Cool Tools
A collection of useful Linux tools. Originally compiled from kkovacs.eu.
Terminal / Shell
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
tmux | Terminal multiplexer — split panes, persistent sessions |
screen | Classic terminal multiplexer |
zsh | Z Shell — powerful interactive shell |
fish | Friendly interactive shell with autosuggestions |
mosh | Mobile shell — SSH replacement for unreliable connections |
File Management
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
ranger | Vi-style terminal file manager |
mc | Midnight Commander — two-pane file manager |
nnn | Fast, tiny terminal file manager |
fzf | Fuzzy finder for files, history, and more |
fd | Fast alternative to find |
bat | cat with syntax highlighting and line numbers |
exa / eza | Modern replacement for ls |
Networking
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
mtr | Combines ping and traceroute |
nmap | Network scanner and security auditor |
netcat (nc) | TCP/UDP Swiss army knife |
socat | Advanced relay for bidirectional data streams |
tcpdump | Network packet capture |
wireshark | GUI packet analyzer |
iftop | Real-time bandwidth per connection |
nethogs | Net bandwidth per process |
httpie | Modern HTTP client (better than curl for APIs) |
System Monitoring
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
htop | Interactive process viewer |
btop | Modern resource monitor with beautiful UI |
glances | All-in-one system monitor |
dstat | Versatile resource statistics |
iotop | I/O monitor per process |
lsof | List open files and network connections |
strace | Trace system calls |
Text Processing
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
jq | JSON processor |
yq | YAML processor (jq for YAML) |
ripgrep (rg) | Extremely fast grep replacement |
ag | Silver Searcher — fast code search |
pv | Monitor pipe progress |
Disk & Files
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
ncdu | Interactive disk usage (curses) |
duf | Disk usage/free with color |
rsync | Fast incremental file sync |
rclone | Cloud storage sync (S3, GDrive, etc.) |
restic | Fast, encrypted backups |
borgbackup | Deduplicated backup tool |
Security
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
pass | Unix password manager using GPG |
age | Simple file encryption |
gpg | GNU Privacy Guard |
fail2ban | Ban IPs with too many failed logins |
lynis | Security audit tool |
rkhunter | Rootkit hunter |
Miscellaneous
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
tldr | Simplified man pages with examples |
entr | Run commands when files change |
parallel | GNU parallel — run jobs in parallel |
watch | Execute a command repeatedly |