Death of the true Command Line

Cossins · Posted: Sun May 04, 2003 3:46 pm Post subject: Death of the true Command Line

Hi there,
I was just wondering: Would it be possible to configure a Linux system to be completely without a command line? I don't mean to ban the command line totally, just hiding it the way MacOS X does it, bringing users directly into X as soon as they've selected Linux from the Grub-menu... Or maybe just putting some fancy background onto the black virtual terminal for power users to see what goes on.

I must admit I adore the command line, and the primary reason why I switched completely to Linux was because of the power of the command line (and the coolness

). But I am beginning to think that a black screen with some white signs on it is becoming quite worn-out, comparing Linux to other major OS's.

Also, most new (new!) users nearly panic every time they are not greeted with a GUI - maybe making it all look nicer would attract more users and stuff...

- Simon

handsomepete · Posted: Sun May 04, 2003 4:19 pm Post subject:

Search the forums for the (incredible and informative) bootsplash howto and (if you're feeling lucky) progress patch (particularily this thread from the maintainer (?) for info and links at the bottom of the post). Then use the desktop user guide to setup your desktop and to boot directly to gdm/kdm/xdm and you should be pretty much console and boot text free. I just played with Mandrake 9.1 and they do something like this by default (and it looks pretty nice).

Another easy trick is to redirect console boot output to somewhere else (adding something like console=ttyS1 CONSOLE=ttyS1 to the end of your boot line will do the trick). Then you just get whatever framebuffer pic you compiled into the kernel (if any) and no text until the system is up.

frippz · Guru Joined: 22 Aug 2002 Posts: 460 Location: Sweden

It would look cool with a bootsplash with a progressbar. I myself use a "standard" bootsplash with the text rolling on inside a square (yeah, you get the idea). I even think I'd like to have one just for the looks, but at the same time I like looking at the bootprocess, making sure everything starts up ok.

masseya · Posted: Sun May 04, 2003 6:42 pm Post subject:

There are many ways to hide the commandline in linux. The bootsplash tips are all really good. However, the only way that a new (new!) user is going to master linux is by having a decent understanding of the commandline. I believe the only way to do this is by simply jumping in headfirst. Just my two cents. I use KDE so that when other people have to use my computer for something they will be able to manage without my help.
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gsfgf · Veteran Joined: 08 May 2002 Posts: 1266

dennis · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 06 Jun 2002 Posts: 84

it's funny i had a party at my house and i left my fluxbox computer running ...
without me having to explain anything they mastered to start gaim, surf the net and so on. and all that drunk ...

after a while, someone asked me, why my computer looks so weird, and why it has two monitors (xinerama) ... that however they couldn't understand right away

frippz · Guru Joined: 22 Aug 2002 Posts: 460 Location: Sweden

I just love that practically no one of my friends knows squat about Linux. When I'm having a party I just hide XMMS on another desktop and remove the desktop switcher. Then nobody can mess up my perfect play list!

It's even more fun watching those poor bastard trying to figure out where the hell the Start button went! :mrgreen:

"Hey! What kind of weird Windows are you running...?"

guero61 · l33t Joined: 14 Oct 2002 Posts: 811 Location: Behind you

I have a professor (huge proponent of Macs and OS9) that wants to eradicate any CLI at all. Ever. Says the CLI sucks and that everything can be done the same or better and faster in a GUI.

handsomepete · Posted: Sun May 04, 2003 10:27 pm Post subject:

Weird. I'm pretty sure typing 'df' in a console is the fastest way for me to see how much free space I have on all of my partitions... but we've all got our hangups (yes, I realize it was your professor saying it, not you

). I don't really like using a mouse, for instance, but I enjoy having a nice looking desktop to use. *shrug*

Ellidi · Posted: Mon May 05, 2003 12:10 am Post subject:

Ellidi · Posted: Mon May 05, 2003 12:13 am Post subject:

And there actually is a command-line in MacOs9..
press the ctrl(the museum sign next to the space bar on left)+The-weird-power-button-on-the-keyboard.
Fun to mess around with :)
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gsfgf · Veteran Joined: 08 May 2002 Posts: 1266

drbobguy · Posted: Mon May 05, 2003 3:11 am Post subject:

Ellidi · Posted: Mon May 05, 2003 2:09 pm Post subject:

hook · Posted: Mon May 05, 2003 2:36 pm Post subject:

combine the LPP kernel patch, bootsplash and your favourite *DM (i prefere GDM) and you've pretty much got what you want

well, if you want it the hard-core way (i don't recomend it though), you can still remove all tty in your /etc/inittab and make it drop directly into X
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geoaxis

can we turn the ttys on and off through boot commandline ?
i know that tty can be redirected .
just wondering if total switch is possible

on another note GUI and CLI both have goods and bads. u can have a full CLI in a GUI environment but not a full GUI (drag and drop in framebuffer ??) in CLI.i think CLI will never die . It will evolve

geoaxis

UclaBob · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 22 Oct 2002 Posts: 83

I always make sure to have LCI and GUI equilvants for pretty much anything I would ever want to do. Its annoying switching into different enviornments just to do one thing.

Bob

robmoss · Posted: Sat May 29, 2004 12:56 am Post subject:

You'll never kill the command line off, because you can't do everything in a GUI that you can do in bash. But if you just want the computer to be used for "traditional" things like word processing, web browsing etc., then it's really quite easy.
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placeholder · Advocate Joined: 07 Feb 2004 Posts: 2500

I used to do it by having the bootsplash come up on silent mode and then have it start GDM right away. Even then, I used the terminal often. Now adays though I start it up in verbose mode and use startx and a well-configured .xinitrc file to get everything going.

I think it just looks cooler that way. lol

geoaxis · Posted: Sat May 29, 2004 4:03 am Post subject:

handsomepete : console=ttyS1 CONSOLE=ttyS1 are they 2 differnt things?

Pwnz3r: can we see ur .xinitrc. I just wanto to have a setup where i dont see the console screen ever. (No particular advantage of that but still) .

i was planning some thing like this

if i put the same image as of my desktop to silent bootsplash it would look like that after i pressed linux in grub it straight away jumps in X (we all know its not X but framebuffer ..)...and then it would just show a nice progress bar and go into X. it would be awsome if there is no flikkering in between ..(but i dont know if its possible)

my problem is thta i am using xdm and it still shows some boot info when i am switching to X from frame buffer.i did the console=tty6 thing and tried to disable console1 from inittab but it still has some stuff there,all hardware detetcion.How can i redirect or suppress that?

Besides that i cannot use bootsplash for 1024x480 cause that fb thing got discontinued after kernel 2.4.17

... i am planning to do write my own modules .any one else interested in ATY modules rewrite for frame buffer (just a thought)

geoaxis

placeholder · Advocate Joined: 07 Feb 2004 Posts: 2500

Cossins · Posted: Sat May 29, 2004 10:17 am Post subject:

Well,

wilburpan · l33t Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 977

slarti` · Retired Dev Joined: 20 Sep 2003 Posts: 376 Location: UK

gnuageux · Veteran Joined: 17 Apr 2004 Posts: 1201

With enough configuration sure. But I think that a good majority of the linux community uses linux b/c they love the cmd line. Boot to runlevel5 then use one of the more full featured wm's, I dont know that you'd need to open a shell at all.
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