Hardcore terminal users; tell us why you are at home in the command line

[youbuntu]

Hardcore terminal users; tell us why you are at home in the command line.

As a reasonably competent GNU/Linux Terminal nerd, I have to say that I loved the speed and agility by which I can get a job done, without having to resort to GUI apps (usually!).
For example, if I want to add a user I just do:



sudo adduser testuser


MUCH easier than:

System >> Administration >> Users and Groups >> Click to make changes >> Add User... etc

I just *love* the power of the *nix command line (and the "guru" status n00bs give you is quite amusing :D)

Share your tips, tricks, experiences and tell us all why you use it so much.

[toupeiro]

I learned in Amiga-DOS and MS-DOS. The command line has, and probably always will feel more comfortable to me. I can speed up remedial tasks without having to clutter up desktop space with shortcuts. GUI's definitely have their place, and when implemented right they can be excellent but I will always prefer to start programs, install programs, perform file management and account management, etc etc, at the command prompt because of the familiarity I have and the speed in which it can be done.

My tip or trick, is learn about the alias (http://www.linfo.org/alias.html) command and how to keep an aliases file.

[NoaHall]

I use it so much, I sometimes wish I could | grep a website in a web browser. In fact, I wish that all the time... none of this silly ctrl-f find one thing at a time nonsense.

[dragos240]

I use it a LOT! And for almost everything.

[Greg]

I use it so much, I sometimes wish I could | grep a website in a web browser. In fact, I wish that all the time... none of this silly ctrl-f find one thing at a time nonsense.

Curl and grep.

I use the command line because it makes more sense. It's more powerful, less system intensive, and altogether easier to use for me.

I'll contribute emacs --daemon and emacsclient -t to this thread for pure awesomeness.

[renkinjutsu]

I use it so much, I sometimes wish I could | grep a website in a web browser. In fact, I wish that all the time... none of this silly ctrl-f find one thing at a time nonsense.

you can grep the output of curl! :p

edit:.. hmm. darn you beat me!

[NoaHall]

you can grep the output of curl! :p

edit:.. hmm. darn

I know :) and I do. But when using a web browser, I wish I could grep :)

[sgosnell]

I use it because I know how, and it's often more efficient than a GUI. Back when I started using computers, before Windows was a gleam in Bill Gates' eye, the command line was all there was. You either learned to use the command line or you didn't use a computer. GUI's make it easier for someone with no idea of how to use a computer to get things done, but are not the most efficient way of doing it in most cases. However, there are situations where a GUI is the best way of getting things done. Horses for courses, and don't be a snob about either method.

[youbuntu]

Curl and grep.

I use the command line because it makes more sense. It's more powerful, less system intensive, and altogether easier to use for me.

I'll contribute emacs --daemon and emacsclient -t to this thread for pure awesomeness.

Hiya :)

Would you mind explaining to me a little bit more about emacs?. I am always watching RMS lecture, and I have read a little about it and have installed it, but can never figure out the hotkeys and what exactly the benefits & power of it are.

Thankyou :)

[K.Mandla]

I don't consider myself a command-line guru, since I usually am just on the lookout for console-based applications that do the same things as GUI equivalents.

The logic, for me, is that low-low-end hardware can do the same work as a higher-end system, provided the software isn't cluttered and bloated with useless background noise, like a lot of desktop environments drag in. Midnight Commander, for example, does tons more than the average GUI file manager, and needs only a sliver of the resources.

I don't have many tips, but this might get people started. ...

http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/on-the-menu/

[youbuntu]

Curl and grep.

I use the command line because it makes more sense. It's more powerful, less system intensive, and altogether easier to use for me.

I'll contribute emacs --daemon and emacsclient -t to this thread for pure awesomeness.

Hiya :)

Would you mind explaining to me a little bit more about emacs?. I am always watching RMS lecture, and I have read a little about it and have installed it, but can never figure out the hotkeys and what exactly the benefits & power of it are.

Thankyou :)

[RiceMonster]

Some things I hate doing via CLI and some things I hate doing via command line. For example, web browsing or IMing via CLI? No thanks. However vim is superior to any gui editor, and I much prefer using htop to any of it's gui alternatives. IMO, it's good to make the best of both of them.

[steveneddy]

Hardcore terminal users; tell us why you are at home in the command line.

As a reasonably competent GNU/Linux Terminal nerd, I have to say that I loved the speed and agility by which I can get a job done, without having to resort to GUI apps (usually!).
For example, if I want to add a user I just do:



sudo adduser testuser


MUCH easier than:

System >> Administration >> Users and Groups >> Click to make changes >> Add User... etc

I just *love* the power of the *nix command line (and the "guru" status n00bs give you is quite amusing :D)

Share your tips, tricks, experiences and tell us all why you use it so much.

I guess this comes for a fair majority of us when most of the things we do didn't have a GUI to do it with when we started.

[tcoffeep]

Some things I hate doing via CLI and some things I hate doing via command line. For example, web browsing or IMing via CLI? No thanks. However vim is superior to any gui editor, and I much prefer using htop to any of it's gui alternatives. IMO, it's good to make the best of both of them.

^ this.

I can't really think of much more than that. I began using the terminal heavily when I started playing with Gentoo. For a week, I actually went GUI-free (because I didn't want to compile X) and really enjoyed my time with it aside from web-browsing.
Haven't used Linux in awhile though, as I've been pretty much sticking to Windows and Plan9 (interesting little set-up that finally got me off of using GNU programs. I can't stand the GPL and if I have a choice, I always find a non-GPL alternative).

My setup involved tmux, w3m, vim, 9base, zsh, pdf2txt, ps2txt, and finch.

[chucky chuckaluck]

i doubt i'd be considered a hardcore terminal user (especially since i have to look at the keyboard to type <---whoa! i just typed that without looking. first time in five years). i was a gui fan when i first started using linux, but over the years and given an across the board minimalist mentality, terminal apps just became more my habit. since i first came across nano, i never use anything else, even in fits of kde use. cplay is so much less of a hassle than all those other itunes wishiweres. mc has replaced thunar and dolphin, my two favorite gui file-managers. rtorrent is the only torrent client i have ever figured out. and who could possibly function without bsd-games?

[Irihapeti]

... and who could possibly function without bsd-games?

I think I can... oh, darn - maybe THAT's why some of my family tell me I'm dysfunctional... :)

[ukripper]

The right tool for the right job -applies to terminal or GUI for me.

[renkinjutsu]

^ this.

I can't really think of much more than that. I began using the terminal heavily when I started playing with Gentoo. For a week, I actually went GUI-free (because I didn't want to compile X) and really enjoyed my time with it aside from web-browsing.
Haven't used Linux in awhile though, as I've been pretty much sticking to Windows and Plan9 (interesting little set-up that finally got me off of using GNU programs. I can't stand the GPL and if I have a choice, I always find a non-GPL alternative).

My setup involved tmux, w3m, vim, 9base, zsh, pdf2txt, ps2txt, and finch.

could have used fbui (http://home.comcast.net/~fbui/) if you didn't want to compile X.



i do a lot of my renaming in the terminal, simply because things are very cluttered, because i download and won't bother to organize my files.. All i need to do is tab like crazy, whenever i can.. and as for using GUI, there are some things that i forget how to do, but i'll still be able to poke around in the terminal and press TAB until i see something familiar

[Nerd King]

Right tool for the job, this applies to CLI vs GUI, Windows vs Linux vs Mac and pretty much anything else I use.

[Greg]

Hiya :)

Would you mind explaining to me a little bit more about emacs?. I am always watching RMS lecture, and I have read a little about it and have installed it, but can never figure out the hotkeys and what exactly the benefits & power of it are.

Thankyou :)

Users of Vi (the editor of the devil :P) like to say that Emacs is a perfectly good OS, it just lacks a decent text editor. If you cut off the last part, it's true.

First off, Emacs is not a text editor. It's a text editor generator. If you want to learn keybinds, Google (or the tutorial) will tell you how C-a goes to the beginning of a sentence, etc. I'll tell you what I find awesome about it, though.

Emacs uses buffers. Think tabs, but without the physical representation up on top of the screen. They can do different things- for instance, one might be a C file (with syntax highlighting for that), another might list the contents of a directory, another might have an interactice Lisp shell open, etc. You can also split the screen a la GNU Screen (actually the reverse is true, in GNU Screen you can split the view a la Emacs buffers).

Emacs is also very customizable, and already has tons of built in features. For instance, you can run a terminal inside of an Emacs session... and then use the terminal to run Screen, and use Screen to run other programs. If you really feel like it, you can run Emacs within Emacs (not that it has any use). People write programs for it that you can add on- for instance, there's EMMS to play music, ERC for IRC use, w3m to browse the web... if you want, you never have to leave Emacs. There's also the .emacs file, where you can pass options to the program- redefine keybindings, change the look of the program, etc. Tying into that, there's Elisp, a dialect of Lisp, in which you can write full programs to extend Emacs- Emacs itself is basically written in Elisp. That's what I meant by Emacs isn't a text editor, but rather a text editor generator- say a new language comes out, in Elisp you can extend Emacs to have a mode to give syntax highlighting for that language.

Emacs is like Linux in that it's what you make of it.

[original_jamingrit]

Hiya :)

Would you mind explaining to me a little bit more about emacs?

One of the best ways to learn emacs is the built-in tutorial, but it's pretty wordy so I would also reccommend printing of a cheatsheet:

https://ccrma.stanford.edu/guides/package/emacs/emacs.html <-- one of many that you can search for on the web.

[tcoffeep]

could have used fbui (http://home.comcast.net/~fbui/) if you didn't want to compile X.



i do a lot of my renaming in the terminal, simply because things are very cluttered, because i download and won't bother to organize my files.. All i need to do is tab like crazy, whenever i can.. and as for using GUI, there are some things that i forget how to do, but i'll still be able to poke around in the terminal and press TAB until i see something familiar

Never even saw that before. How's it run? Like I've said, I've been sticking to XP and Plan9, lately.

[kevdog]

I love vi or vim but never got the hang of emacs or latex for that matter. Now I'm curious.

BTW -- the command line is awesome. Its fast!!!

[Wiebelhaus]

I had to reinstall 9.04 because they disabled the ability to key bind to terminal , I can't surf GUI for it , I want it quicker so I can bang quicker.

[youbuntu]

Users of Vi (the editor of the devil :P) like to say that Emacs is a perfectly good OS, it just lacks a decent text editor. If you cut off the last part, it's true.

First off, Emacs is not a text editor. It's a text editor generator. If you want to learn keybinds, Google (or the tutorial) will tell you how C-a goes to the beginning of a sentence, etc. I'll tell you what I find awesome about it, though.

Emacs uses buffers. Think tabs, but without the physical representation up on top of the screen. They can do different things- for instance, one might be a C file (with syntax highlighting for that), another might list the contents of a directory, another might have an interactice Lisp shell open, etc. You can also split the screen a la GNU Screen (actually the reverse is true, in GNU Screen you can split the view a la Emacs buffers).

Emacs is also very customizable, and already has tons of built in features. For instance, you can run a terminal inside of an Emacs session... and then use the terminal to run Screen, and use Screen to run other programs. If you really feel like it, you can run Emacs within Emacs (not that it has any use). People write programs for it that you can add on- for instance, there's EMMS to play music, ERC for IRC use, w3m to browse the web... if you want, you never have to leave Emacs. There's also the .emacs file, where you can pass options to the program- redefine keybindings, change the look of the program, etc. Tying into that, there's Elisp, a dialect of Lisp, in which you can write full programs to extend Emacs- Emacs itself is basically written in Elisp. That's what I meant by Emacs isn't a text editor, but rather a text editor generator- say a new language comes out, in Elisp you can extend Emacs to have a mode to give syntax highlighting for that language.

Emacs is like Linux in that it's what you make of it.

I had a feeling it was something very special, considering how proud RMS is of it, and how much he mentions it with such evident vigour and pride, bless him!.

Wow - I really want to thank you for taking the time to write that out for me - I am now pursuing it :D

[clanky]

I am always watching RMS lecture

Dude, you seriously need to get out more! :p

[KiwiNZ]

Dude, you seriously need to get out more! :p

Agreed , whilst it could be said the that Mr RMS has done some good , there is a host of many others doing a lot of good things , and yes even better out there. And even in the closed source world too.

Explore , learn broaden the horizons.

[youbuntu]

Dude, you seriously need to get out more! :p

Dude, you seriously need to stop judging people you haven't a single solitary clue about. ;)


Agreed , whilst it could be said the that Mr RMS has done some good , there is a host of many others doing a lot of good things , and yes even better out there. And even in the closed source world too.

Explore , learn broaden the horizons.

You're so right - I've never watched any TV, and haven't watched a single video apart from RMS lectures. In fact, I don't think I've *ever* even left the house since the day I was born - yeah, I need to get out more I totally agree, because this is the first and only human interaction I have ever known.

I have taken on board your advice - I have decided to walk out of my room tomorrow, to see what the landing looks like; who knows, come Tuesday, I may even venture to the end of my street!.

Joking aside, I am *very* well aware of what is going on in the IT world - I am well versed in Windows, GNU/Linux and also extremely proficient in Mac OS X. Remember - *NEVER* judge a book by its cover, because that would be an assumption, and assumptions are made by the very same narrow-minded people you accuse me of being one of... ironic.

[jwbrase]

I'm mostly a GUI user: I've never understood the appeal of CLI text editors, I generally prefer file management through the GUI, etc, but there are some things that I generally do through the command line. Pinging is one of them. I'm not sure if that counts, though, because I got used to doing it that way in Windows (which as far as I know doesn't have a GUI tool for that) and haven't stopped doing it that way even though Ubuntu has a means of doing it through the GUI. Considering all the complaining you hear about Linux's command line heaviness (and the fact that there is a grain of truth to that, though not much), the fact that Windows actually lacks a GUI interface for something Ubuntu has a GUI for is rather ironic.

There are a few other things that I use the command line for now that I'm on Linux, as well as a few rough edges to Linux that still necessitate the use of a CLI tool. One of these is killing fullscreen apps, which seem to have a much tighter hold on the screen than in Windows. You can't switch them out with alt-tab or anything similar, and you can't bring up System Monitor to kill them if they crash. I find that I have to switch out to another tty and use kill at the command line to kill them.

One thing I think would be kinda neat, though, would be a closer integration of command line and GUI functionalities. Sometimes it would be really convenient if the address bar on a file browser (or something in approximately the same place) doubled as a single-line terminal window with a dropdown box to expand it into a bigger window if needed.

[undecim]

I wouldn't call myself a "hardcore" terminal user. There are still lots of things that I prefer a GUI for, but I do know my way around the terminal.

Computers are a tool of man, and like any tool, the more experience you have with it, the better you will use it. The terminal is that final stage of experience, where you are controlling your computer directly, rather than using a tool to do what the inexperienced can't. Not only does that give you more control, but you can get it done faster.

[nothingspecial]

To put it simply,

when I started using a computer between 2 or 3 years ago, it came with this thing called Ubuntu on it.

There were loads of online tutorials (bare in mind, I`d never touched a computer before), most of them were command line based.

It`s just the way I learned. Firefox (or lately chromium more and more) for web browsing. Cli for (almost) everything else.

Favourites -

cmus
feh
rtorrent
screen
dvtm
nano


That said, I don`t do any fancy graphic design or music production etc

[youbuntu]

...There are a few other things that I use the command line for now that I'm on Linux, as well as a few rough edges to Linux that still necessitate the use of a CLI tool. One of these is killing fullscreen apps, which seem to have a much tighter hold on the screen than in Windows. You can't switch them out with alt-tab or anything similar, and you can't bring up System Monitor to kill them if they crash. I find that I have to switch out to another tty and use kill at the command line to kill them...


$ ps aux

To list all running processes. You can't ALT+TAB? since when? :?

[jwbrase]

$ ps aux

I actually tend to use "ps -A" or "ps -A | grep [name]" to get the process ID...



To list all running processes. You can't ALT+TAB? since when? :?

When a process is running full screen. If it's in a Window, you can kill it via the GUI just fine. But a full screen process seems to have a death grip on control of the screen. If it freezes, there's no way to get back to the desktop without ctrl-alt-(insert function key here)ing to a tty and using:


ps -A | grep
kill -9 [PID]

(Or whatever options for ps and kill are appropriate to the situation).

[koleoptero]

I don't consider myself a command-line guru, since I usually am just on the lookout for console-based applications that do the same things as GUI equivalents.

You might not consider yourself a guru but you definitely know your way around better than most people, no need to be modest now. :D

I can say only two major reasons I like the terminal: lightweight apps, tab auto-completion.

But for web-browsing or chatting I prefer gui apps.