[NBLUG/talk] Unix/Linux class

[S. Saunders]

On Sun, December 3, 2006 16:11, Eric T. Landerville wrote:

> Mark is also a firm believer in the back
> end of linux, the command line and editing text files directly.  His
> saying is that if you know the back side the pretty GUI will come easy.
> I liked this but some others don't.  If you want to get your hands dirty
> and prefer booting into run level 3 take the class.  If you like doing
> things via the GUI you will probably be happier with a book on a
> specific Linux distro.

Speaking as someone who did SysAdmin for 20some years, I can't regard a
GUI-only "*NIX Admin" as anything but a "Jr. Technician."   VERY junior,
at that...

It's increasingly true that things that used to be CLI-only now have GUI
options, but it's also true that many of *NIX's strengths can only be had
as CLI (or CLI-oriented, e.g. scripts) features, and many more "GUI
options" are  slower than CLI or lack some degree of
functionality/features that can be had from the CLI.

There are, I believe, some GUI-only SysAdmin-ish chores these days, too...
but I think we can presume that "GUI Aware" is a given.  It's "CLI Aware"
that really marks the robust foundations needed for "Power User" status
(whether SysAdmin or other).


IMHO/YMMV/etc...


- Steve S.