This is first part of handy and time saving Debian and Ubuntu tips and tricks. Most of them can be applied to other distributions as well.
If you are in X-windows and want to switch virtual among virtual desktops, use
CTRL+ALT+arrow keys
To swith to a virtual console from X, use
CTRL+ALT + F1 through F6
The first line will show TTY1, 2 etc letting you know at which console you are
Once in virtual console, you switch to another virtual console with
ALT+F1 through F6
To switch back to to X, type
ALT+F7
To scroll through text in console, use
CTRL + pgup
To see who are using the system right now, type
who
To see who are using the system right now and what they are doing, we use
w
Sometimes, name of a right tool for a job just slips off our memory but we do know what that tools does. To see tools relevant to a word,
apropos browser
or
man -k consoles
Often times we see log files ending in gz ie gzipped. To see then, use
zless ( Same as less but for zipped files) zcat (Same as cat but for zipped files)
Many of us are unaware that we have all the LDP (Linux Documentation Project) howtos, guides and tutorials right in our distribution.
Install it with
aptitude install doc-linux-text
You will find them at
/usr/share/doc/HOWTO/en-txt
Use zless to read them.
To cut text to left on command line in bash
CTRL+U
and cut text to the right,
CTRL+K
and to paste that text, use
CTRL+Y
To clear screen in terminal
CTRL+-l
Say you started compiling a large program and you don’t want to wait for it to finish. You can suspend for while or send it to the background so it frees the terminal for you to work on something else.
So to suspend a running job (I remember it by saying zuzpend instead of suspend)
CTRL+z
To send it to the background
bg
and it will continue it in the background.
If you have more than one suspended or background jobs, you can see them using
jobs
[number] shows job number and + next to it means default job. The job to which any of the following commands will be applied if no job number is specified
.
To background job number 2
bg %2
To make it foreground
fg %2
To kill it
kill %2
To cancel it
cancel %2
To change screen resolution quickly, simultaneously press
CTRL ALT + or -
To start application automatically when X starts, place them in
.xsession
Instead of typing cd $OLDPWD, use
cd -
which takes you to the old working directory
More in part 2
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