I prefer the command line to sysadmin tasks, scripts etc.
Gui is nice - but often I find I want to do something the GUI does not support and I find the command line is easier to troubleshoot and is more flexible.

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I find the command line to be the best for me. I'm kind of old and started back with Unix, some Sun stuff, and then tried Linux when it was new. I was then a Windows user for a while, I even owned a Mac - still do, I guess. For me the command line is better because I understand it better and it usually means I've either learned something or am learning something. I like to see what I'm doing and how it's interacting with the system. If I'm not breaking something then I'm not trying hard enough.

Anyhow, I've recently reverted to using Linux exclusively. I just got tired of the Windows games, sure you can be secure (relatively) but do you really want to have to go through all that effort? I actually resigned from the MVP program quite some time ago. These days, Linux just works. I like the command line because it lets me work with it and I don't always know what the GUI is doing - I like to know. I like to tinker. I enjoy breaking stuff. I've changed my distro more times in a day than I've eaten - just for fun.

So, yeah... My answer to your next poll will be the same. I do as much as I can through the command line - even things I can do with the GUI and know how to do with the GUI. I'll always look for a command line method, save it to a text file (it's kind of bloated and sloppy) and learn from it. I've only been back on Linux for a couple of years and only exclusively back on Linux for six months or so. As it is, I jump from distro to distro - sometimes not even bothering to install but just to run it from a Live USB (everything gets saved on the network here and RAM is cheap).

I guess I include the extra information to kind of explain it. I doubt I'm unique in these regards. I was "late" to computers. I didn't start until the early 1980s. You'll pry my TRS-80 from my cold dead hands! Or from my wheelbarrow, it's heavy and I am lazy.

Edit: I think the TRS-80 was the first PC I owned, now that I think about it. I think I had to buy memory to give me the ability to type lowercase characters. This was quite a while ago. The first computer I touched was just a dumb terminal, however.

That's my take also. Use Gui most of the time but command line for trouble-shooting and repair. Sometimes also to install new stuff.

I use either, depending on the situation, but, when I'm using Fluxbox, it's CLI all the way. When I'm using Enlightenment, I use Enlightenment's GUI tools for Enlightenment stuff.

I prefer CLI for everything but browsin' the web, watchin' videos, editing documents & some misc. tasks like managing torrents & IM. If it's possible, I always configure things via CLI just because it's scriptable & you know where the config is so you can easily deploy it to any number of machines.

note that preference dose not imply what one do regularly. i use the cli more often, but prefer the gui if it is easy enough. e.g. i never manage networkmanager through cli (in my desktop at least), it is much easier through gui. and i think all desktop applications should have a gui, after the cli of course, cause life is nothing without cli in linux.

I use cli except for when I use gui which is about 50% of the time. No option for this so no vote :-(

I am not a geek, so I hate CLI. Use it only when it is strictly necessary.

You mean there's a GUI?

.. all these great minds thinking alike - I prefer gui for desktop work and cli for headless (of course) or server and remote access. Sometimes you get both depending on the application / software availabale.

Why am I not allowed to answer this poll?

I received an email that it existed, so I followed the link in the email.

Why would you send one if I can't answer it?

- Leigh

I use both regularly. In Fedora 16 links on the task bar above make it easy to open a new app, but alt-tab works for switching already opened apps.
I use lots of aliases and commands in the CLI. GUI is good for menus when you don't know what your options are - provided all options are listed.
I'd hate to have to choose between them - I want both.
Thanks.

I prefer the command line for almost everything configuration-wise though I will use the GUI tools to configure the GUI as that makes sense. Using the command line for updating and installing applications and changing configuration means I can work on my desktop from my laptop easily too.

As a Slackware user I would say CLI is the obvious choice at my end

I am now most of the time on Debian where I use aptitude. It is kind-of a GUI in the CLI. Still, for everything else, I strictly use the CLI and am completely lost when it is not an option. I actually see that mostly as a limitation on my side, however. Still, I barely touch the mouse in a day. I guess that I could mostly live without X if the console had more colours... although I do not administrate servers.