Les Mikesell wrote:
Todd Zullinger wrote:
>
> In all seriousness, I am convinced that I spend less time using ls,
> mv, etc for file management than I would if I used a GUI file manager.
> Tab completion and other shell goodies help a lot with that.
>
> It's a rare occasion that I open something like Nautilus. The trade
> off, of course, was the time I spent learning the commands. Different
> strokes for different folks, as they say. :)
>
> I do know what you're saying about making the computer do the work. I
> try real hard to recognize if I'm doing something boring and
> repetitive and remind myself that is what computers were meant to
> solve, not create. Usuaully, I'm laughing at friends and family for
> letting their computers abuse them like that.
Whenever you do something repetitive with command line tools, you can
avoid it by putting the commands in a file and executing it as a script.
It is easy to make the script take parts that change in the commands as
options or prompt for them, then substitute into the correct places in
the executed commands. With GUI tools it is a lot harder to avoid
repeated mouse or cursor motion operations that take your full attention.
I am not sure mc should be classed as a GUI. It is more of a
mouse-aware CLI tool. You can use all of the functions without using
a mouse. If you want to take the time, you can also create your own
actions for a file type. (One action when you hit enter, another
when you select view or edit.) The default actions are fairly nice.
You can also have your own menu of scripts/commands that is brought
up with the F2 key. You can have both a default (home) menu, and a
directory specific (local) menu. You also have the option of typing
in commands, complete with command completion (Esc-Tab) as well as
being able to insert the highlighted file, current directory, or
other tab directory into the command line.
There are many more options - more then most people probably need.
Things like being able to open one tab on a remote file system,
virtual file systems that let you brows an .iso image, a .tar
archive, or even access the file system on a Windows CE device. (But
you can not run CLI commands on a remote file system.) Basic
functions do not have much of a learning curve, but to mace full
uses of the program is another story...
Mikkel
--
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!