head -5 - System monitor snapshot
  • free -h - Memory usage
  • df -h - Disk space usage

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Lesson 6: Package Management & Networking

System administration:
  • apt update - Update package list (as root)
  • apt upgrade -y - Upgrade packages
  • ping -c 3 google.com - Test connectivity
  • curl -I https://debian.org - Fetch HTTP headers

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Lesson 7: Shell Tricks & History

Shell productivity:
  • history | tail -5 - Recent commands
  • alias ll='ls -la' - Create command alias
  • cd ~ - Return to home
  • clear - Clear terminal screen

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Lesson 8: System Information

System details:
  • uname -a - Kernel and architecture
  • hostname - System hostname
  • uptime - System uptime and load
  • who - Logged-in users
  • last -5 - Recent login history

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Lessons 9-10: User Management

User and group operations:
  • useradd -m -s /bin/bash alice - Create user
  • passwd alice - Set password
  • groupadd developers - Create group
  • usermod -aG developers alice - Add user to group
  • id alice - Show user IDs
  • cat /etc/passwd | grep alice - View user info
  • sudo -l - List sudo privileges

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Lesson 11: Getting Help

Documentation access:
  • man ls - Manual page for ls command
  • whereis bash - Locate binary and docs
  • locate crontab - Find files by name

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Lesson 12: Archiving Files

Compression and archives:
  • tar -czf archive.tar.gz Documents/ - Create tarball
  • tar -tzf archive.tar.gz - List tarball contents
  • gzip -l archive.tar.gz - Compression info
  • zip -r project.zip Documents/ - Create zip
  • unzip -l project.zip - List zip contents

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Lesson 13: Process Signals

Service and process management:
  • systemctl status ssh - Service status
  • journalctl -n 5 - Recent log entries
  • crontab -l - List cron jobs
  • crontab -e - Edit cron jobs

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Lesson 14: Network Interfaces

Process control:
  • ps aux | grep ssh - Find SSH processes
  • kill -9 1234 - Kill process by PID
  • pkill -f sshd - Kill by name
  • top -b -n 1 | grep 'Cpu(s)' - CPU usage

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Lesson 15: DNS & Remote Files

Network configuration:
  • ifconfig - Network interfaces
  • ip addr show - Alternative network info
  • ss -tuln - Listening ports
  • traceroute -m 3 google.com - Trace route

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Lesson 16: Disk & Filesystem

DNS and downloads:
  • nslookup debian.org - DNS lookup
  • dig debian.org - Detailed DNS query
  • wget -O- https://httpbin.org/ip - Download file

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Lessons 17-18: Text Processing

Text manipulation tools:
  • head -3 index.html - First 3 lines
  • tail -2 script.js - Last 2 lines
  • wc -l index.html - Count lines
  • sort names.txt | uniq -c - Count unique lines
  • cut -d: -f1 /etc/passwd - Extract fields
  • sed 's/Hello/Hi/' index.html - Text replacement
  • awk -F: '{print $1}' /etc/passwd - Process columns
  • tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' < index.html - Case conversion

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Lesson 19: Environment Variables

Shell environment:
  • env | head -3 - List variables
  • export MY_VAR='Hello' - Set variable
  • echo $MY_VAR - Print variable
  • set | head -3 - All shell variables
Links and file inspection:
  • ln -s /path/to/file link_name - Create symlink
  • ls -l link_name - View symlink details
  • readlink link_name - Show symlink target
  • file index.html - Determine file type

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Lesson 21: Advanced Permissions (ACL)

Access control lists:
  • chown alice:developers file.txt - Change owner
  • setfacl -m u:user:rw file.txt - Set ACL
  • getfacl file.txt - View ACL entries

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Lesson 22: Utilities & Job Control

Final advanced topics combining previous lessons.

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Free Mode

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Switching to Free Mode

Type free or click the “Free Mode” button to explore Unix commands without guidance: 
[FREE MODE] Type any command. Type "tutorial" to return to guided mode or "help".

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Available Commands in Free Mode

File Operations:
  • ls, cd, pwd, cat, mkdir, touch, rm
System Information:
  • whoami, hostname, uname, date
Text Processing:
  • echo, grep, head, tail, wc
Process Management:
  • history, clear
Environment:
  • alias, unalias, export, env
Applications:
  • lynx [url] - Open Lynx browser
  • man [command] - Open man page viewer

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Bash Features in Free Mode

Pipes: Chain commands together 
cat file.txt | grep hello | wc -l
Variables: Use environment variables 
echo $HOME
echo $USER
export MY_VAR="test"
Wildcards: Pattern matching 
ls *.txt
rm test*.log
Aliases: Create shortcuts 
alias ll="ls -la"
alias ..="cd .."

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Keyboard Shortcuts

ShortcutAction
Ctrl+CCancel current input
Ctrl+LClear screen
Ctrl+UClear current line
Ctrl+AMove to start of line
Ctrl+EMove to end of line
↑ / ↓Browse command history
TabAuto-complete commands/files

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Tab Completion

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Command Completion

In guided mode: 
who<Tab>  →  whoami
In free mode, completes from all available commands.

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File Completion

When typing file paths: 
cat in<Tab>  →  cat index.html
cd Doc<Tab>  →  cd Documents/
If multiple matches exist, press Tab again to see options: 
index.html  index_backup.html

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Meta-Commands

These special commands work in both modes:
CommandAction
hintShow the expected command (guided mode)
skipSkip current step (guided mode)
freeToggle free mode
tutorialReturn to guided mode
clearClear terminal screen

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Progress Tracking

The top bar shows:
  • Current lesson number and title
  • Progress bar (percentage complete)
  • “LESSON 5 / 22 — Processes & Resources”

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Integration with Other Apps

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Launching Applications

From Terminal Lab in free mode: Lynx Browser: 
lynx
lynx gnu.org
Man Pages: 
man ls
man grep
man

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Virtual Filesystem

All file operations use the Time Capsule VFS:
  • Changes persist across sessions
  • Integrated with File Manager
  • Real file creation, modification, deletion

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Tips and Tricks

If you’re stuck on a command:
  1. Type hint to see the expected command
  2. Type skip to move to the next step
  3. Use Tab completion to help with typing
  4. Type free to experiment without restrictions
For best results:
  • Type each command manually (no copy-paste)
  • Read the output explanations
  • Experiment in free mode after completing lessons
  • Use man command to learn more about each tool
Navigate previous commands:
  • Press ↑ to recall earlier commands
  • Press ↓ to move forward in history
  • Edit recalled commands before running
  • History persists within the session
The Terminal Lab provides authentic Unix output:
  • Real file listings from VFS
  • Accurate command syntax
  • Actual error messages
  • Authentic directory structure

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Source Code

Terminal Lab is implemented in:
  • /src/scripts/features/lab.ts: Core tutorial engine (771 lines)
  • /src/data/tutorial.json: 22 lessons with 100+ steps
  • Full bash-like command map with pipes, variables, wildcards
  • Tab completion for commands and files
  • Command history with arrow key navigation