# The Terminal Challenge

The terminal challenge was  suggested by alfred on the SDF.org bboard RETRO forum. He articulated something I was already stumbling toward. The challenge is to accomplish daily computing tasks using a text terminal with the command line and other text-based user interfaces (TUI) rather than the ubiquitous graphical user interface (GUI).

> TACKER:  alfred ()
> SUBJECT: Terminal Challenge
> DATE:    23-Jul-26 00:05:40
> HOST:    sdf
> 
> In the last several years, I feel I've completed two major personal computer challenges. The first was to replicate all the things I did on my Windows (7) PC to Linux Mint - and migrate to Linux by the time Win7 support ended in 2020. 
> 
> The second was not time-constrained, and just done for fun and curiosity, as a follow-up: could I do the same replication on a Raspberry Pi? Granted, this was more intra-Linux, but it still was a bit of challenge.
> 
> I'm feeling the pull of a third challenge, one that probably can't be 100% achieved, but still grabs my interest: to what degree can I replicate all that I do on my Linux Mint PC, in a TUI instead of a GUI?

## Earlier Efforts
I first started moving back to the terminal when I bought a Raspberry Pi 4 in 2020 to help occupy my COVID lock down hours. It can run a full GUI Linux, albeit a bit sluggishly so I turned to the terminal for convenience. Last year I installed MX Linux on an old MacBook Pro and pushed my command line tasks further to include ripping CDs. Finally I replaced Raspberry Pi OS on my Pi 4 with FreeBSD this summer and have not installed any graphical environment at all.

Between my MX Linux and FreeBSD experiences I joined SDF.org* and added NetBSD to my collection. It is on SDF.org where I encountered alfred and his terminal challenge.

=> introduction-to-geminispace.gmi * Details on how I joined SDF.org

## The Challenge Engaged
I quickly found the first task I undertook after reading about the challenge. I received my son's football practice schedule as a Word .DOC file. Not a .DOCX file, which I could easily handled using Pandoc*, but an older format used by MS Word 97-2007. Too old for Pandoc. What I wanted to do was print it out to put up in our kitchen. Afterward, I shared my experience with the RETRO board.

> TACKER:  paulmccombs (Paul McCombs)
> SUBJECT: Terminal Challenge - minor success print Word *.doc file
> DATE:    17-Aug-26 22:01:17
> HOST:    faeroes
>
> ...
>
> I have set up a circa 2004 Epson 24 pin dot matrix printer to use with my command-line only [computer] to enhance the retro feel. I have installed and configured CUPS (using elinks text mode web browser) to print to the Epson. CUPS is capable of processing a PDF file, among other formats.
>
> ...
>
> I was able to learn that I could install LibreOffice§ and use it with the --headless switch to convert the doc file to PDF. This worked and I judged myself to have "won" that particular challenge. However the LibreOffice install was very large. ~1 GB of storage.

I got a larger response than I expected including five solid suggestions to investigate, and a further challenge to view the .DOC file on my FreeBSD command line. I tested the five suggested pieces of software and reported† back to the group.

> TACKER:  paulmccombs (Paul McCombs)
> SUBJECT: Terminal Challenge. View Word DOC file
> DATE:    25-Aug-26 05:50:55
> HOST:    faeroes
> 
> My conclusions:
> ===============
> 
>   - If you are dealing with standard prose, I would use [antiword]Δ either alone 
>     or in conjunction with Midnight Commander to view a Word .DOC file at 
>     the command line.
>   - Based on one test case of a calendar document, I would use Libre Office 
>     with the `--headless' option to convert table heavy documents to PDF 
>     which allows me to print via CUPS or to view in Midnight Commander.

After completing the .DOC file print and view task as part of the Terminal Challenge, I can report success‡ and an enjoyable time eschewing the modern GUI, as well as Microsoft's corporate software.

=> https://pandoc.org/ * Pandoc: a universal document converter (web link)
=> https://www.libreoffice.org/ § LibreOffice: an open source office suite (web link)
=> https://midnight-commander.org/ ¶ Midnight Commander: a visual, dual-pane file manager (web link)
=> ../mirror/word-doc-challenge.gmi  † Mirror of my findings post on the RETRO board
=> ../images/pdftohtml-c.webp ‡ View of PDF calendar viewed in the terminal (24k image)
Δ antiword is a correction to a mistake I made in the post on bboard.
=> https://web.archive.org/web/20221207132720/http://www.winfield.demon.nl/ Δ Antiword is a free MS Word reader for Linux, RISC OS, etc.

Updated 2026-09-13 - corrigendum

© 2026 Paul McCombs 
This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License
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