I worry the trend is going in the other direction. I've been trying to set up a particular wireless networking device in ubuntu and the only instructions I found that I could get working involved gnome desktop apps.
To reiterate - I need to have a user logged into the desktop environment in order to get wireless networking going. At that moment I lost all enthusiasm for the prospect of desktop linux becoming mainstream.
Of course there isn’t. He lives in a web browser.
The underlying OS is irrelevant.
Details on the wireless thing? I assure you, do you not "need" an X client running on the box to make any piece of hardware work. The fact that someone wrote a GUI helper for the task (what task, btw?) hardly sounds like a disadvantage to me.
People here can help you, if you let them. Posting incomplete problem reports like this as evidence for a platform troll is kinda bad form.
I have no idea what 'particular wireless networking device' you're trying to configure, but if you're just trying to get your Wifi card hooked up to a secured router using just a shell, the following thread is gold (substitute vim/nano/whatever for gedit in Step 2):
Thanks for this (anmd everyone else's suggestions) - gives me encouragement ot have another crack at it. This guide in particular looks like a solid runthrough of the stages along the way.
Thanks a stack for that link. Having the right doc is everything. I followed it through and everything Just Worked for me. I was at the stage of hunting ebay for good deals on ciscos before this thread, you've saved me money and time.
To reiterate - I need to have a user logged into the desktop environment in order to get wireless networking going. At that moment I lost all enthusiasm for the prospect of desktop linux becoming mainstream.
What about games? Nethack runs better under unix.