MobileTerminal

Summary
Application used to execute shell commands in iPhone OS. Some of it's features are still missing in 2.x.x firmwares.

There are two main forks currently available: MobileTerminal, written with Apple's SDK, and Terminal+, which supports more features. Saurik's Telesphoreo repo hosts, under the "MobileTerminal" name, an iPhone OS 3.1.3 and older compatible version of Terminal+. There is mobileterminal which supports firmware below 4.0 and for above 4,0, mobileterminal-applesdk.

Controls
The Control key is mapped to the "bullet" key (black circle on the second page of symbols of the on screen keyboard).

To run some software you must have  privileges. Run the  command and enter the password for the root account. ( by default, you may change it with the   command). Root access is shown by default as a prompt ending in  as opposed to   (non-privileged user).

Controls (MobileTerminal)
MobileTerminal features a shortcut menu (blue upwards arrow icon) which can be customized from the settings ("i" icon) page. It is also possible to map certain actions to gestures (none are set by default). Bluetooth keyboards are supported.

Installation Warning
When installing MobileTerminal from YourCydiaRepo.org, you get additional software advertised as updates on Cydia's Changes page. And if you remove the repo after installing MobileTerminal and then go to Cydia's Changes page, Cydia crashes.

Controls (Terminal+)
You can send a control-C by pressing the "bullet" key (First press ".?123", then "#+=", then the circle on the middle right), then press the C key. This can be useful when you want to escape out of a long running program such as ping. Control-C can also be accessed with a short Up-Right and Control is a short Down-Right swipe, after which the cursor will turn highlight red, from here press any character q, x, c, A to complete or the delete button to exit Control mode.

Escape is control-[ or a short Up-Left swip, which may come in handy with vi. Tab is control-I or a short Down-Left swip (yay tab completion).

All this keyboard-to-gesture mappings can be reassigned via Preferences dialog. To invoke it, tap and hold on screen, then move finger to "misc" and then to "config".

Links

 * Homepage
 * iOS 4-compatible versions
 * Installation guide for beginners
 * User guide