adb shell and terminal emulator - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

i gotta question. is adb shell and terminal emulator the same thing? and am i right getting into adb shell with the CMD from windows when having my phone via usb connected in debugging mode? and can someone tell me where i can get a list of commands?
thx
X10mini miniCM7 2.0 using XDA Premium App

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freebordjunky said:
i gotta question. is adb shell and terminal emulator the same thing? and am i right getting into adb shell with the CMD from windows when having my phone via usb connected in debugging mode? and can someone tell me where i can get a list of commands?
thx
X10mini miniCM7 2.0 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
adb shell and Terminal Emulator are not the same thing. One is an shell environment (adb shell) and the other is a tool to access that environment (Terminal Emulator).
adb shell is native to the phone and allows for Linux shell access. Terminal emulator will allow you to run adb shell ON the phone directly to access that shell environment.
Secondly, yes you are correct, in that you can use the Command Prompt (CMD) to access adb shell. Also, your phone must be in debugging mode as you stated.
To get a list of commands -- you type: adb, while in the androidsdk\tools folder and it'll display the default set of commands available to you.
Though, the most common commands you'll run are as follows:
adb shell -- Gives you shell access, best used with root access
adb remount -- Mounts the phone for r/w (read-write) access; this
needs to be done if you plan to run the next two commands, but only once.
adb push -- Push's/Move's a file to the specified dir, usually system/app
adb pull -- Copies a file from a specified dir, usually system/app
adb shell reboot -- Reboots your phone from the command line
Hope that helps.

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thank you very much
X10mini miniCM7 2.0 using XDA Premium App

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Sure, no problem.

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pseudoremora said:
Sure, no problem.
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Click to collapse
Hi there, Im new to TE and ADB as well.
1) From what it looks like why would you ever use ADB if you didnt need to exchange files with the computer?
TE seems a lot easier to use without having to install the sdk, different exes etc.
2) I've also stumbled upon the ADBD insecure by chainfire, from what I've gathered, this app gives you root access to stock kernels that otherwise wouldn't have given you that. and saves you from typing long command lines.
But what lines is it saving you from typing? Just "su"?

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Adb pull or push DOES NOT work with Terminal Emulator as they are not found as commands. What to do to use them with unrooted phone?

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pseudoremora said:
adb shell and Terminal Emulator are not the same thing. One is an shell environment (adb shell) and the other is a tool to access that environment (Terminal Emulator).
adb shell is native to the phone and allows for Linux shell access. Terminal emulator will allow you to run adb shell ON the phone directly to access that shell environment.
Secondly, yes you are correct, in that you can use the Command Prompt (CMD) to access adb shell. Also, your phone must be in debugging mode as you stated.
To get a list of commands -- you type: adb, while in the androidsdk\tools folder and it'll display the default set of commands available to you.
Though, the most common commands you'll run are as follows:
adb shell -- Gives you shell access, best used with root access
adb remount -- Mounts the phone for r/w (read-write) access; this
needs to be done if you plan to run the next two commands, but only once.
adb push -- Push's/Move's a file to the specified dir, usually system/app
adb pull -- Copies a file from a specified dir, usually system/app
adb shell reboot -- Reboots your phone from the command line
Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the following from powershell, on windows:
Code:
.\adb.exe shell cmd overlay enable com.android.internal.systemui.navbar.gestural
and it worked.
I tried the same from the terminal emulator, and it said
cmd: service not found: overlay
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Click to collapse
Why is it that it works one way, and not the other way? Aren't they interacting with the same shell enviromnent? Is there a permission difference?