So just to be clear I went with a very lazy move to linux from windows. I was not looking to use my day to day in a unixy type way and wanted something that I can install and go without much muss or fuss. So I went with zorin and yeah I have dropped to the command line for some apt installs or such but bascially it was only as needed. Very minimal. Anyway today Im messing with folders and files and suddenly it hit me. Im on linux I can do a lot of this easier with the command line. I know its stupid but my day to day sorta has a mouse brain guie mode and I sorta forget how much easier it is to do some stuff using syntax. So going forward im going to be bringing up the command line to do the things that are quicker.

EDITED - guys I have used command line for years. before there even was a gui. Im trying to say I grew out of the habit but using linux at home is getting me back into it.

  • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
    4·
    23 hours ago

    Oh, right now I’m sure that it is way easier to use the mouse, because most people have been practicing using the mouse and a GUI for years and years. Once you’ve had practice with the terminal and autocomplete you can do most tasks fast far quicker.

    Staring at this browser, see how long it would take you to grab your mouse, click the file explorer, navigate to /etc/, and then locate and open the fstab file (there are over 100 files and directories in this directory). 10 seconds? 15?

    I’m using a terminal called yakuake and it’s bound to F12. So if I press F12, a terminal window slides down in the top middle of my screen. It’s always on top as long as it is visible so nothing can take focus away. To do the same task I press: F12, type “cat /et” <tab key>“fs”<tab key> <enter key>. If I wanted to edit it, I’d type nvim instead of cat. If I wanted to copy it somewhere I’d type cp instead of cat and then press, at the end of the previous command: “./pro”<tab key>.

    If it’s a command that I’ve typed before, I can press CTRL+R in the terminal and it will open a search of my terminal command history. I can start typing part of the command and the search results will show me the top 25 commands that (fuzzy) matches what I’ve typed, I can press up and down to select the command I’m after, enter to put it into the command line.

    Once you’re in the mindset of thinking about problems from a terminal point of view there are a lot of useful applications. If you’d rather move files in a GUI-like experience (a TUI) you can use nnn, a TUI file manager. Still have to use a mouse to change music? Run mpd and ncmpcpp. nvim gives you a text editor, tmux the ability to open multiple terminal sessions inside of the terminal.

    Much like switching to Linux from Windows, it takes a bit of learning initially but that little bit of learning will pay dividends.