LXer: The Bully In The Linux Schoolyard

LXer · 09-15-2010, 06:40 PM

Published at LXer:

There are plenty of people who have offered explanations for why Linux thrives anonymously on servers and as Android on smartphones but lags behind on the desktop. Though reasons abound, at least one significant one is a self-inflicted wound: the Terminal Bully.

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easuter · 09-15-2010, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FTFA

Occasionally someone replies to an obvious beginner question with a torrent of commands intended to impress the questioner with how complicated Linux really is and, by implication, how wise the answerer is. More often than not, such an answer is accompanied by a contemptuous remark [citation needed].

Perhaps the torrent of commands are to actually glean information about the system to diagnose the problem?

And "more often than not" the reply is contemptuous? Really?

Kenny_Strawn · 09-15-2010, 08:11 PM

Have to completely agree with this article: Newbies, especially those who know nothing about Linux, need to be offered GUI alternatives to shell commands (i.e. Syanptic or Software Center vs. APT, Gedit vs. Nano, etc) that newbies can understand.

easuter · 09-15-2010, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenny_Strawn

Have to completely agree with this article: Newbies, especially those who know nothing about Linux, need to be offered GUI alternatives to shell commands (i.e. Syanptic or Software Center vs. APT, Gedit vs. Nano, etc) that newbies can understand.

My point was that this blog entry makes a gross generalization about the way newbies are treated. Does this kind of thing happen? I bet it does. But to say that it happens "more often than not" and that the only purpose for using the command line is to show off is complete garbage.

Kenny_Strawn · 09-15-2010, 10:53 PM

Agreed, but newbies don't know the difference between showing off with the CLI and actually using the CLI to help them. They just think that if it's command line, it's too complicated for them. You know newbies: They generalize too much.

This, and the fact that they don't think of their computer as anything more complex than any other household appliance -- partly due to M$'s spoiling.

Newbies to Linux kind of remind me of the Jews after leaving Egypt in the Exodus: They left slavery to freedom and yet they complained about how life was back in Egypt (and what they ate), not knowing how better off their life was to come.

TobiSGD · 09-15-2010, 11:08 PM

Sometimes there are issues that , currently, can not be solved with GUI-tools. Then even newbies have to use the command line, for example output of lspci or cat /proc/cpuinfo. Sometimes you only get the real error message if you start a GUI-tool from CLI.

easuter · 09-16-2010, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Agreed, but newbies don't know the difference between showing off with the CLI and actually using the CLI to help them. They just think that if it's command line, it's too complicated for them. You know newbies: They generalize too much.

I said that the author of the post was generalizing.

Quote:

Newbies to Linux kind of remind me of the Jews after leaving Egypt in the Exodus: They left slavery to freedom and yet they complained about how life was back in Egypt (and what they ate), not knowing how better off their life was to come.

That's a little far fetched.

easuter · 09-16-2010, 03:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

Sometimes you only get the real error message if you start a GUI-tool from CLI.

Precisely. Maybe the author of that piece has some magical solution to this "problem".

Kenny_Strawn · 09-16-2010, 08:17 PM

Actually, you can start a GUI tool from a terminal emulator (like gksu from gnome-terminal, for instance) but not from a dumb console.

TobiSGD · 09-16-2010, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenny_Strawn

Actually, you can start a GUI tool from a terminal emulator (like gksu from gnome-terminal, for instance) but not from a dumb console.

A terminal emulator is also a CLI.

Kenny_Strawn · 09-16-2010, 08:47 PM

And it's the only CLI I ever use, because otherwise my wireless adapters won't work:

Code:

sudo iwconfig wlan0 commit
Error for wireless request "Commit changes" (8B00) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.

And if I don't do the following and simply use iwconfig to set the essid and key, and then test it with apt-get, it does nothing.

rokytnji · 09-16-2010, 09:20 PM

Wannabe bully below.

http://www.break.com/index/kid-teach...-a-lesson.html