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Opening a shell

Depending on your operating system, there are different ways to open a shell (or a terminal)

Linux

If you are working on a linux box and you have X window support1), right click on the screen and a pop-up window will appear.

Figure 1: The desktop of a typical Ubuntu Linux distribution

If you select the item Terminal a shell will open in your browser.

Figure 2: A Linux terminal

If that doesn't work, simply open the “Activities” menu by either clicking on the text in the upper left corner or by hitting the “Windows” key. Then, type 'terminal' and click on “Terminal” or “Terminator”.

Mac OS

If you are using Mac OS, just open Applications - Utilities - Terminal Alternatively, you can install XQuartz, which provides support for the X windows system as well.

Figure 3: Opening the terminal application in Mac OS

Once you have started the terminal something like the following will appear

Figure 4: The terminal in Mac OS

Windows

Most Windows operating systems don't ship with a terminal application. We suggest to install MobaXterm.

After downloading the installer, double-click it and click through the installation process.

Once you have started MobaXterm, you can start an emulated BASH shell by clicking on “Start local terminal” on the welcome screen (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Starting a local session with MobaXterm opens a BASH-like terminal.
1)
Not when you are connecting to a remote computer via ssh, then you don't have to worry about opening a shell because you already in it