We’ve all heard it before: People claiming Linux isn’t a viable alternative cause you can’t run it without using the command line.
I decided to test that. Now there are several distros aimed at new users that have preinstalled GUI tools so you don’t have to touch the Terminal. But I wanted to see if that’s also possible on a distro not specifically aimed at fresh converts. The oldest distro with a large userbase, which a lot of people consider to be a “standard” Linux, is Debian, so default Debian with Gnome is what I’ll use.
I consider “running an OS” to at least include booting it with full disk encryption, starting applications, connecting to a network, browsing the web, file management, installing updates and new software (both from the repos and third party sources), installing necessary drivers, setting up printing and scanning, and adjusting the looks and behaviour of the user interface.
So generally anything you’d be able to do on Windows without opening Powershell, CMD, Regedit or a text editor.
I guess I’m telling you nothing new when I say that you can install, boot, launch apps and browse the web on Debian without the command line.
It comes with a pre-installed software center, printer and scanner setup works out of the box from Gnome’s settings.
Here’s where it gets a little trickier: Scrolling on Firefox is rough, cause the preinstalled old version doesn’t have Wayland support enabled. So you either have to enable Wayland support or install the Flatpak version of Firefox.
To enable Wayland, you have to write MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 into /etc/environment. But the file manager doesn’t let you edit system files without starting it as root from the command line. To add an “edit as admin” entry to the context menu in Nautilus, you need the nautilus-admin package which isn’t available in the software center. It can be installed with Synaptic, a pre-installed GUI frontend for apt. But you still need to edit a system text file, which goes against the spirit of this challenge.
The other option requires enabling Flatpak for the Software Center. You can do that by installing gnome-software-plugin-flatpak using synaptic, then heading over to https://flathub.org/setup/Debian to download the flathub repo file which can be installed with a double-click and a reboot.
Note: Beginner-friendly distros ship with a newer Firefox version and Flatpak support out of the box.
To install any compatible binary on your system (like the Universal Android Debloater, for example), just copy it to any place you like. Install the menu editor alacarte and use it to add a menu entry for the file. Now you can launch it from within Gnome by clicking on its icon or using the global search.
Another issue is that during the boot process, you’re already presented with the command line running boot messages by you, and the password prompt for the disk decryption is also on the command line. Also, the 5 second Grub countdown is kind of annoying. To make this prettier, we need to install grub-customizer, launch it, set the grub countdown to 0 and add the word splash at the end of your kernel parameters in the settings. This activates the “boot-prettifier” plymouth which is pre-installed but not activated by default. Again, pushing the boundaries of this challenge.
Note: Beginner-friendly distros come with pretty plymouth boot enabled by default.
To enable the non-free nvidia Driver, you need to enable non-free software during the GUI installation or in the Software Center settings, then install nvidia-driver from Synaptic, and reboot.
Note: Beginner-friendly distros come with a one-click NVidia driver install
To install Steam from the Debian repos, you’d need to enable Multi-Arch first, which isn’t possible without the command line. Using the Flatpak version is your other option.
Note: Some beginner-friendly distros handle this for you as soon as you install a package that depends on multi-arch
tl/dr: It’s possible to run and administer Debian for standard tasks without touching the command line. It’s just generally faster to use the terminal if you know what you’re doing.
Distros like Ubuntu, Mint, Zorin or Pop!_OS (possibly also Manjaro which I have no experience with) remove the remaining roadblocks. The only time you’ll always need the command line is to fix issues you have with help from other users, because it’s much, much easier to just post the right terminal commands online than to guide you through whichever GUI you might be using.
Anyone who’s ever followed a Windows troubleshooting guide knows what I’m talking about.
I use Mint and have yet to use the command line. I browse the web and play games on steam. All of this works right out of the box.
Totally agree…
I’ve been using mint for the last 4 years, and while I have had to use the command line for some obscure installs, it also works as an OS without needing to use it (i jumped in at the deep end and installed it in a pc I got from my brother and used it as my everyday OS)
I don’t understand why Mint isn’t the first suggestion for Linux ‘virgins’ switching over from Windows etc, it has everything you need pre installed plus the download manager for anything else
Linux has a flavour for everyone, and after a while when you’re confidence and skills grow there is the fun of using the command line and a bit of tinkering…or not, if you are happy with the ‘basics’
Exactly, it entirely depends on how you want to use your computer. If you install Mint because you just want a privacy respecting OS that supports your hardware? Then there’s no need to touch the CLI. You can experiment and try out the CLI at your own pace (if you want). I honestly cannot fathom the “if you don’t want to use the CLI you shouldn’t be using Linux” attitude that many of the responders here have. Isn’t the ultimate freedom of open source is to use the hardware how you would like to use it? So what if you spend 20 years on Linux and never touch the CLI?
Yes, absolutely. But I also wouldn’t want to. GUI tools have their issues sometimes. The command line is basically raw compute power.
Debian is great for servers, not for desktop novices. Use a state of the art desktop OS like fedora (atomic) and you won’t face a lot of those issues.
Yes, linux “has a problem” with nvidia but we should blame nvidia, not linux.
Is it possible to do work in a shed without using a drill?
It is good of you to do this work and post your findings, so no offense intended, but this command line meme is better off not being spread. The terminal is a tool and should be used when it’s needed. Time spent worrying about this is time that could be spent making it easier to understand.
I was introduced to the terminal by a friend so I don’t know of a good starting tutorial for newbies. I wasn’t interested until I saw you could use the output of one command as the input of another command using a “pipe”, the | character on the keyboard.
You are right that the terminal is a really useful tool. But for the average user, the terminal is intimidating.
No other OS works like Linux in term of UX. You can use iOS or Windows without a command line all your life.
As this post describe, it is next to impossible with a Linux Distro.
For the people that want Linux to be mainstream, this is an important hurdle to go over.
I know that Windows sometimes shit the bed where you need to edit a register or use PowerShell, but for the vast majority of people, it won’t be needed ever in their life.
This is not true, specially with atomic distros. You can get away with doing everything via GUI. I love my terminal, I can shave off hours of GUI with a few commands, but my kids and wife are also Linux users exclusively, and none of them have ever touched the terminal (yet).
I once saw an adult struggle to navigate the cursor to a button. It’s a trivial task… to most people - so that’s only true when you know how.
The terminal is not innately intimidating, it’s just new - it’s not something that they were taught in school. That’s where the hurdle actually is.
Interresting list, thanks.
Regarding the Firefox Wayland variable, it should be possible to add the line in ~/.profile instand. And that file can simple be opend by showing hidden files in the file manager of choice.
Yes.
“GUI makes easy tasks easier, CLI makes hard tasks possible”. I’m a Debian user and lately I haven’t been touching terminal at all, unless it’s an inherently terminal task like programing. My only complaint now is that when I did an grub update my config file got reverted to the defaults. All of a sudden I couldn’t boot to Windows from grub because os-prober got dissabled (I’m dualbooting). Fixing that is not hard, as you only have to uncomment one line in the config, but it’s annoying that it happend.
I paid for a keyboard, I’m going to use a keyboard!
Yes.
Anyone who says differently is confusing “necessity” with “efficiency”.
When I first started in Linux I rarely used the command line at all. But as time went on and I became more familiar, I found that there were some things that were simply faster to do in the command line.
I can’t think of a single “everyday regular user task” than needs the command line, tbh.
You more succinctly, and respectfully, stated my thoughts than I did in my post :)
I think one of the issues, why there terminal is seen as necessity is, that there are almost no tutorials that refer to the gui. So if you’re a newbie and try to find out how something works like adding a third party repo to your package manager or making an install script executable, all you get is a command. You don’t get a “add this address to the list in the settings menu of your package manager, which you can find here”, for example.
Kind of, but why? I understand why the CLI is intimidating to a newbie but it’s not some arcane magic for leet haxxorz, but a poweful tool that everyone can learn to use. We Linux users weren’t born knowing how to use it just like a Windows user wasn’t born knowing how to use Control Panel. It’s a different way of working with a computer, but with patience and learning it will become a useful asset, I can’t imagine using a computer without it now.
It’s not intimidating it is a archaic unneeded hindrance.
Don’t get me wrong I don’t mind CLI for advanced users and advanced niche technical stuff.
But when an average non technical user needs to open CLI to install the OS, applications, or drivers for standard computing uses. That is a complete failure of the OS in a desktop environment.
None of the three things you listed need the CLI, except for a couple of distros. Most distros can use the GUI for those.
Just out of curiosity, are you on Windows? If yes, I get why you’d think the CLI is archaic and a hindrance, it’s a terrible experience there. Whole other story on Linux and Mac though. As one example I personally think “sudo apt install name-of-program” is just a more straightforward and easier experience than browsing an app store or downloading an installer. I don’t mean to be an evangelist, it’s fine to stick to what works for you, but just because you’re used to one way of doing things doesn’t mean it’s the only good way.
You missed the point, expecting a non technical casual user to type in a bunch of commands that are completely foreign to them. And they don’t understand, is a failure of the OS. Full stop.
“As one example I personally think “sudo apt install name-of-program” is just a more straightforward and easier experience than browsing an app store or downloading an installer.”
Spoken like a true techie cultist that doesn’t comprehend how a typical casual user thinks.
Users think the way they do because of what they’ve gotten used to in decades of Windows or Mac usage. Commands don’t HAVE to be foreign, I genuinely think people starting out with computers would be perfectly capable of learning the basics just like they learn what a file explorer or a web browser is. Someone advanced enough to install a different OS in the first place would especially benefit from this. We’re fighting over nothing anyway, you can use many modern Linux distros without ever touching the CLI.
Also, massive cringe discarding someone with a different opinion as a “tech cultist”.
It’s just generally faster to use the terminal if you know what you’re doing.
It’s also true for other distros. Not because they have poor GUI tools but because CLI is faster than GUI if you know what you are doing.
I think it’s perfectly possible to use Mint, Ubuntu, or Fedora without the terminal. But a lot of online tutorials are like, “Just run this command.” because it’s faster.
I’m an experienced terminal user but I know with my Steam Deck, I barely ever use it. Really the only time is when I want to update packages quicker than using the GUI tool. But you could successfully use a Steam Deck without ever launching into Desktop mode, much less opening a terminal.
The command-line is not just faster, it is also much more universal.
You and I may use different distros and different desktop environments. If you want to create instructions that tell us how to do something using the GUI, there is an excellent chance you need different instructions for each of us. If you instead give us CLI instructions, there is an excellent chance that the same instructions will work for both of us.
I run mint on my “home entertainment center”. Just an old laptop with a wireless mouse and keyboard.
Granted I don’t use it for much, but once I had mint on it, I’ve only used the desktop environment. Mostly because I’m leaning back in a slothful, shameful lump, and this is not conducive to typing. So I spend way too long pecking at things with the mouse.
Pain in the ass? Yes.
Way more tedious and time consuming? Yes
Possible? Also yes
If you’re not going to be tinkering, and all you want is your computer to work, absolutely.
Does Android count?
Meanwhile, in Plasma:
