Explore Fun Linux Command-Line Tools: Figlet, Cowsay, CMatrix & More

This article presents a set of fun command‑line programs for Linux, showing how to install each tool and providing example commands to run them.

figlet (ASCII text art)

Installation

yum install figlet -y

Run

figlet rumenz.com

aafire (flame effect)

Installation

yum install aafire -y

Run

aafire

fortune (random quotes)

Installation

yum install fortune-mod

Run

fortune

Sample output:

We only acknowledge small faults in order to make it appear that we are
free from great ones.
                -- La Rouchefoucauld

yes (repeat a line)

Run

yes hello,world

sl (steam locomotive)

Installation

yum install -y sl

Run

sl

cowsay (talking cow)

Installation

yum install cowsay -y

Run

cowsay "rumenz.com"

____________
< rumenz.com >
 ------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

cmatrix (Matrix‑style screen)

Installation

wget https://jaist.dl.sourceforge.net/project/cmatrix/cmatrix/1.2a/cmatrix-1.2a.tar.gz
 tar -zxvf cmatrix-1.2a.tar.gz
 cd cmatrix-1.2a
 ./configure && make && make install

Run

cmatrix

asciiquarium (ASCII aquarium)

Installation

yum install perl-Curses perl-ExtUtils-MakeMaker perl-Data-Dumper -y
 cd /tmp
 wget http://search.cpan.org/CPAN/authors/id/K/KB/KBAUCOM/Term-Animation-2.6.tar.gz
 tar -zxvf Term-Animation-2.6.tar.gz
 cd Term-Animation-2.6/
 perl Makefile.PL && make && make test
 make install
 cp asciiquarium /usr/local/bin
 chmod 0755 /usr/local/bin/asciiquarium

Run

asciiquarium

asciiview (image to ASCII)

Installation

sudo apt-get install aview imagemagick

Run

asciiview hepburn.pen

hollywood (Hollywood‑style terminal)

Installation

sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get install byobu hollywood

Run

hollywood

ninvaders (Space Invaders)

Installation

sudo apt-get install ninvaders

Run

ninvaders

bastet (Tetris clone)

Installation

sudo apt-get install bastet

Run

bastet

Article source: 入门小站 (copyright belongs to the original author).