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78 Comments
- hass, on 10/12/2007, -1/+33I recently started using Ubuntu Linux. LinuxCommand.org was a huge help getting me started with the command line tools. It is an excellent resource.
This is my first submitted story! :) - culbeda, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14Finally a useful article about unix/linux instead of another Windows sucks / Linux rules propaganda piece. Let's hope we see more.
- jaderobbins, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12just do what i do, use the terminal in the GUI :D
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -12/+18Man, I've used the command line so long, I get lost when I hit the gui.
Seriously, I don't even have a real windowing system installed on any of my boxes. I just ssh to them and use 'screen' as my "window manager".
Hell, I even get thrown by midnight commander / file commander.
If someone took my cli from me, I'd probably take a cheese grater to their face.
I know ... I know ... pathetic... - paerez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I use ubuntu and love the gui, but believe me, I find the terminal very useful for specific tasks involving file management.
Like I get a bunch of files like [239874]name_xored-_1.avi and I want: name - 1.avi.
Imagine doing that with a mouse an keyboard to 50 files! I sympathise with his remark about "pumping the mouse". - awoodhouse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I would fire this guy:
One of the software engineers in our company spent the day writing a C++ program that would look through the directories of all the users and add up the space they were using and make a listing of the results. - pixelbeat_, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Good question.
The "command line" or "shell" is actually an interpreter running a language
usually referred to as "shell script". This language is designed to make
it easy to work with files and processes, the 2 fundamental entites in a unix system.
Now you have more power to interact with the computer with VB,C and Python etc.
but they are lower level, more general languages and therefore not nearly
as easy to manipulate files and processes in.
Now you may say, I can manipulate my files fine with a GUI, thanks very much.
But there are many common operations that can't be mapped onto standard GUI filemanagers,
especially related to manipulating files in a hierarchy. For example, how would one
create an archive containing only pictures from the current directory and below in a GUI?
In the command line it's easy:
find . -name '*.jpg' | tar c --files-from=- | bzip2 > pictures.tar.bz2
I find that it is infinitely easier to learn and use the command line for tasks,
than to learn and use all the different GUI tools required for specific tasks. - Snakedal337, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I came from a GUI world into CLI, while i'm not fully kopete (Joke) with it, I got basic understandings, and its usually a lot easier to do things that require you do things recrusivly.
For example, rather than go in every dir of ~/my pics/ to delete my .jpgs, I can just rm -r *.jpg
Bam! done! I'm happy :-) - leohart, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Moving to CLI from GUI is natural as most Ubuntu Wiki and How-to still makes use of CLI (extensively). But, knowing how to do things in GUI helps me show other people how things work and also have a back up in those rainy days when all you want to do is to click the mouse on random location on the screen.
- jaderobbins, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9 shhhhhh don't mention the ubuntu. Many fanboy and/or angry windows user comments will follow.
I'm in the same boat though, started using ubuntu with gnome and slowly more and more got confortable with the command line :D - dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I started using linux a year or two ago, although I've not made a full switch over (And probably never will).. I use Ubuntu on my laptop (Currently have SUSE to try XGL since I had problems with it on Ubuntu), but I always have PuTTY open, with a shell to a friends server-computer, and if it's on, to the laptop also.
I like the way windows handles windows, minimizing, the system tray and such, but since *nix has always been centered around the command promt (a lot of programs for it are basicly front-ends to the command promt), your able to do a lot more.. Given a windows command promt, and a linux one, you can do a lot lot more with it, and easier..
I, personally, like my setup, Windows for internet, IM, downloading, photos, Photoshop and VMWare, and to run PuTTY, OS X for Final Cut Studio and Shake, Ubuntu via SSH
One thing, more on the SSH point, if anyones using a remote cmoputer via ssh, I strongly recommend working out SCREEN.. Basicly type
screen bash
and it gives you the same promt.. Buut, if you get disconnected, normally you lose anything running (or it's hard to get back), but with screen, you just login and type
screen -r
(screen - reatach)
And you can do cool stuff like
Ctrl+A, then tap C, which creates another screen session (clone of the first one when it first started, which is why I always run bash first)
Ctrl+A, tap P and N to cycle though them
Theres a shortcut to split a screen in half, that means you can have two windows open in a single screen session, which can be handy, although I can't remeber it just now.. Search for Screen tutorial (Or Linux SCREEN tutorial)
- Ben - gmikej, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5People were using the Model T in 1976? Maybe you meant 1916, as that was probably closer to the height of popularity of the Model T. If I remember right Ford had lowered the price down to under $300 around that time because competition was starting to take away Ford's 'monopoly' on the car industry.
Oh wait- you meant we weren't using GUIs in 1976. NOW I get it...
(this comment reminds me of the article about how sarcasm was very difficult to read on the Internet...) - MikeSavior, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Why is it every time someone makes a comment that disagrees with the poster of the article (even if not always in the -most- tasteful way), everyone who sees it mods that poster down like they're a raging troll? I appreciate the article- but some people have input too, guys. Modder-downers, you guys need to realise that people have other opinions too. As long as they're not being jerks, what's the problem?
- edmicman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6This is for serious, so please don't bury me :-)
What do you all actually *do* on the command line that makes it so powerful and that you're in it all the time? I mean, on my windows box, I open a command window maybe once every couple of weeks, if that. And on the rare occasion that I do open a command window, it's usually just to "ping" a website that's not showing up or something. I go about my day to day work using the programs to do my job.....what is it you're doing on a regular basis in the CLI?
Really, if there's something you're doing so often that you have to type in a bunch of text repeatedly, isn't that just calling for a better interface? - misconfig, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Where was this six years ago, when I started to learn the command line? I'm very pleased to see all of the tutorials/help everyone is willing to give these days. Most *NIX guru's have an overwhelming sense of being arrogant. Keep up the good work, we'll all help the Linux community flourish!
- brufleth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5People have heard of Cygwin right?
It lets you use a nix like terminal in Windows environments. If you want some terminal functionality but have to or want to stick with windows it is worth trying out. It is very different from the Windows command line as it emulates a nix shell rather than MS's. - SevenForever, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Very useful site! Thanks
- tjcom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4an excellent introductory tutorial... even more so for users moving from MS products, familair with ftp and dos commands but in need of something more substantial!
- dirtvoyles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I converted, but didn't use CLI for about a month. Just spent time getting used to some of the Linux "quirks".
Then I had to use copy/paste in CLI to accomplish some feats to get my box up to working fully.
And finally I have been using CLI as necessary to fix issues and install programs. Not everyone can jump headfirst into CLI, nor wants to learn a bunch of commands. That's where I think possible converts to Linux jump out of the water and back to the "happy" world of Windows. Well, that and elitists. - carini812, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4GUIs are constantly changing and have this nasty tendency to either crash or display incorrect information. If you absolutely, positively need to get something accomplished, no questions asked...the command line / shell / terminal is the way to get it done.
- lbsources, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Wow ... i always thought i was alone with this feeling :)
Great site BT! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I'm actually a bit startled that there would be that many people who use Linux but don't know anything about the shell. Seriously, do people actually install Linux but not have any idea what the console is for?
*head scratches* - Falcorian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Didn't this get posted a month ago?
- cocozz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Fine, we hace to help those Ubuntu newcomers ;-)
- grungyhamster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That's fine until you have to modify your .bash_profile and need the changes to take effect, but they won't due to x not logging out and logging back in except for at reboot. I would suggest just making changes to .bashrc but this is for some crazy reason that it has to be in .bash_profile.
Or just change to a virual console (correct term? the ctrl+alt+Fn where n being 1-8?). - NotASenator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This is good stuff.
I like refreshers and I know there's at least a few people I know who just stare blankly at me when I mention command line stuff. - digitalblue1313, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I was about to complain about another link to a command tutorial, but this one is very straightforward and well organized. Thanks for the link.
- sailor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"That's fine until you have to modify your .bash_profile and need the changes to take effect"
I believe you can use the command "source" to do that
source bashrc - ThePikey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3From the Article = "Computers were supposed to free us from manual labor... You ended up doing the work by tediously working the mouse. Pointing and clicking, pointing and clicking"
Oh the horrors of "manual" labor! That whole mouse invention was such a step back in computing.
Nice site though, I'm a *Nix noob, so I'm gettting a lot more from it than you super geeks. :) - grungyhamster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I love this site. This and Learning the Bash Shell taught me a lot about utilizing, well, the bash shell.
- pixelbeat_, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If you want to do something specific, or want to see something a little more advanced, see:
http://www.pixelbeat.org/cmdline.html - Marinor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You know there are a lot of useful things in command line that are faster than you can do in GUI. I use both a lot.
When configuring servers I prefer to use command over GUI, the GUI just gets in the way but on my personal computer i use GUI because I'm to lazy to type a whole bunch of crap out. - bdbr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If you like unix commands but have Windows, many of the utilities have been ported (and you don't need to use the Cygwin shell): http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/. I've been using these for a couple of years. You can do a lot of the piping and such that works so well in unix/linux.
- doolittle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Cygwin is great if you are working with *nix servers, all your tools and services like ssh, cron, rsync, Xorg - are all there on your windows bash shell - it is difficult to live without once you get used to GNU on windows.
I read that you can install something similiar from MS but have never tried it. - edmicman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Thanks for the info. I can see it being useful for scripting (though it seems a graphical text editor would be just as good), but I honestly don't know how much scripting I would do. No need for it now, I don't mass rename groups of files, and everything is organized how I want it. I am planning on making the switch one of these days (at least on a test pc) and maybe then I'll see the light even more!
- awoodhouse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3no - the problem with GUIs is they force you to work the way the developer intended
- bdbr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"what is it you're doing on a regular basis in the CLI?"
It is really best for text handling. For example, if you have a list of files and portion of the filename is something meaningful, you can easily cut out the rest with a single command. With a GUI editor, I'd have to do that one line at a time. - ArcticRain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That's the whole point of the CLI, common repetitive tasks are easy to wrap up in a script to automate. That script can then be added to your login script or be made a cron job so that you NEVER have to do it manually. It just gets done.
The best example I can think of for using the CLI is the renaming of files to a common name format (so that you can use yet another script to randomly select one of those files for playback for a nightly fix of Family Guy or Seinfeld). Using a script you can rename these files (on the order of 25 or so for a season) in less then a minute. My wrists just ache at the thought of renaming these files with a GUI, and I know it can't be done in less then a minute using that method. - Julikaefer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3A GUI may be more natural and easier to lern so it's certainly better for beginners. But decades of GUI development haven't yet managed to make GUI usage faster and more efficient than console usage for powerusers. So if you don't care about fancyness and are willing to invest some time in learning you can have most stuff done much faster using the shell than with any GUI applications.
- jdstorer2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah, something like that would take a halfway decent programmer about 15 minutes. LOL
- pauldonnelly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@Hass and Jaderobbins et al.
So how do you two (and anyone else who's come to the CLI from the GUI) feel about the command line now? I'm a command line junkie, having grown up on DOS and moved to Linux, and I'm wondering if others are loving it or just tolerating it. - KageKonjou, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Wow. That site is very thorough as a crashcourse beginner's introduction. VERY impressive. Good digg!
- scards, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Absolutely perfect splash page there. I've been looking for a site like this for a while.
Great way to learn the shell - covers every basic need. - doolittle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@edmicman - if you support devices like *nix servers or other networking devices you can automate redundant tasks, which alone can save time and money if you are on the job or at home it can be convenient.
one example - you have more than one PC (like a desktop, laptop, kids pc, wife's pc, etc) and you want to have a centralized place to do backups I use the cygwin cron job to backup to a linux server. - xotx69, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Great site! Very well organized.
- jeolmeun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"The sbin directories contain programs for system administration, mostly for use by the superuser." - http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/linuxcommand.org/lts0040.php
Now I get it. For some reason I thought it mean secure bin. - bdbr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yes, I still have the bookmark for it. So I have testimonial that it has been useful for at least one of us!
- grungyhamster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"I believe you can use the command "source" to do that
source bashrc"
That works, but for me I just find it easier to close the current terminal window and open another one up and the same thing happens. Although . .bashrc (or . .bash_profile, I just got tired of doing that every time I opened a new terminal window) does indeed have it's uses. - mamluk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2cygwin rocks. In fact, I used to think that I really needed and prefered linux over windows, but once I started using cygwin, I found I usually pretty happy booting into windows and a cygwin terminal.
Cygwin has a pretty good collection of the standard *nix CLI utilities and programming languages for Windows and is a great way for people to learn more about the *nix approach to handling data without having to install linux or ssh into a unix box. And it's faster than a LiveCD. Check it out at http://www.cygwin.com/ - tokyo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i had just found this the other day, definately worth the digg. im a new Ubuntu user, so this helped me tremendously in getting familiar with the bash shell. it's worth the read.
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