I think aysiu's comments here are pretty helpful. In a friendly spirit, let me just add one or two things:

First of all, you need to understand that /everything/ you do in a GUI is just a graphical, pretty wrapper around what really happens on the command-line. Some coder out there just spent a lot of time making a pretty interface for you, and putting the commands in place, so that you wouldn't have to worry about it. A lot of the details of what is going on "behind the scenes" have been abstracted away or hidden from your view.

Consequently, when you ask a Linux guru for help and he sends you some CLI commands, he is not trying to be snobbish: he is trying to "cut past the middle man" (the GUI) and to find out the real details of what is going on and to solve the problem the fastest way. What happens when you try to solve all problems with only the GUI, is that you end up in situations where things just don't work, or a program hangs, and nobody has any idea why because a fancy GUI has not yet been coded to show you what the problem is.

Second, one of the reasons that Linux gurus tend to promote the command-line is because they think that ultimately it is a better way to work with your computer for many activities. There is a world of things, such as scripting, that are only possible or are much more productive on the CLI.

By illustration: Let's say you had a butler named Jeeves, but the only way you could communicate with jeeves was to point at objects or tap on them. If Jeeves was a smart fellow, you could get him to do a lot for you. But there would be a lot of difficulties and limitations.

On the other hand, if you could talk to Jeeves, you could just tell him what you wanted him to do, and how often, and when there are special exceptions... and on a moment's notice if you needed him to do something new it would be easy to let him know.

Learning the CLI (and also scripting and maybe a little programming) is like learning to talk to your computer. GUIs make your computer look nice and are helpful for a lot of things. But if you really want to grow and become a more productive and versatile computer user, then you'll want to become comfortable with the CLI.

Just my 12¢.

I clearly came to the wrong forum here. I thought I had made it clear at the beginning. I'll quite happily go into a discussion about GUIs should anyone be interested. I suspect here is not the right thread though.
Thanks for all of your suggestions.

Not at all, you've missed the point. As pointed out GNU/Linux is not Winblows. It's not a clone of Winblows. If Winblows fulfils your needs, why do you want to change?

Before acting as judge, jury and executioner, at least try out a few distros first to qualify your criticisms.

It's not all sweetness and light in Winblows forums either. This is a global community. You get good and bad in cyberspace as you do in real life!

It's you who wants to try a different experience, so why complain that it is different to the one you currently have?

GNU/Linux is to *Geeks* as Winblows is to the *Mentally Crippled*...Ideally suited.

Slackware, once configured, is a excellent "pure GUI for newbies" distro:
There is no "control center" that can wreck havoc on the OS without the root's pass
;-)
AFAIK.
And it "just works" "impenetrable out of the box" for years on and on, just like a refrigerator or a VCR.
Instead paying for Windows, pay the half of the amount to a local Slacker and You (any one) can get it.
Right?
:-)
My kids play ever more and more games un-ported(!) on my PC running Slackware/wine.

"just works" because it's Slackware ;-)

I have tried several distros that people have recommended. Criticisms? I didn't criticise Linux. I was talking about the forums.

>It's not all sweetness and light in Winblows forums either.
Yes. That is true.

>so why complain that it is different to the one you currently have?
Complain? I didn't. I asked if there was a forum suited to GUI questions.

>GNU/Linux is to *Geeks* as Winblows is to the *Mentally Crippled*...Ideally suited.
Funny!

Thanks.

{BBI}Nexus{BBI} linuxquestions.org

GNU/Linux is to *Geeks* as Winblows is to the *Mentally Crippled*...Ideally suited.

i'm pinching that. thanks.

I was finally able to replace my windows mobile phone so now I'm windows free

What with? Android?

Yep, if I read right android runs on a Linux kernel so its the closet I can get to a Linux phone

I'm still an avid Linux user, but I may be on my last straw. I've used *NIX for years without looking back. I lost hope when my wife (not much of a linux user) bought a decent/cheap printer that ended up being borderline useless for me. Don't get me wrong the printer works, but the usual printer settings that I am used to, from the years of using windows, just arent there. I have no control over the quality settings and it's stuck on 'maximum ink usage'. Not a huge deal when I want to print something that looks really nice, but for day-to-day stuff I am forced to use Windows via VMware. As much as I like to learn and look under the hood of my OS, I find myself saying when I just need something to work (where most consumers find themselves) I have to rely on windows.
You can't blame hardware/software manufacturers who don't want to, as they see it, waste money developing for a very small minority or hate on people who don't have time to learn something a bit off the wall. I like what linux has to offer and I hope it continues to grow into a viable alternative to the PC or MAC. As for now, it's 'close but no cigar'.

I should take the time to say that the scanner function of the printer I have works well, but the drivers were a bit hard to find and clumsy to install (requiring multiple steps that require a somewhat detailed knowledge about the *nix kernel, or at least more than I cared to know at the time), and I won't go into what I think about CUPS.

Nevertheless I still use Debian as my primary OS and have come to rely on its stability and security. Although my patience for learning computers is high, seeing my wife struggle and fail at using this system for routine at-home tasks reminds me why linux is still a few strides behind PC's (and thankfully i can say this) and Mac's.

i also have a windows-ce fone that i hate.

which android phone do you have ?
can it run a terminal services client (or any remote desktop) ?
can it run an ssh client (like putty) ?

If manufacturers didn't keep the design secret then Linux programmers would probably make drivers for it.

The reason the command line is used so often is that is is probably easier to type:

(in Fedora) then to click through menus and browse through large lists.

This has to be by far the most concise, non-idiotic forum snippet I've seen in a long, long time.

Kudos, CoderMan.

Bottom line is that you can wrap the computer around your habits, or you can wrap your habits around the computer. I've found the latter to be infinitely more productive once you get past the steep learning curve.

I find your comparison between a windows user and a mentally challenged person very troubling, as i am a "geek" and i also live with a mother whom may we say is technologically challenged. Further more mental retardation is not a term to make light of.