Why Linux tech-support articles use terminal commands instead of the GUI

[liam_on_linux]

I do it myself. I wrote some get-started-with-Linux articles for the Register a while ago and got panned for that in the comments.

There are good reasons, though. It's just that all the n00bs and Windows lusers are scared of text, they want point-and-drool. ;-)

The things are these:

* with text, you can copy & paste - you can't do that with

Comments

[vexen]

But let it also be known that some of us Windows addicts appreciate the high utility of CLIs.

[liam_on_linux]

:-)

How do you like PowerShell? Tried 3 yet?

[vexen]

I don't use/need things like PowerShell; I churn out temporary little programs to do 'stuff' at the drop of a hat. And you seriously don't want to know what my default platform is!

[liam_on_linux]

DOS batch files? QBASIC?

[baljemmett]

Whilst I agree with your point, this bit raised an eyebrow:

text is exact & unambiguous. Didn't work? You typed it wrong.

... alternatively somebody along the line didn't proofread properly and something crucial got clobbered. For instance, I've lost count of the number of times I've seen command lines and code excerpts reduced to nonsense because somebody forgot to escape a < when they crafted their HTML.

[liam_on_linux]

Fair point, well made - but easily fixed in these online days.

[pne]

Or double hyphens turned in en dashes or em dashes. “command -option=value” is not going to work.

Or, for that matter, ASCII quotes turned into “smart ones”. touch “file name with spaces in it” is going to create six files, not one.

[bryangb]

"got panned for that in the comments."

As I suspect you well know, Reg (and Inq, and...) articles are all about traffic - so if you're writing comment or flame fodder, you're doing a good job. (-:

[liam_on_linux]

True, I guess. Lots of comments saying it's all bollocks still means lots of readers!

[bryangb]

I guess it's best if there's also some "Hear hear" type comments - otherwise every-bloody-thing would be Mac-Windows flamefests.

[liam_on_linux]

Oh, I get a few of those, too.

& I was much touched by the concern shown by the staffers the first time I got a load as well. "Don't read them," "there's a reason we call them commentards" and so on - very solicitous. :¬D

[vexen]

These are very well put comments, vicarage and I'd wish I'd had the clarity to say the same. Although 'cos I'm a natural contrarian... I'm going to make a counter-point to your awesome comment:

"Your problem is your professional job is dealing with people in their private mode."

... if everyone took simple things home with them, like, consider everything case-sensitive then it would improve their lives in general and not just in the IT world. I am sure that CLI activity is good for the general working of the brain. So perhaps, people ought to be taking some of the OPs lessons home with them.

[lovingboth]

While I agree with Liam, it would help if *ix were not so keen on the 'you asked for it, you got it' approach to CLI commands which make it so easy to destroy data.

Mind you, it annoys me when several imagemagick commands don't do what you want unless you add the 'Yes, command to shrink an image, I really want you to shrink that image' switch to the command.