Command-Line Software for Everyday Use

All of the following are available for various Linux distributions. The "Port info" link refers to the FreeBSD port. OpenBSD ports can be checked at ports.su. I'm not aware of any online port databases for NetBSD.

bettercap - like ettercap, but better.

No pre-packaged FreeBSD port. Installation instructions on their site.

gpg / GnuPG - "the" PGP replacement. Allows the use of both traditional RSA and the newer ECC algorithms like curve25519 (my preference). Choosing safe curves for ECC (like curve25519) and a StackExchange question comparing RSA and curve25519.

Port info

haxor-news - view and navigate HackerNews via the terminal.

No port info, install instructions on main site using pip.

htop - alternative to the standard top(1) utility. Easy to sort processes by CPU, MEM, etc.

Port info

iftop - like top(1), but for network connection information.

Port info

irssi - IRC client. Similar interface to the classic ircii and bitchX.

Port info

ledger - double-entry accounting for UNIX systems.

Port info

ncdu - ncurses du front-end. Very nice for visualizing disk use by directory.

Port info

neomutt - command line mail reader. Continuation of the classic mutt client, after development stagnated there.

Port info

pass - password database, replacement for KeePass et al. Uses a directory structure to store passwords. Allows multi-line entry to store miscellaneous info. Includes a password generator. Requires GnuPG.

Port info

pstree - displays a tree of processes

Port info

pv - pipe viewer. Allows you to add a progress bar to various tasks via pipes. Useful for monitoring dd progress, for example.

Port info

ranger - the only console file manager that doesn't make me nauseous.

Port info

rtorrent - torrent client using ncurses. Very fast and intuitive.

Port info

rtv - the Reddit Terminal Viewer. Uses $BROWSER to open links externally (so set it properly as an environment variable) while comment threads are viewable from the console.

Port info

sc-im - if vim were spreadsheet management software. Who needs Excel?

Port info

socli - navigate Stack Overflow from the terminal.

No port info, install instructions on main site using pip

speedtest-cli - performs a speed test using speedtest.net's api. Super useful for laptop users to test connection speeds from various access points.

Port info

taskwarrior - Task manager, planner, to-do list tracker, and calendar for the terminal.

Port info

texlive - distribution of TeX, a typesetting system, or a language to format documents. Can be used to replace traditional office suite writing and mathematical formatting programs. Often used to format scientific papers. Once a document is written (using a traditional text editor such as vim), it can be exported to PDF on the command line along with a myriad of other formats. The TexLive guide, 2018 edition is here. KEEP IN MIND: it will be much easier for a beginner to TeX typesetting to use something like the vimtex plugin to write and compile their documents.

Port info

tmux - terminal multiplexer. Allows the management of various terminal sessions in memory. For example, start irssi in a tmux session, then disconnect the session, and the terminal window can be closed. Open another terminal window, the tmux session can be reconnected as if nothing had happened. The software will continue to run in the background. Often used to hold rsync sessions in the background without staying logged in to a remote server, for instance.

Allows you to split a single terminal session into multiple "windows" and then into "panes", allowing you to expand your working environment through either the vanilla UNIX command line (not in an X environment) or through a single SSH session.

Port info and here's a cheat sheet to familiarize yourself with the controls.

tudu - manage your day with this powerful "to-do list" manager.

Port info

turses - Twitter client, uses ncurses.

Port info

vim-console - console text editor. I generally use the standard vi, however vim (in particular, the slimmer -console variant) is useful when it comes to syntax highlighting, etc.

Port info

vimtex - plugin for vim to format and compile LaTeX documents (an extension to the TeX typesetting environment) into various formats, such as PDF.

No direct FreeBSD port info. Install as a vim plugin. Here is a cheat sheet for LaTeX formatting cues. This will be the quickest and easiest way to get set up formatting documents using TeX/LaTeX and abandoning your traditional office suite software.

weechat - IRC client. Similar to irssi.

Port info