I boot into a GUI desktop, but I use the terminal program to do many commandline tasks, mostly multimedia related like encoding audio/video with ffmpeg and convert (ImageMagick).

I would say I use the commandline about 65-75% for the things I do.

How about you?

If you're in the 90-100%, could you live without Xorg?

- Curious

I don’t get it.
I do stuff that is more efficient or makes sense to do on cli.
I do stuff that is more efficient or makes sense to do in gui.

They don’t ‘compete’ with each other and I don’t see any reason to measure % of each - it just depends on the tasks you’re doing.

Agree.

I apologize for my dumb question.

Yup, have installed it on 4 of the 1000+ linux boxes I've dealt with over the years.

I could even tell you the 4!

Same here, probably the same for most others here too. Like descendant_command was saying, I don't really get the point of this thread either. My answer mirrors descendant_command's reply.

I can't say I'm in the "90-100%". If the machine is a server, then there wouldn't be any need to run a GUI. If you are talking about in the desktop context, then no, most desktop type apps are GUI based apps and therefore won't work without the GUI. If I was using Wayland instead, then yes, I could quite easily live without Xorg.

That's about how I see it. However, because (just about) everything is more efficient in the shell, I have to occasionally force myself to use some of the GUI-based tools to stay abreast of developments and practices there.

No. This is a desktop, not a server. Servers don't need xorg but desktops do, at least mine does. Can't run FF, create libreoffice docs, etc, without xorg. I do cd ripping, backups, patching and all maintenance at the cli but everything else is with gui tools.

I don't use the command line to post to this forum, no.

What would be the point? You use a desktop/laptop to do useful things, not to show how clever you are. And there are so many useful GUI applications, why would you ever want to be without them?

A more telling question would be: what do people use CLI for in practice? Obviously most of us use it for troubleshooting. Lots of us prefer CLI interfaces to package managers (e.g. apt-get rather than synaptic). What about editing files? What about file management? I use CLI exclusively for that because graphical file managers are so slow and clumsy. A cluster of questions like that could be interesting. Sort of: "Do you prefer CLI for..." and then a selection of applications/activities, with responders ticking as many boxes as were appropriate.

There's also a question of familiarity. In CentOS on the desktop, I handle software from the CLI as I'm at home with yum. In Xubuntu I'd use Synaptic, because I've only recently and reluctantly adopted a Debian based distro for the laptop.

i could do everything without a gui if i had to, but i don't.
i do use cli more and more often because it seems quicker, easier.

btw i think the phrasing of your title is off.
the way it is now, it means something like
"how many percent of all LQ members do everything from the command line".

Well said.

Also, as some have mentioned, there is a difference between the desktop and other systems. If it has a graphics card of any kind then it's not a real server. My answer above was about the desktop. Like Hazel points out it is about getting things done. I'm lazy, I can do things quickly and easily in the shell, especially over SSH, that I can't do or can't do quickly+easily with graphics. There are exceptions, like WWW activity, productivity software, photo editing, and some e-mail. For servers and embedded devices, I use 100% shell.

I had this conversation in person about a year back.

"Oh come on. What can a GUI give you that command-line tools can't?"

"Video thumbnails."

"He has a point."

I am only recently using a Linux desktop (currently CentOS 7 and Cinnamon). The learning curve is not overly steep, but I usually go to the command line for file maintenance, software updates, configuration, etc. because I already know how to do those things there.
I've been running a headless server for about 19 years, and have had several day jobs where the my only access to the servers was at the command line (telnet in the old days, later ssh)