Why do you use Linux? expanded from Converting text to mp3

[Linux for blind general discussion]

Tim here, replying in-line.

On January 26, 2022, Karen wrote:
> you must be prepared to do programming if you are going to use
> Linux fluidly, if at all.

Like with other areas, it's not essential, but a bit of code or
shell-scripting helps you get the most out of the system.

A simple shell pipeline can turn a tedious manual process that takes
days into a one-liner that can finish a task in seconds (I've had
several of those just this week).

Some flavors of Linux expect users to do more heavy-lifting and
poking around under the hood; while others have a much softer touch
with a lot more hand-holding.  Choosing an appropriate distro can
make a big difference.

> So, why do you use Linux? what makes it worth the time the training
> and the trial  / error?

I've used various flavors of Unix & Unix-likes since I was in
high-school in the early 90s; and DOS before that.  I learned to
quickly navigate the file system and automate boring tasks and that's
hard to give up.  When I switch to a GUI, I regularly encounter
frustratingly tedious things that I can't automate.  Lists of data
that are plainly displayed on the screen but I can't copy/paste them,
or save them to a file, or otherwise manipulate them.  Or the
inability control everything with a keyboard, needing to reach for a
mouse.

> Oh, and is it your only operating system?

Linux was my primary OS from ~1999 until about 5 years ago when I
switched most of my machines to FreeBSD & OpenBSD.  Mostly pushed
because my Debian install kept breaking with upgrades that should
have been mostly harmless.

I haven't owned a Windows machine since WinME was the newest release,
and while I own a Mac, it's an iBook G4 PowerPC unit from around 2006
and it serves me better as a machine to test OpenBSD code.

> Want to ask the latter because I know someone who indeed uses Linux 
> exclusively, vowing never to touch windows again.

If that wasn't me, now you know at least two of us. (grins)

Hopefully that give you another data-point.

-Tim