Linux is fairly easy to operate; the terminal included. There are a number of different programs you want to utilize when using a Linux-based system. There are also a number of different commands that you want to get familiar with.
Basic commands are easy to remember and extremely useful for obvious reasons. There are also a variety of different completely useless Linux commands that exist solely for entertainment purposes.
We are going to go over both the useful basic commands and pointless funny commands.
Man Command
The ‘man’ command – or ‘manual’ command – is a reference guide to the basic Linux operating system. Similar to the HELP interface on other operating systems, ‘man’ will give you information on whatever command you input: man command_here
History Command
Basic as it is, the history command is also extremely useful; especially when you want to reference a previously used command. Generally, it produces a list of commands for the current terminal session. The command is (obviously): history
Pasting
While not necessarily a command, it is still very important to know how to paste in the terminal. Too many people will automatically assume that it’s not even an option. It is. You can copy text in the terminal with the standard ctrl+c, but pasting must be ctrl+shift+v.
Fortune Command
This is one of those completely pointless commands. Fortune literally gives you your fortune. This can be amusing, although there is nothing long-lasting to gain out of it.
- apt-get install fortune
- fortune
Cmatrix Command
If you’ve seen the Matrix movie, you know the stigma that comes with it. While a hacker’s desktop hardly looks like a blank screen filled with random numbers and letters, it now can. The cmatrix command literally turns your terminal into every wannabe hacker’s dream.
- apt-get install cmatrix
- cmatrix
Some of these commands are useful and definitely worth remembering. Some of them are probably not worth remembering, but still fun to have on the back-burner in cases of severe boredom.