Friendly African Ground Squirrel

[Wookiee]

I don't understand your post.

CLI = command line interface. Think of the old days before Windows when people used MS-DOS. It's a lot more powerful generally, but it's also got a steep learning curve. Sorry if I'm not being clear.

Using a command line interface can be more convenient as it loads quickly, and you can use Tab to auto-complete commands (rather than moving your mouse pointer everywhere). It also lets you login quickly as root (admin) rather than unlocking the keychain every time.

If you're looking at a website for software to install (e.g. Flash, VLC, etc.) they'll usually have the commands (e.g. "sudo apt-get install vlc") that you can just copy and paste into a terminal and it's way quicker than manually searching the Software Center.

But as skalle pointed out, the average user can use Ubuntu the whole time without touching the CLI, which is less intimidating for many people.

 

[skalle]

I grew up on MS-DOS, so there's some nostalgia in changing my terminal's color scheme to monochrome green once in awhile.

 

[Wookiee]

I grew up on MS-DOS, so there's some nostalgia in changing my terminal's color scheme to monochrome green once in awhile.

Windows 3.11 for me. That said, I have also had a C64 my whole life, but I never really stuffed around with it beyond loading cartridges.

 

[skalle]

My dad had an old TI-99/4A. I cut my teeth on programming BASIC on that machine. I used the MS-DOS machine a lot more, though. An AT&T PC6300 with an 8086 processor and 640KB RAM. It was pretty awesome for its time -- WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3! My next machine had an 80386 processor and Win3.11, like you. What a change that was. Half of my software still ran in DOS, though. Long story short, GUIs are for sissies.*

*Don't take that too seriously... since, you know, I happen to be posting from a graphical browser and all...

 

[Dave-W]

CLI = command line interface.

That is as opposed to CPM and DOS use of the WIMP system interface: Windows, Icons, Mice, Pull-downs.

 

[skalle]

That is as opposed to the W*I*M*P* system interface: Windows, Icons, Mice, Pull-downs.

Bwahahaha, I love it. Too bad I can't post to this site from lynx...

 

[Dave-W]

Bwahahaha, I love it. Too bad I can't post to this site from lynx...

Yeah - had to be a hard-boiled CPM or DOS user that coined that one.

 

[skalle]

Yeah - had to be a hard-boiled CPM or DOS user that coined that one.

You get brownie points in my book for even knowing what CP/M is.

 

[Dave-W]

LOL! Thanks.

My first Intel-architecture (PC-XT clone) came with a CP/M - 16 disk.
And yes - I know where DOS originally came from.

You familiar with PC-MOS?
Or DR DOS?

 

[Dave-W]

DEFINITION:

Windows 95:
32 bit extensions and graphic interface for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded on a 4 bit machine by a 2 bit company that cannot stand for 1 bit of competition.

 

[skalle]

I know of those OSes, but I never used them personally. I played with CP/M on a friend's computer when I was a kid. Unfortunately, I have no idea anymore what kind of machine it was. My aunt gave me the AT&T IBM clone I described above when I was a kid. She was an assembly and C programmer at the time, but she didn't leave any editors or compilers on the machine, unfortunately. I think I if I dig hard enough, I might be able to find the old documentation that came with the machine, though the machine itself unfortunately cooked itself one summer afternoon and that was the end of that... I'd love to find an old computer in good shape to play with, even if it is, by modern standards, "useless."

 

[mnorian]

I know of those OSes, but I never used them personally. I played with CP/M on a friend's computer when I was a kid. Unfortunately, I have no idea anymore what kind of machine it was. My aunt gave me the AT&T IBM clone I described above when I was a kid. She was an assembly and C programmer at the time, but she didn't leave any editors or compilers on the machine, unfortunately. I think I if I dig hard enough, I might be able to find the old documentation that came with the machine, though the machine itself unfortunately cooked itself one summer afternoon and that was the end of that... I'd love to find an old computer in good shape to play with, even if it is, by modern standards, "useless."

After getting used to Win 3.11 and having to still use DOS for half the programs in my IBM Aptiva and they would crash; it was said to "fall into the black hole of PC DOS."

 

[Dave-W]

I know of those OSes, but I never used them personally.

I never got to play with PC-MOS unfortunately. It was a "multi-operating system;" meaning that it ran multiple sessions of a DOS clone on the same real machine. For instance, it could run up to 6 (if there was enough memory) virtual 386 computers on a 486 or first generation Pentium machine. It could even "re-boot" one of the virtual machines without disturbing the others at all.

I did get a chance to look at DR DOS from Digital Research company. They were the company that made CP/M. It was a very good MS DOS clone. (talk about full circle!) According to the wiki, DR-DOS was targeted by Micro Soft by including code in WIN 3.1 and other programs that detected DR-DOS and would intentionally crash the computer.