You see, hexbear has been moving towards :tux: for quite a while now and it's scaring the :LIB:s and the :fedposting:s so expect a lot of anti-Linux posting and just nod your head and don't engage :penguin-dance:
You see, hexbear has been moving towards :tux: for quite a while now and it's scaring the :LIB:s and the :fedposting:s so expect a lot of anti-Linux posting and just nod your head and don't engage :penguin-dance:
a GUI can display all relevant options for quick and easy use instead of relying on memorizing command line phrases and syntax. humans are generally good at reacting to visual stimuli, and generally worse at memorizing abstract symbols or computer file structures that may not even be displayed. It takes most people years of classes or practice just to be able to type normal english quickly and accurately, let alone computer commands, while just about anyone can click on a thing or guess what the trash can icon means.
Even in windows, the fastest way to open a specific program is windows key + type the name, instead of poking through menus. Text entry is pretty handy and fast.
the ideal user interface has both to some degree imo, but i pretty exclusively use desktop icons or the start menu. but i'm also not speedrunning my OS.
That's the thing, Linux doesn't make you use the terminal these days unless you want to. Much like Windows, you're welcome to just use menus and icons.
im fully aware of all the super special versions of linux that all have their own UI designs. but every time i've seen a linux pc in person its been terminal only.
Terminal-only machines are usually not meant to be used directly, they're servers. Try a modern linux desktop, it's better than Windows in many ways including the UI.
it was a friends pc with arch linux i think, they just dual boot windows for games and non-programming stuff. again, i'm fully aware of all the different UIs out there, but i have had no issues with my current setup in terms of UI or function and have no intent of changing until it stops working. i really don't understand how people have so many issues with windows, ive used nothing but windows for decades with barely a handful of problems ever between all versions combined. I haven't heard of anything useful (to me, in a subjective sense) i can do with linux that i can't with windows. meanwhile everyone i know that uses linux has constant problems, whenever we hang out for pc gaming stuff they spend half the time trying to get their computers working while mine just turns on and works every time. i'll admit i don't do much but browse and game and do occasional digital art, and my friends are probably doing weird programmer stuff to mess with their PCs for fun. but like people complain about windows driver updates all the time, i've never had a single error or problem. people complain about constant BSOD, i've never seen it in over a decade across several desktops. and here every day theres some post thats like "USE LINUX OR UR A LIB (who this site believes are mostly indistinguishable from fash)" or something? like this OP is a 'joke' but its 'jokingly' fed-jacketing (or worse, lib-jacketing!) people for using windows or for getting annoyed at instigating, petty bait posts.
lib is a meme in this community, I'm not fed jacketing the entire community for example when I say I am the one true leftist and you are all :LIB: i am memeing
https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity
Here's a big list of the most popular desktop Linux distributions "versions"
How many do you see that are "terminal only"?
99% of the time the terminal is interacted with in a window in a graphical desktop, chosen over the existing graphical tools because it's faster and easier.
Wait didn't you just tell us you don't know what a terminal is? 🤨
A TUI or CLI is just as much of a UI as a GUI.
Sure a GUI is more approachable but that doesn't necessarily mean it's better. There are uncountable things you can do with the terminal that aren't possible with GUI on any OS. Most of the time people interact with the terminal via a terminal emulator, a window on your graphical desktop where you can use terminal applications. People choose to use the terminal because often it's the best tool. If you want a list of everything a program can do you can run
(program) -horman (program)You can easily get away without using the terminal at all in linux and have feature parity, or by simply copy-pasting a line into the terminal occasionally without really understanding what it does.
for like 90% of people a command line interface is borderline unuseable. i'm sure there are specific tasks a TUI is more suited for. but' a list of all options' is much less navigable than a well designed GUI menu with visual cues imo. ive used pcs for over a decade and have literally never even opened up the CMD line. i know versions of linux have GUIs i'm being slightly facetious because internet reward hot take.
You asked why you would want a terminal and I told you. It also has a lot of features that make it far more user friendly than you might think.
That's a matter of perspective. An airplane is hard to fly to you and me because there are thousands of buttons but a trained pilot would have difficulty trying to use an Xbox controller to fly a commercial airline. Having a learning curve is only one aspect of navigablity and in fact the most efficient interface is rarely the one that your grandma would be able to pick up and use with no effort.