I've just downloaded the latest version of ET. I type "et" in terminal, to get it working and possibly due to heavy traffic issues with the servers, I usually spend more than 30 minutes waiting for my turn to start playing. (depending on my server's choice and of course the period of the day).
In the meantime,I'm not able to do anything with my computer cause it's 100% dedicated to the game. This situation is quite boring!!! Is there any alternative command line to get it working in the background? Have you been facing problems with overloaded servers?

Are you saying it takes 30 minutes for the server list to finish being retrieved?
You could use XQF to browse server lists and launch ET from there, or does ET take a long time to load on your machine?

no johnnyv, the server list is ok, I can see a bunch of servers but usually almost all servers are full / crowded.

Ok you may find XQF is good for you then. its a server browser like gamespy
http://www.linuxgames.com/xqf/

Thanks for the tip johnnyv, xqf already installed and running, but in fact what would be the advantages of using xqf? The filters? Aren't these servers the same listed in ET? How to optimize xqf usage?

just filter by ping and is not full and is not empty
that way you just run xqf and check it regulary while you do other things on your computer.
I thought that was what you were wanting? to be able to do other stuff untill a server came free.

yes, you are right. I will play around with xqf in order to better use its features.
thanks again johnny.