Editing 196: Command Line Fu

{{comic
| number    = 196
| date      = December 13, 2006
| title     = Command Line Fu
| image     = command line fu.png
| titletext = When designing an interface, imagine that your program is all that stands between the user and hot, sweaty, tangled-bedsheets-fingertips-digging-into-the-back sex.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Linux}} command line allows a user to make their computer do nearly anything. The only hitch is that the interface is entirely text-based, and reading through user manuals to find the commands that you need can take a very long time.

In this comic, [[Cueball]] recounts how he used a command line hack to solve a problem with his monitors turning off during a movie. However, in the time that he spends trying to solve the issue, the woman he had brought home had already left, and his need for a movie to watch was gone.

The title text is the supposed moral to this story: if your user interface takes as long to operate as a command line, you may very well be denying your users the chance to get laid.

Software that [http://google.com/search?q=mouse+wiggle jiggles the mouse] actually exists, as well as [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=608212 instructions for linux scripting] (although installing the necessary libraries might take a while).

==Transcript==
:[Two men talking]
:Cueball: Last night I was watching videos with this girl and my monitors kept turning off - even though I had disabled power save.
:Friend: Odd.
:Cueball: However! I wrote a command to jiggle the mouse pointer every couple minutes to keep it from going idle.
:Friend: Not the first hack I'd try, but see?  Linux has problems, but it gives you the tools to deal with them - and save your date!
:Cueball: Actually, I was half an hour into the pointer scripting documentation when she got dressed and left.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:Time management]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Sex]]