There is no place like ~
I mount my soul at /dev/null
Sex, drugs, and UNIX/Linux
If you are stressed out, burnt out, depressed, or feeling increasingly overwhelmed, why don't you just chill out, man, and have some fun on the terminal?Worry not, let me suggest you some ideas:
- sudo visudo.
- Add this line at the top: Defaults insults.
- Empty the cache, so it invalidates the users’ cached credentials entirely: sudo -k.
- Test it, just mistype your password: sudo ls.
- Linux Easter Eggs. You may want to try:
> make love
make: *** No rule to make target 'love'. Stop.
> whatis linux
linux: nothing appropriate.
> aptitude moo
There are no Easter Eggs in this program.
> aptitude -v moo
There really are no Easter Eggs in this program.
> aptitude -vv moo
Didn't I already tell you that there are no Easter Eggs in this program?
> aptitude -vvvvv moo
All right, you win.
Fun with vim. You may need to install it: sudo apt install vim -Ubuntu-; sudo pacman -S vim -Arch-. Open it (vim) and type: :help 42
What is the meaning of life, the universe and everything? 42, Douglas Adams, the only person who knew what this question really was about is now dead, unfortunately. So now you might wonder what the meaning of death is…
- Bash-insulter randomly insults you when you type a wrong command.
- Download the bash-insulter script.
- Copy the script to the /etc folder: sudo cp bash-insulter/src/bash.command-not-found /etc/.
- Edit .bashrc (vim .bashrc) and add:
if [ -f /etc/bash.command-not-found ]; then
. /etc/bash.command-not-found
fi
user@pc:~$ pt
Dropped on your head as a baby, eh?
If ignorance is bliss, you must be the happiest person on earth.
This is not Windows
[...]
zsh: command not found: pt
- xeyes watches what you do and reports to the Boss. Installation: sudo apt install x11-apps.
- aafire displays burning, ASCII art, flames. Installation: sudo apt install libaa-bin.
- oneko draws a cute cat chasing around your mouse cursor. Installation: sudo apt install oneko. oneko -dog, oneko -tora, oneko-sakura, onejo -tomoyo draws a dog, tora-neko, Sakura Kinomoto, and Tomoyo Daidouji respectively. Don’t worry, you can kill the process by typing pkill oneko.
- asciiquarium displays an aquarium/sea animation in ASCII art. Installation: sudo snap install asciiquarium (Ubuntu, Debian); sudo pacman -S asciiquarium (Arch).
- tty-clock is a terminal digital clock. Installation: brew install tty-clock (macOS); sudo apt install tty-clock (Ubuntu);
Install tty-clock.git from the AUR (Arch).
tty-clock -c -C 7 -r -f "%A, %B %d" # Credits, https://hund.tty1.se
- sl draws a retro train in your terminal. Installation: brew install sl (macOS); sudo apt install sl (Ubuntu, Debian); sudo pacman -S sl (Arch);
- boxes draws any kind of box around its input text, e.g., uname -a | boxes. The -l option lists all available designs. Installation: choco install boxes.portable (Windows); brew install boxes (macOS); sudo apt install boxes (Ubuntu, Debian).
Install boxesk.git from the AUR (Arch).
- Funny man pages. Installation: sudo apt install funny-manpages (Ubuntu). Open your terminal and try man baby, man celibacy, condom, woman (undocumented), sex, grope, party, flog, … bb is an ASCII-art demo. Installation: sudo apt install bb (Ubuntu).
Install bb.git abd, funny-manpages.git from the AUR (Arch).
- Fortunes prints a random, hopefully interesting, adage. Installation: sudo apt install fortunes fortunes-off (data files containing offensive fortune cookies) -Ubuntu, Debian; sudo pacman -S fortune-mod (Arch). Meta packages which provide quotes from specific sources are available in the AUR under the prefix “fortune-mod”, e.g., fortune-mod-confucius, fortune-mod-chucknorris, fortune-mod-hitchhiker, or fortune-mod-montypython.
- cowthink and cowsay are configurable talking or thinking cows. Installation: sudo apt install cowsay cowsay-off (offensive cows) -Ubuntu, Debian; sudo pacman -S cowsay -Arch; e.g., fortune -o | cowsay. Futhermore, cowsay -l lists all cows or characters to choose from, and then you can tell cowsay which one to use: fortune -o | cowsay -f skeleton.

- cmatrix simulates the display from “The Matrix”. Installation: brew install cmatrix (macOS); sudo apt install cmatrix (Ubuntu, Debian); sudo pacman -S cmatrix (Arch). Launch it: cmatrix and type “q” to quit the program.
Instal bb.git, funny-manpages.git de la AUR (Arch).
- Others. bastet, Bastard Tetris: brew install bastet (macOS); sudo apt install bastet (Ubuntu, Debian); cbonsai is a bonsai tree generator. Installation: sudo apt install cbonsai (Ubuntu, Debian). eSpeak-ng is a text to speech tool for Linux, macOS, and Windows: brew install espeak (macOS), sudo apt install espeak-ng (Ubuntu), sudo pacman -S espeak-ng; Use: espeak-ng “My text to voice”. RIG (Random Identity Generator) generates random, but yet real-looking, personal data. More games can be found in STEAM DECK & List of games: ninvaders, nsnake, greed, bsdgames, moon-buggy, nudoku, asciijump, gnuchess, etc.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/cbonsai-git.git (Arch)
cd cbonsai-git
makepkg -si