Linux without a terminal. Possible?

[DarkPenquin]

What do you think.. is it possible to create a Linux distro that does not have a terminal? ( or at least keep it locked off so users cannot get at it, except perhaps only in emergencies or in such a way where they would not have to rely on terminal commands so much?)

What I'm asking is are we at the point where there are so much gui functionality covering all major aspects of using the desktop where one does not really ever need to use the terminal.. if not.. what gui functionality would need to be added to make this happen?

I'd like to create such a distro for testing to see how useable it can be.

[daark.child]

To be frank, these days you can get away without using a terminal or command line. For example in Fedora, you can administer most parts of the system using GUI tools. Same for the likes of Mandriva, Mageia and SUSE. Using the CLI on desktop systems is more like a personal preference these days. For sysadmin purposes though, I think the CLI is still essential.

[rokytnji]

One can pretty much install or un-install any terminal in Linux. Like me. I like using evilvte or roxterm or lxterm to name a few besides urxvt or mxrvt . Installing or un-installing terminals are a breeze as the applications are small (KB) in size.

You can use your GUI package manager in your distro to un-install whatever terminal you wish to get rid of.

[Rubberman]

A text-only console version of Linux is possible. You can also run a headless installation, though you will need either a network or serial terminal connection to install it initially. Subsequently, you can telnet or ssh into the system for maintenance needs. Example: I have a Linux embedded system development board with no output except an RS-232 serial port, which I connect with using my Linux workstation and the minicom terminal emulator.

[DarkPenquin]

The thing is, more and more people don't want to learn Bash and the idea of missing some functionality that they can only have in Bash turns them off. They want it all, but don't want to have to use a command line to get it. I remember back in 2004 there was a GUI bash shell interface that let your command the shell via point and click with very little having to type or even learn shell commands. It had all the commands listed with their purposes and you hit a combo of buttons to input and execute the command. I guess you could call it a bash front end, but I only saw it for a brief time, forgot the name and forgot about it till recently. Something like that could be bundled into an OS instead of a CLI type terminal. If anyone knows what app I'm referring to, please tell me.

[MASONTX]

I seldom use the terminal, but in an Android netbook I bought there was no terminal, and it was very limiting. I added a terminal app, which only partly does the job because most commands are locked off from the user. It seems the developer gave only limited permissions to the end user, even commands to list the devices, drivers, or attached usb devices are "denied, you do not have permission". Apt-get, aptitude, and most of the common commands you might need are locked off or not recognized. I may not use a terminal much, but when you need one to trouble shoot, you sure miss it. If android provided better tools for managing wireless, updating the linux kernal, or adding non-android apps, maybe I wouldn't need it, but they don't. If something doesn't work, and the android app that manages it isn't fixing the problem, you have no way to find out what the problem is or to fix it yourself. I vote to keep the terminal in any distro, after all, you don't have to use it if you don't want to.