Enhancing Your Terminal Experience with Fun and Functional Tools

As DevOps/SRE, we spend a significant amount of time in the terminal. Why not make the experience more enjoyable and productive? Here are some tools and tweaks that can bring a bit of fun and functionality to your terminal sessions.?

Prerequisites

Before we start, make sure you have HomeBrew installed. You can check by running the following command:

brew -v

If HomeBrew is not installed, you can get it from Brew.sh

Step-by-Step Installation Guide

1. Install cowsay

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??brew install cowsay

??

2. Install fortune

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??brew install fortune

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3. Install figlet

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??brew install figlet

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4. Install Ruby

??Make sure you have Ruby installed:

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??ruby -v

??

??If not, follow the instructions on the Ruby website to install it.

5. Install lolcat

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??gem install lolcat

??

??Alternatively, you can install lolcat via HomeBrew:

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??brew install lolcat

??

Optional: Customizing Your Shell Configuration

To make these tools readily available, you can add them to your .bash_profile or .bashrc/.zshrc file. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Open your .bash_profile or .bashrc/.zshrc file in a text editor:

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??nano ~/.bash_profile

??

??or

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??nano ~/.zshrc

??

2. Add the following lines to include fortune and cowsay at the start of each terminal session:

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??if command -v fortune &> /dev/null && command -v cowsay &> /dev/null; then

???fortune | cowsay | lolcat

??fi

??

3. Save and close the file. To apply the changes, run:

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??source ~/.bash_profile

??

??or

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??source ~/.zshrc

??

See Also

For more fun and functional terminal customizations, check out the following resources:

- Awesome comments contributed below - thanks to everyone!

https://www.mewbies.com/acute_terminal_fun_01_get_ascii-fied_on_the_terminal.htm)

- Cowsay errors and entire collection of cows

https://www.mewbies.com/cowsay_errors_get_entire_collection_of_cows_and_more.htm

-How to customize your console login message

https://www.mewbies.com/how_to_customize_your_console_login_message_tutorial.htm

Enhancing your terminal with these tools can make your daily tasks more enjoyable and visually appealing. Give it a try and see the difference it makes!