Sometimes it is just fun to hang out in the terminal, you know, dial it back a few decades or just keep your memory usage a bit lighter on lower powered machines.
Terminal Emulators
There are two terminal emulators that I use most. One is always open, the other I use for fun from time to time.
Konsole
It is default on KDE Plasma. It supports a lot of features, more than I like KDE Plasma but sometimes it is fun to ignore the GUI and just do things in terminal.
Yakuake
Yakuake is a great way to integrate the terminal into your desktop in such a way that keeps access to the most powerful tool just a keystroke away. Yakuake isn’t the only terminal emulator I use but it is that one I use most often due to how incredibly convenient it is.
Cool-Retro-Term
For very different reasons, I also like this terminal. It simulates using computers of old. It is particularly funny, not real useful, but funny to use a modern computer of which is emulating a display where the horizontal sync requires adjustment.
Terminal Web Browsing
w3m
A terminal based web browser. It can be used in a terminal emulator or in a Virtual Console (also known as Virtual Terminal (VT)). Not all machines run a graphical session so this is an option of browsing the web in the terminal.
Fun Commands to Try
Basic Zypper Usage
Very basic guide on using the package manger, Zypper, in the terminal. This is by no means comprehensive but rather targeted at only the most basic functions for the majority of things you would do with it.
dmidecode
DMI table decoder that will tell you all kinds of things you never knew you wanted to know about your computer.
Network Control from the Terminal
With the deprecation of ifconfig in net-tools, I can’t ever seem to remember the new ip tool so here is a quick reference on the very basic features.
KDE Connect CLI | A gift to Future Self
KDE Connect is an application that I use on a daily basis between my mobile and my desktop or laptop Linux systems. Most of my systems are openSUSE machines running KDE Plasma and the mobile devices are running LineageOS (Android). Up until I decided to run a non-KDE Plasma desktop.
Tmux
tmux is a terminal multiplexer: it enables a number of terminals (or windows), each running a separate program, to be created, accessed, and controlled from a single screen. tmux may be detached from a screen and continue running in the background, then later reattached.
tmux uses a client-server model. The server holds multiple sessions and each window is a independent entity which may be freely linked to multiple sessions, moved between sessions and otherwise manipulated. Each session may be attached to (display and accept keyboard input from) multiple clients.
What makes this cool is you can create a kind of Tile Window manager like terminal based desktop. It is also for having session you keep open on a remote machine that is doing something for you. With a very simple process, you can attach and detach from a session and leave processing running. Within Tmux, you can have multiple windows and panes of processes as well which ends up being like a full fledged desktop. See the title link for how I implemented it.
More to Come
Stay tuned… or not.