Running Programs

Before all the features of the X Window System will seem useful, you will probably want to run an actual program. The easiest way to run a program is to simply click on a launcher in a panel or on the desktop. However, launchers may not exist for all programs you would like to use, and it may not be practical to create all those launchers. The other way, which is easy, is to type the name of the program you would like to run in a terminal (bring up the root menu and select ``Open Terminal'' to bring up a terminal) and hit [Enter].

For example, typing firefox at the prompt will run the Firefox web browser. You can use Firefox to access information scattered about the Internet. In particular, the Computer Sciences department has a web site containing much information at http://www.cs.wisc.edu. The CSL also maintains a web site at http://www.cs.wisc.edu/csl.