Is it possible to use Linux without the Terminal/command line?

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

I've become more and more interested in giving Linux a shot and while I'm definitely a more advanced user than your average person, I'm not a programmer or anything. I tried looking for a similar discussion on here, but I couldn't find one, so I'll just ask: is it REALLY possible to use linux without ever having to use the terminal or enter a command line? In other words, with Windows it's more or less possible to use every aspect of the OS without needing a keyboard, is this possible with Linux yet? If it isn't possible, is that an eventual goal? Or does linux intend to never reach mass adoptability?

 

[Solaris17]

Hmmmm I would say yes if your a basic user with more or less current hardware that isnt super specialized.

Most popular distros which is what im basing this off of, have app stores where you can get all the common or otherwise normal software without the need to use the terminal too grab it. They also have the ability to auto check for updates by default, both for apps from the app store and the core OS itself.

Things like drivers even proprietary ones like nvidia are handled automatically during install if you check the box allowing closed source software, but the box can be checked any time in the control panel.

I work with linux professionally, like everyday, so I understand why most help is given in the form of opening a terminal. My laptop is the only thing with a GUI none of the servers in the fleet have a desktop environment installed and I am doing everything via SSH. Most people that are willing to help are people like me since linux has such a low adoption rate in the everyday desktop space. So we grew up without. For example if you were to ask me where a specific enable/disable button was in the GUI I couldnt tell you, I would have to go look. I would only know how to do it via terminal.

I say this because I think that is the stigma, and I think most misunderstand. I think they see posts where someone says "open the terminal and type XXXX" and think that linux cant be user friendly. It is though on the surface. When things are broken though, for the people that are helping it is much easier to use a terminal, not necessarily that you have too. If that makes sense.

 

[Onasi]

For most desktop tasks with a popular, user friendly distro - absolutely. Even gaming is mostly streamlined now due to Proton. However, if you run into a more specific issue you might need the CLI, but there are plenty of helpful sites and forums on the web for that.
And in any case, as someone who works with Windows setups of all stripes for a living I can tell you that A LOT of troubleshooting in Windows is also best done through the terminal. The idea that a Windows power user will never see a CLI is weird to me.

 

[GerKNG]

yes.

 

[Kodehawa]

Short answer? yes, for desktop tasks
Long answer? If you mess something up, you'll probably need it. Same goes for windows and trying to recover the system without formatting, though.

 

[NSX05]

I've become more and more interested in giving Linux a shot and while I'm definitely a more advanced user than your average person, I'm not a programmer or anything. I tried looking for a similar discussion on here, but I couldn't find one, so I'll just ask: is it REALLY possible to use linux without ever having to use the terminal or enter a command line? In other words, with Windows it's more or less possible to use every aspect of the OS without needing a keyboard, is this possible with Linux yet? If it isn't possible, is that an eventual goal? Or does linux intend to never reach mass adoptability?

I had Ubuntu set up on my old laptop for my uncle to use for his basic needs of browsing eBay and checking his emails. It just worked and he never needed me to sort anything out.

 

[Calenhad]

Many mainstream distros will work just fine without ever using the terminal. As long as you have hardware that are detected properly.
Off the top of my head I would say Fedora, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint as my recommended "simple out of the box" major distros. You can find specially designed for new users distros, but I have yet to see one that have an actual userbase. So I would stay with one of those easy to use well known ones.

If you want a gamer-centric distro, I have good experience with Garuda. That is also designed to never use the terminal. But outside of gaming the GUI is a bit messy for my taste. Can't beat it for ease of Steam access though. And support for other Windows games is also very good.

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

Thanks. This actually gives me some confidence, and I'm more than happy to fire up the terminal to fix things, since I've done this with windows many times in the past and am not personally adverse to it. The caveat is that I want to put Linux on a computer of mine that my 10 year old niece regularly uses as well and I want it to be a "normal" experience for her as well. If anybody can specifically recommend a distro, that'd be great, here is the hardware and exact use case(s) that it will be used for:

Hardware:

• CPU: Ryzen 2700X
• Motherboard: Asus Strix-F 470X
• GPU: Sapphire 5700XT Nitro+
• Memory: 32GB Trident Z
• NVMe 3.0x4 SSD for the OS install

Software:

• Steam
• Diablo 2/Diablo IV
• Web Browsing
• Age of Empires III
• Forza 7

 

[Solaris17]

Thanks. This actually gives me some confidence, and I'm more than happy to fire up the terminal to fix things, since I've done this with windows many times in the past and am not personally adverse to it. The caveat is that I want to put Linux on a computer of mine that my 10 year old niece regularly uses as well and I want it to be a "normal" experience for her as well. If anybody can specifically recommend a distro, that'd be great, here is the hardware and exact use case(s) that it will be used for:

Hardware:

• CPU: Ryzen 2700X
• Motherboard: Asus Strix-F 470X
• GPU: Sapphire 5700XT Nitro+
• Memory: 32GB Trident Z
• NVMe 3.0x4 SSD for the OS install

Software:

• Steam
• Diablo 2/Diablo IV
• Web Browsing
• Age of Empires III
• Forza 7

That system is fine but make sure you are looking at the whole picture. You wont run into any issues with those specs, but the gotchas are gonna be weird shit like your mouse and keyboard LED control systems for example.

I'm not trying to scare you away, just making sure you fully know what to expect.

Software is the only other word of caution. A lot is made for all OSs such as chrome for example. There WILL be situations where the software is like a diet though. You will not be looking for "the same software" you will be looking for "like for like" software.

Photoshop? You must mean GIMP for example.

As for your games, if they are in steam you should be fine when in doubt look at the protonDB. Its not impossible to get games outside of steam working, but if your looking for a pure easy GUI experience it will get tough if you start to stray.

https://www.protondb.com/explore

 

[chrcoluk]

If you use a distro thats primed for point and click yes.

Is worth noting thought that command line on linux is way more user friendly than it is on windows, Bash beats powershell hands down, and things like apt are easy to use.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Most suppose to be windows distro is zorin
Not a freebie though

Zorin OS - Home

 

[unwind-protect]

I would say no. I just did a Ubuntu install and it doesn't have touchpad support for 2- and 3-finger tap. You first have to switch to X11 and then create an ASCII file as root. Not to mention that when googling this problem you can incorrect answers that the switch for this is in preferences, which it isn't (it just has a s switch for 1 finger tapping to be enabled).

You might be able to get away without commandline as such, but the ability to edit ASCII files as root is still fundamental.

Needless to say, at that point it is often better and easier to copy and paste a command line. Assuming you find a correct one.

 

[Ferrum Master]

is it REALLY possible to use linux without ever having to use the terminal or enter a command line?

NO. Don't be dreamers guys. I use Linux daily. You will have a situation, when you will need some other repo and do manual install or do some service config as root.

 

[Shihab]

I also say no.
In theory, some distros aim to be gui-centric. In practice, you'll ALWAYS run into something that requires typing stuff on the terminal to fix or get working. Not to mention that some tasks, even those with a gui, are much less painful to do in terminal.

 

[unwind-protect]

To clarify, I don't recommend that OP abandons Linux.

I'm saying that the commandline is actually good and easier. In almost all cases a beginner doesn't construct his/her own command, it is copy-n-pasted from the web or from forums or mailing lists. With a GUI you have to elaborate about which menus to click on multiple levels. That is not easier and certainly not safer.

And unlike many GUI junk things most commandline utilities gives you clear error messages (unless systemd or pulseaudio is involved...).

 

[Palindrome]

Thanks. This actually gives me some confidence, and I'm more than happy to fire up the terminal to fix things, since I've done this with windows many times in the past and am not personally adverse to it. The caveat is that I want to put Linux on a computer of mine that my 10 year old niece regularly uses as well and I want it to be a "normal" experience for her as well. If anybody can specifically recommend a distro, that'd be great, here is the hardware and exact use case(s) that it will be used for:

Hardware:

• CPU: Ryzen 2700X
• Motherboard: Asus Strix-F 470X
• GPU: Sapphire 5700XT Nitro+
• Memory: 32GB Trident Z
• NVMe 3.0x4 SSD for the OS install

Software:

• Steam
• Diablo 2/Diablo IV
• Web Browsing
• Age of Empires III
• Forza 7

Forza 7 will not run afaik, MS-exclusive title which is not on Steam and requires Xbox Game Bar or whatever MS has decided to call it this week. Diablo V and Age of Empires III seem to be gold rated on protondb, so chances are good they'll run fine, especially on your hardware. My experience with gold-rated games has been good so far (on Linux Mint), just worked out of the box, but your mileage may vary.

Speaking of which, as others have mentioned, Linux Mint is a good shout. It's what I've been experimenting around with, and as a life-long Windows user I don't feel like a fish out of water loads of things you can change via the GUI, which in itself is inspired by Windows in terms of layout.

 

[emariehasadhd]

I am by no means a programmer or well-versed in commands, especially for Linux. I am still learning on codeacademy and in school etc. But I have found it is actually really fun to use the WSL on my PC and use the terminal, learning new commands and practicing them. You might be surprised how much you enjoy it. Additionally, you can play around with a Linux distro in a VM you set up (using Oracle VirtualBox, for example) and use the GUI to play around with it. KDE Neon and Zorin distros have great UIs.

 

[Kodehawa]

NO. Don't be dreamers guys. I use Linux daily. You will have a situation, when you will need some other repo and do manual install or do some service config as root.

Me aswell, but at the same time my mom has linux on her laptop and she hasn't had to touch it.

I think the thing is that for very basic desktop usage you can do without as long as you don't break anything.

Otherwise yeah, you do need it for some administrative stuff, or configuring services/some applications, or if you break something (may god help you if you have no clue and break something though)

For gaming you might need it too. I hope you like fiddling around if you want to play some games. Some of them work fine ootb though, Steam Proton is some magic stuff.

I remember how it was before Proton. Oh man.

 

[unwind-protect]

Well yes. Windows games.

Running apps written for a different OS than what you are running will always be advanced use.

 

[Kodehawa]

Well yes. Windows games.

Running apps written for a different OS than what you are running will always be advanced use.

Sadly native linux games aren't too common. Well, not AAA releases at least, plenty indies release linux builds.

 

[R-T-B]

Me aswell, but at the same time my mom has linux on her laptop and she hasn't had to touch it.

This.

If you are a power user, you'll use it. Same with windows, really.

Well yes. Windows games.

Running apps written for a different OS than what you are running will always be advanced use.

Protongaming honestly is closing that gap nearly to nonexistant pretty rapidly, but yes, at the moment this is true.

 

[SchumannFrequency]

NO. Don't be dreamers guys. I use Linux daily. You will have a situation, when you will need some other repo and do manual install or do some service config as root.

I have currently been using ROSA Desktop Fresh 12.4 (LXQt) for several weeks and I have been able to configure basically everything without a command line. Pretty much all the packages a person needs can be found through dnfdragora (a GUI). And to install (separate) RPM and AppImage packages you don't need a terminal either. Things like the delay of GRUB and many other things that sometimes use terminals are easily configurable in this distro via a GUI.

This desktop that was only configured with mouse clicks is also more advanced in terms of apps and features than what the average user needs.
All I have to do at this point is click update when an automatic popup comes up indicating updates are available.

For these reasons, I would argue that it has already been proven that there is no obstacle at all to using Linux without ever having to use a terminal or command line.

 

[LordFreak]

Completely? I'm not sure about that.

My desktop is pretty much optimized for mouse use. But I still have to open the terminal once in a while because if my electricity down while I'm using a (Proton)VPN, then I have to open the terminal to disconnect it manually or else I won't have any internet connection.

I also have to open the terminal earlier to install AppImageLauncher. But, I think as long as you sticks to the distro's native package manager and flatpak, and not a tinkerer, than you are pretty much have no need to open the terminal. Unless you wants to look like a hacker by using cmatrix in your terminal .

 

[Assimilator]

Thanks. This actually gives me some confidence, and I'm more than happy to fire up the terminal to fix things, since I've done this with windows many times in the past and am not personally adverse to it. The caveat is that I want to put Linux on a computer of mine that my 10 year old niece regularly uses as well and I want it to be a "normal" experience for her as well. If anybody can specifically recommend a distro, that'd be great, here is the hardware and exact use case(s) that it will be used for:

Hardware:

• CPU: Ryzen 2700X
• Motherboard: Asus Strix-F 470X
• GPU: Sapphire 5700XT Nitro+
• Memory: 32GB Trident Z
• NVMe 3.0x4 SSD for the OS install

Software:

• Steam
• Diablo 2/Diablo IV
• Web Browsing
• Age of Empires III
• Forza 7

Honestly, the both of you are going to have way less stress just rolling with Windows. If she ever wants to play a game that her Windows friends are playing, but isn't supported on Linux, she's going to be upset and she's going to be upset at you. Proton is great but it's not and never will be perfect.

 

[izy]

You can install Linux under Windows with WSL and use the graphical interface with RPD, you wont be playing games under linux like this (you can try, i havent tested how games work but prob you will have big delay) but you can test stuff with a graphical interface.

How To Enable WSL2 Ubuntu GUI and use RDP to Remote - NEXTOFWINDOWS.COM

WSL2 continues to be one of my top features I want to explore and learn more about in the entire Windows 10 offering. What Microsoft is doing with WSL is

www.nextofwindows.com