It seems like everytime I turn around, whether it's in Terminal or thr UI, I run into these programs with no freaking status indicatos. I'm talkibg no spinner, progress bar, or anything!
So how the hell am I suppoeed to know ot's doing what I need it to do or if I just didn't do something correctly?!?
This is part of the Gnome Philosophy and is a design choice. Gnome believes that the user does not need to know everything that is going on, therefor, the U.I. should hide in the background.
This is one of many examples where I say Microsoft is actually less controlling than Gnome is.
The Nautilus (Files) file manager does have a progress indicator, though many users do not notice it. They moved from a visible progress bar to a subtle spinner that floats in the header.
Some users prefer to use Aptitude for Terminal Progress bars, though apt does include it, as well. Aptitude may show them more aggressively or neatly.
Me, I just avoid Gnome. I did not migrate from Windows in order to be controlled more.
In Terminal it depends what You do. When updating, You get a Bar. When typing normal Commands, You normally doesn't get something. The Indicator is that Your normal Terminal Block appears. I mean the beginning Line with User and PC Name.
And with other Things ... it depends what Programs You use. And where do You expect something like this?
Hadn't thought about this. Glad I no longer use Gnome! (To be fair I don't use Zorin any more, other than as a VM to see if I can resolve forum posts.)