I am not new to Linux, been using it for quite a few years already and even done some slow distro hopping. But CachyOS is the first Arch-based distro for me, installed today. The choice between Cachy and Garuda was tough, but Cachy seemed… safer. Oh and no dual booting here, I’m all for FOSS.
I am neither a noob nor an IT-tinkerer but somewhere in between. I’m not exactly afraid of CLI, but I am uncomfortable with it as my memory refuses to remember almost any, even simple commands or sequences which makes it damn unpractical. So, I stick to GUI when I can - there I can figure out better what I should be doing. But come problems, I may come running to the forum…and needing possibly some handholding. I tend to have a bit of the issue of “don’t get it before getting it completely”.
I’ve been mostly a basic user on my small laptop: I don’t game, I don’t program (though I should train my basic skills…) Usually happy to just use my computer. But I am considering learning using VM and VPN and whatnot for general privacy reasons in today’s crazy world. So, that might bring me here as well.
Happy to be here, I hope I will come here more for the community than technical issues!
This describes me as well. Plus the fact I’m a very poor typist…
Something for your to-do list then might be to learn how to make an alias in Alacritty. You can make shorter, easier to remember (and type) names for commonly used commands.
Something for your to-do list then might be to learn how to make an alias in Alacritty. You can make shorter, easier to remember (and type) names for commonly used commands.
Commonly used commands? Oh no, that’s the thing - there are none. I have use for commands VERY seldom. Mainly when setting up a new install. Then, if things go well, I won’t need them at all for at least two years. In normal use I have no reason whatsoever to open terminal.
Hi. You may already know this as you’re not a Linux noob, but tealdeer is very useful for helping with terminal commands.
I’m a recent Linux convert - did my homework right and landed on CachyOS. It’s been ~3 months now, and I’m still amazed at how good it is compared to Windows.
Actually, I didn’t, but it also doesn’t help with not having the faintest idea what the command would be. Like man pages, it only seems to help with commands you know to search. And I need command line so seldom (there have been installs when the need was total zero) that I don’t really have even motivation to try to memorise them.
When I started my Cachy adventure not even a year ago, I felt pretty much the same. I didn’t want to have to use the terminal.
Over time though, I got pretty comfortable interacting with some parts of my OS on the command line (mainly when it comes to package management and maintenance) and that is because of the history command. You may know it, it gives you a pretty long history of your last commands.
By filtering this list with grep, I can easily retrace my steps, get the correct syntax of commands etc.
I use that so much that I wrote an alias for that as part of my zsh configuration:
alias hist='history | grep '
which allows me to just type hist pacman to see the last things I did with pacman.
Next, I fell in love with tealdeer, also known as tldr, which tells you how to use a command by examples and not by incomprehensible techno-babble:
╰─> tldr pacman
Arch Linux package manager utility.
See also: `pacman-sync`, `pacman-remove`, `pacman-query`, `pacman-upgrade`, `pacman-files`, `pacman-database`, `pacman-deptest`, `pacman-key`, `pacman-mirrors`.
For equivalent commands in other package managers, see <https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman/Rosetta>.
More information: <https://manned.org/pacman.8>.
[S]ynchronize and update all packages:
sudo pacman -Syu
Install a new package:
sudo pacman -S package
[R]emove a package and its dependencies:
sudo pacman -Rs package
Search ([s]) the package database for a `regex` or keyword:
pacman -Ss "search_pattern"
Search the database for packages containing a specific [F]ile:
pacman -F "file_name"
List only the [e]xplicitly installed packages and versions:
pacman -Qe
List orphan packages (installed as [d]ependencies but not actually required by any package):
pacman -Qtdq
Empty the entire `pacman` cache:
sudo pacman -Scc
This together with zsh instead of CachyOS’s default fish shell, oh-my-zsh and a nice color scheme made me actually enjoy using the CLI a little.
Oh that’s something I’v been doing through GUI for over 2 decades already, and don’t really see any reason to change that. Graphical package managers have been good for a long time. I can install stuff without knowing their actual package names, or without even knowing the program beforehand, just browsing through what’s available. CLI really isn’t as good for this. And a history tool is a bit like a system for something as a neurodivergent person - needing it means there’s an issue that you’re trying to solve.
The only thing I use CLI for are things don’t have a GUI option. For a visual person like me, GUI is the better way when it exists. With a huge margin.
Well, that is the first time someone calls me neurodivergent for giving a well-meant hint on how to use the CLI. Good luck with your GUI tools, though.
It was a comparison between a tool and a diagnostic process thing, not calling you ND.
And for me, it’s quite weird if neurodivergence is taken negatively.
Regarding this well-meant advice, I wonder why people are assuming everyone even wants to use CLI. The big majority don’t, and because many still think you need to learn CLI to use Linux is a major reason for many to not even try switching. We shouldn’t reinforce that idea.
The thing is, this distro is based on Arch and it is the philosophy of Arch to encourage “users to perform most system configuration from a command-line shell and a text editor.”
The command-line is where all the power and control of Linux lies. Yes, you can use Linux wholly from a GUI but Arch isn’t really the distro for that. CachyOS diverges from Arch in providing some OOTB configuration and a number of GUI tools but it is still Arch underneath.
I sympathize with the problem of remembering commands. I used to use post-notes to help. Now, I couldn’t live without Fish–completion and fzf to make things easier without memorizing everything. But then, I AM neurodivergent so what do I know.
Most Everything these days is history-based. GUI launchers default to recently-run programs. Your browser autocompleting from history, etc. The “issue” is that most of what we do we tend to have done before - or at least enough that suggesting from history is useful.
You mentioned the CLI in your OP
You chose a distro where a lot of things are best handled via CLI and manual handling of config files.
