Linux Format forums

[andychannelle]

In a follow on from the KDE or Gnome question, and also featuring in the magazine, do you find the command line or graphical interface best/most productive?

As I write the First Steps feature every month, I tend to assume that new users will favour the graphical approach over the textual, though I do understand that on occasion it is much more sensible and efficient to open a console.

Are there some things impossible to do with either of the options?

Andy

[Nobber]

Can we have a third option: False dichotomy?
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[Nigel]

Depends what I'm doing.
For programming I always open a terminal window and use vi, gcc etc from the command line. But I also typically have a file manager window open as well as it is often easier to move files around that way (but I often rename & copy files via the command line).
I tend to use command-line ftp as I haven't found a graphical ftp client I like (yet).
But web-browsing, word processing, email and any multimedia stuff I always do in GUI (apart from alsamixer, which is the only thing I've found that gives me full control over my Audigy card).

I can't think of anything that's actually impossible in either environment, it's just life is too short to do photo editing from the command line or script editing/debugging using a gui.

So, please add a third option to your poll - Both
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Hope this helps,

Nigel.

[andychannelle]

Edited to include an option of both.

[towy71]

When I run Mandrake(not often) its gui all the way, when I run Debian (all the time) it is both
Dick
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[Nigel]

[M0PHP]

On the servers I've set up it's always CLI.. X is too much of a resource hog The best tools for managing the server remotely is SSH - WinSCP and PuTTY on Windows. I don't run linux on the desktop full-time so I've voted for both - but if I did use it all the time, I'd definately be using a GUI for most things.

[jjmac]

Like mentioned above, i tend to use both at the same time.

cli can provide a wider scope with different tool combination via the pipe command. gui's are nice too, but can be limited by the extent of available facilities. I think thats the trick to a good gui.

jm

edit: lilited --> limited

[davecs]

I voted both, but I suppose I really meant GUI if possible, CLI if necessary. But I also believe that we have to get as much as possible under GUI if we are to stuff Micro$haft.
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[wiz]

Midnight Commander for sysadmin duties.
I find it a zillion times quicker to get round a system using this with it's inbuilt file viewer, editor & twin panel view than I do using a GUI.

oops! forgot to add I voted both

[MachuMan]

As a desktop user i probably prefer the gui as i mostly just surf tinternet, though i admit the cli is very useful for some things. When i find the gui most useful is when i am just browsing through files, i'm not aware of an easy way of doing this with the cli. Its so much easier just to dbl click rather than having to keep typing cd then ls. I can see how developers and programers find it useful as there used to typing lots and fast, but those of us who just do this for fun then the gui makes everything so much more accessible and lets us into the "club" as it were. Though i have to admit the longer i use linux the more i use the cli.
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[ryptyde]

I had to go with gui as I spend a lot of time point and clicking.

[skecs]

I voted both as well, somethings can't be done from the GUI, but the point and click makes things quicker at times. Installing from source is easier in a CLI but RPMs can be done in a GUI or manager like YaST or Synaptic. I agree with davecs that GUI configuration needs to improve to push into the desktop market.

I know that Debian has apt get to install packages, there is YaST which has been open sourced, Webmin and Usermin, there is Synaptic and Click-N-Run but , as I posted on another tech site, I think OSDL needs to look at an X based, not KDE/Gnome/Wfm/etc based, central configuration tool. I like the Webmin module based admin tools idea where independent developers can submit modules to a central controlling organisation. It doesn't matter how it is organised - it just needs to be done.

Just a quick rant!
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[jjmac]

>>
But I also believe that we have to get as much as possible under GUI if we are to stuff Micro$haft
>>


All both need is the explanation. As seems to be the case with people when they do start to use the cli more ... it's because they have become more familiar with it.

Getting as much as possible under the gui isn't the way though, impo. I don't really think that being a kind of windows clone is going to do anything but harm to Linux distros in the long run. I do think some better thought on the gui front is needed. An unfamiliar, bloated gui, with a crummy help facility, doesn't make for a better experience ... just because it's a gui. But clear documentation does. Especially for a new-user, which is the user the main, popular, well known distros, should be really aiming at. There should be that element of completeness and explaination in the install, that gives a person an initialially good experiance. Then they will be encouraged to take it further.

Take 'sed' as a case in point (a recent study (grin)), such an amazingly useful and powerful tool, even when used in a general way. But ... like ... how are the docs ... unless a person has a passion there, 'sed' could easily remain one of those strange no-go cli thingies that are never used. Such wast

It's not sed's fault, the structure for sed's explanation just isn't currently organised in that way. The docs are there ... but hey ... ya gota really go looking for them (grin), if ya wanta find them.


So, i think Linux has just got to go its' own way, like Mac has. And just get the install/set up process fixed, in order to attract users (desktop). Maybe with a completely different desktop type of layout ... well, we already have virtual screen layouts. Something i really couldn't live without any more.

And the cli can be quite a relaxing way to go about things. I always try to jump there when i can't make sense out of a gui app (grin). Any way ... seems most people are mixing and matching


>>
I had to go with gui as I spend a lot of time point and clicking.
>>

hehehe, hmmm, a person could have some difficulties there in a shell, i would think (grin)


jm

[nelz]