I wanted to start by writing just about ssh – the tool to remote into another machine, but I figured why not just make a list of some cool commands/tools I use a lot in Linux!
- rsync – awesome tool to sync files remotely or onto your usb
- ssh – want to log onto a remote pc – use this.
- top – process watcher – check out what your pc is preoccupied with
- avconv – convert media files easily from one format to another. For a directory full of files, I dump the directory listing to a file and just script it. I’m sure there’s a better way, but I still consider myself a newbie. This tool is super smart. Give it the extension and it’ll figure out the codecs. e.g. avconv -i file_to_convert.avi output_file.m4v
- aptitude – apt-get can get one into a world of trouble at times. Better use aptitude and upgrading all the needed libraries etc gets a whole lot easier. Investing a bit of time into this tool is worthwhile!
- [ctrl]+[alt]+[f1] – every once in a while your X system will hang – go to another terminal and fix it. On most linux machines [ctrl]+[alt]+[f7] will bring you back to where you started from
- xfwm4 –replace : Yes, my window manager hangs occasionally. When it does, this command brings it all back into working order
- terminal – man, do I ever use this tool!
- man or info – they’re subtly different. Info focuses on description and man on the options – but it depends on the documentation in all cases
- adduser – I couldn’t find a user manager in xfce4, so when you want to create a user use this command
- apropos – this is a daily use thing – helps you discover commands. "apropos add user" helped me find the add user command. It has its limits though. I had to read about ssh online