I think you’re right. For the average desktop user, it’s more about being able to use the software they need, without a terminal.
I think that desktop in linux has advanced a lot in the last few years, and now I’m running my games on a KDE desktop, too! But I keep having to go to the terminal to do stuff I took for granted on other systems, like OS security updates.
The linux developers have done an awesome job and linux has come so far it’s amazing. But for the vast majority of computer users they don’t even know what a terminal is, period, and linux is useless to them unless a Linux user sets it up for them for a very specific use case and that’s all they ever do with it.
If all they want is an email and web appliance, a typical computer ignorant user can use linux if it is given to them by someone else.
Yet an ignorant computer user can go and buy a Mac or a windows machine from a retailer and get the job done without having to know anything at all other than they want a computer for x y or z.
Its like the linux developers can’t fathom a PC experience without the terminal as a vital participant.
Its like the linux developers can’t fathom a PC experience without the terminal as a vital participant.
That’s not wrong. I’m now struggling to do things on Windows without the terminal. Thinking in terms of commands and processes and files is a great way to do computing. Learning all that stuff has a payoff and it genuinely is difficult to imagine trying to get by without knowing it. Once you do know it you reach for it all the time.
GUI alternatives are constantly improving and becoming more visually pleasing throughout distros, and besides, there’s real scenarios where normal people HAVE to use Powershell or CMD to get stuff done on Windows. This is becoming less and less of a hurdle.
I’ve installed ZorinOS on a non tech savvy friends computer so she could get more life out of her old laptop and she was fine without using any terminal
Agreed. Also from a Tech support POV, there is no “standard” OS and troubleshooting the vast different environments would be a pain. With Windows, you have a standard layout, with couple different versions - Home / Pro / Enterprise. With linux, you have different syntax, differnt DE’s, etc. Still use Linux at home / work but i am interested in it. Got to have that motivation to do so.
Same thing with moving to Lemmy, gotta have that motivation to make the change.
It wasn’t always the case. Windows 3x gui had to be started from a dos prompt. But this anti cli sentiment swings both ways for all OS’s.
The bigger issue I have though is a general unwillingness to learn how to do things beyond click icons for apps. Devices now are engineered to be as simple as possible. Which ya, for most people is fine. But these devices in turn are generally way more challenging to fix. So it encourages just buying a new one instead. Creating more ewaste for something that should be easier to fix, all because of software, or physical assembly.
I don’t know… Debian 12 or latest Fedora (ugh) are pretty darn idiot proof. CLI doesn’t really enter into the picture on those if you don’t want it to. And, your computer won’t have to be tossed out for another 10 years.
I’m personally just getting back into Linux after a 20-year hiatus, and configuring/compiling Gentoo from the ground up has definitely given me a different perspective on computers.
In general, almost all Linux distros stem from 3 primary distributions: Debian, Arch and Fedora. (The outliers would be things like Void, Gentoo and Slackware.) All of these other distros that “just work” are, for the most part, skins of those primary 3 with different apps pre-installed.
Kali? It’s Debian. Ubuntu? It’s Debian. Mint? It’s either Ubuntu (which itself is Debian) or now Linux Mint Debian Edition. The “look and feel” of a distro has nothing inherently to do with that distro.
What they all have in common is that the eye-candy Desktop Environment is there to provide a “friendlier” interface than a CLI - but there is nothing a DE can do that the native terminal can’t.
I’ve also found it’s just faster/easier to install things via terminal than browse through an artificial “app store.”
Maybe I’m moving away from the idea of a desktop environment in general, in favor of a Window Manager that just handles putting programs in floating windows in a black space.
Yall miss the point. Im guessing willfully. No average desktop user wants to be forced to use command line to do anything.
Linux will never see mainstream desktop usage.
I think you’re right. For the average desktop user, it’s more about being able to use the software they need, without a terminal.
I think that desktop in linux has advanced a lot in the last few years, and now I’m running my games on a KDE desktop, too! But I keep having to go to the terminal to do stuff I took for granted on other systems, like OS security updates.
The linux developers have done an awesome job and linux has come so far it’s amazing. But for the vast majority of computer users they don’t even know what a terminal is, period, and linux is useless to them unless a Linux user sets it up for them for a very specific use case and that’s all they ever do with it.
If all they want is an email and web appliance, a typical computer ignorant user can use linux if it is given to them by someone else.
Yet an ignorant computer user can go and buy a Mac or a windows machine from a retailer and get the job done without having to know anything at all other than they want a computer for x y or z.
Its like the linux developers can’t fathom a PC experience without the terminal as a vital participant.
That’s not wrong. I’m now struggling to do things on Windows without the terminal. Thinking in terms of commands and processes and files is a great way to do computing. Learning all that stuff has a payoff and it genuinely is difficult to imagine trying to get by without knowing it. Once you do know it you reach for it all the time.
What OS security updates are you doing from the terminal?
The usual
pacman -SyuWell you chose an arch based distro, users who don’t want to use the terminal can choose something like mint or pop os
I guess you’re right. Maybe endeavour has something along those lines.
GUI alternatives are constantly improving and becoming more visually pleasing throughout distros, and besides, there’s real scenarios where normal people HAVE to use Powershell or CMD to get stuff done on Windows. This is becoming less and less of a hurdle.
I’ve installed ZorinOS on a non tech savvy friends computer so she could get more life out of her old laptop and she was fine without using any terminal
Agreed. Also from a Tech support POV, there is no “standard” OS and troubleshooting the vast different environments would be a pain. With Windows, you have a standard layout, with couple different versions - Home / Pro / Enterprise. With linux, you have different syntax, differnt DE’s, etc. Still use Linux at home / work but i am interested in it. Got to have that motivation to do so.
Same thing with moving to Lemmy, gotta have that motivation to make the change.
You can use Ubuntu and Zorin just fine without the terminal.
Until you try to use a flash drive and nothing can see the default mount point. You can web browse and that’s about all
It wasn’t always the case. Windows 3x gui had to be started from a dos prompt. But this anti cli sentiment swings both ways for all OS’s.
The bigger issue I have though is a general unwillingness to learn how to do things beyond click icons for apps. Devices now are engineered to be as simple as possible. Which ya, for most people is fine. But these devices in turn are generally way more challenging to fix. So it encourages just buying a new one instead. Creating more ewaste for something that should be easier to fix, all because of software, or physical assembly.
As soon as a distro has a control panel equivalent that has stuff like a driver manager and event log it’s all over
They do
You might be surprised to learn that multiple distros have control panel equivalent of driver managers and event logs.
I know Ubuntu has had that for a while, which means that others probably have as well.
I don’t know… Debian 12 or latest Fedora (ugh) are pretty darn idiot proof. CLI doesn’t really enter into the picture on those if you don’t want it to. And, your computer won’t have to be tossed out for another 10 years.
I’m personally just getting back into Linux after a 20-year hiatus, and configuring/compiling Gentoo from the ground up has definitely given me a different perspective on computers.
In general, almost all Linux distros stem from 3 primary distributions: Debian, Arch and Fedora. (The outliers would be things like Void, Gentoo and Slackware.) All of these other distros that “just work” are, for the most part, skins of those primary 3 with different apps pre-installed.
Kali? It’s Debian. Ubuntu? It’s Debian. Mint? It’s either Ubuntu (which itself is Debian) or now Linux Mint Debian Edition. The “look and feel” of a distro has nothing inherently to do with that distro.
What they all have in common is that the eye-candy Desktop Environment is there to provide a “friendlier” interface than a CLI - but there is nothing a DE can do that the native terminal can’t.
I’ve also found it’s just faster/easier to install things via terminal than browse through an artificial “app store.”
Maybe I’m moving away from the idea of a desktop environment in general, in favor of a Window Manager that just handles putting programs in floating windows in a black space.
I could see ChromeOS killing off Windows somehow. It’s already huge.