this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2023
134 points (92.4% liked)

Linux

48220 readers
616 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Hi, everybody Recently, a guy noticed that I was using it and asked why? For me it because in Linux many things are done through the terminal because Linux has many different desktop environments

He also compared terminal commands with cheat codes in GTA and other games, he understands what benefits you take from them, but not from terminal commands

(page 3) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I usually use that to install updates.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Can get much more done rather than navigating desktop and gui's.. Also I'm a sucker for tui's,

Ranger,

Rtorrent-ps,

Nvtop,

Gotop,

Gomuks,

Even greetd tui implementation,

And much more.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Everyone’s different idk. I myself love command line. I have enjoyed Linux for a long time but it didn’t really become my daily driver until recently. I find it very rare that I use the GUI for more than gaming and watching stuff. Everything else is command line. I’ve had friends refuse to try Linux due to the “requirement” of needing to do stuff in command line. When I showed them some newer distros that appeal to users who don’t really feel comfortable with command lines.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

It just works

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Even back in the day when I still used Windows (and GUI almost exclusively) I browsed my filesystems like I'd use a terminal with tab-completion. I'd press the first few letters of the file/directory I was looking for and press enter, rinse and repeat. I knew my file organization by heart anyway. It's only natural for me to drop the GUIs for such use cases.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I user a terminal so that that everyone around me thinks I'm "hacking" when I'm just running updates or configuring something.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

terminal is just faster sometimes

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

This is like asking why do you use a hammer to put nails.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)
  1. Update and install apps
  2. Edit my host file
  3. Neofetch
[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

links -g is rad too! Nice having access to the web in the terminal, no java either. It's fun to use plus can be a huge help if you're having boot issues.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

To be honest I hardly use it. I'm on Linux Mint Debian Edition and the built in updater does a great job. So I find myself never using the terminal

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I can use Fish’s history to jog my brain on actions I don’t quite remember. Remembering a sequence of screen menus to click thru is often much more tedious & error-prone. And when you have a commonly repeated process, it’s trivial to script because shell scripts are, well, scripts for that terminal shell.

Also the terminals applications are hella portable. I can use ssh/mosh over the network & have a similar or exact environment as my main PC on a remote box. vi was always a good enough editor.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I think about it like a tree structure for both. With a gui you have to move your mouse around to various places, with a cli each character branches off into another tree. Mathematically you can handle more options faster with a CLI.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Nice choice. Try to stick to the standard repository, kinda like the Play store on android.

I believe Mint tries to have minimal dependence on the command line. But usually it's easier to help others solve problems with the command line since that is easier to write out than how to click through menus. So don't let it scare you too much.

The internet is a friendlier place now, at least in the linux help-o-sphere. People don't let others post destructive "lessons" for people to learn anymore.

That was comment I wrote in a thread about distro recommendations. I think it provides a context in which CL has a clear advantage over GUI.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I use the terminal in a variety of circumstances (like working on Node.js and other programming projects) where there is either no good GUI alternative or using a CLI is actually faster. I've been using computers since 1989 and my first operating system was MS-DOS, so the thought of using a CLI when necessary doesn't bother me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Why not? It's simple, lightweight, has a lot of interesting commands that fills its respective niche really well (btop, for instance) and (the best of all) it doesn't explode my PC everytime I run such commands.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

It's very fast and nearly always gives me the results I want without extra bullshit. For example using bc or qalc to do a quick unit conversion vs launching a calculator app for the same purpose.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Because it's the only way for me to change the color of my rgb keyboard /jk but it's true tho

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

The CLI was there first. GUIs are still catching up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Scriptability.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

For simple tasks you don't need CLI. Most GUIs implement basic workflows and do a reasonable job at it (obviously not counting the ridiculous amount of time Windows needs to "compute space requirements" while deleting an empty directory. Seems it's more important to get that little popup on screen and run the animation a few times than actually doing the job).

It's when you get past the basics that CLI comes into its own. Those grindy things you do in Windows clicking one thing at a time? Glue a couple of commands together in the CLI and it's done in a tiny fraction of the time.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Gnome software store is absolute trash that never worked, so i had to use dnf from terminal. That's about it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

For me, two main aspects: I do not have to move my hands from the keyboard and I can pipe things from one tool into others, significantly speeding up many tasks

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I don't actually use it that much to input commands, but many scripts I made pop one up to show details of what's happening, e.g. how opening the VPN connection is going, what crypto module it's currently loading or how many more iterations a macro will do.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›