RTFM 3381

Rod thinks a Graphical Integrated Desktop Environment is superior to the commandline because he doesn't KNOW anything about the commandline.

He thinks that those of us who choose this interface spend our lives typing in long commandlines, over-and-over again, because we don't have a plastic rodent and a cute little icon to click on.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

For all of the common commands-applications I use, I have a menu that pops up on the screen when I enter simply "m" at the prompt. Here's a miniature and highly simplified version that could be expanded endlessly:

#!-bin-bash

clear

while true; do

echo "1 (g) google" echo "2 (fm) fetch mail"

read num

case "$num" in

"2" ) fetchmail ;;

esac

# Ctrl-c to exit

done

I enter "m", then "1", and I'm off to google, OR:

The strings in () are aliases set in my ~-.bashrc Rather than bringing up the menu, I can just enter g, etc.

The commandline is the interface with the bash shell (in this case) which includes a high-level programming language that is very easy to learn the basics of, and that's all you ever need.

The simplest script is just a list of commands and any options and arguments to them:

#!-bin-bash

ls -laFhome-me find .-type d tree -d

Make it executable with:

chmod +rx scriptfilename

home-me-scriptfilename

Do the same with the menu script above, filling in your own commands and adding numbers.

Most of the options in my main menu call scripts, rather than just single commandlines. Many of them call sub- menus with a variety of different uses for the same application.

It's a lot faster than a mouse: You don't have to take your hand off the keyboard and then bring it back.

And you are not limited to what some geek at kde.net thinks are the best commands, options, and arguments for you.

For graphical programs, just run the menu in an xterm.

AC

-- alanconnor AT earthlink DOT net Use your real return address or I'll never know you