So, what's your favorite TUI?
I started with a Win 95 computer so I cannot claim to have loads of experience with with TUIs even though I love the idea of text-focused UIs that can be memorized. The idea of say an IBM POS terminal where workers can key items at a blistering rate without even looking at the screen (or the Bloomberg Terminal recently discussed in a recent HN entry).
I can say, things like DOS's EDIT mode, Deskmate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeskMate), or the old LCARS 24 clock/shell were always a pleasure to learn and made keyboard function keys, erm, "great again".
I now try to design my own little helper applications to conform to a keyboard-first role, where the mouse is a fully supported sidecar but not a required feature. I'm happy when I can get an application to be as easy to use with memorized keyboard shortcuts or sequences as with Mouse Keys.