Definitely a programmer ... were you involved in Vista or
Windows 7?


Cheers,
Tink

It's amazing how people still believe the myth of "you need to be a programmer to use linux."

I was using linux way back in 1995 where linux barely supported anything and web plugins were non-existence. And installing software required you to handle the dependencies yourself.

Linux has come a long way and supports more hardware and is easier to install and configure. If these people can't figure out linux today, they're probably never will.

HA HA HA! Oh god, stop, yer KILLING me! We needed a good humor injection in this thread, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Haha! You've discovered my secret. Yes, I was, and that's why they are so bad.

I know C (well, somewhat; I don't do much with it anymore), but I pretty much never have to call upon those "skills" to be able to use any of my systems...sure, there's the command line, but even then, you don't have to be a full-blown programmer to know how to use cd, ls, cp/mv/rm, etc. From that perspective it's not that much different from the DOS CLI.

Plus, in modern Linuxes the CLI is not mandatory.

I am trying to learn programming, but I've never had to actually know it to run or effectively use any system, be it any version of Windows, any version of Mac OS, or any version of Linux. Windows, Mac and most popular versions of Linux (excluding Arch) don't require any knowledge of the CLI, either.

Arch is in the top ten in distrowatch. I think that is popular enough.

What if the Xserver don't start? You'll be in trouble if you don't have the knowledge to use a CLI.

The CLI is a fallback if the above arises. Personally, I use both.

For example, I can create a dvd compatible disc using a GUI app or using the commandline.

And many more...

I never stick to one method of doing things. I learn to do the same tasks both ways -- GUI and CLI.

- Cheers

No, no, I mean that Arch requires you to setup you system from the command line, so it isn't recommended for users with little knowledge or acquaintance of it. Basically, it's not the best choice for the Windows exiles. It certainly is popular, I didn't say it wasn't. (Or hopefully I didn't come across as such )

Yeah, the CLI is a useful troubleshooting tool and often a very productive environment. What I was saying is that distributions like Ubuntu or Fedora don't require knowledge of it to have a fruitful experience with Linux.

OK. I guess we both had a misunderstanding.

This is the way I am as well for the most part. I'll alternate between using a GUI file manager and the CLI for managing files, for example (depends on the task at hand). However, there are some things that demand the CLI, and other things that demand the GUI. For example, you wouldn't expect to be able to edit video using only the CLI (except for maybe very primitive cutting/splicing), and it wouldn't be very fun to try and rename or do a mass conversion of a bunch of files from one format to another using only the GUI. Yes I'm aware there are GUI tools which do this sort of thing (Xfce/Thunar's "Bulk Rename" tool comes to mind here), but the CLI is typically faster if you know what to do.

Ladies and Gents,
nice post (beginning).
my reaction: the most important thing is the genetic diversity.
Windows and Linux: yes, both, and more systems!
Imagine on earths would have exist only dinosaurs.. the planet would be empty now (what a pity.. a beach without pamela anderson.. oh no..).
So, lets have the french dinners, korean kimschi, italian spagetti,.. and a lot of OS.
I would depressed only with Winxx.
Pascal

Umm... What?

Ok enough with comparisons ...A beach without Pamela Anderson much nicer with say maybe Jessica Alba!! A world with MORE choices for your computer OS A HELL OF A LOT BETTER !!!!! LOSE M$

Seconded... though I do love kimchi!

Here's my problem with the bare CLI:

• No multitasking -- you cannot have multiple terminal windows and/or tabs open to be able to run multiple commands at once (like JHBuild and APT, for example)
• You cannot run Firefox-, OpenOffice-, or GIMP-like programs in the CLI -- if you need tabbed browsing, image editing, full-featured word/spreadsheet processing, or ease of use, you have to use the GUI.

This is why I always use a terminal emulator/window instead:

• You can multitask with several commands running at once in separate windows/tabs, unlike the CLI where you have to wait for one command to completely finish before you can run another.
• You can have GUI programs running alongside commands -- for example, you can have documentation (such as Build Instructions) open in Firefox while you're typing the commands within the documentation into a terminal window.