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At first, when I was being weened from the tit of Bill, I was all about the gui, I didn't even know how to cp, or even startx.
Once I started learning more and more, and finally being able to actually accomplish things in command, I started doing as much as I could that way, it was so much faster. Of course I use GUI for movies, music, pictures and other media, but for capturing video, transferring files, executing bin's and others, I use command.
So I would have to with a 50/50 split on amount of time used on each.
Errr - this depends on the machine i'm on In Slackware (this machine is used to learn stuff like setting up NIS, DNS server samba and all the other things) i'm 90% console. On the other machine, i'm 80% GUI (gnome & blackbox). And don't forget: x for browsing linuxquestions.org
Command Prompt!!!!....see, the name says it all.
GUI=Graphical User Interface, what does this say? there is something graphical which interferes between you(the user) and the orders you wanna give to the computer.
But, when you hear Command prompt....what does this say?...the computer is ready for you to type the command without any third party interference. Hence why more than often when you click on some menu link ... nothing happens ... and the best part is that you don't even know why ... but when you run it from the Command prompt ... if it doesn't run, you will know why,
I use both it depends greatly what your needs are at the moment. If your gonna install a program ditch the rpm's they may seem easier at first but for a clean install do it from a command line. Theres a little tool in Konqueror call Imulate terminal that help you learn how the file paths go. At least it helped me.
I have to append to my previous answer... I have installed slack and since then, I had no idea how much I actually used GUI. I do use a vterm alot, but inside my gui usually. I have been having such a rough time configuring a bunch of stuff for X with my new distro that I have been completely in a true terminal most of the time. And I also decided to rebuild my kernel to make sure I had USB enabled, but now I have no networking either. Most of these thing were either autoconfigured for me in Mandy, or I could configure them using GUI front ends. So now that I am seeing what's "under my hood" (-Aussie) I am truly experiencing what command line is all about. I will be changing my previous answer to probably an 80x/20Console before. But from now on I will try to swing closer to 50/50. Command line rules!
Distribution: K/Ubuntu 18.04-14.04, Scientific Linux 6.3-6.4, Android-x86, Pretty much all distros at one point...
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I use both.
GUI is actually faster in terms of moving large trees of subdirectories with lots of files in them around. As well it is faster in terms of viewing whats where. Fumbling with typing names for things is a pain in the arse.
A click and drag is fater than a typewritten command any day of the week.
That said, Command prompts give more power for what is occuring at the system level. Command prompts and commands are more versatile. Using cat to string files together is a very impressive ability. Using the command prompt to do things like checking partitions (fsck) is faster and more efficient than any GUI interface.
I like the way Linux is. A command structure with a GUI on top for ease of use.
Windoze has gone too far in the direction of GUI only. What if the graphical subsystem breaks??? How do you fix it other than a re-install???
a well....i think...the font size in a X terminal is too small. ...so....i get to see whats on the screen more clearly in CLI. .....um....yea thats about it.
"command line vs. GUI", what is that all about? There is no "versus" at all. Both are useful methods for user interaction with the Linux kernel. It's a question without an answer, just like what is the "best distro", or what is the "best text editor", or what is the "best name for a dog". Useful, at best, for nothing more than flame wars.
Flame Warez? Nah, I like to see what people are thinking when they administer their respective systems. Some people like to handle everything possible command, and GUI is just for video and the likes, others seem to see ease of use for handling certain processes in X. If I see what others are doing with different control centers, I can possibly change something I am doing to make it more efficient. Best text editor, for example; someone would say 'I prefer pico for it's ease of use and the ability to see what my most common command choices are at the bottom of the screen', so that would spark an idea for me to go check out pico. Now I have found a new text editor that I can use more easily, and teach others to use more easily as well. There will of course follow the thousands of responses about 'vi all the way baby' but it is still a good way to let others know other options out there, and whether they are going to suite their needs or not. I say wading through the flames is almost always worth it in the end.
I see it as more of an 'idea sharing' rather than a 'Flame War' topic. There are better ways to word such topics, but I for 1 am not 1 to comment on how to word topic headings.`
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