I am beginning to think that switching to Linux was a mistake.
Everything I want to do seems to need doing via the terminal.
Nothing is point and click any-more.

RTFM you say.

I have a few and I'm trying to work my way through them.

A newbies getting started guide to Linux

An introduction to Linux by Machtelt Garrels

How to start using Linux from Howto Geek

A newbies initiation to Linux by Stefan Neagu

The Linux Mint official users guide

The Linux command line prompts by William Shotts

Wikipedia's list of IT acronyms and others.

THIS IS GOING TO TAKE AT LEAST THREE LIFETIMES.

The trouble with all of them, regardless of how simple the authors try to keep them is that they are all written in “Geekspeak” to a large extent, which is a language that newbies in general are not overly familiar with.
Especially those of us who are of an advanced age.
Using them is like being a visitor in a foreign country trying to negotiate business deals with the aid of a phrase book.
And yes, I admit, we are all terrified of “THE TERMINAL”

It is not that we are stupid or “Dumb users” as we have been called.
We are just uneducated in this particular field.
Instead of just being able to use the system, I need to now seriously think about what I'm about to do and how to do it, before I can get on with doing it.
Which is not a bad thing in itself. It keeps my mind active but it is frustrating.

Please don't get me wrong.
It may sound like I'm wingeing, but I'm not.
I like my Mint installation a whole lot more than what I did Windows 10.
But I do so miss the click-on buttons.

And my question is…………...?

Is there not an easier way of doing things other than having to go via “THE TERMINATOR” ?
I mean the terminal.

________________________________________
Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.

I guess this all depends on the things which you are doing. Largely speaking, if you wish to browse, read email, surf the web, a default desktop distribution, especially one like MINT will be fine.

Can I invite you to share one frustrating story where you needed the terminal? Just trying to figure out if you're being led too far astray.

No one says you have to use the terminal, but I will say if you get into configuring the OS a lot or do programming within the OS, then yes, you will end up using the command line a lot.

Hi rtmistler

Thanks for your response.

The first most frustrating episode was when I tried to change my hostname.
Linux assigned rusty@rusty-300E4A-300E5A-300E7A-3430EA-3530EA automatically when I installed it.
I asked How do I change my computer name in Mint 17.3 on 02-17-16 in the LQ newbie forum.

(Page 4)

It would perhaps be quicker to read the posts rather than for me to repeat them here.

I still haven't resolved that issue.

My biggest problem I think, is that I have never used a CLI before and am not familiar with the terminology.
I understand the process. ( sort of ) but the terminology and protocols? Elude me.

You will have my undying gratitude if you can enlighten me

PS. I am close to being an octogenarian so please bear with my inability to grasp things quickly.

If you don't want to learn commands, you should consider using Windows or OSX instead of a terminal-driven operating systems.

That said, it does have advantages to get comfortable with "THE TERMINATOR". Let's say you broke your desktop environment with a wrong config entry or the package maintainer has made a mistake and you find yourself suddenly unable to start your GUI - what would you do?

No problem. Something like changing your computer's name would be a command line action I believe.

It also shouldn't be a huge ordeal.

What I don't see is a link. I think if you just cut/paste, then the link doesn't show up. Maybe it's easier using advanced edit mode when responding to LQ posts.

For me I put [url][/url] tags around any link.

Here is a quick link in case this one helps better: Quickly change computer name in Linux MINT

This also should not be an everyday activity, at least in my humble opinion. You want it a certain way, you do that and then move on. If there are everyday things that are difficult to remember, then I usually write them down or save them in a file to remind me about them.

I guess it depends on what distro you are using.

Might I suggest you try https://www.linuxliteos.com/development.html

which has lots of gui ways to keep you away from a terminal constantly

https://www.linuxliteos.com/manual/

A simple thing like changing hostname can be done using gui easily ,
http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/...puter-name-in/
But when you ask in LQ or other forums , its easier for people to give the command to change hostname(or some other task) then to guide you through the gui. But if you ask for then to show the gui methos , then they are going to tell you how to do the task using gui.
Even in the books its easier to write some lines of commands and describe them then to guide someone through gui and give gui screen shots of each step.

Instructions on changing hostname specifically for Linux Mint. According to the link, you should not have spaces in the hostname. In the hosts file, make sure you select to change the second line, 127.01.1

https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/735

If you use a distribution that is aimed at the "normal" user, like Mint, Ubuntu or openSuse, then usually there is a way to use "the GUI". The problem is that "the GUI" doesn't really exist, just because there are so many of them. Explaining to someone how to change a setting in the GUI is next to meaningless if the person explaining is using KDE and you are using Cinnamon, for example. This problem usually does not exist in the commandline, since the commands are the same on distributions of the same branch (like Debian based distributions, Arch-based distributions, Slackware-based distributions, ...) or, if the distribution uses systemd, in all distributions that use systemd.
This of course makes it much easier to explain how to change a setting using the commandline than using a GUI. Of course, if you explicitly tell us which distribution with which desktop environment you are using there very likely will be someone here using the same combination that is able to help you with changing the setting using the GUI.

3 members found this post helpful.

Hatman KZN,

You probably don't believe me but Linux Mint is actually very friendly towards new users.

That is one of the reasons it is one of the most popular Linux distributions.

It IS actually possible to use Linux Mint and certain other Linux distributions without ever using the command line.

You have managed to install Linux Mint once, so you can obviously do it again.

Personally that is what I would do in your position.

Start again and do a fresh installation of Linux Mint 17.3 MATE (or whatever version you like best).

This time, when you are asked questions about your name and hostname, do NOT accept whatever the Mint automatic installer displays!

Have a look at this easy-to-follow installation guide and make a few notes of your own.

This particular guide features Mint Cinnamon, but the installation process is the same whether you use MATE or Xfce or Cinnamon as a Desktop Environment.

http://www.2daygeek.com/linux-mint-1...h-screenshot/#

VERY IMPORTANT:

When you reach this stage, just pause a while.

7) Create new user and password


Your name: hatmankzn

(or whatever you want to use. There is no need to use your real name if you do not want to).


Your computer's name:

(DELETE whatever is displayed using the Backspace key or Delete key or a big hammer!)

Just type:

Esmerelda

Pick a username: hatmankzn

Pick a password: **********

Confirm your password: **********

Click on Continue…………

Good luck.

1 members found this post helpful.

I couldn't even remember my host name, so it's not really something to fret about! I opened the dreaded terminal and entered apropos host and in the list of commands I found
hostname (1) - show or set the system's host name
Then, of course, using man hostname showed how it works.

Usually, the only things you need to do in the command line are the sort of things that you don't do very often, if ever.

I also think you can read too many books! I have just one on my shelf: there's no point in confusing yourself learning things you don't really need to know. Incidentally, your age can't be that advanced: when I started using a desktop computer, the command line was all there was: be grateful you never had to use PIP on a CP/M system!

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Mint/Xfce4 but yours may have similar
Menu > Network Settings...unlock. Edit to suit.
Save. Reboot.
Done.

I am not sure that changing the hostname is something "an ordinary user" need do? Sorry, I'm sure there were reasons for it but even knowing what a hostname means and it being an issue suggests something beyond "just a user" to me.
My answer to this kind of thing though is if you want to pay Apple they will look after you and if you want to pay Microsoft they might make it easy or make it "just change this registry setting (you computer may implode, explode, turn into a cat or simply not do anything)".
People on sites like this are usually patient and asking for the exact things to do in THE TERMINAL will be explained.

copy-pasta is easier to troubleshoot rather than things like:
clik the start menu; then rite-clik my computer; then on the settings tab toggle hide extensions; if you are using windows-7 home clik on the general tab; if you are using windows-7 premium clik on the options menu; ...

there are usually ways to modify system preferences within a a gui for most distros but you would have to tell us the distribution/version/display manager/window manager/...

the command line is mostly universal regardless of the above.

Well whatever Hatman KZN's preferences are, they chose to modify the hostname.

And I think they're searching the web for this stuff, just they find help which points to the command line.

I would say to that, that it's fine what you're doing, understand that to be precise and usually universal, the command line is typically recommended because there can be so many variations on a UI that it is sometimes more difficult to describe that and get it resolved the first go around.

To add to that, if you choose to configure your system, name, security, boot mannerisms, stuff like that, you'll end up using the command line and I feel it's the correct choice. If you're interested in just using and styling the view of your system, then the UI is perfectly fine.

Rather than read full guides, I'd recommend only choosing to search for the one item you wish to change, deal with that. If you feel the actions were something you wish to remember, then write them down. For me, something like configuring a startup script or changing the hostname would be rare things, so I'd probably look them up each time, or rely on my memory.

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