Can, should, and will the console go away?

[Northsider]

Perhaps this has been discussed before, but:

The major roadblock I think to the average user and Linux (Ubuntu) is the use of the console. Can this feature be relied upon less in future releases? Compare with Macs Leopard, the console is only used for stuff you rarely need to do.

This comes to the next question, should the console go away, at least for most of the normal uses? Do we really need to go to the console to get sudo privileges when trying to edit something? Is the console what makes Linux what it is? Taking it away will in a sense bastardize Linux?

Finally if we can and should take it away, what is the possibility that it will go away? With future releases will Ubuntu become more and more of a contender with windows and Mac? I think it can only do so if the console use is diminished and the whole os becomes even more user friendly. It doesn't have to go away completely, because many like the control that it gives allows.

I have only been using Linux/Ubuntu for a little while now, but I see this os as such a contender if some of these little things like the terminal are minimized

[LaRoza]

Can it? No.

Should it? No, it would not only require a rewrite of the operating system and every applications, it would cripple the operating beyond description.

Will it? No.

Some distros use it a lot, arch for example. Some use it sometimes, like Ubuntu. Ubuntu has the GUI tools for almost every task. CLI is often given as advice though.

Some distros do not make much use of it at all.

Commands are often used on the forum because they are much easier to communicate.

Windows still has its command prompt, which is very useful. I use it most of the time when I am on Windows. In fact, there are somethings in Windows that require it to be used.

[-random]

imo, Kubuntu incorporated that idea well with the 'administrator mode' button in the settings. Has a lot of functionality and user-friendly-ness.

I think i'd like not HAVING to go to the console, but be accessible to it. On the other side, if you don't get to tinker a lot in the console, when you reaally need to do something in there, will you be comfortable/experienced enough to utilize it properly ?

[dominicd]

The console is one of my favorite parts of linux =D

[k2t0f12d]

openSUSE already offers a GNU/Linux platform that makes the console practically redundant and it is not more popular then Ubuntu, and has not been described as a contender. The idea that GNU/Linux is going to be the David against the Goliaths is mistaken. It is not the software we need to compete with, it is the paradigms upon which software is written, distributed, and used that we are correcting. As Eben Moglen would point out, the monopolistic model of vertically integrated software development is the eddy in the current, not free software.

[fatality_uk]

Windows still has its command prompt, which is very useful. I use it most of the time when I am on Windows. In fact, there are somethings in Windows that require it to be used.

+1

I don't hear a huge ground swell from Windows users asking to remove cmd prompt. Most of the time you can use the GUI to do the day to day stuff in most Linux distros anyway.

[Northsider]

I think i'd like not HAVING to go to the console, but be accessible to it.
Exactly. I did the same with the console (prompt) in windows. Sometimes I'd use it, but for the most part I'd never have to see it. and most users would never have to see it.

[fatality_uk]

Exactly. I did the same with the console (prompt) in windows. Sometimes I'd use it, but for the most part I'd never have to see it. and most users would never have to see it.

But you didn't feel the need to call for it's removal?

[Northsider]

But you didn't feel the need to call for it's removal?

Maybe I was too harsh in the opening post. No, I don not wish to to disappear completely. It's certainly has its usefulness. Rather I wanted it to remain a feature but be relied upon much less, as stated like the dos prompt in windows.

[LaRoza]

Maybe I was too harsh in the opening post. No, I don not wish to to disappear completely. It's certainly has its usefulness. Rather I wanted it to remain a feature but be relied upon much less, as stated like the dos prompt in windows.

I rely on the command prompt in Windows.

Some distros do not put much emphasis on the terminal. In some, it can be hard to find.

Keep in mind that Linux doesn't have a GUI. It can run X, which is what is used for GUI's, but it is not part of the operating system.

[KCPokes]

Seems that the mindset of making it look and act like Windows tends to take over. The terminal IS Linux. Everything that has happened since has been to build on that. A gui frontend to configuring your network is just that, a frontend. The same thing can be done via the terminal. Some, including myself, would elsewhere when we resort to making this mimic Windows in how it approaches everything.

[Bruce H. McCosar]

export CAN=no
export SHOULD=no
export WILL=no

echo My answer is:
echo $CAN, $SHOULD, and $WILL


It's kind of like a deck of cards. You don't always need the wild cards, the Jokers, that extra wild bit of power . . . sure is nice to have them when you learn more games, though.

[odiseo77]

I don't think it can or should disappear. Besides, the terminal is way too fun and useful to remove it :-D

[Northsider]

export CAN=no
export SHOULD=no
export WILL=no

echo My answer is:
echo $CAN, $SHOULD, and $WILL


It's kind of like a deck of cards. You don't always need the wild cards, the Jokers, that extra wild bit of power . . . sure is nice to have them when you learn more games, though.

:lolflag:

[popch]

Can, should, and will the console go away

No (short answer).

No, no and no. (long answer)

[amingv]

The terminal can only be replaced by a nice graphical telepathic communication with the kernel. (Which, sadly, it's not under development. I've looked.)

[Northsider]

The terminal can only be replaced by a nice graphical telepathic communication with the kernel. (Which, sadly, it's not under development. I've looked.)

Dang.:(

[popch]

The terminal can only be replaced by a nice graphical telepathic communication with the kernel. (Which, sadly, it's not under development. I've looked.)

You can't see telepathy.

[SomeGuyDude]

If you don't want to, it's exceedingly easy to enjoy Ubuntu without ever opening the terminal. It can be done and you won't lose too much.

However, and this is the beauty of it all, if you WANT to use it, you can.

So to answer the question: the console should never go away, however I wholly endorse the idea of making it less "necessary" for those uncomfortable with it, if that makes sense.

[aysiu]

Perhaps this has been discussed before Many times before, in fact, which is why I've moved this thread to Recurring Discussions.

The major roadblock I think to the average user and Linux (Ubuntu) is the use of the console. Can this feature be relied upon less in future releases? Compare with Macs Leopard, the console is only used for stuff you rarely need to do. As a matter of fact, the need for the console has been reduced with every release since Warty Warthog (October 2004). I've used every release since Ubuntu 5.04 (April 2005), and the direction of development has been headed in the direction you're talking about.

In the past, you needed the console to make modifications to the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, to mount Windows partitions, to enable extra repositories, to adjust it so that you can eject the CD-ROM by pressing the physical button, to install Nvidia drivers, etc. The list goes on and on. Unless you see development going the other direction, I don't really see what the problem is.

The developers know that the end user should not have to rely on the terminal for basic use. That kind of change doesn't happen overnight, though. Give it time. Every six months, you'll see improvements in this area.

By the way, in Mac OS X, you have to use the terminal just to turn off Spotlight, show hidden files, or get the Dock to show up at the top (instead of the sides or bottom). All of the equivalent actions can be done through point-and-click in Gnome.

[amingv]

You can't see telepathy.

Conveniently, you can't see computer data either. This uber-DE must be processed by the brain (that's what I'm not able to get, I've formatted 3 brains in 5 minutes, C++ has pessimal neurone control :()

[gsmanners]

Console will go away only if a more efficient user interface is found.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_interface

[mdsmedia]

The terminal can only be replaced by a nice graphical telepathic communication with the kernel. (Which, sadly, it's not under development. I've looked.)LOL I was thinking much the same thing. The CLI is FAR more powerful than any GUI could be. Telepathy is the only thing that could replace it properly.

[original_jamingrit]

Also, remember that this is Open Source. Easy access to the terminal in a distro means that the nerdier side of the user base will be more interested in developing for that distro.

[the_darkside_986]

Actually, a Unix-like console is one of the selling points of the GNU/Linux platform and is an advantage over other platforms such as Win32 (which has nothing but a lousy attempt at a command prompt). With bash, one can sort and display file and folder information in various useful ways, and one can sort their music collection or even convert all their mp3's to vorbis (or vice versa) automatically with just a script. In Windows, that would take hours to do manually (provided you can even find a real "free" sound converter in Windows that isn't trying to steal your credit card :P)

In fact, Apple, a company once known for making a n00b-friendly OS with no command prompt, began to recognize the importance and usefulness of a Unix console, so they redesigned their OS to have a full Unix-like shell. Even the Windows team saw the importance of a good character-user-interface, hence their "Windows Powershell" project. But I've tried Powershell and it is missing too many commands so I just always install Cygwin.