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Linux is Fun in Terminal (Really)!

By: 5kYp01n7

August 4, 2016

Linux is fun! Huhhh? OK, so you don’t believe me. Meet me at the end of this article and you'll believe that Linux is actually a fun box.

1. Command: sl (Steam Locomotive)

You might be aware of command ‘ls‘ - the list command - and use it frequently to view the contents of a folder. But, because of miss-typing sometimes, you'd result in ‘sl‘. How about having a little fun in terminal and not seeing “command not found“.

Install sl

root@5kYp01n7:~# apt-get install sl (In Debian like OS)

root@5kYp01n7:~# yum -y install sl (In Red Hat like OS)

Output

root@5kYp01n7:~# sl

This command works even when you type ‘SL‘ and not ‘sl‘.

2. Command: telnet

No! No!! It's not as complex as it seems. You'd be familiar with telnet. Telnet is a text-oriented bidirectional network protocol over a network. Here, nothing needs to installed. What you should have is a Linux box and a working Internet.

root@5kYp01n7:~# telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

3. Command: fortune

What about getting your random fortune; sometimes it's funny in terminal.

Install fortune

root@5kYp01n7:~# apt-get install fortune (for Debian based system)

root@5kYp01n7:~# yum install fortune (for Red Hat based system)

root@5kYp01n7:~# fortune You're not my type.For that matter, you're not even my species!!! Future looks spotty.You will spill soup in late evening. You worry too much about your job.Stop it.You are not paid enough to worry. Your love life will be... interesting.

4. Command: rev (Reverse)

It reverses every string given to it; it's not funny.

root@5kYp01n7:~# rev 123abc cba321 xuniL eb ot nrob born to be Linux

5. Command: factor

Time for some Mathematics. This command outputs all the possible factors of a given number.

root@5kYp01n7:~# factor 5 5: 5 12 12: 2 2 3 1001 1001: 7 11 13 5442134 5442134: 2 2721067

6. Command: Cowsay

How about an ASCII cow in terminal that will say whatever you want?

root@5kYp01n7:~# apt-get install cowsay (for Debian based OS)

root@5kYp01n7:~# yum install cowsay (for Red Hat based OS)

Output

root@5kYp01n7:~# xcowsay I Love nix cow loves nix cybrary

7. Command: yes

It's funny, but useful as well -especially in scripts and for System Administrators where an automated predefined response can be passed to terminal or generated.

root@5kYp01n7:~# yes I Love Linux I Love Linux I Love Linux I Love Linux I Love Linux

Note: (Till you interrupt i.e ctrl+c).

8. Command: cmatrix

You might have seen the Hollywood movie ‘Matrix‘ and are fascinated with the power Neo was granted. He could see anything and everything in Matrix - or you might think of it like an animation that looks like a Hacker‘s desktop.

Install cmatrix

root@5kYp01n7:~# apt-get install cmatrix root@5kYp01n7:~# yum install cmatrix

Output

root@5kYp01n7:~# cmatrix

9. Fork Bomb

This is a very nasty piece of code. Run this at your own risk. This actually is a fork bomb, which exponentially multiplies itself till all the system resources are utilized and the system hangs. (To check the power of above code, you should try it once, but at your own risk. Close and save all other programs and files before running fork bomb).

root@5kYp01n7:~# :(){ :|:& }:

10. Command: espeak

Just Turn the Knob of your multimedia speaker to full before pasting this command in your terminal and let us know how you felt listening to a god-like voice.

Install espeak

root@5kYp01n7:~# apt-get install espeak root@5kYp01n7:~# yum install espeak

Output

root@5kYp01n7:~# espeak "5kYp01n7 is a very good website dedicated to Foss Community"

11. Linux Tweaks

It's time for you to have some one-liner tweaks.

root@5kYp01n7:~# world bash: world: not found

root@5kYp01n7:~# ^How did the sex change operation go?^ bash: :s^How did the sex change operation go?^ : substitution failed

$ [ whereis my brain? sh: 2: [: missing ]

% man: why did you get a divorce? man:: Too many arguments.

% !:say, what is saccharine? Bad substitute.

server@localhost:/srv$ (- bash: (-: command not found

There are certain others, but these don’t work on all the systems. Hence, they're not included in this article. Some of them are man dog , filter, banner, etc.

Have fun and you can thank me later :)Your comments are highly appreciated and they encourage me write more. Tell me which command you liked the most. Stay tuned: I'll be back soon with another article worth reading.