Changing loging shell and/or terminal prompt

[thomasd]

I've started using Linux Lite and the "pretty" bash prompt is driving me crazy because I cannot change it.

The instructions in this post don't work, no mater what I do, PS1 stays set.

Code:

 thomasd  ~  PS1="Foo : "
 thomasd  ~  echo $PS1
\[\] thomasd \[\] \[\]~ \[\] \[\]
 thomasd  ~  

doing export has the same effect:

Code:

 thomasd  ~  export PS1="Foo : "
 thomasd  ~  echo $PS1
\[\] thomasd \[\] \[\]~ \[\] \[\]
 thomasd  ~ 