Getting Under the GUI
--
LiquidSphear
Most people accustomed to a GUI cannot understand how anybody can use a computer for day-to-day tasks without using point and click. Well, this article
will explain the reasons why a lot of people choose to not use a GUI and how they get around seeing only text.
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What the hell are they thinking?
Well, most of us use our computers for mostly work and development. I use mine to study Perl, C, and C++. I play very few games, and they are all
text-based, including one that I've written in Perl. Think about it, what are computers primarily used for (besides games)? Information. And how does a
computer display information? Mostly in text. So as you can see, a purely text environment is more then enough for most common tasks.
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What about web sites?
What about them? There are many capable browsers for the command line interface (CLI). Shipped with every distribution of Linux I have ever seen, and I
would suspect the BSD's also, is Lynx. Lynx is a fast, feature rich browser that is an excellent way to go about the internet. One of the major drawbacks
of Lynx, however, is the lack of support for frames or tables. There is another program, W3M, that is much like Lynx, but has support for tables and
frames (by converting them to tables), and even uses your mouse to click on buttons, plus a right-click menu, plus SSI support. It's like Lynx on
steroids, but it is missing a few things that Lynx has. There is also a replacement for Lynx, Links, but I have not used it as yet so I will not write
much about it. I know it has support for tables and a nice interface.
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What about ftp?
There are countless, easy to use, fast ftp clients for the console. My favorite of which is lftp. Lftp supports ques, multiple downloads, recovery, and
many other great features found in most better graphical browsers.
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What about the all-important .MP3?
.MP3's are a snap. As a matter of fact, many graphical programs are actually front ends to console based apps. The most important of which is mpg123. It's
a smooth, easy to use, feature-full mp3 player. Then there is cdparanoia, used to rip songs from cds to .wav, and bladeenc used to encode .wavs in .mp3
format.
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How do you see pr0n?
Many ways! Of which seejpeg and xv seem to be the most popular. They let you see the pics even though you do not have X running, or installed.
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I hate scrolling through a bunch of text and having to go up and down in 'less'
Framebuffer is the answer. Built into many distro default kernels, it allows you to increase your resolution in console for a trivial amount of RAM.
There's even an interesting picture of Tux in the upper left of the screen when you boot up, until you switch virtual terminals or clear the screen.
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What about multitasking?
Linux provides you with 12 terminals, 6 are I/O, 6 are only output. unfortunately, the 7th one is reserved for X and will (AFAIK) only work for X.
So, I have 6 interactive virtual terminals and 5 display terminals. You can put any command into the background by appending a '&' to the end of
the command, and most programs support multiple "windows" in them selves. BitchX and Elvis do, as examples. For BX I hit alt-F1 to get there, then
alt-# to switch between different rooms. Elvis will milti task also.
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What about word processing?
There are very many editors that come with the standard Linux install. vi (the classic), vim (vi improved), joe, pico (Using now!), elvis, and friends.
I use Pico for my word processing and elvis for writing programs. Also, ispell (you guessed it) checks the spelling of an ascii file and 'wc' counts
words, lines, and total characters in an ascii file. And there are many replacement for each if they do not fit your needs. Also, there is 'sc' the
spreadsheet.
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What about IRC and Instant messengers?
There are to many for me to count. Currently I am using BitchX and mICQ. BitchX BaBy!
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What if I don't like to type in lengthy commands to do common tasks?
Alias! Here is an example of my $HOME/.profile:
#########################################################
alias "floppy"="mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy" #
alias "ufloppy"="umount /dev/fd0" #
alias "floppy1"="mount -t ext2 /dev/fd1 /mnt/floppy1" #
alias "ufloppy1"="umount /dev/fd1" #
alias "cdrom"="mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom" #
alias "ucdrom"="umount /dev/cdrom" #
alias "scan"="nmap -sF -P0 -O -f -p 1-65335" #
alias "websuck"="wget -rv -l 999" #
alias "screwit"="/sbin/shutdown -r now" #
alias "fuckit"="/sbin/shutdown -h now" #
#########################################################
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How do you have _your_ computer set up?
Well, terminal 1 is used for BitchX, 2 is used for zICQ, 3 and 4 and 5 are user, 6 is root, 7 isn't, 8 is where I redirect output from compiling code, 9 is
running 'netstat -ac', 10 is showing me my ftp logs with 'tail -f', 11 is 'tail -f /var/log/messages', and 12 is running an app called 'PPPStatus'
written by a friend of mine. Get it @ pppstatus.sourceforge.com.
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Where do I get these programs?
Most are probably already installed for you! If not head on over to http://freshmeat.net and/or http://www.linuxberg.com for all of your software needs.
And by the way, in one of my other articles I said that you could get warezed books, yes, _books_. Here is a nice site that I have found, and am websucking right now: http://docs.online.bg
1.) Are you a hacker? - JesterS
2.)X-Mail - JesterS
3.)Getting Under the GUI - Liquid Sphear
4.)Opening Simple Ports on Win X - madirish
5.)Commentary on Napster and the Digital Age -
SiLeRePrAeSes
6.)Commentary on the Political Aspects of the Internet
-
SiLeRePrAeSes
7.)How to (re)build your kernel
- L33tdawg
8.)A 101 Bytez team article for Hackinthebox mag
- OZONE
9.)Examining PE Files - abrams!metaray
