Launching multiple apps from one terminal

[Ryndal]

I've encountered some sort of neuroticism regarding launching things from the terminal window. I'm running Ubuntu 6.06.

When I open the terminal window and type in

desktop:~$ firefox

it will launch firefox normally, but the terminal window is then tied up. Closing firefox will free the terminal window, while closing the terminal window instead kills firefox. There have been a few instances where somehow I could launch things (I'll continue with the FF example) and the terminal would then reset as though the launched app had been killed and was ready to launch another app.
My friend suggested I try using nohup but that doesn't work and I honestly don't know what it is(so an explanation of that would be nice).

Is there any way to consistently get my terminal to launch multiple apps or is this some sort of fluke?

[oz]

Try entering your program like this in the terminal:

firefox &

[Zelmo]

Here's a nice article that goes into more depth. It's good stuff to know if you're becoming a command-line junkie.

[Ryndal]

I appreciate the help guys, I really do.

[Ayush_Agrawal]

for any command, or any app for running it into background all u have to do is: write

$command &

whr command in ur case is firefox, now for getting it into the foreground and then sending again sending it to background can b done following commands respectivey:

fg

bg

Regards,
Ayush Agrawal.