GUI or not to GUI?

[ultramoo]

As a ex-Windows Server user, I wanted to know if people have used GUI on their Linux box to administer their game servers.

I hear one of the reasons for not going with Windows is because of its GUI.

I find it must easier to manage files with a user interface. Though I can still do it with console. Do any of you guys use a UI? if so would it affect the performance of the box and game servers by much?

[Mooga]

I would not use a GUI for a *nix server because of performance. However, you might be able to just boot to the GUI when you need to use it... I'm not a Linux Expert...

[janne]

If RAM is an issue, no GUI of course uses less memory.
Otherwise, the performance difference in Linux isn't noticeable in my opinion.

[ClanWoof]

I started out using gui, not worth it at all. If you are going to use linux make sure you know how to use command line pretty good. Stick with that, if you're going to use gui I'd just stick with windows as you know how to do everything in windows. Reason I say nay to gui is once you use it you will not use the command line much at all and it will take a long time to learn it.

[defex]

I have seen some guys around my work used console guis for file management, like old ms-dos. They aren't as spectactular as a x windows gui, but they do make life a bit simpler and you don't need to remember so many cryptic commands.

I couldn't tell you what it's called, but I know it's out there.

[Mooga]

you mean fluxbox?

[css]

Defex means for example "midnight commander".



This kind of tools are not necessary for experienced *nix users. However, they're nice utilities for beginners.

Ultramoo, Moogas' idea of running GUI when needed is good. Eventually you should be able to do lots of things directly from the console, but in the beginning you might feel safer having that somewhat familiar GUI in front of you. The biggest advantage is probably the graphical file manager and text editors.

Performance-wise there's nothing to lose, even if you run the GUI all the time.

[CarVac]

For some reason, when xorg runs, my server gets much better performance than with a plain terminal (970 fps instead of 900). Why could that be?

[trewq]

You probably should have made a new thread for that question and that's really interesting because a GUI should be taking up more resources not improving the performance.

[m0-]

Why do you need a gui? If your using linux as a server .... The beauty of using linux is because you can customize linux to fit your needs. For example, I am using Debian 4 which is 200MB fully installed. Then I install all the essentials to make databases, websites, srcds, etc to work.

If you really want a gui, then develop one in gnome/kde and have fun doing so.

[ultramoo]

Thanks for the info! Though i'm starting to get use to console now, the only time I'd really like a GUI is when moving files around. It's by far safer and easier.

I like the idea of turning GUI on when needed. I just need to figure out how to install it without reinstalling the entire OS. Nothing good on google with this topic, i'm on my own.

I've now started on a Server/Client application that will help me move files around the linux box. GUI will be processed on the Client Machine which will type all the file commands to the server for me ^^. (I bet sombody has already made somthing like this...) But since i'm going this far I've decided to add SRCDS control system. It finds all game servers installed and displays them on a nice list. So I can shutdown / restart srcds with a click of a button. I'm about 60% complete and will post the application here if anyone else wants to use it for their server.

[CarVac]

If you use ubuntu, just use 'sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop' and it installs all of the necessary packages for Xfce4. Just that easy. (replace xubuntu with ubuntu-desktop for gnome, kubuntu desktop for kde, though I wouldn't)

[m0-]

ultramoo Wrote:Thanks for the info! Though i'm starting to get use to console now, the only time I'd really like a GUI is when moving files around. It's by far safer and easier.

You could always use ftp (proftpd: apt-get install proftpd), and when you mean files? What kind of files you want to move around? The only files you would need would be maps, and config.

ultramoo Wrote:I like the idea of turning GUI on when needed. I just need to figure out how to install it without reinstalling the entire OS. Nothing good on google with this topic, i'm on my own.

What I did is installed ftp (proftpd mentioned above) I log in with my username and change the TF2 contents (upload, download). I personally like the console for editing files.

ultramoo Wrote:I've now started on a Server/Client application that will help me move files around the linux box. GUI will be processed on the Client Machine which will type all the file commands to the server for me ^^. (I bet sombody has already made somthing like this...) But since i'm going this far I've decided to add SRCDS control system. It finds all game servers installed and displays them on a nice list. So I can shutdown / restart srcds with a click of a button. I'm about 60% complete and will post the application here if anyone else wants to use it for their server.

Maybe you would need something like this: http://www.hlsw.org/ Managing your tf2 servers ... Use FTP to upload maps configs. Use SHELL to modify files.

Learn to use linux, if not willing .. then switch to Windows.

[ultramoo]

m0- Wrote:You could always use ftp (proftpd: apt-get install proftpd), and when you mean files? What kind of files you want to move around? The only files you would need would be maps, and config.

I use FTP, but FTP doesn't allow you to move files around. I would have to download it first on my PC and then upload it back.... right?


I use HLSW and can't live without it. I'm just making a stand alone "Control Panel" to manage the servers quick and easy with 1 program. It will have a strong authenticating and role system so my clients can use it too.

I already made a sucessful webbased CP but only works with windows at this stage. Time to take it to the next step