On 02/16/2013 09:01 PM, Simon Wise wrote:
On 17/02/13 14:23, Chris Bannister wrote:
On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 06:04:24PM -1000, david
wrote:
On 02/16/2013 05:10 PM, Chris Bannister wrote:
Of course, if you were running a truly minimum
desktop, you don't even
need synaptic because apt-get is installed anyway.
I find synaptic a much-easier way to manage packages than the
cryptic command lines of apt-get or dpkg. For instance, I can easily
see what a particular package recommends and decide if I want to
also include one or more the recommendations.
That what "apt-cache policy<pkgname>", and "apt-cache
show<pkgname>"
are for. I don't see how you can call the command lines crptic!
It's really about if you prefer mousing around in menus or typing a few
words. Either way it is easy to get the information you need, and make
the choices you want.
After finding out the words to type I prefer the typing, or if in a gui
then I prefer to find out the keyboard shortcuts (either of these means
learning something rather than searching each time, but layers of tabs
and menus will seem just as cryptic if they are unfamiliar)
I like keyboard shortcuts. My employer uses Windows XP. I've been known
to work almost all day without touching the mouse even once ... The
problem with CLI's is finding out the words to type ... GUI menus at
least give you some guidance when looking for the words.
One thing I noticed just a few days ago while updating my wife's netbook
(it runs Ubuntu 12.04LTS). I mistyped a CLI command, and Ubuntu
obligingly came up with a list of suggestions for what I was looking for.
... words are just my preferred way of working, they
seem less cryptic
to me.
Oh, I do business using words. And graphics. And sound. But remembering
specific words to the degree of detail needed by many command line apps
(how many people even remember all of mplayer's command line options,
let alone their suboptions?) Especially when it's not something I do
that often.
--
David
gnome(a)hawaii.rr.com
authenticity, honesty, community
http://clanjones.org/david/
http://dancing-treefrog.deviantart.com/