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some of the coolest terminal apps i use every day

minimalistic and efficient

2020-10-11

Using GNU/Linux distributions exclusively since about 2012 or so, I have become more dependent on some terminal applications than I have on some of their graphical counterparts. Not only do I use a lot of terminal applications written by others, I also use a good deal of my own terminal applications that I have made myself on almost a daily basis.

why terminal apps?

Terminal apps are applications that run on the command line. They don't have a graphical user interface and can only be interacted with through the terminal. What makes them so much better (sometimes) than their graphical cousins is the fact that they are lightweight and generally meant to serve a single purpose.

I use terminal applications because they are quick and simple. When I need to do a quick task, I can run a simple command instead of traversing through menus in a GUI environment. Depending on the task I am trying to get done, this is often the best and quickest way to go about getting something done on my machine.

Here are a few of the ones I use the most:

vim is the text editor I use for writing most of my code. The biggest majority of my software, as well as my websites, have been written within vim.
lynx is a terminal web browser that is quick and simple to navigate when you are looking to find a webpage and read its content without having to use a bloated web browser. There will be no picture or video support, but if you want to read a webpage in its text-only format with no ads, no scripts, and quick loading times, Lynx is the way to go.
man is a tool that can be a bit of a lifesaver. If you have a CLI tool you aren't sure how to use, for example, tor, you can run man tor to open its built-in documentation and dig deeper into its options and flags.
git is a version control system used by all kinds of programmers and companies the world over. Written by Linus Torvalds (the creator of the Linux kernel) back in 2005, Git has become an integral way for FOSS developers to manage code and collaborate on their software projects.
yt-dlp is a tool I use quite a bit to download audio from youtube videos. You can even save entire Youtube playlists using this tool.
cmus is a brilliant audio player for the terminal. I use it all the time for background music while working.

Here are a few terminal programs I have written:

DarkNightsRising is a game in progress about fighting your inner demons, and is written entirely in Bash. Contains its own artwork and original in-game soudntrack, as well.
delist is a script that helps me add domains to the domain blacklist on Nightshade Barriers, my Firefox extension. It takes the domains fed to it, removes irrelevant data, and appends the domains to a JavaScript array of blocked domains for the extension to make use of.
nightshade-installer installs the "nightshade" environment, which is all of our custom scripts, apps, and desktop configurations onto any machine running Debian or Ubuntu.

use terminal programs for yourself

If you use a GNU/Linux distribution and you don't use terminal applications and scripts regularly, you have no clue what you're missing out on! These terminal apps and scripts make my life and workflow a lot easier on my Linux machine, and with some research on how you can use these scripts to their fullest potential, you'll see just what all the hype is about when it comes to using these pieces of software.