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   Newsgroups: alt.os.linux.ubuntu   
   From: SINNER <99nesorjd@gates_of_hell.invalid>   
   Subject: Re: My ubuntu experience   
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   Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 13:49:57 GMT   
   Xref: number1.nntp.dca.giganews.com alt.os.linux.ubuntu:8409   
      
   * bigjon wrote in alt.os.linux.ubuntu:   
   > Sybren Stuvel wrote:   
      
   >> ["Followup-To:" header set to alt.os.linux.ubuntu.]   
   >> Topaz_Crow enlightened us with:   
   >>> It's fine and dandy to have a system like Ubuntu that makes it   
   >>> possible to stick with the GUI. My point is that the command line is   
   >>> an available tool. Everyone looks at the command line like something   
   >>> to be avoided because people are scared of it.   
      
   >> Indeed. A friend of mine is a complete Linux newbie and a total   
   >> computer illiterate. He loves the command line interface.  If he has a   
   >> problem he only needs to copy & paste my answer into a terminal, and   
   >> his problem is fixed. That's a lot easier than sending screenshots and   
   >> describing where to click.   
      
   >> Sybren   
      
   > Surely that defeats the object - I can copy and paste, a monkey can probably   
   > copy and paste, I am trying to learn what it _means_    
      
   So? Analyze the statement and review the help/man pages for the command   
   used. Just because a monkey can do it does not mean you should act like   
   a monkey.   
      
   > - I have used Windows   
   > for years and used the CMDline for lots of things, but now after finally   
   > deciding that OS's like XP are very wasteful and greedy, I want to try   
   > something new.   
      
   But in your past experience I am sure you would forget a commandline   
   switch or 2 in which case you typed command/? to prompt your memory,   
   Linux man pages blow Dos help away.   
      
   > My initial problem withh Linux (ubuntu) is learning what the commands mean,   
   > and the consequences - just typing SUDO and a few commands is all very   
   > well, but I need to know what is actually happening.   
      
   What is stopping you from finding out?   
      
   > I find it frustrating that, although all the help and tips are welcome (very   
   > welcome ATM, don't think I'm moaning about that!), nobody tells me what   
   > does what.   
      
   They expect you to do some due diligence. Pasting a command into a   
   terminal from a stranger isn't exactly the safe, smart thing to do   
   without at least having an idea of what is going to happen.    
      
   > I mean, I suppose, When I type sudo, what am I actually telling the OS to   
   > do?   
      
   Give you the necessary permission to run what would normally be command   
   that can only be run by the superuser (root). Using sudo also causes a   
   log entry to be written, unlike executing the command when logged in as   
   root.   
      
   $ man sudo   
   $ man sudoers   
      
   Safe, I promise :)   
      
   > In a gui environment I have text to explain what I am about to do...   
      
   Not always, in a GUI, you get a couple more words in the menu which may   
   or may not be descriptive enough to explain the function. It depends   
   very much on the complexity of the application.   
      
   --    
   David   
   Doctors and lawyers must go to school for years and years, often with   
   little sleep and with great sacrifice to their first wives.   
     -- Roy G. Blount, Jr.   
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