Some dumb questions born of frustration

[Jeffery Mewtamer]

Okay, created a single line .bash_profile with the source ~/.bashrc
line and it works. Then, since both files are, for me at least, single
liners, I tried .bash_profile with just the export PS1='\$' and no
.bashrc and got the same result. For such minimalist configs, is there
any reason to prefer a separate .bashrc?

And now that I don't have to manually type PS1=$ everytime I switch to
a fresh terminal, is there any way I could add a short indicator of
the active terminal before the $? Something along the lines of tty2$
when I'm using tty2 and tty3$ when I'm using tty3.

-- 
Sincerely,

Jeffery Wright
President Emeritus, Nu Nu Chapter, Phi Theta Kappa.
Former Secretary, Student Government Association, College of the Albemarle.