Console Based Software

Let's talk console based software and FOSS operating systems. First, some console based software resources I've liked over the years include:
https://inconsolation.wordpress.com/
https://termux.dev/en/
https://archiveos.org/rogue/
http://inx.maincontent.net/

I have some other resources and console program recommendations in other articles I've written here.

I've seen a lot of FLOSS projects try to convert Windows users to Free Software by sharing GUI based Free operating systems that look a lot like Windows. I really don't know if this is the best strategy to convert people to using something else. Wouldn't it be nice to offer something better and more intuitive rather than just copy what another system can do? I certainly do not think this a good strategy for getting die-hard Windows command line users to switch to FLOSS operating system alternatives. Users that started on DOS and graduated to Windows should be a great market to tap into. Many Unix and Linux systems emphasize console based interactions. However, when Free Software advocates try to reach Windows users and get them to switch, they often end up showing off Windows-like GUIs. They leave out a portion of the market. They leave out the Windows users who don't use Windows because of its GUI design.

What about those of us who still prefer a good old-fashioned command line and want to use console or terminal sessions to get the majority of work done? What kind of conversion path to a Free OS is there for us?

FreeDOS is a wonderful option if you just want DOS. Unfortunately, a lot of current hardware support and drivers are lacking. For years, I've had trouble switching to Linux due to hardware incompatibilities and driver issues. Of all the FOSS operating systems I've tried (BSD, FreeDOS, Minix, etc.), Linux has the best driver support. So, if Linux can't support someone's hardware, it's very likely other options like FreeDOS can't either. FreeDOS does do a very decent job of supporting legacy software and hardware though.

ReactOS is a great path for people who want to use a Free Operating system but want the familiarity of Windows. It runs many Windows programs natively. You can continue to write programs using a Win32 API and have them work on the system. Like FreeDOS, it also doesn't have the drivers and hardware support a commercial system does. Theoretically, when they have something fully compatible with Windows, Windows drivers should just work. It's not at that point of development yet. The biggest drawback I had when trying to use ReactOS was stability. Some Windows programs worked perfectly out-of-the-box. Some crash. I would have liked to get more involved with the project and possibly debug some of my issues. I didn't find it an easy project to join in on if you wanted to help with development.

Using Linux with Wine is another option for people who want to keep using their Windows programs on a Free operating system. I even read about a ReactOS side project where someone used Linux and Wine as a starting point for a ReactOS like system. I love the idea of being able to compile Win32 programs on Linux natively with winelib and have them work on Linux. However, the usual usage is to run Windows programs (closed source) with Wine which emulates a Windows system. They don't even encourage building programs from source with winelib. Personally, I've always found winelib hard to build from source and Wine hard to install on my systems. Some Linux distributions support working with it better than others and some Linux distributions come with Wine already installed.

The X Windows alternative nano-x also offers some Win32 support so you can compile some Windows programs and use them on a system with nano-x libraries. You can build nano-x like an X Windows alternative with client/server support. Projects like NanoLinux and XFDos have created desktop environments using it. You can also build everything into one application (the client and server support) and run applications without a separate nano-x based desktop environment. Most projects have used nano-x to build X11 applications without requiring X11 libraries. However, the potential to port some Win32 applications using the micro-windows part of nano-x is there. Also, nano-x works with a wide variety of operating systems and on a wide variety of hardware.

There are several options for Linux distributions that try to attract Windows users either with Windows look-alike GUIs or with WINE offering the ability to continue to run real Windows programs. However, what is there that's been designed to appeal to those of us who are command line users and want to make a switch? Other than distributions used for restoration or rescue systems like grml and distributions that target minimal systems such as Linux distributions you can run from a floppy or CD, there really aren't many distributions that emphasize a command line interface. There are even less if you're looking for active distributions. Termux is an exception and it targets Android users.

Shells like bash or ash may offer more functionality than batch files, but what competes with Powershell on Linux? At least Mono offers an alternative to .NET. Also, someone who works with a lot of batch files may not find the switch from batch to a shell script all that easy. Backslashes are replaced by forward slashes. Commands like cp and mv are similar to copy and move but don't quite work the same way. Type copy filename in a command line on Windows or DOS and it copies the file to the current directory. Try that in a bash shell with cp and no target file name and you could end up with a mess. Similar syntax that works on Windows may end up corrupting files on Linux/BSD/Unix. If a user isn't already familiar with bash, ash or some of the other shells used on Linux, it's not an easy switch. Just switching between a csh and bash can be a real nuisance to Linux users. Imagine switching from batch to bash.

FreeDOS used to be able to run embedded with Linux systems much the way Windows used to allow users to switch between Windows and DOS. I don't know if that's still an option with Linux distributions and FreeDOS, but DOSBox can make a useful alternative if you want to run Linux and some form of DOS together. Using FreeDOS or DOSBox with Linux allows people to keep working with batch and already created batch scripts. The one drawback with DOSBox is that it doesn't allow for long filenames (beyond the 8.3 convention). There may be some patches to DOSBox that fix this. If so, I would love to find them.

I like the idea of using JavaScript at a command line. It makes an interesting alternative to a shell script. Windows offers this option as part of its wsh system. However, the JavaScript used by Windows is non-standard. It has several extensions not used by other JavaScript implementations such as commands to work with the file system. I looked into projects like TeaJS that work on both Windows and Linux systems as a scripting option. NodeJS seems to have become the de facto standard for command line JavaScript. Plus, it's a cross-platform solution. The main drawback I've heard regarding NodeJS is that the API changes rapidly. So, it's not a very stable system to create command line scripts that you want to be using for years to come.

What are some FOSS operating system options that might appeal to command line users? One could start with a minimal system like Debian netinst or AntiX or TinyCore Linux or possibly some of the musl based distributions. Distributions with large software repositories may have some useful command line applications. Inconsolation showcases many console based apps available from repositories. However, some applications may be dated, not actively supported or have such limited usage that they aren't easily found in a repository. In those cases, it may require building them from source if someone wants to work with them. So, no particular Linux distribution really stands out to me as the best migration path for console users who want to switch to a FOSS system.

For me, the easiest migration path is to have FLOSS programs that work on multiple operating systems. I can use them on a FLOSS operating system, but I can also use them at work where we are required to use closed and proprietary operating systems. If a cross-platform FLOSS program saves data in a particular format, it's likely to use the same format across multiple operating systems. It makes it easier to work with and transfer data. It also helps when the commands you learn, function the same in multiple environments.

Here are some command line tools I use on multiple platforms. I do a lot of my music creation using abc2midi and abcm2ps. I use TiMidity++ in console mode or via command line to convert midi files to wave files. I use diffh and a web browser to view file differences. lxsplit is nice for splitting and joining large files. I use lynx to check if a web page is browser-friendly and accessible. I use a lot of archive tools, communications tools such as curl and putty's plink and psftp, database connection tools, etc. from the command line. There are calendar programs like lcal, dictionary and grammar programs such as sdcv and diction, timer programs and more. There are even programs to draw or edit graphics such as gle, netpbm, imagemagick and graphicsmagick and programs to create DVDs such as dvdauthor.

There is a pattern I've seen with Linux for a long time now. There are great FLOSS program options that appeal to many types of users including those who prefer the command line. With software, having lots of choices can be a positive. However, with operating systems, choice isn't always so positive. There are so many Linux distributions and FOSS operating system options, it's difficult to find one that's user friendly and a good fit. With Windows, there's just one source for it and programs that work on one Windows system work on another Windows system. With Linux, it's not one size fits all. There are so many alternatives and often, none seem to be just right. It's hard to use software from one Linux distribution in another, let alone try to get your Windows executables to run properly. Maybe if more of the Linux community adopted the Linux from Scratch motto of your operating system, your way, it would be easier to switch. However, with lots of Linux operating systems, each with their own niche and their own emphasis on certain features and distinct avoidance of other features, it makes it hard for a user that doesn't fit a specific demographic to use a particular distribution. It's even harder for someone who wants to volunteer efforts to help out a distribution to find the right distribution that would accept the type of help he or she would like to offer.

FOSS is supposed to give users a way to get off the merry-go-round of continually needing to pay to upgrade hardware and software. However, it's not always easy to make that switch. Just offering an operating system that outwardly looks similar to a Windows solution so it will seem familiar isn't always desirable. It can be harder for users when software seems almost alike but certain parts don't work the same way or may potentially have devastating results. The cp command overwriting files that copy wouldn't is a good example. Offering GUI solutions to attract Windows users who primarily use the command line is just not an effective strategy.

What techniques or features would make the switch from another operating system easier for you? If you're like me and prefer working in a console based environment, what would your ideal operating system look like? Have you found a FLOSS distribution or FLOSS tools that fit well for you? Please feel free to share some of your more useful FLOSS finds with me on Mastodon.