{"id":3638,"date":"2019-04-04T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T06:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/?p=3638"},"modified":"2025-05-18T12:30:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T12:30:19","slug":"13-smart-terminal-tools-to-level-up-your-linux-servers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/13-smart-terminal-tools-to-level-up-your-linux-servers\/","title":{"rendered":"13 smart terminal tools to level up your Linux servers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Developers either tend to love or hate the Linux server\u2019s terminal. You have people like Matt, our CEO, who has told me many times that he could spend an entire day on the Linux terminal and love every second of it. And you have the rest of us<\/em>, who need a little help and encouragement.<\/p>\n

The Linux terminal is highly customizable. It\u2019s far from static. That means there\u2019s plenty of opportunities to turn a bland default terminal into a powerful (and colorful!) platform for you to get things done. There\u2019s new and unique tools, infinite customization options, and a ton of innovation around creating a usable and highly productive text-based interface.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look into some of my favorite ways to customize, personalize, and make any Linux terminal a little more to my liking.<\/p>\n

A collection of the smartest terminal tools (for a better Linux server experience)<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. tldr: Read simplified instructions on common terminal commands<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. how2: Get answers to your terminal questions<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. z: Jump to \u2018frecently\u2019 used places<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. trash-cli: Put files in the trash<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. nnn: Manage your files visually<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. bat: View files with syntax highlighting<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. pomo: A Pomodoro timer in your terminal<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. fselect: Find files with the speed of SQL<\/a><\/li>\n
  9. exa: List files with more features (and colors) than ls<\/a><\/li>\n
  10. peco: Get grep-like filtering with interactivity<\/a><\/li>\n
  11. has: Do you 'has' the dependencies you need?<\/a><\/li>\n
  12. progress: See how much longer mv, dd, cp, and more will take<\/a><\/li>\n
  13. mackup: Sync and restore your application settings<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Bonus: transfer.sh: Share files directly from the command line<\/a><\/p>\n

    tldr: Read simplified instructions on common terminal commands<\/h2>\n

    You\u2019ve probably seen this dismissive phrase before: \u201cGo read the man pages.\u201d<\/p>\n

    That\u2019s a typical response (unfortunately) to Linux newcomers asking questions about how to use a particular program or utility in the terminal. Doubly unfortunate is that man pages are often tedious and hard to parse.<\/p>\n

    tldr<\/a> is a solution. Once you download it, you can type in tldr $PROGRAM<\/code> to get some clear information on how to use that program, plus real-life examples. You\u2019ll probably be most interested in theBash<\/a> client.<\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s what tldr tar<\/code> gets you:<\/p>\n

    \"Terminal<\/p>\n

    How it\u2019ll level up your server:<\/strong><\/p>\n