Fun Things To Do in Your Linux Terminal

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I’m still sort of sick, but also actively participating in going to work (because I don’t have sick time to use right now), but! I wanted to write something on the blog here, despite being tired, and stuffy, and having pains in my body, and so I thought, “What about neat things you can do in your Linux terminal that some might not be aware of?” I know, yes. This is a very nerdy thing to think about, or even do, and I’m sure the Windows-holdouts are giving this paragraph the stink-eye. Never-you-mind them, though. Let’s open up that terminal.

First, let’s do a ‘sudo apt install cowsay’, and then once it’s finished, type in something like,

cowsay 'At the stripted club, jorkin my peanits'

And enjoy the result:

Or, maybe you want to generate some quick ascii text for your blog header, or social profile? Easy peasy, dude. First, make sure you have figlet installed, by typing, ‘sudo apt install figlet’, and then go ahead and do something like this:

figlet cmdr nova

Example result:

Our next little easter-egg-ish thing (depending on whether it’s already installed on your system or not) is more just kind of neat. Just in case, since not all systems will have this, type in ‘sudo apt install sl’, and then run this:

sl

(No, it won’t delete your entire hdd)

Or, maybe you want to do something a little more complicated, but fun, nonetheless. If you’re a 90s baby, or even a mid-80s baby, this will suddenly feel like, maybe, you’re being warped back in time a bit. Type ‘sudo apt install sudoku’ into your terminal, and then run it with:

sudoku

And enjoy:

Perhaps you want something a bit more complex, so let’s install NetHack, and become a Wizard!

sudo apt install nethack-console

and then run:

nethack

But, maybe this is too complicated, and you’re looking for something … a bit more straight-forward, and maybe even retro? I got you.

Do this:

sudo apt install colossal-cave-adventure

And then, in any terminal, just type in ‘adventure.’

Okay, so, obviously, we went a little bit further here than just playing with random little quirky things in a Linux terminal, but I wanted to showcase how, even if you don’t want to install Steam, even if you mainly use your Linux computer for work, or productivity, and there really aren’t any games, or fun things on it … you can just do things, in the Terminal, and this is just the beginning.

An entire era of lost art, and a type of gaming, living freely in your Linux terminal, rather than a DOS machine from 1985.

One thing I do remember from those times, is a text adventure Twilight Zone game, and I would very much like to find it again, or, to be more specific, find it, and then load it up in the terminal and play it that way. I’m pretty sure it’s easily available on DOSbox somewhere. But, you know, I have a terminal. Let me play it like that. The way it was meant to be played. If you’ve done this, or can point me in the right direction: Let me know!