HN Explorer

How much do you use the terminal?

4 points by veddox ↗ HN
Actually, my main question is whether there is anybody here who only (or almost only) uses a terminal/commandline interface for his day-to-day computing?

I recently installed Arch alongside my usual Ubuntu and decided to forego the use of the X server... It has actually been easier than I had expected: mutt for email, w3m for the web, mocp for music, etc. But of course I still have my normal Ubuntu for when I really do need to look at something other than text (and it remains my primary OS).

Is there anybody here who has completed the switch and uses a CLI almost exclusively?

EDIT: fixed typo

10 comments

[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 40.4 ms ] thread
dozzie
#define "almost exclusively"

Web browsing, with modern insistence on JavaScript sh&t for displaying static text ("single-page apps" for web sites being a major offender), virtually cannot be done on terminal.

Other than that and playing media files (I happen to really like Exaile for music), I can't think of anything I do in GUI.

veddox
Yeah, single page apps can be really annoying. Sure, they look great on a modern browser with good internet, but take away either of these two, and they're a pain in the neck.

On the plus side: that does mean that I waste less time online when I'm in the terminal...

dozzie
> [SPAs] look great on a modern browser with good internet, but take away either of these two, and they're a pain in the neck.

You don't even need to do that. Just try to open a part of the web page in another tab. Most of single-page apps fail this simple test, which is a very important way I interact with web sites.

arethuza
Don't think I've been text only since about '89 when I first started using Sun workstations, then DEC Alphas then PCs with Linux and/or Windows.

However, from '83 to '89 I was text only!

3chelon
I use the terminal a lot in that I always have several sessions open whether I'm using Mac or Linux. Generally I'm running `git` commands or python scripts, or else just testing my rubbish internet status with `ping`, `traceroute`, etc - how else do people do that?
veganjay
It sounds like the question is really 'who does not use X server for their day to day computing?'

The closest I come to this is when working on servers that don't have Xwindows installed. On these systems I don't need to use email, web, listen to music, etc.

Interesting question though. I assume folks that do this for development use tmux, screen or some other screen splitting.

OP: would this be better as an 'Ask HN'?

veddox
> OP: would this be better as an 'Ask HN'?

Yes, it would ;-) For some reason, I was under the impression that HN automatically prepends 'Ask HN' to all submissions that do not include a link. Guess I was wrong...

brudgers
I think by default Hacker News throws all text only submissions into the "Ask HN" stream...except for those that start with "Show HN". But Show HN is more recent.
qbrass
>It sounds like the question is really 'who does not use X server for their day to day computing?'

On Linux, you can cheat and use the Linux framebuffer for graphics without needing X. You just need to find software that supports it. Mplayer, a couple image viewers, and several of the lighter web browsers do.

temp2016
There are too many usefully GUI tools to be a purest about living in the terminal.

I enjoy the terminal for development, but even then I find myself switching to Chrome for docs/github/stackoverflow, wireshark for packet capture, spotify for music.

Corporate stuff (outlook) is always MS / Windows based so it's just easier to stick with that.

If w3m was a bit more consistent with rendering (or if the web was more accessible) I would probably use that.