[UFO Chicago] Re: Brian's Conversion from FreeBSD to Debian andQuestions on X

[Christopher D. Heer]

Jordan said (re: GUI/window mgr):

> To be fair you souldn't be worried about all this if you're setting up a
> server. Linux runs easily without a GUI and I'd just go ahead and avoid
> all the trouble of X and all the shit that runs on top of it until you
> decide to set up a desktop.

> It's true that some Linux distros come with clicky-licky admin tools that
> need a GUI and may be more familiar to a Windows user, but if you're
> trying to learn the "Unix" way of doing things then you should probably
> avoid using those tools and learn to do it properly (from the shell)
> anyway.

I've got lots of comments/responses/thankyous to everyone who's responded that I'll send in a bit, but I wanted to address this one right off.

I have absolutely no intention of using GUI stuff over the CLI/shell tools.  In fact, that's specifically what I'm looking to avoid: if the GUI does it for me, I haven't learned anything.  I'd much rather screw it all up via the CLI and learn my lesson.  :)  I work on Cisco routers all day long, and frequently still open up a command box on Windows (or Cygwin -- Cygwin is a small part of what got me moving on this).  Plus, I thump around on my Tivos a lot via bash.

Not that any of that prepares me for what I'm about to do, of course, but I just wanted to clarify things.  My question about the window manager was simply regarding when I would need to run some kind of GUI app.

Yeah, this will be a server...but it sits right next to my work laptop and personal laptop, and it will also get some desktop-y use so that I get comfortable with it.  Ideally I'd love to be able to convert my personal laptop over to Linux, but that will largely depend on how well this project goes and whether I have any Windows-only stuff that I can't give up and that won't run under Wine or whatnot.  (Games, iTunes, etc.)

More later; work beckons.  But I am very grateful for the terrific advice all around...I feel a lot better about this already.  :)

--chris