When running programs from an terminal window in Ubuntu, the program process will run in the foreground, occupying the terminal session that started the program. Until the program ends or is closed, you can not start other applications as long as this process is running in the foreground. While you can open another terminal window or use the screen command, Bash shell provides an easier function known as job control that will allow multiple programs to run in the background and return control to the terminal window on Ubuntu.
To use job control and allow programs to return control back to the terminal window, commands entered should be followed with the ampersand character &For example, you want to open Firefox. From the command line you would type:
firefox &
Firefox will open in the background and the terminal window control will be returned allowing you to continue working in the terminal window. If you want to open another program or run a script, you can enter the command follow by &
For longer running programs started in the background, which do not need user input, job control commands can be executed that can show status, suspend, bring a program to the foreground, and return to background.
In the screen shot below, Firefox and Terminal server client applications were started in the background. Executing the jobs command displays all running jobs started in the background.
To bring the first program started in the background – Firefox, to the foreground and then suspend the process, execute
fg %1 followed by Ctrl+Z
To resume Firefox in the background, execute bg %1
Below are all options that can be used with job control:
jobs [-lnprs] [jobspec]
jobs -x command [arguments]
The first form lists the active jobs. The options have the following meanings:
-l
List process IDs in addition to the normal information.
-n
Display information only about jobs that have changed status since the user was last notified of their status.
-p
List only the process ID of the job’s process group leader.
-r
Restrict output to running jobs.
-s
Restrict output to stopped jobs.
If jobspec is given, output is restricted to information about that job. If jobspec is not supplied, the status of all jobs is listed.
If the `-x’ option is supplied, jobs replaces any jobspec found in command or arguments with the corresponding process group ID, and executes command, passing it arguments, returning its exit status.
bg [jobspec]
Resume the suspended job jobspec in the background, as if it had been started with `&’. If jobspec is not supplied, the current job is used. The return status is zero unless it is run when job control is not enabled, or, when run with job control enabled, if jobspec was not found or jobspec specifies a job that was started without job control.
fg [jobspec]
Resume the job jobspec in the foreground and make it the current job. If jobspec is not supplied, the current job is used. The return status is that of the command placed into the foreground, or non-zero if run when job control is disabled or, when run with job control enabled, jobspec does not specify a valid job or jobspec specifies a job that was started without job control.
Ctrl +Z Suspend (stop, but not quit) a process running in the foreground (suspend).
Ctrl +C Interrupt (terminate and quit) a process running in the foreground.
If that vertical two-finger scrolling is all you want, and you want it to stick around the next time you restart Windows, check your system tray. It might be hidden away, but there should be a TwoFingerScroll icon that you can right-click to turn on and off, and right-click to select “Settings.” In the settings, you can have TwoFingerScroll start with Windows, but you can also do a lot more. Check out the next tab, “Scrolling,” where you can set up exactly how your two-finger scrolling should work. In my own case, I kept the speed and acceleration defaults, disabled “Keep scrolling on edges,” and switched to “Smooth” for the Scroll Mode. I haven’t really broken them in and figured out what exactly I like, because, hey, two-finger scrolling in Windows is entirely new to me.
Head to the next tab to the right, and you’ll see that you can actually manage two and three-finger tapping from TwoFingerScroll. I haven’t played with these features as much, but if your trackpad has a middle button function, or an equivalent “Button4” and “Button5,” you can set a two, three, or “two plus one” (two fingers together, one just outside) tap to do what those buttons would normally do. I could see these functions being helpful for quick right-clicking or, perhaps, triggering an Escape key or the like, but I’ve generally left this section well enough alone. If you know of some clever uses for multi-finger taps, do tell in the comments!
Extract the files from the ZIP package you downloaded, double-click the Setup file to start the installation process, and if you’re asked to verify that you want to install an “untrusted” or unverified driver, go ahead and do so. Once you’re through the setup process, you’ll likely be asked to restart once again. Allow your system to restart. When you boot up again, you may be asked if you’re sure you want to allow programs related to your Synaptics driver installation to run on your system, seeing as how they were downloaded from the internet and all. Un-check the boxes in the lower-left that ask something akin to “Always ask for this type of file,” and you won’t see these prompts on your next start-up.
Now, the good stuff. Head to Control Panel, into the “Hardware and Sound” section, and select “Mouse.” The farthest-right tab should have a red icon and read “Device Settings.” Make sure Synaptics Touchpad is selected in that tab, then hit the “Settings” button below it. You’ll see a whole realm of options there to explore and customize. The new stuff that you’ll want to pay close attention to is in a few places:
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