Sentana.Net – Journal

10 Unknown but Useful Linux Terminal Commands June 1, 2009

The original post was here.

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Before, I have posted here a few basic Linux terminal commands that I think are essential for newbies to know. I’ve also shared some deadly ones that should be avoided at all costs. This time, I’m going to show you several terminal commands that are perhaps unfamiliar to many new-to-Linux users but could be really handy when used properly.

Here’s a list of 10 rather unknown yet useful Linux terminal commands:

1. Kill a running application by its name:
      killall [app_name]

2. Display disk space usage:
      df –h

3. Locate the installation directories of a program:
      whereis [app]

4. Mount an .iso file:
      mount /path/to/file.iso /mnt/cdrom –o loop

5. Record or capture a video of your desktop:
      ffmpeg -f x11grab -s wxga -r 25 -i :0.0 -sameq /tmp/out.mpg

6. Find out the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) of your partitions:
      ls /dev/disk/by-uuid/ -alh

7. Show the top ten running processes (sorted by memory usage):
      ps aux | sort -nrk 4 | head

8. Make an audible alarm when an IP address goes online:
      ping -i 60 -a IP_address

9. Run the last command as root:
      sudo !!

10. Make a whole directory tree with one command:
      mkdir -p tmp/a/b/c

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Note: There are some problems on doing number 9 above, so you may want to try it out and let me know.

Linux Links #2 May 22, 2009

Today I found two links that might not be new to some of you, but they are definitely new to me.

1. LinDesk

This is a blogsite which has pretty good tips and tricks on Linux utilities and applications. There are some cool tips on Command line tools that you may find useful.

2. Penguspy

I’m not an avid game player, but I believe this site has a lot to offer many of the Linux users who were constantlt searching for any good games that they can play in Linux. The site also has a plan to provide an Installation link right beside the game review. Cool!

Enjoy!