Hi I want to make a command line desktop, I would appreciate software suggestions.
 

I want to use Slackware to learn the command line and Linux more completely. My main machine is Linux Mint this is going on an extra laptop.

I am hoping for some command line application suggestions to play with. some X based programs are fine, but for a UI I was thinking something like Midnight commander. It's a P4 machine so applications don't have to be light.

If anyone has a guide or suggestions to help me get started on setting this up it would be appreciated.

I've installed cd1 and am going to follow this guide up to the part where you install KDE.

http://www.howtoforge.com/the_perfec...op_slackware12

I found this I think it will make me a nice reference.

http://www.jaredandcoralee.com/CLIapps.html

LOL
A Linux newbie that wants to learn the command line
that's a new one:)

GRML full, medium, or small is good
a hack remaster of GRML called HAG Linux is also pretty cool

hag has only fluxbox
grml full has alot of light wm's
both are Debian and have full access to all debian repos's
http://grml.org/

http://hag-linux.eu.org/

Slackware 12.2 is probably the Best distro to learn command line though
maybe

what?

http://www.jaredandcoralee.com/CLIapps.html seems a complete guide.
Perhaps you can learn bash scripting.
I would suggest to install a basic windowmanager,
you can still use the command prompt via a terminal, or via CTRL_ALT_F1


You can learn the command line on every distro.

There's an entirely CLI live distro, INX:
http://inx.maincontent.net/
It could give you an insight into what can be done with the CLI.

I know my basic Linux commands and the directory structure I'm just looking to spend more time in the CLI environment.

So I'm looking for applications to make it pleasant to stay there media players, office programs, and the rest I want to at least launch from CLI

Not sure if it'll be exactly what you want but I got a lot more command line experience by running blackbox window manager on my main machine and launching things from the terminal. Also super fast! :D

Ooh. This is an especially fun-looking thread. Here are a few of my humble suggestions; though opinions differ and tastes change, these are usually the commandline programs I consider best overall for the job they do.

vim - text editor
mutt - email client
play - audio player (as part of the sox() package)
mc - file manager
cdw - CD-ripper and burner (it's not as good as k3b for certain things, though)
rtorrent - torrent client
irssi - IRC client
sudoku - a nice little game of sudoku
sox - audio editor/converter/player
imagemagick - a suite of image editing/converting tools
wget - file downloader
w3m - web browser
youtube-dl - downloads YouTube videos (better than using a Firefox plugin!)

These are the ones I can come up with off the top of my head. When it comes to lightweight window-managers, I myself am partial to Fluxbox. Of course, no matter what window manager you use, it's best to edit the config files by hand using a text editor such as vim (or emacs, or nano, or whatever you may prefer). Manually editing config files is faster, more enriching, and gives you more flexibility and control over the appearance of your desktop than any of the graphical configuration tools ever could.

And, of course, a little bit of bashscripting now and then never hurt anyone.

That's why I suggested looking at the INX live CD, to get an idea of what CLI programs are available for whatever purpose. It has some that rkirk mentions, and more:
http://inx.maincontent.net/files/README-selections
http://inx.maincontent.net/files/inx-selections

@brianL: After visiting the site, I've decided that INX is a distro I've got to try, as well. As it stands, I might spend 85% of my day within an xterm session and I suppose I could learn a bit by being fully immersed in an environment without even X. Thanks for the link (I'm not sure I've ever heard of this distro before, so this is quite a find for me).

I've just been looking at this page, about the experimental installer script, and using VirtualBox. Might try that, rather than rebooting into a live CD.
http://inx.maincontent.net/info/info.html
P.S.
Found out they have ready-made image files for VirtualBox and Qemu, so I'll try the VBox one later.

Thanks BrianL INX does make the command line look inviting.

@AustinMarton
I may take your advice and run a more minimalist window manager... Thank you, everyone for all the advice.

You could run a single xsession with just an xterm or something running, if you REALLY want to be crazy. Just don't install a single desktop, just install xserver. I'd reccomend getting an terminal that supports tabs if you are going that route. That would be the quickest and easiest way to be fully submerged with little visuals. =D

Some of my must-have text apps are mc, screen, htop and weechat.

Even if you are going to use just terminals, using X without a WM is just insane, and brings you *no benefit at all* (unless you are using a single custom app that can handle all the things that a WM usually do internally), only extra pain. Without a WM a simple popup can ruin your life, you will never be able to move or resive a window, and there will be no way to swap the focus when you need it.

If you are truly going to run a single terminal you might very well live without X, just use screen or twin. If you are going to use multiple terminals (with or without any graphical apps) you need a WM. You might want to look into tiling WMs like ratpoison, stumpwm, awesome or xmonad, there are many more.

For those who might be interested, I came across INX while browsing through either:
http://delicious.com/tag/linux

or:

http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/