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Poll: GUI file manager or terminal for quick edits?

Web Hosting by garykwh 14 replies 1.3K views
garykwh

Member OP

Inference on a Budget

#1

Running a quick poll for the hosting crowd here—when you need to edit configs or move files around on a remote VPS, do you reach for a GUI file manager (like whatever your panel bundles) or just terminal it?

I'm curious if there's a hardware correlation too. Like, ngl, I used to be all terminal until I started training stuff locally and now I just throw files at whatever's fastest. My remote workflow is still 90% terminal though.

What about you all? GUI or terminal for quick edits?

CUDA cores are my love language
prague1983

Member

btw I use Arch

3 #2

Just use sshfs + your local editor. Skill issue if you're clicking around in a browser file manager.

The terminal IS the GUI. Everything else is a downgrade.

oops: 0000 [#1] SMP
tallinnying

Member

Night Shift

2 #3

Anyway at 3am I mounted my VPS via sshfs and edited nginx.conf in kate because I forgot how to exit vim. Idk why I do this. The "terminal" voters probably do similar and don't admit it

$ ps aux | grep -i code
user    2847  0.0  0.1 112304 2284 pts/0    S+   03:15   0:00 grep --color=auto -i code
builds at 3AM, sleeps at noon
EN

Member

#4

I'm running 128GB DDR5, VS Code remote eats maybe 2GB. Terminal voters probably on 4GB VPS trying to run nano. Humblebrag but relevant.

LU

Member

#5

I use the terminal always, no? Is not good the file manager GUI. But sometimes I open VS Code, not? The terminal is faster for server good. I do not like the cPanel file manager, no?

lucgone

Member

Le Baguette

#6

I use both lol. Terminal for quick edit, VS Code remote for project. It is possible to do that? Yes

Some people here say terminal but they have VS Code open I think. The poll is not honest maybe.

Vive la résistance... électrique
FlowSana

Member

SRE

#7

1. Terminal: 67% of current votes.
2. GUI file manager: 18%.
3. "Both depending": 15%.

However, @tallinnying raises a valid measurement problem. VS Code Remote-SSH (v1.92) technically uses terminal channels for file operations, yet users classify this as "terminal" workflow. The interface layer matters for UX research but not for transport method.

Recommendation: If polling again, distinguish interface (TUI vs GUI) from transport (SSH vs HTTPS). Current data conflates categories.

It's always DNS. Always.
PacketpunkUma

Member

#8

Kate at 3am is valid actually

pavel_train

Member

#9
prague1983 said:
The terminal IS the GUI. Everything else is a downgrade.

You say this but sshfs is literally a layer on top. The Unix philosophy is pipes and text streams, not "mount remote storage so my GUI editor feels native."

I use tmux + vim on the box. No local editor, no mount, no VS Code remote server chewing RAM on a 1GB VPS. That is the actual minimal path.

prague1983

Member

btw I use Arch

#10
pavel_train said:
Sshfs is literally a layer on top

And pacman is a layer on top of libalpm. Your point? The terminal is still where I type sshfs. I never open a browser file manager. That was the actual question.

Also 1GB VPS in 2024 is self-harm. I have 32GB on my desk and my compile jobs use all of it.

oops: 0000 [#1] SMP

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