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Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#71

Post by random42_ »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #30

It doesn't work for business at all because if you want to do business you have to meet people where they are. You can't email a client and say, sorry, can you please send me that contract in a text file, I only have a terminal. Or, sorry, I can't use your web portal to access the data because it uses JavaScript. If you're not doing business, using the terminal works fine. Up until you have to deal with health insura…

> Up until you have to deal with health insurance or your power bill or your taxes or bank.

> Unfortunately the world now revolves around [gui] web browsers. We brought this technologically retarded hellscape on ourselves and we deserve it.

As bad as the web is, I certainly don't miss the days when I had to go to a physical office, wait minutes, sometimes hours, in a line and talk to somebody that may or may not help me, depending on how their day was going. Thanks but no thanks.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#72

Post by oneplane »

It is possible but inadvisable. A more realistic approach would be terminal + browser.

Living in a terminal itself doesn't really mean much, as it strongly depends on your tasks. For things like number crunching or programming, it has a pretty big benefit (as text is the universal API after all), and you can do pretty much everything, usually faster and more reliable than a GUI can.

But when you need to do data visualisation, make use of external services that do not provide terminal emulation interfaces or want to work with people that do not live in a terminal, that makes a 60/40 split the best choice.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#73

Post by oshirisuki »

for mutt, I use Luke Smith's mutt-wizard and can do several accounts, I switch accounts with `i1`, `i2`, etc. for the different accounts, though I'm not sure if that fits your use case

for the question I'd say "depends on what you want to do", if you have to interact with people who use slack, then probably no, unless you make your own CLI client to it, same with the web

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#74

Post by wollsmoth »

habibur wrote: post #42

The solution is not to get religiously terminal. I keep two desktops open and can flip with a keystroke. One of those always runs a full screen browser on gnome desk, and the other is the shell. I flip between those. Email is webmail but on the other screen code editor is vim.

Yeah if you're more effective in terminal then go for it, but I think you'll at least need a good web browser to fill in the gaps.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#75

Post by jesusofnazarath »

parasti wrote: post #54
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #30

It doesn't work for business at all because if you want to do business you have to meet people where they are. You can't email a client and say, sorry, can you please send me that contract in a text file, I only have a terminal. Or, sorry, I can't use your web portal to access the data because it uses JavaScript. If you're not doing business, using the terminal works fine. Up until you have to deal with health insura…

> technologically retarded hellscape The modern web seems pretty great to me. Why do you feel that way?

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#76

Post by pb7 »

kkfx wrote: post #63
parasti wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> technologically retarded hellscape The modern web seems pretty great to me. Why do you feel that way?

Is pretty as a prison dressed to be nice. Is pretty for instance if you do not need to do anything than consume someone else provided contents and your favorite services do not cease to exists or change usage terms overnight. Google reader was nice, a day Google kill it, GitHub seems to be nice for some cohort of users, a day a political move between some countries makes your account locked, a day your ebook reader+s…

You seem to have a lot of complaints about the internet and they may even be valid concerns on their own, but I fail to see how this relates to CLI vs. GUI. Google Reader would still be dead if you interacted with it via CLI. GitHub would still be dead if their servers shut down. Maybe you're equating CLI with some "good old days" that you fondly remember?

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#77

Post by [deleted] »

parasti wrote: post #54
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #30

It doesn't work for business at all because if you want to do business you have to meet people where they are. You can't email a client and say, sorry, can you please send me that contract in a text file, I only have a terminal. Or, sorry, I can't use your web portal to access the data because it uses JavaScript. If you're not doing business, using the terminal works fine. Up until you have to deal with health insura…

> technologically retarded hellscape The modern web seems pretty great to me. Why do you feel that way?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#78

Post by ehutch79 »

throwaway09223 wrote: post #68
parasti wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> technologically retarded hellscape The modern web seems pretty great to me. Why do you feel that way?

The modern web is primarily distinguished by its custom ui/media, as opposed to the old school web which put textual information first and allowed clients more control over presentation. The problems this creates are: * Accessibility - I can't change presentation to make things easier for me to consume * Inspectability - I can't search, index, etc. Information is hidden behind js driven interfaces that only present b…

You don't get out much do you? Not if you consider that a hellscape.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#79

Post by pb7 »

kkfx wrote: post #59
pb7 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Unfortunately the world now revolves around [gui] web browsers. We brought this technologically retarded hellscape on ourselves and we deserve it. This seems backwards. Limiting yourself to CLI tools do retard your abilities, modern GUI apps do not.

Sorry? CLI respect of Emacs yes, is limited and limiting, but modern GUIs are FAR more limited and limiting. Can you integrate them? No. Let's say you want in a single view a set of mails, financial transactions, notes etc. You can arrange something in a CLI, you can do it in org-mode, you can't do it in the most advanced ERP monster. Modern UIs try to go back to the original document UI concept but TOTALLY fails for…

The GP lists some ways that a terminal-only workflow limits you.

>Modern UIs try to go back to the original document UI concept but TOTALLY fails for the interactive part, they are mere view where you can touch some knobs someone else placed there for you, nothing more, and try to bend them is a nightmare.

I don't see this as a bad thing. I want someone responsible for the product to figure out the best way to use it via a focused set of controls and inputs. Some people fail at this, others are amazing.

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