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I think this document is a bit too belligerent. "STOP DOING xxx". Really, users should be free to do as they wish. I prefer using console a lot (though I use GU

I think this document is a bit too belligerent. "STOP DOING xxx". Really, users should be free to do as they wish. I prefer using console a lot (though I use GUI a lot too!). But I wouldn't force others to do so. Educating them how (if they're interested) is a great thing. Making it sound like they're doing it wrong is not. PS: One thing where a GUI really shines is picking a bunch of files from a folder and moving them elsewhere, based on a manual criterium that isn't easily identified by a wildcard. For instance, from a folder of documents pick all the ones related to a certain topic. A GUI shines for this, commandline is horrible for it. If I don't have a GUI available I will use mc for this. However for other tasks, the commandline is gold. Finding all JPGs in a huge tree of folders and moving them all to one central folder. Easily accomplished with 'find -exec'. Very much work to do in GUI with default platform tools, usually you'd have to download some utility to do this. So, for me they are both great options with their strengths and weaknesses. They complement each other. A good operator should be aware of both.

gregmac 6y ago
100% agree with everything you said. So many people use gatekeeping around using CLI, it's crazy frustrating. Use what you're efficient at for the job at hand. To expand on your example: for a lot of readers of HN, moving all JPGs in a bunch of folders is going to be easier and faster with a CLI. But for <non-technical person in your life> who needs to do it very rarely, it's probably still going to be faster for them to navigate folder-by-folder in a file explorer, sort by file type, shift+select, repeat, than it is to learn how to use CLI to do it. For technical people, GUIs also reduce burden, and let us be lazy. I "know" (or at least once did) how to configure Samba by hand, but for the last many years I've run OpenMediaVault at home and use the UI to do it for me. I don't use Samba for anything else in my life or work, so why do I want to remember or even spend the time reading the manual when I need to make a change to it once a year or so? I'd rather just log into the UI, click a few things, and be done. Nothing to actually remember, as the GUI gives me enough information to figure it out as I go. I spend a lot of effort to be lazy. If I was regularly moving JPGs out of a folder, I'd probably go further and write a shell script or alias, or even just make a cron job to do it for me; likewise I'm happy to install/use a GUI app for certain things if it means I save time vs reading man pages or having to remember arcane commands I rarely use.
opan 6y ago
I do enjoy ranger (TUI) for the reasons you mention, but I find something like pcmanfm feels less powerful, and harder to control. This isn't because pcmanfm is a GUI program, but rather the culture around GUI programs. If you want a good GUI, look at emacs. As good as the TUI version, but with support for images and more colors. It's possible, but rare. I think the devs for each type of program tend to differ in mindset.
Stratoscope 6y ago
> Finding all JPGs in a huge tree of folders and moving them all to one central folder. That's easy in Windows File Explorer. Type Ctrl+F, then *.jpg, then Enter. Wait for the search to finish. Type Ctrl+A to Select All, then Ctrl+X to Cut. Then go to the target folder, in the same or a different File Explorer, and Ctrl+V to Paste. Someone who isn't familiar with the keyboard shortcuts can do the same with the mouse. Either way, if they have ever edited a document and done something similar with cutting and pasting text, there is nothing new to learn except understanding that the same steps work in File Explorer. It also works in the default file manager in Ubuntu with minor changes: don't hit Enter after typing the search text, do click in the result list before the Ctrl+A.

gregmac 6y ago

100% agree with everything you said. So many people use gatekeeping around using CLI, it's crazy frustrating. Use what you're efficient at for the job at hand. To expand on your example: for a lot of readers of HN, moving all JPGs in a bunch of folders is going to be easier and faster with a CLI. But for <non-technical person in your life> who needs to do it very rarely, it's probably still going to be faster for them to navigate folder-by-folder in a file explorer, sort by file type, shift+select, repeat, than it is to learn how to use CLI to do it. For technical people, GUIs also reduce burden, and let us be lazy. I "know" (or at least once did) how to configure Samba by hand, but for the last many years I've run OpenMediaVault at home and use the UI to do it for me. I don't use Samba for anything else in my life or work, so why do I want to remember or even spend the time reading the manual when I need to make a change to it once a year or so? I'd rather just log into the UI, click a few things, and be done. Nothing to actually remember, as the GUI gives me enough information to figure it out as I go. I spend a lot of effort to be lazy. If I was regularly moving JPGs out of a folder, I'd probably go further and write a shell script or alias, or even just make a cron job to do it for me; likewise I'm happy to install/use a GUI app for certain things if it means I save time vs reading man pages or having to remember arcane commands I rarely use.

opan 6y ago

I do enjoy ranger (TUI) for the reasons you mention, but I find something like pcmanfm feels less powerful, and harder to control. This isn't because pcmanfm is a GUI program, but rather the culture around GUI programs. If you want a good GUI, look at emacs. As good as the TUI version, but with support for images and more colors. It's possible, but rare. I think the devs for each type of program tend to differ in mindset.

Stratoscope 6y ago

> Finding all JPGs in a huge tree of folders and moving them all to one central folder. That's easy in Windows File Explorer. Type Ctrl+F, then *.jpg, then Enter. Wait for the search to finish. Type Ctrl+A to Select All, then Ctrl+X to Cut. Then go to the target folder, in the same or a different File Explorer, and Ctrl+V to Paste. Someone who isn't familiar with the keyboard shortcuts can do the same with the mouse. Either way, if they have ever edited a document and done something similar with cutting and pasting text, there is nothing new to learn except understanding that the same steps work in File Explorer. It also works in the default file manager in Ubuntu with minor changes: don't hit Enter after typing the search text, do click in the result list before the Ctrl+A.