what is terminal and how do i indirectly use it?

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what is terminal and how do i indirectly use it?

I've had my macbook for a year and a half now and updated to OS X Lion a few months ago. Last week I tried installing Rosetta Stone and this app I had never seen before called Terminal popped up. I am not familiar with code writing and didn't know that I needed to be able to in order to install new software. Is it possible that I accidentally changed something in my settings that may have caused this app to run anytime I tried to install a new program? Now I can't update or install software. PLEASE HELP ASAP!

MacBook

Posted on Jan 20, 2012 8:43 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 20, 2012 8:47 PM in response to aballassi

"Terminal (also referred to as Terminal.app) is a terminal emulator included in Apple's Mac OS X operating system.^[1] It originated in Mac OS X's predecessors, NeXTSTEP and OPENSTEP, and allows the user to interact with the computer through a command line interface. It provides an environment for Unix shells, which, among other things, allow the OS X user to visually interact with the system core. Terminal features include tabs and customization of styles such as fonts and colors."

Did you type anything in terminal?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_(Mac_OS_X)

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Answer 2

aballassi Author

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Jan 29, 2012 6:06 PM in response to shldr2thewheel

Yes, but I have no idea how to use it and what to write. It wasn't opening in the first place and all of a sudden started opening when I was trying to install a new program or even just update the ones I already had. Why is this and how do I get it back to the way it use to be?

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