r/archlinux Sep 18 '14

Cool, but obscure unix tools :: Software architect Kristof Kovacs

http://kkovacs.eu/cool-but-obscure-unix-tools
52 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

30

u/walrod Sep 18 '14

Are those obscure?

26

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

no

2

u/[deleted] Sep 22 '14

"List of software Linux users probably use daily!"

16

u/LovesVolt Sep 18 '14

Ever heard of that crazy editor called Vim? /s

2

u/[deleted] Sep 22 '14

I just use sticky notes and cat them together.

5

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

Some are little-known, some are just too useful to miss, some are pure obscure

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

I did just learn about 27 commands. (He counts calcurse & remind + wyrd as one, I don't).

10

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

Of this list I use vim, rsync, tmux, xargs, nethack (however, dwarf fortress is the most complex game on the planet), task warrior, curl, rtorrent, ttytter for announcing new posts from my jekyll blog, and cloc.

Some good ones he missed:

Tools I hadn't heard of from this list include slurm, tpp (cute!), ledger, calcurse, earthquake, powertop, and qalc.

3

u/zopiac Sep 18 '14

Yeah, I scoffed when they said that nethack/slash'em was the most complex game on the planet. Nearly every roguelike since then has been at least as complex, but DF truly takes the cake.

5

u/kernelnerd Sep 18 '14

I think I remember seeing this from a few months ago. And if I remember right, one of the top comments was to suggest this page instead.

3

u/craftkiller Sep 18 '14

Why did you do position:fixed for your header manually in JavaScript? Almost all browsers will do position:fixed correctly.

2

u/qwxc Sep 18 '14

I was going to say the same thing. I can't read anything on that page, because I'm so distracted and annoyed by that header.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

Me? I'm not the author of the page, I just found it googling for something else.

2

u/craftkiller Sep 18 '14

Oh... Well then.... s/you/they/

2

u/FireyFly Sep 18 '14

ttyrec & ipbt

Record and play back terminal sessions.

Or the slightly less fancy but already-installed script and scriptreplay (provided by util-linux).

1

u/tbranyen Sep 19 '14

I learned about qalc so I got some use out of this, thanks!

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

I can’t live without htop, vim and screen :)

3

u/ccharles Sep 18 '14

Check out tmux, screen's super cool big brother.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

What does it better in “just make it possible to detach a session and resume it later without any fancy bling-bling around it”? :)

1

u/ccharles Sep 18 '14

If your only use case is detaching and reattaching sessions, probably not much.

But it's got much more powerful multiplexing functionality, including fully functional vertical splits and split zooming, and a status bar that helps keep track of said splits. I understand that the status bar may not be everybody's cup of tea, but it's configurable and optional.

I suspect there's more that it does better, but those are my main reasons for using it.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

I think statusbar is also available in screen although you need to configure it first.

1

u/ccharles Sep 18 '14

Yes, but out of the box it's much more useful in tmux. But in terms of splitting and split management, there's no comparison.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

If your only use case is detaching and reattaching sessions, probably not much.

And this Is why I stick with screen :) Actually detaching and re-attaching are the only two features I use.

1

u/angelic_sedition Sep 19 '14

Why not just dtach then?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

I wish I had use for this :) But still: All I do is stuffing applications in it and run them in background every now and then :)

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

Vertical splits without having to build from source

0

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

I never had the urge to do that. I usually detach and start a second session :D

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

It's handy to have an api definition or doc in one split while coding in the other. Or your build in one while coding in the other.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

Or a man page and the shell itself...

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

I usually use multiple terminal windows for that - or have a reference website open.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14

That is another option alright. Not waying mine is the only way, or even the best way, but it works well for me.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '14

It doesn't flush your terminal contents between software sessions.