
How much do you use the terminal? - veddox
Actually, my main question is whether there is anybody here who
<i>only</i> (or almost only) uses a terminal&#x2F;commandline interface for
his day-to-day computing?<p>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).<p>Is there anybody here who has completed the switch and uses a CLI
almost exclusively?<p>EDIT: fixed typo
======
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.

------
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.

------
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.

------
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?

------
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!

