Do you think there are only boring jobs on Linux terminals? Then you don’t know about these interesting Linux commands.

Linux terminals are designed to do complex work, and we have many useful Linux commands to help you.

But did you know that you can do a lot of fun things with terminals? If you don’t know, it doesn’t matter; most Linux users view the terminal as an interactive interface for managing systems and developing work.

However, you will be surprised to learn that there are terminal based games and ASCII games that you can play on terminals.

In this article, I’ll explore some fun, ridiculous, and ridiculous commands that you can use to have some fun on your terminal!

Have some fun on Linux terminals with these commands

You may find these commands ridiculous or useless, but some of them can be put to good use.

I have placed the Ubuntu/Debian installation instructions, if you are using an Ubuntu-based distribution make sure to enable universe as most commands are not in the main repository.

If you use Arch, Fedora, SUSE, Solus, or any other non-Ubuntu distribution, use your distribution pack management tool to install these interesting Linux commands.

1. Drive a train at the terminal

Let’s get on a train and take a trip, literally!

The SL command allows you to run a train at a terminal.

Installation method:

sudo apt install sl
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Once done, you can start by typing the following command at the terminal:

sl
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Fascinating, right? But wait, we’re not done yet! You can also make your train fly by adding the parameter -f, Mr. Potter, please fly:

sl -F
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This will make the train grow wings and fly out of the terminal window!

Add the Matrix effect to your Linux terminal

Remember the sci-fi movie The Matrix? The green characters dropped from the terminal became the symbol of the Matrix.

You can also have this matrix digital rain on your Linux PC! All you need to do is install Cmatric and type it into your terminal.

Install cmatrix on Debian/Ubuntu Linux:

sudo apt install cmatrix
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Now, all you have to do is type the following command and the terminal will have the Matrix screen:

cmatrix
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Press Ctrl+C to stop it, Mr. Hacker.

3. Light up

Grab a fire extinguisher, because you’re about to light a fire in your terminal!

To install it, you type:

sudo apt install libaa-bin
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When you’re done, you type the following command and your terminal will burst into flames:

aafire
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Press Ctrl+C to stop it.

4. Fortune Cookie command

Want to know your luck but don’t have a fortune cookie?

Don’t worry, just type Fortune on the terminal and hit Enter. The terminal will display a random lucky word, just like you get from a fortune cookie.

Install it:

sudo apt install fortune
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When you’re done, just type the following on the command line and you’ll know your luck:

fortune
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This is a command you can actually use. You can use it as a daily message so that in a multi-user environment, every user gets a fortune cookie when they log in.

You can also add it to the bashrc file so you can see it when you log in to the terminal.

5. Pet lover? This is for you

Oneko is a fun command that turns your cursor into a mouse and then creates a curious cat that will chase you as soon as you move the cursor. This is not limited to terminals. You can continue working while the cat chases the cursor.

This would be fun if you had kids at home.

Install oneko with the following command:

sudo apt install oneko
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Run it with the following command:

oneko
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If you don’t like cats and like dogs, type:

oneko -dog
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It has a variety of small pets, you can use Oneko-Help for information. Press Ctrl+C to terminate it.

There’s a little brother watching you

Xeyes is a small GUI program that draws a pair of eyes staring at you all the time! It will keep following your mouse cursor, running commands to see for yourself!

You can install it with the following command:

sudo apt install xeyes
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Then use it like this:

xeyes
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Press Ctrl+C to terminate it.

7. Let the terminal talk for you

Turn on your speaker and try this command. ESpeak is an interesting command that makes your terminal talk. Yes, you heard me right.

Install this package first:

sudo apt install espeak
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Next, you just type what you want to hear on the command line:

espeak "Type what your computer says"
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Whatever you put inside double quotation marks, your computer will repeat it back! It’s like the echo command in Linux, but instead of printing it, it says it.

8. Toilet (but not related to the bathroom)

It sounds a little strange, yes. However, this is just a command to convert text to large ASCII characters.

Install the toilet with this command:

sudo apt install toilet
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When you’re done, you just type:

toilet sample text you want
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I don’t know why it’s called Toilet.

What did the cow say?

Cowsay is a command that displays a cow in ASCII characters on a terminal. With this command, you can control the cow to say what you want.

Don’t worry about the sound, it just shows the text (like you read a comic book).

Install cowsay:

sudo apt install cowsay
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Once the installation is complete, you just type:

cowsay "your text"
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Whatever you put in double quotes, your cow will say! I’ve seen some system administrators use it to display daily messages. You can do the same, you can even combine it with the fortune command.

10, flags

The banner command is similar to the toilet command, but it limits printing to a maximum of 10 characters.

You can install the banner command like this:

sudo apt install sysvbanner
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Then run it like this:

banner "Welcome"
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Replace the content in the double quotes and you will get the display you want.

11, Yes

The yes command helps you automatically respond to the terminating command in the loop. This command will print the same content all the time. If you want to generate a lot of junk text quickly, this command will work like a super button.

You can also use it to provide yes replies to commands if prompted. For example, the apt upgrade command will ask you to confirm that you can use it like this:

yes | sudo apt upgrade
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You don’t need to install any packages, the yes command already exists.

To terminate the yes command loop, simply press CTRL+C.

12. Get a new identity

Do you want to generate a random fake identity? I recommend rig. You run it on the terminal, it generates a fake identity.

Install RIG with this command:

sudo apt install rig
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Just type like this:

rig
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It could be used to display random information in scripts or Web applications, but I haven’t done anything myself.

At the end

I hope you enjoy this interesting list of Linux commands. Which command do you like best? Do you know of any other interesting commands? Share them with us in the comments section.

Via: itsfoss.com/funny-linux…

By Srimanta Koley, Lujun9972

This article is originally compiled by LCTT and released in Linux China