Yes, generally you can. I run Linux Mint and can count the number of times that I HAD to use the terminal. There are plenty of times where I choose to use the terminal because it's faster though.

On Linux Mint, most updates and backups can be automated; installing ClamTK from Software Manager can be automated; the Software Manager, itself, is a GUI.

The terminal is helpful but required? Not really.

I use cli just for making virtual mics and audio sinks and for .jar, so things people who are afraid of cli probably wouldn't even consider doing. Currently using bazzite. The immutable nature make it annoying when you want to do some things via cli that don't work like they would in vanilla fedora, but that doesn't seem like it would be a problem for someone who doesn't want to use cli. Bazzite includes bazaar for accessing flatpaks and works fine usually.

Yes, there are several distros that come with many things prepackaged. See Fedora, CachyOS, and Mint for examples.

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.

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.

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.

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

To your bonus question: portage

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

there's three thing I use the terminal for:

Updating my apps and systems Running development apps Quick and easy edits or file movements

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

Does anything provide a similar experience to Arch’s amazing AUR

I am not aware of any software distribution service with a comparable experience (massive userbase with zero vetting for uploaders) as Arch's amazing AUR - if you are looking for a way to distribute malware to many unsuspecting people (who's friends think they're hackerman), it's really unparalleled. (😢)

To your primary question, yes, many people do successfully daily drive various Linux distros without ever opening the terminal. 🙄

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)

Rep to bonus question: Fedora, or any Ubuntu-based distro.

"User-friendly" and "updated" sadly sounds incompatible. In just slightly less than one year of using Fedora I've had 3 bad qt updates that broke kde's softwares like kmail, 2 bad amd-gpu updates that made the gpu crash and 1 pipewire update that broke surround sound.

Those were all minor updates that were easy to revert though, just had to use the terminal for that and wait the next fixed version.

Definetely yes for years now. However, CLI is still preferred.