Linux

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.

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

i really dislike using the terminal for installing software... i use the terminal for cute terminal fun software!! like hyfetch, neofetch, cowsay, tty-clock, i love terminal software so much and i use it for that only and for changing directories and deleting files maybe

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.

One could ask in return "why do you use a mouse". The answer is probably "I've always done it this way" and not "after trying out different methods it's the one that i prefer".

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.

Some applications take some time to load up visual elements that you don't need before you can start using it. When you got a lot of work to do sometimes that just slows you down.

A lot of CLI programs do one thing and do it well while also working excellently in custom scripts.

Repeatibility (is that a word?) and scriptability. I find CLI tools easier to work with and easier to get information from them.

I usually use that to install updates.

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.

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.

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.

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

Lynx is faster 😎

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

Scriptability.

It's easy and fun

Because there is no native gui. For most things to configure in Linux there is a webui but not a simple Gui built in. Configuration files like squid.conf smb.conf nginx.com... then we have logs but here I think I never checked for a Gui, does it work for remote ssh easily? Can you restart service easy?

Because app manager doesn't work well. And there are the feedback on terminal that tell you about missing dependencies or broken packages...The fact you get those verbose log help for doing web research and solve lot problems. On GUI installing app isn't well done : it's slow, they don't tell you what they are doing nor why it fail.

The only limitation of terminal is when you want to work with file system. I need to see the tree and typing ls -a everytime isn't efficient. Example, i'm doing a git clone on a server throught ssh. But i have no way to know its structure and check if i downloaded it in the correct directory. I need a visual that tell me this folder is here, has those writing permission, is a tar archive... So i use both : filezilla and terminal, gui and cli. In fact, they are both very useful, so there no point comparing gui and cli, they both serve well their purpose.

I'm using CLI and GUI. For example, if i want to chose the correct keyboard and check its mapping : gui. If i want to add sources and its gpg key : app manager gui. There is no way i would enjoy typing this huge command line with flags from my mind, and i do lot mistype. Or installing the stack lamp ? on windows it was amazing and faster than linux. next, next, done.

Luckly we can copy-pasta those commands.

Edit : updated my text.

It's just way faster for me most of the time. I can hit F12, do what I need, and be done without messing around with a mouse or touchpad.

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

Because I have to for some things. If I could never see a CLI again I'd be happy.

If you know how to use git, you will know how to use docker (provided you know what you want to do). They are completely different programs, yet you can quickly grasp the other instinctively.

Now, Photoshop and Blender - they are also different programs, but if you know Photoshop, you still need to relearn Blender's interface completely.

This is why I prefer terminal programs in general. Unless it's more convenient to use GUi, i.e. Drag&Drop file manager, some git tools etc.

You use it because you like to be efficient your use of a computer.

I use it because I'm a bossy arsehole and I like telling things precisely what to do.

We are not the same.