\_ In root is console the same thing as a dos prompt?

No, not the same thing, but it would be more accurate to say that

XWindow:console =k= Windows9x:DOS

"=k=" is read as "sort of equal to" after Professor Kou of my
undergrad who kept saying theings were "sort of equal to" each other.

eg: "1 + 2 is sort of equal to 3"

David