If we want the year of the Linux desktop to actually happen we need to have good GUI tools for almost everything. The second you say "command line" most people's eyes glaze over and they say they'll stick with Windows. Believe it or not guys, most people just want something that functions out of the box and they don't want to mess with it.
this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2026
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crying chudjak "Sob...sob... YOU'RE MISSING OUT ON SO MUCH!! You're even ruining open source by forcing developers to make their things more usable for normies instead of fixing bugs! I'm so frustrated! I used to remember the time when I knew all the Linux users, hazing newbie users, now its full with woke people pushing Rust on everyone!"
I like GUIs because it makes Γ¦inux usable for my young daughters, my mom and casual users, that just want to point and click. I also like to have both options. A more userfriendly linux, benefits all.
I've been at risk for carpal tunnel before, which is why I primarily use a keyboard.
...on a GUI.
Linux is great for a lot of things but so many open-source apps are terrible about giving you a visual interface for something, and then letting you use your keyboard to navigate it. Granted, Windows has steadily enshittified its lead on that front as well.
I don't really care. GUI or Cli, it don't matter. But sometimes GUIs are far better even in Linux.
A real gripe I have with the Cli is when you install nVida drivers in Fedora from the terminal. Whether you are newb or a grizzled veteran of the Unix wars, you are going to enter, (or copy and paste for newbies), all the proper commands and things will go well until you get to the very end. When you are all done entering all the commands it says to reboot and you are looking at that blank blinking cursor, you would think you were done and ready to go.
But if you are in a hurry and missed the 'fine print', you probably missed the part where it says to wait for a while like 5 minutes or more BEFORE you can reboot. And no one knows how long for sure because the computer is recompiling your new kernel.
So there you sit, staring at your screen and a blank, blinking cursor without the slightest hint when the compile is done and wondering if it's safe to reboot. Me, I go make a cuppa and go look out over the lake for a while. But it catches the beginners at least once.
Bring on the GUI and a bloody progress bar!
Yeah, that there was never a standardized call to the terminal to display a progress bar?
I type like a chimp throwing bananas at a keyboard. GUIs prevent the inevitable "command not found" oopsie.
I like well ordered man pages.
You like OpenBSD.
Me too bro. Me too
In the same way some GUIs are trash, lord have mercy some CLIs are trash. Things like adding two verbose flags makes it extra verbose. Things like the parameter order mattering. Yeesh. It can be rough. It really varies tool by tool.
Things like the parameter order mattering.
I imagine this is unavoidable in many cases.
Yeah, I guess that's true. I suppose given more time to think about it I wouldn't really complain about that. It's mostly things like script in out that are sort of annoying versus something like script --in foo --out bar.
I believe API (CLI or programmatic) should never have 2 arguments of the same type but different roles next to each other without visual cues.
No fn("in.txt", "out.txt") and no script in out
two verbose flags makes it extra verbose
tcpdump intensifies
But what tool did you have in mind?
I like GUIs if they aren't web browsers pretending to be a desktop applications.
The main advantage of CLI is that its easier to instruct people on what to do and easier to get answers from people about how to use a CLI, and you can copy paste. If you know how to use the GUI though it can be a powerful tool as well.
I have a good example of "both are useful" on my second screen right now, but it's a difference in output and not input. I was watching system resource utilization a few minutes ago while running something, so I have plasma's graphical System Monitor on half the screen while I have a big ole terminal window with htop running next to it.
The GUI side uses the speed and bandwitdth of our visual processing to communicate complex historical data about a handful of values very quickly. It does it with graphs that, while accurate and to scale, are a bit analog and imprecise feeling to the eye.
The text-based side uses the speed and bandwidth of the hardware to show me a huge 2D array of values that constantly updates. It does it with monospaced text in a high-readability font that is very clear and precise.
The GUI does more processing on the computer first to communicate quickly about the targeted values, while the text side leaves more of that processing to be done on my end. But that's not a negative, because I can search through those hundreds of values as quickly as my eyes can dart around the screen. There's no navigating a GUI that quickly.
In general when it comes to GUI vs CLI, I like GUIs too. I am just old enough that I remember how awesome it was to start using graphical desktops and file managers and computer mice and all that. But I'm an engineer who uses the terminal every single day, and I often just leave it open when I'm at work with a bunch of monitors. To me, any decent computer must have a powerful CLI and text-based configuration and scripting and all that.
For most USERs, the GUI is all that matters. And since the GUI needs to be simple and rock solid, it can be advantageous to just leave the arcane shit in the text files and not try to cram everything into the GUI. If I want to change my screen resolution, system fonts, or change my network connection, I expect to find that in the GUI and I'll just go there. But when I want to be the dork customizing the colors on my GRUB screen or tweaking the swap/cache behavior of my OS, I'm quite glad to edit text for those.
the speed and bandwitdth of our visual processing
That's really it. Some things need the bandwidth of visual processing, but others are more efficient at the lower, more specific bandwidth of a CLI. Think of drawing a picture. You could do it with a CLI. Lord knows I've figured out how to do it to process image uploads. But unless you're doing it over and over again it's way easier to use a GUI to do it.
Then again, if you have to rename an arbitrary number of files to a specific convention you want the ability to automate it, and with that many bits flowing - imagine the bandwidth of a 8.29 million pixels, each with 250,000 colors - it's really difficult to pick which bits in the stream to flip.
I like GUIs for a handle of simple on and off options. Like quick connect to VPN.
Linux has GUIs for any setting you could need.
Windows has the registry and random PowerShell commands from the internet if the setting is even something you can change.
Depends on what Iβm doing. Some things I prefer cli. Some things GUI is easier or quicker. Thereβs no wrong way to do anything.
Don't let random nerds on the internet make you feel any way about how you use Linux. Live your life and be happy. There's too much bullshit in the world to pay attention to jerks with keyboards.
I like GUIs but I also like automation. Give me a nice simple GUI but also give me a way to run from a bash shell so I can automate functions based on complex conditions and/or a schedule.
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They are good for discoverability, but suck when you have to do the same thing 5 times.
-- signed, a guy currently having to use a GUI to update the firmware on 5 headsets, and put our standard settings on them
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Is this a meme or a picture you choose. Either way, I love it! And I feel with same by the way.
π§ oh boy, I guess I get my senior citizen's discount now!
Don't worry. I might be older but you would be the most educated in internet culture.
I used memegenerator for the authenticity.
No offense intended, some of us were just raised by the internet.
Terminally online Lemming should be a template
The thing about CLI is that everything is hidden by default. You come to the application with your own mindset and a goal in mind and you figure out how make it do what you want.
When there's a GUI, you often see everything that's possible from the start and so the application dictates how you use it.
Though, you can do either with CLI and GUI as well. That's the sweet spot I think is the best. I love it when a CLI app guides the user through a process and gives options. And a good GUI should disable OK buttons and show validation errors if not everything is entered correctly.
In a perfect world, every app has a CLI mode, interactive and non interactive and a GUI mode with full validation and responsive UI changes. But realistically, good UX is what we need, either GUI or CLI.
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This is the energy we need.
New comers should never ever see or require a terminal.
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Depends on the GUI. I love having GUIs for things, but I might have a hard time deciding between using CLI to launch everything and using GNOME.
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