SEUL: Re: Linux command-line focus website and/or mail list

["Pete St. Onge" <pete@seul.org>]

Hi Josef,

> Pete wrote:
>> If Joe wants to do some of the page work ...
>> ie. with CVS (which you probably already know) and SDOC
> 
> I'll be glad to work on this ...
> but I have no idea what CVS and SDOC are.

We use SDOC as a document parser to give all of the pages on our site
the same 'look and feel.' The nice thing about this is that it doesn't
make a lot of extra work for the page author.

We use CVS (concurrent version system) to talk to RCS (revision control
system) which in turn manages our web pages and other documents. It
means that people can make copies of the entire source repository on
their machines, wherever they are, and make the relavant changes and the
pages will be synchronized. It also means that if you make a
catastrophic mistake with a new version of a page, you can pull out any
and all previous versions pretty easily. It's also easy to compare
versions of pages or other documents.


> But I do have an extensive commands summary list (one-line-per-
> command how-to-use-'em descriptions) plus hundreds of utilities
> such as the previously mentioned 'makecdr' which I will be glad
> to share.
     Sounds good. I'm about to propose another doc, a 'simple end user
linux howto' which could potentially draw on a subset of page you're
describing. Our primary concern, though, would be to get your page(s) up
soon. That way, it can provide a starting point for both the mailing
list you propose as well as potential spin offs.

   

> Below is a first-cut-draft of how I would be inclined to announce
> and define the focus of this list. I welcome any critique and
> suggestions.
> BTW: I wonder if it might be helpful to refer to "Linux Command
> Line" (LCL) to distinguish this topic from the whole range of Unix
> flavors?
> 
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> 
>                      (possible intro header)
> 
>                -- LINUX COMMAND LINE OPERATIONS --
> 
> While there are several good GUI (Graphical User Interface) options
> available which make Linux prettier and seemingly easier for some
> people to use, these "Windows-style" front-ends are really just a
> pretty face covering up the real power behind Linux.  They
> invariably increase overhead (memory requirements/consumption) and
> reduce the overall efficiency of any computer ... and thus your
> efficiency as well.

     Another point that could be made is that on older machines, CLI may
be the only way of interacting with the computer. Old 486's are limited
when it comes to running X apps (unless you've set up a thin client),
but they run web servers and file servers, mailers and lists, and a lot
of other things quite nicely. Thus, using linux-based servers on old /
redundant machinery makes running an intranet quite feasable. Recent
versions of SAMBA can actually act as a PDC on a Windows NT network, so
tying up a bunch of NT workstations into a coherent domain is also
possible with minimal overhead.


> Entering commands on the command line is the fastest, easiest, and
> most efficient way to perform many, many operations on a computer. 
> Using a mouse to click-click-click your way through an endless
> array of drop-down and pull-out windows and dialogs and multiple
> choices is a good way to get confused, frustrated, and a sore hand
> (carpal-tunnel surgery anyone?)

    Should this be "carpel-tunnel"?
    We could perhaps stress that for repetative tasks, GUI's tend to be
rather inefficient, and their design often prevents the useful
agglomeration of tasks (scripting).


> Moreover, once you learn a few command line tricks, you will
> discover that Linux allows you quickly and easily create your own
> commands to do many tasks faster and easier than doing the same
> things in a GUI-window.
> 
> Therefore, the purpose of this web-site and user-mail-list is to
> facilitate sharing and comparing ideas on how best to do practical,
> business-related things as efficiently as possible on the command
> line.
> 
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Looks good!

Pete


-- 
Pete St. Onge - McGill U.  Limnology - Fun with Ropes & Buckets
pete@seul.org                  http://wwp.mirabilis.com/4322052
---------------------------------------------------------------
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