Must have CLI apps compared to GUI alternatives

[rmcellig]

What are your top CLI apps that you use that you feel are better and faster than a GUI alternative?

So far, in my early years of using Linux after switching from the Mac, I have found some I feel are so easy to use compared to the GUI alternatives I was using on the Mac side. Here they are:

arecord - I use this to record all of my radio show. Fast and easy!

Imagemagick - This is a new one for me. Less than 20c seconds I converted a folder full of jpgs to one pdf file. Love it!!

sudo apt-get install - I find this so fast at installing apps compared to the GUI solution.

What are your favs? Especially for newbies. As I get more comfortable with the CLI, I'm really starting to realize how powerful it is!!

[georgelappies]

bmon - monitoring bandwidth
htop - excellent process monitor
nethogs - let you know what is using up your bandwidth
fortune - always leaves a smile on the face especially when combined with a random cowsay

[tgalati4]

free -- Show your RAM and swap
w -- What's happening?
df -h -- Show your disk usage
dmesg | more -- Look for system/hardware problems
netstat -r -- Look at your network routing
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda -- Look at your harddisk error records.
ruptime -- Show your other machines on the network, also running rwhod.

[mamamia88]

Clamz- Download music from amazon music store. Just edit the config file with the directory you want music to be downloaded by default or it will download to whatever the current directory is. Then you just run clamz pathtofile.amz

[nothingspecial]

weechat because once set up it has more features and is easier to use than any irc client I've tried. Plus you can run it on a server and connect remotely and stuff.

That and anything that does something you do often that you can use with an alias or a function in your .bashrc

It's fun to try and do everything you normally do without X. Well I find it fun anyway......... >.<

[Toz]

It's fun to try and do everything you normally do without X. Well I find it fun anyway......... >.<
+1. My favourites are:

- cmus - music player
- screen - screen multiplexer
- links - web browsing
- irssi - irc
- alpine - mail reader

[monkeybrain2012]

octave. There was a gui called qtoctave but it was buggy and the project has died.

There is a new gui from the developmental version that looks like matlab, but haven't tried it out yet.

[nothingspecial]

+1. My favourites are:

- cmus - music player
- screen - screen multiplexer
- links - web browsing
- irssi - irc
- alpine - mail reader

Yeah, I'd say instead of screen itself use byobu with which you can switch between screen and tmux and get the best of both multiplexers.

I'd say elinks is better than links.

cmus is great if you want a music player with a library and stuff. I'd rather something like mplayer or cvlc that you can alias/function/script

I'm with you with alpine.

weechat is sooo much better than irssi, try it :)

[doorknob60]

ffmpeg - better than any of the GUIs that exist to convert videos and such. Just so much more powerful and less buggy.
youtube-dl - best way to download videos from Youtube. Period.
pacman - Arch only, but it's the best package manager I've ever used. Better than Software Center, Synaptic, everything (including apt-get for the record).

[GrouchyGaijin]

Yeah I agree - cmus is quite good.

I also use mutt for email and as mentioned above ffmpeg for video conversion. Here is a tip I got from the Multimedia forum, run the latest version of ffmpeg (the dev vervion) from a directory via the command line and you can have the version found in the repo installed system wide for things like kden live that require it.

[Paqman]

chown and chmod. Always just found sorting permissions easier in the CLI. I really only use the CLI for maintenance work, so find the preinstalled suite of tools more than adequate.

[oldos2er]

apt-get and apt-cache, use them all the time.

mplayer

htop

nano, when a simple text editor will do the job.

[Kov3nant]

apt-get (always). Never touch the software center.
nano is a nice quick editor for small files, otherwise I use gedit or emacs

Otherwise, when I'm bored, I'll just explore using the terminal. It's good fun.

[deadflowr]

apt-get (always). Never touch the software center.
nano is a nice quick editor for small files, otherwise I use gedit or emacs

Otherwise, when I'm bored, I'll just explore using the terminal. It's good fun.

I tend to use the software center for the reviews.
It's nice to know if something I want to use is actually working.

For CLI apps, whoami.

No, really, who am I?

ufw over gufw.

[cariboo]

The one app I always install is mc.

[andrew.46]

I hope I am the first to mention the great newsreader slrn, going strong since 1994 with a new release at the end of 2012:

Home of the slrn newsreader
http://slrn.sourceforge.net/

And who said Usenet was dying :)

[angry_johnnie]

I used to be a commandline junkie :p

dvtm - console-based tiled window manager
gpm - a terminal mouse pointer
screen - terminal multiplexer
moc - commandline music player
mplayer - media player. will play video on the framebuffer
finch - console-based IM client
links2 - console-based web browser with image support
nano - my favorite text editor
mc - file manager
fbi - console-based image viewer
fbgrab - framebuffer screenshot program
convert - image editor. part of imagemagick
bsdgames - a bunch of console-based games

[GrouchyGaijin]

@angry_johnnie Dude, that is a serious command line fetish there ;-)

One more for the list of cool cli apps - note.
Note is a cli note taking app that I started using and like.

[matt_symes]

rtorrent and newsbeauter. slrn is great and screen is a winner.

The only thing i don't do in the terminal is web browsing,

[nothingspecial]

The only thing i don't do in the terminal is web browsing,

Amatuer :p

[matt_symes]

Amatuer :p

LOL. I have elinks installed but i don't use it unless to have no choice.

[mJayk]

octave. There was a gui called qtoctave but it was buggy and the project has died.

There is a new gui from the developmental version that looks like matlab, but haven't tried it out yet.

Hay do you know the name of the new octave gui? Worth a try

[K.Mandla]

I'm just going to dump pacman -Q and trim out the boring stuff.


beets (http://beets.radbox.org/): for managing music information
binclock (http://www.ngolde.de/binclock.html): a binary clock, useful for a screensaver
bsd-games (ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/games/): worms and rain are good for screensavers too
charm (http://ljcharm.sourceforge.net/t_why.shtml): python-based blog client that will mesh with Wordpress.com, usually
clockywock (http://www.soomka.com/): console clock and screensaver
cmatrix (http://www.asty.org/cmatrix/): Matrix-esque screensaver
crawl (http://crawl.develz.org/wordpress/): usually I just ssh into the dev server, but occasionally I play offline
cursetheweather (http://opensource.hld.ca/trac.cgi/wiki/CurseTheWeather): pulls weather data, useful once or twice a day
elinks (http://elinks.or.cz/): my favorite text-based browser, can manage (but not display) images, etc.
fbgrab (http://hem.bredband.net/gmogmo/fbgrab/): framebuffer screenshot tool
fbv (http://s-tech.elsat.net.pl/fbv/): framebuffer image viewer; hook this into elinks for good clean fun
figlet (http://www.figlet.org/): funky text tool; again, for screensavers
glances (https://github.com/nicolargo/glances): quite possibly a better system monitor than htop
gnupg (http://www.gnupg.org/): encryption is my life
hnb (http://hnb.sourceforge.net/): hierarchical notebook; good for making lists in general
htop (http://htop.sourceforge.net/): for the most part, better than top
ical2rem (http://jalcorn.net/weblog/archives/899-iCal-to-Remind-script.html): converts ical (think: Google Calendar) to remind format (think: wyrd)
iptraf-ng (https://fedorahosted.org/iptraf-ng/): finest network monitor in the history of humanity
irssi (http://www.irssi.org/): chat client. I don't chat much, so this is okay. weechat is probably better
libcaca (http://caca.zoy.org/wiki/libcaca): img2txt converts a standard image into chunky text; good party game :roll:
mc (http://www.midnight-commander.org/): if you must use a file manager, use this one. can do ftp too
moc (http://moc.daper.net/): music player. cmus on slow-slow-slow machines, opencubicplayer on fast-fast-fast machines
most (http://www.jedsoft.org/most/index.html): my fave-rave pager
ncdu (http://dev.yorhel.nl/ncdu): graphical representation of drive space used. Indispenable
ncmatrix (http://webpages.charter.net/tux/ncmatrix/index.htm): cmatrix, looped through your network connection
ncurses-life (http://csiuo.com/drupal/content/ncurses-life): screensaver, of course
ntp (http://www.ntp.org/): on slow machines or machines with weak internal clocks, this will keep your ticker in line
openssh (http://www.openssh.org/portable.html): for scp, mostly
re-alpine (http://sourceforge.net/projects/re-alpine/): alpine the mail client. Not the best, but not the worst either
remind (http://www.roaringpenguin.com/penguin/open_source_remind.php): calendar and appointment tool, quite possibly more detailed than can be understood by mere mortals
renameutils (http://www.nongnu.org/renameutils/): qmv is a godsend
rsync (http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/): only the greatest sync utility ever
sc (http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/sc): a primitive but intuitive spreadsheet
surfraw (http://surfraw.alioth.debian.org/): looped into elinks, and the CLI becomes a Web search tool
tamsyn-font (http://www.fial.com/~scott/tamsyn-font): I flip-flop between this and terminus
tbclock (http://tamentis.com/projects/tbclock/): another binary clock, this one better
terminus-font (http://sourceforge.net/projects/terminus-font/): I flip-flop between this and tamsyn
tmux (http://tmux.sourceforge.net/): a little better than gnu-screen. A little ...
tty-clock (http://github.com/xorg62/tty-clock): terminal clock display, in digits, for a screensaver
ttyload (http://web.archive.org/web/20101115171456/http://www.daveltd.com/src/util/ttyload/): system load monitor; screensaver
vim (http://www.vim.org/): mostly for vimwiki (http://code.google.com/p/vimwiki/) and NERD_tree (https://github.com/scrooloose/nerdtree)
vitetris (http://www.victornils.net/tetris/): tetris game
vms-empire (http://www.catb.org/~esr/vms-empire/): text-based strategic conquest; think Risk but different
vtclock (http://webonastick.com/vtclock): terminal clock; screensaver
wavemon (http://eden-feed.erg.abdn.ac.uk/wavemon/): wireless information tool; coolest thing ever
wicd (http://wicd.sourceforge.net/): curses-based network manager
wyrd (http://pessimization.com/software/wyrd/): frontend to remind and despite some oddball dependencies, quite useful
yaourt (http://archlinux.fr/yaourt-en): pacman after too much caffeine; Arch Linux only, of course

I think that does it. There are a few others, but they are obscure and not things I regularly use. :)

[tartalo]

No one mentioned cp, mv and rm yet?

I have had no problem since I moved to Dolphin, but when I used Nautilus it would sometimes freeze in the middle of an operation, and the command line always saved the day. The command line is also faster.

Also:
dd if=/path/to/livecd.iso of=/dev/mypendrive && sync

is much much more reliable that the USB Creator.

[nothingspecial]

I hope I am the first to mention the great newsreader slrn, going strong since 1994 with a new release at the end of 2012:

Home of the slrn newsreader
http://slrn.sourceforge.net/

And who said Usenet was dying :)


I'm just going to dump pacman -Q and trim out the boring stuff.


beets (http://beets.radbox.org/): for managing music information
binclock (http://www.ngolde.de/binclock.html): a binary clock, useful for a screensaver
bsd-games (ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/games/): worms and rain are good for screensavers too
charm (http://ljcharm.sourceforge.net/t_why.shtml): python-based blog client that will mesh with Wordpress.com, usually
clockywock (http://www.soomka.com/): console clock and screensaver
cmatrix (http://www.asty.org/cmatrix/): Matrix-esque screensaver
crawl (http://crawl.develz.org/wordpress/): usually I just ssh into the dev server, but occasionally I play offline
cursetheweather (http://opensource.hld.ca/trac.cgi/wiki/CurseTheWeather): pulls weather data, useful once or twice a day
elinks (http://elinks.or.cz/): my favorite text-based browser, can manage (but not display) images, etc.
fbgrab (http://hem.bredband.net/gmogmo/fbgrab/): framebuffer screenshot tool
fbv (http://s-tech.elsat.net.pl/fbv/): framebuffer image viewer; hook this into elinks for good clean fun
figlet (http://www.figlet.org/): funky text tool; again, for screensavers
glances (https://github.com/nicolargo/glances): quite possibly a better system monitor than htop
gnupg (http://www.gnupg.org/): encryption is my life
hnb (http://hnb.sourceforge.net/): hierarchical notebook; good for making lists in general
htop (http://htop.sourceforge.net/): for the most part, better than top
ical2rem (http://jalcorn.net/weblog/archives/899-iCal-to-Remind-script.html): converts ical (think: Google Calendar) to remind format (think: wyrd)
iptraf-ng (https://fedorahosted.org/iptraf-ng/): finest network monitor in the history of humanity
irssi (http://www.irssi.org/): chat client. I don't chat much, so this is okay. weechat is probably better
libcaca (http://caca.zoy.org/wiki/libcaca): img2txt converts a standard image into chunky text; good party game :roll:
mc (http://www.midnight-commander.org/): if you must use a file manager, use this one. can do ftp too
moc (http://moc.daper.net/): music player. cmus on slow-slow-slow machines, opencubicplayer on fast-fast-fast machines
most (http://www.jedsoft.org/most/index.html): my fave-rave pager
ncdu (http://dev.yorhel.nl/ncdu): graphical representation of drive space used. Indispenable
ncmatrix (http://webpages.charter.net/tux/ncmatrix/index.htm): cmatrix, looped through your network connection
ncurses-life (http://csiuo.com/drupal/content/ncurses-life): screensaver, of course
ntp (http://www.ntp.org/): on slow machines or machines with weak internal clocks, this will keep your ticker in line
openssh (http://www.openssh.org/portable.html): for scp, mostly
re-alpine (http://sourceforge.net/projects/re-alpine/): alpine the mail client. Not the best, but not the worst either
remind (http://www.roaringpenguin.com/penguin/open_source_remind.php): calendar and appointment tool, quite possibly more detailed than can be understood by mere mortals
renameutils (http://www.nongnu.org/renameutils/): qmv is a godsend
rsync (http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/): only the greatest sync utility ever
sc (http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/sc): a primitive but intuitive spreadsheet
surfraw (http://surfraw.alioth.debian.org/): looped into elinks, and the CLI becomes a Web search tool
tamsyn-font (http://www.fial.com/~scott/tamsyn-font): I flip-flop between this and terminus
tbclock (http://tamentis.com/projects/tbclock/): another binary clock, this one better
terminus-font (http://sourceforge.net/projects/terminus-font/): I flip-flop between this and tamsyn
tmux (http://tmux.sourceforge.net/): a little better than gnu-screen. A little ...
tty-clock (http://github.com/xorg62/tty-clock): terminal clock display, in digits, for a screensaver
ttyload (http://web.archive.org/web/20101115171456/http://www.daveltd.com/src/util/ttyload/): system load monitor; screensaver
vim (http://www.vim.org/): mostly for vimwiki (http://code.google.com/p/vimwiki/) and NERD_tree (https://github.com/scrooloose/nerdtree)
vitetris (http://www.victornils.net/tetris/): tetris game
vms-empire (http://www.catb.org/~esr/vms-empire/): text-based strategic conquest; think Risk but different
vtclock (http://webonastick.com/vtclock): terminal clock; screensaver
wavemon (http://eden-feed.erg.abdn.ac.uk/wavemon/): wireless information tool; coolest thing ever
wicd (http://wicd.sourceforge.net/): curses-based network manager
wyrd (http://pessimization.com/software/wyrd/): frontend to remind and despite some oddball dependencies, quite useful
yaourt (http://archlinux.fr/yaourt-en): pacman after too much caffeine; Arch Linux only, of course

I think that does it. There are a few others, but they are obscure and not things I regularly use. :)


FWIW I learned everything I know about cli applications from these 2 guys.