[Klug-general] Bash / Curl Scripting Tuition 4

[David Halliday]

On 15 April 2011 14:57, Stephen Ryan <intrench at googlemail.com> wrote:

> Yes, it is a spiritual and creative thing. I can't really explain it,
> although i guess it is something to do with getting back in control of the
> computing experience.
>
> I spent a lot of years feeling like i was in control when i was supporting
> networks and stuff, then i worked outside of hands-on technical and
> gradually started to lose control.
> When i got ill i felt totally overwhelmed with life in general including
> and had negative experiences with computers. More specifically Windows.
>
> So in a sense i see it as both intellectual and creative progression by
> switching to the smallest Linux footprint out there and interacting with the
> internet using only the command line.
> For me, the real heartbeat and origin of the Internet comes from
> interacting with the Internet, via the command line.
> Windows and GUI in general are just straight-jackets that puts the power in
> the hands of the big companies and abstracts people from understanding the
> real beauty of the internet.
>
> So i need to find a way back to the command line.
>
> Weird, but very very true.
>
> Cheers
>
> Stephen
>
> _______________________________________________
> Kent mailing list
> Kent at mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/kent
>

I personally like working with the command line, but like doing it with a
window manager (GUI desktop) but I am at the moment using a window manager
that isn't too graphical (Not many bells and whistles) called fluxbox.

You can install linux without any graphical desktops but I think that most
people like to have an amount of graphical interface around them for some
things viewing/editing images and videos for one.

If you aim to strip away all/most GUI stuff then using a distribution like
Debian might be more for you but will have a steeper learning curve.

A lot of the documentation is very dry when you are trying to cover a lot of
understanding very quickly.
<http://www.virtualbox.org/>
If you would like to see Linux in action then there is the Faversham Linux
User Group: http://flug.org.uk/tag/lug/
<http://flug.org.uk/tag/lug/>But that is more about demonstrating using GUI
tools and accessible introductions to getting things done on Linx platforms
rather than command line utilisation but you will get to see GUI stuff in
action.

If you are able to get to a Kent LUG meeting I'm sure someone in attendance
will be happy to help you install a distribution onto your hardware that you
can work with and start learning.

What hardware platform(s) do you have available to start working with Linux?
Are you able to completely clean one off and install Linux?
Or would you prefer to use a virtual machine system:
http://www.virtualbox.org/

Please can you reply to emails rather than sending one with a new subject so
that the discussion is kept together in peoples email clients and on the
on-line list archive.
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