Depends on how advanced or niche the use case is. Flatpak and immutable distros covered the most common use for command line, that being package manager.

But Linux will start requiring command line earlier than Windows, random small utilities you'll find on the internet tend to be command line only on Linux, whilst Windows equivalent usually provides a basic menu.

Fedora is probably the most balanced, being a semi rolling distro.

I’ve used it like five times or so on Mint. I guess I’m mostly just doing stuff for Jellyfin but updates and everything are quick and easy and all gui. I went straight from windows to mint and it’s been a pretty smooth transition

Ive only used the terminal on my laptop for installing programs i could've installed from a gui, and for updating. Which i could've done on a gui.

So i think so? Manjaro btw

Windows refugee here. I installed Debian 13 with KDE Plasma on my main machine four months ago and I am still ironing out issues. Eg CUPS was asking me to login all the time and didn't accept my credentials. After some days researching I discovered I had to log in as root. Then, I discovered I didn't have root credentials for some reason. I had to create them and then add my local user to a group! Just to be able to use my home printer.

Or suddenly my clock was 62 minutes off. I discovered the NTP service was never set up properly and I had to install chrony.

I don't see how I could have avoided using the terminal. These are only a couple of examples. No deal-breakers and on this occasion I had the time and determination to resolve them. I could have easily given up.

I almost asked this exact question today. I installed Ubuntu (Studio) for the first time and almost immediately needed to do some CLI shit because there's no GUI option to enable jumbo frames. I don't want to learn CLI. I just want to escape Windows.

On Mint, it's rare and only when I try and do something that isn't already packed up as an app. I might go weeks without using it, then use it all day for a few days.

Hell you can use Arch without the terminal if you really wanted to. CachyOS for example uses Octopi which is one of the few Arch Package Manager GUI's that support both Pacman and AUR. so in that case you may never really need to touch the terminal and Octopi is preinstalled with CachyOS.

Other than that Fedora KDE or Bazzite are good options. But yeah there are few Distros where you really don't need to use the Terminal if you don't want to.

So I am a new Linux user (Bazzite) and what I have experienced so far is that for my daily driver use I don't need the terminal at all. But the moment I want to do anything even slightly more complex, or even just to use a program I want that is not in bazaar, all the user documentation gives me terminal commands.

So while I am sure it is possible, in reality the terminal still remains prominent and it feels really important to know to use it.

As a Rust dev, you can use your terminal entirely without GUI with a multiplexer like tmux, Neovim as your editor, a shit ton of anime CLIs that you can use, and so on.

Bonus question: [...] Does anything provide a similar experience to Arch's amazing AUR?

Nixpkgs and Homebrew are the first ones that come from my head.

I was using Mint for a while with my 10 year old PC build that was crashing all the time then I upgraded my system and Mint didn't have support for my newer video card so I moved to Nobara.

I haven't had to use the terminal at all since. I run the update system program every few days but I'm sure it could be automated without needing a password but I like seeing what is being updated so I keep it manual.

It has much more support for games than Mint seems to have had. I could use the terminal if I wanted to but it hasn't been needed which is how I want it, available but unnecessary.

Generally you can use use the GUI with things like Nobara Linux.

But most software install instructions are all "copy and paste these commands".

I installed ubuntu for my father in 2010. He has no idea how PCs work, and he's been fine with it. And we are not even close.

It depends.

A 2-5 year-old laptop, you want to web browse, maybe watch some videos, use google docs or open office, you probably never need a terminal

If it's a really new laptop or you want to get the most out of video drivers and push it harder, you'll probably need to be ready for some light terminal crap. Gets a little janky if you have a dual-video-card setup. Nothing hard to handle, but if you're not looking to have to handle anything...

I think the numnber of available packages is better on the Debian side. Mint or Kubuntu run newer hotter stuff, debian runs older more stable stuff.

Yes, or.. i dont know

But seems like most UIs like kde and cinnamon do a good job of making everything part of the Ui, so you ahouldnt have to

I still use the terminal. I dont know most commands but AI can often help, with a proper explanation (and remember to tell it which distro youre using etc. bonus points if you know if you use grub or systemd.

All modern OS's require the terminal at some point (except iOS).

To your bonus question: portage

Best chances to onboard new people are with elementary OS, Linux mint or the new Zoron Linux.

With regular use cases (browsing, mail, music) they shouldn‘t have to use the terminal at all.

ChromeOS and Android both prove that you CAN provide an experience sans terminal.

I think anything with flatpaks or snap store will be in a pretty good spot

All the "software stores" I have seen: ubuntu's software center, flatpack are utter trash. Offensively bad. I'm not sure how you can even get the flatpack store without the terminal.

so, e.g. flatpak tells you to install flatpak via commandline on ubuntu. Apparently it's built into linux mint.

https://flathub.org/en/setup/Ubuntu

but when trying to install a random app,

https://flathub.org/en/apps/app.curocalc.calculator/install

the instructions are to "download file and execute", but my filebrowser doesn't have a "execute this file" option in my right click and double clicking does... nothing? Certainly doesn't give me a popup with either confirmation or error message.

I'm game to try a few more things, so if you have suggestions what I should try, please tell me.

I'm on xubuntu.

I only use the terminal to resolve issues. This was more often at the start, when I just swifted from windows but now I rarely use it.

That said, I have no idea what I'm doing. I only copy paste commands that I find online or what they tell me to use in the forum/discord

I use Mint

On fedora I generally dont need the terminal unless something breaks. Which if I'm being honest with myself probably breaks because I tinkered with stuff via the terminal 🥲 (I'm bad at computer)

GUI and shortcuts change everything

CLI rarely does and the only change is the name of a command

I use both Fedora atomic (using cosmic DE) and Universal Blue's Bluefin so I'm largely just getting on and doing things as software is Flatpak, updates are automatic and I use Box Buddy as the gui for distrobox (installing other architecture software). After years of terminal use I have found this way of working very liberating but know it's not everyone's cup of tea.

I've been using exclusively Linux for about two years now.

I only ever use the terminal when I need to fix something, usually by searching for a fix and trying it out. I know more about its use now but just enough to hurt myself.

I think it gives me strong UI opinions though. What works better for me. There is still a lot of choice in that.