LINUX Desktops are fine. What about the Command Line?

[fopetesl]

Hi, all. Just to get a feel & maybe where to pose the hard question ..
I'm still a Newb with LINUX but have tried most of the (Live) distros recently and desktops generally perform well with removable devices, especially USB sticks, etc.

However, when it comes to the command line none of the distros respond to USB devices automatically. The same situation from several years ago.

I eventually settled on automount which works sort-of OK, though it is necessary to explicitly specify the directory where the USB device is mounted. Neither ls nor mc find it without help.
Not only that but automount gets its knickers in a twist if you happen to remove the device on the 30 second refresh boundary with a spew of error messages.

It's a similar situation with USB printers. I have to use beh to refresh printer availability. Without it any access to a non connected/powered printer turns off access permanently.

O.K. sounds like a lot of moaning but my question is why, when all the improvements have been made with GUIs, little effort has been made to improve the command line situation? After all there are situations where a GUI is not needed or wanted.

A last thought: I would dearly like to dump Micro$oft Windoze but am still in a cleft stick where some of my tools just won't work with WINE, etc. (and note USB devices are recognised from the XP command line).

And if this isn't a topic for here, where do you suggest I put it? (No rude answers, please )

[Dies]

Seems like pointless bloat, maybe just me, but if you are comfortable in a CLI environment then mounting anything yourself should not be an issue.

[schwim]

Seems like pointless bloat, maybe just me, but if you are comfortable in a CLI environment then mounting anything yourself should not be an issue.

I don't want to rock the boat, but I wouldn't listen to this guy. He's got a bad name on other boards.

All kidding aside, he's right(this time). CLI development doesn't cater to someone that needs things done automatically. Think of the devs as the old guys that yell "Back when I was a kid, we carved our USB sticks by hand and them mounted them using hieroglyphics, and we liked it! We loved it."

thanks,
json

[Dies]

<-- busy filing for "cyber" restraining order....

[schwim]

Personally, I won't begin to worry until you show up at my "left-handed middle-age transvestites that own shih tzus" community.

thanks,
json

[fopetesl]

I didn't want to start WWIII. Honestly

But if you thinks it's OK to have to mount/unmount/restart, try being in three terminals with, say, editors running and wanting to print and/or copy and the printer isn't 'ready' and USB stick isn't mounted.

automount mounts the USB devices automagically but it certainly doesn't unmount them automagically.

And what you seem to be suggesting is the CLI stays in the stone age?

Maybe I should go find a lump hammer and chisel.

[techieMoe]

And what you seem to be suggesting is the CLI stays in the stone age?

You seem to be suggesting that it's in the stone age because it can't do something that is generally associated with the GUI anyway. The Linux command line is made for people who want to do everything manually. For most people, it performs quite admirably.

There's nothing stopping you from coming up with a tool that automounts/unmounts your USB drives for you, but I think the point some folks are trying to get across is that you're an exceptional case. Most people neither want nor expect their devices to automatically be mounted/umounted while they're in a command-line UNIX environment. Thus, no utility has yet been created.

[Dies]

I didn't want to start WWIII.

Not sure what you mean by that

The back and forth between schwim and myself was playful, as evidenced by the included smilies.

<--

And what you seem to be suggesting is the CLI stays in the stone age?

Maybe I should go find a lump hammer and chisel.

I guess so ? I mean, you seem to want the CLI to become just a really ugly GUI ?

But hey, if this is something you want / need then you're free to come up with something and share with others. Our opinions shouldn't really matter in that case.

[Mel Thompson]

I'm now in the intermediate course of that online Linux training at linux.org.

I used to come on these forums griping a lot, but I have to admit that the desktop versions have improved so much, and so much has been done on the multimedia front that I'm kind of chilling out from my formerly acerbic tone.

But anyway, I went and learned line commands, which I swore I never would, just because I really needed them to get over certain hurdles to get my desktop to work. But I was only doing it because I love Linux and so it became a necessity.

But, in the end, I have to admit that the solid newer desktops won me over. I keep studying a bit here and there, just to keep one foot in that world, just in case the need ever comes up, and because, interlaced between all the line-command lessons are all kinds of practical advice the author learned about desktop stuff.

And the author, a true command line kind of guy, the kind who opens up sound mixers in the terminal, (that was a fun thing to do, by the way), admits that more and more of the former line command functions, for even security stuff, is going GUI. Not sure what to make of it, but I've been spending many happy days on many Linux distros.

Mostly pass my Linux time over at Distro Watch, seeing who's up and who's down, and trying any new distros that look quirky or interesting or any major upgrades of current distros.

Mel C. Thompson, Eternal Newbie.