Linux software tricks: commands, applications, and key tips

If you use Linux daily — whether on a desktop, a modest laptop, or a cloud server — knowing four basic things is not enough to get the most out of it. Linux dominates over 90% of cloud infrastructureIt's the favorite platform of developers and the operating system behind a good part of the Internet, so learning its software tricks is not a whim: it's an investment in productivity.

In addition to being free and open source, Linux offers a very powerful command line, very mature package managers And a massive ecosystem of applications for almost any task you can imagine: from editing 4K video to managing a home server. In this guide, you'll find a mix of essential commands, shortcuts, security tips, and recommended tools to help you work faster, more securely, and with fewer unexpected surprises.

Basic Linux commands you absolutely must master

In Linux, practically everything happens through the terminal: Every button you press in a graphical interface usually ends up invoking a commandUnderstanding how those commands work is the difference between moving at a snail's pace and moving through the system like a shot.

A command is simply a program that you execute on the command line, accompanied by flags (options) and arguments (parameters)Flags usually begin with - o --The arguments indicate which file, directory, or resource you want to act upon and usually follow a specific order.

Almost all commands include built-in help: you can use the option -h or consult its manual page with man nombre_comandoIf you get used to using help instead of always searching on Google, you'll learn much faster how the tools really work.

Below is a selection of basic commands that every Linux user should know (and use daily) to navigate the file system, manage files, and obtain information about their machine.

1. Browse directories and view their contents: ls, pwd y cd

The command ls List the contents of a directory: It shows you files and subfolders in the current directory or the one you specify.. With options like -l (long list) or -a (includes hidden ones) you get much more information at a glance.

If you want to add some color to the output to better distinguish file types, you can define an alias like this: alias ls="ls --color=auto"That way you don't have to repeat the option every time you use it.

To find out which folder you're in, pwd (print working directory) shows you the absolute path of the current directoryThis is key to not getting lost when you've made several consecutive directory changes.

Finally, with cd Change folder: Without arguments, you return to your personal folder, with cd .. You level up, and with cd - jump to the previous directory (very useful for going back and forth between two paths while working).

2. Aliases and alias removal: alias y unalias

An alias is an abbreviation that the shell uses to represent one or more commands. For example, you can define alias ll="ls -lah" to get a detailed list with legible sizes just by typing ll.

If you run alias Without arguments, you'll see all active aliases in your shell sessionThey are temporary, so if you want them to be persistent, add them to your shell's configuration file (for example) ~/.bashrc o ~/.zshrc).

If you make a mistake or want to get rid of one, unalias nombre_alias It deletes it from the current session. It's a simple way to Clean up shortcuts you no longer need or that conflict with actual commands.

3. Copying, moving, creating, and deleting files: cp, mv, mkdir, rm

With cp You can copy files and folders: cp origen destino for a file, and cp -r when dealing with entire directories. Remember the / final in the folder paths to avoid confusion.

The command mv It serves both to move and to rename: If the destination is a different path, you move the file; if it's just a different name in the same folder, you rename it.It's one of the most versatile tools when you're reorganizing your projects.

To create directories you use mkdir. With option -p you can generate all at once a whole hierarchy of subfolders, for example mkdir -p peliculas/2004/terror.

rm It deletes files and directories, and you have to tread carefully here: rm -rf An entire folder with all its contents can be uploaded without asking for confirmation.For empty directories you can use rm -rBut before launching destructive commands, carefully check the path you are going to delete.

4. View, create, and play files: cat, less, head, tail, touch

The classic cat It shows you the contents of text files one after another; it's ideal for inspect short files or concatenate several on standard output. For large files it becomes inconvenient.

When the file is long, less it allows you navigate forwards and backwardsSearching for strings and navigating comfortably without having to read the entire text at once is pure gold for reviewing large logs.

If you're only interested in the beginning or the end, head y tail show the first or last lines of a file. With -n You adjust how many lines you want to see, and with tail -f You can follow how a log grows in real time.

The command touch It is used primarily for create empty files on the flyIt can also update access and modification timestamps. This is very useful for quickly generating configuration files or scripts that you can fill in later.

5. Permits and direct execution: chmod y ./

Each file has read, write, and execute permissions for the owner, the group, and all other users. chmod You can change those permissions flexibly: chmod +x archivo makes it executable, something essential before launching a script.

When a file is executable and has the appropriate header (shebang), you can run it with ./nombre_archivoThat notation indicates “Run this file located in the current directory” using the interpreter I declared in the first line (for example, /usr/bin/python3).

6. Documentation and instant help: man, whatis, which

The command man Open the full manual for any utility that has one available. If you run man man you will see manual page sections and conventions, something very useful for getting the most out of them.

When you just want a quick description of a command, whatis bring back a summary line with its main purpose, ideal for refreshing your memory without going into details.

On the other hand, which It tells you the exact path to the executable that will run when you type a command, which is key for detect duplicates or know which version of a program you are using if you have several installed.

7. System and user information: whoami, uname, neofetch

With whoami You can check on the fly which user are you actually working with?This can prevent unpleasant surprises when switching between regular and management accounts.

uname It displays data about the kernel and the machine; with uname -a you get a quick overview of the system with hostname, kernel version, and architecture. This is very useful when requesting support or documenting an environment.

If you want something more eye-catching, neofetch draw an ASCII logo of your distribution along with a summary of hardware, kernel and environmentIt is not usually installed by default, but it can be added in seconds using the package manager.

8. Processes, memory and resource management: ps, htop, kill, xkill

The command ps List the processes associated with your shell session; with the appropriate options you can see what it is running, its identifiers (PIDs), and other detailsFor something more interactive, htop It offers a real-time view of CPU, RAM, processes and their consumption.

When an application freezes and there's no way to close it gracefully, kill it allows you send him signals to end iteither by specifying its PID or its name. Be careful, because you can lose unsaved work if you force-kill a process.

A handy trick in graphical environments is to configure xkill as a keyboard shortcut: when executed, the cursor turns into a cross and Any window you click on will be terminated immediately.It's like a "panic button" for rogue apps.

9. Network and connectivity: ping, wget

To check if you have a connection to a specific host, ping It sends ICMP packets and measures the response time. You can test with both domains and with direct IP addresses to rule out DNS problems.

For its part, wget It's the Swiss Army knife for downloading files from the web. It supports a ton of options for retries, recursive downloads, and authentication, and is ideal when you need Download content from scripts or servers without a graphical environment.

10. Advanced search and text analysis: grep, find, wc

With grep You can search for patterns in text files using regular expressions; it not only returns matching lines, but also offers options like -c can count occurrences of a termThis is very useful when analyzing logs or command results.

The command find It traverses a directory hierarchy and locates files based on name, type, and other criteria. For example, you can search all Python scripts with *.py in your current project by indicating the route and a search pattern.

Lastly, wc (word count) returns the number of lines, words, and bytes in a file. -w o -l you're left alone with Word or line count, perfect for quick statistics or to validate the output of other commands.

11. Password management and logout: passwd, exit, history

If you need to change your current user password, passwd It guides you step by step: First it asks for your current password, and then the new one twice.Try not to experiment if you're not sure what you're doing, because losing access to your own account is a real problem.

The command exit It is used to exit the current shell, which translates to close the terminal tab or end a remote session if you are connecting via SSH.

And if you don't remember exactly what that long command you typed earlier was, history muestra a numbered list of recently executed commandsIn addition to navigating with the arrows, you can search within it with Ctrl+R or clean it completely with history -c if you don't want to leave a trace.

Package managers and essential software in Linux

One of the greatest luxuries of Linux is having powerful package managers. Installing, updating, or deleting programs from the terminal is fast, safe, and reproducible., something that in other systems is often done by using a strange third-party installer.

Depending on the distribution you use, you will handle different tools: apt in Debian/Ubuntu, yum o dnf in Red Hat-based systems and pacman in Arch and derivativesIn all cases the idea is the same: the packages are downloaded from official or trusted repositories, dependencies are resolved, and the system is left ready without any mess.

For example, to install GIMP on Ubuntu you would type sudo apt install gimp; in Fedora it would be sudo yum install gimpand in Arch, sudo pacman -S gimpChange the package name and repeat the pattern for the rest of the programs.

Based on that, the Linux application ecosystem is much larger than many people realize. There's serious, professional software for almost anything, from audio and video editing to virtualization, office applications, and security.

Audio and music: Ardour, Audacity, players

If you work with sound, Ardour is a very complete multitrack DAW that lets you Record and mix audio and MIDI across multiple channelsWith support for multiple formats and plugins, it's a very serious alternative to commercial solutions.

Audacity remains essential for quick editing tasks: record, cut, apply effects, clean noise, and export to multiple formatsFurthermore, it supports plugins to extend its capabilities without spending any money.

To play your music library, you have more minimalist and visually appealing players like Lollypop or Musique, which focus on to offer a clean interface, album art, and artist information, without complicating things with advanced options if you don't need them.

Video, graphics and photography: Blender, Kdenlive, DaVinci, DarkTable, GIMP

Blender is the ultimate all-rounder for 3D: modeling, animation, VFX, video editing, and even video game creationAll in a single application. It's hard to believe it's free software because of the number of things it allows you to do.

If video is your thing, Kdenlive and Shotcut offer non-linear workflows with support for a huge number of formats thanks to FFmpegMultiple tracks, effects, titles, and high-resolution export. And if you're looking for something closer to industry standards, DaVinci Resolve has a free version with very powerful editing and color correction tools.

In photography, DarkTable closely approximates the Lightroom workflow: RAW development, catalog management, and advanced settings Designed for photographers who process large volumes of images. For general retouching, GIMP remains the go-to alternative to Photoshop, with layers, masks, filters, and support for scripts and plugins.

Office suite, reading and organization: LibreOffice, Calibre, Evolution, Typora

LibreOffice is today the most complete free office suiteWord processor, spreadsheets, presentations, databases… All with an increasingly modern interface and good compatibility with Microsoft Office formats.

If you read ebooks, Calibre is essential: Manage your ebook library, convert between formats, send to your reader, and edit metadata.In addition, you can download news articles and websites to read them as if they were books.

Evolution, for its part, combines an email client, calendar, tasks, and contacts in one place, functioning as the nerve center of your digital life, especially in GNOME environments where it integrates perfectly.

For light writing and technical documentation, Typora offers a minimalist Markdown editor that It shows the result almost exactly as it will look when exported.avoiding distractions and focusing on the text.

Internet, messaging and multimedia: Firefox, Edge, Telegram, Discord, Kodi, Plex, OBS

For browsers, Firefox remains a fantastic option due to its focus on privacy, and if you work in mixed Windows-Linux environments, Microsoft Edge on Linux is a great choice. It allows you to keep passwords, favorites, and settings synchronized. between both platforms.

Telegram and Discord are two heavyweights in communication: the former shines because their focus on channels, bots, and multi-device useThe second reason is the ease of creating themed servers with voice and video chat, ideal for communities and work groups.

To set up a media center, Kodi or Plex turn your PC into a kind of home NetflixThey organize movies, series, music and photos, add metadata and allow access to your content from other devices, with add-ons that further expand their possibilities.

If you want to stream your games or do live streams, OBS Studio is the standard tool: You add scenes, video sources, overlays, audio, and send it to Twitch, YouTube, or wherever you want with a very high level of control and without paying for licenses.

System, security and utilities: GParted, Stacer, ClamAV, qBittorrent, jDownloader, Wine, YUMI

GParted is the Swiss Army knife of partitioning: create, resize, move, format and label partitions visually. You can use it from your system or boot a live USB with GParted to edit disks without mounting any operating system.

Stacer offers a detailed view of your machine's performance: it monitors resource consumption, processes, startup services, and includes a cleaner for unnecessary files, all centralized for to have the state of the system under control.

Although Linux is less frequently targeted, it's not immune. ClamAV is an open-source antivirus engine that you can... Use it to analyze directories, downloads, or even mail serverswith interfaces such as clamtk It's more convenient if you don't feel like fighting with the terminal.

For downloads, qBittorrent is one of the best BitTorrent clients, with Integrated search engine, support for magnet links, and advanced queue managementAnd if you use direct downloads, jDownloader saves you a lot of work by automatically detecting links in the clipboard.

Wine provides a compatibility layer for running many Windows programs directly on your LinuxThis is key if you absolutely need a proprietary tool that doesn't have a native version. And if you enjoy tinkering with Linux distributions, YUMI helps you create multiboot USB drives with several bootable images on the same flash drive.

Tips and best practices to get the most out of Ubuntu and other distros

Beyond commands and applications, there are a number of habits and small adjustments that They make the difference between a stable and comfortable Linux experience, or an installation full of surprises.Many of these tips stem from very typical mistakes when someone comes from Windows and starts tinkering without knowing what they're doing.

Repositories, permissions, and third-party software: things you shouldn't mess with.

One of the most common mistakes when starting out is adding repositories willy-nilly "because you saw it on a forum." Each additional repository is another source of packages, but it also a potential source of instability, conflict, and security holes.

The basic rule is simple: Use only the official repositories of your distribution and add external ones only when strictly necessary and trusted.Avoid PPAs or unusual repos that promise miracles, especially if they don't have active maintenance.

The same applies to executables downloaded from random websites: packages .deb, .rpm or third-party installation scripts that are neither signed nor reviewed. Installing software from unknown sources can bring you malware, backdoors, or simply a broken system.So be wary of "magic installers" who promise to do everything for you.

Regarding permissions, use sudo o su It's a bad idea for everything. Work like a normal user and Elevate privileges only when you really need to access the system (install packages, edit configuration files of /etcetc.). A mistyped command as root can cause serious problems.

GRUB, desktops and "miracle" scripts: how to avoid messing up your installation

The GRUB boot manager controls which operating system loads when you turn on your computer. Tampering with its settings without understanding them can leave you with... a computer that no longer starts and forces you to recover data with a live USB.

If you want to reorder entries or customize something, do your research or use tried and maintained tools; don't just randomly edit files. /etc/grub.d Nor should you blindly rely on third-party utilities that modify GRUB without you seeing exactly what they do.

Another classic practice is to mix complete desktop environments (for example, GNOME and KDE) in the same installation. When installing certain applications, you can drag and drop them. The entire opposing desktop environment along with its file manager, libraries, and settingsand end up with a visually inconsistent and difficult-to-debug system.

To make matters worse, there are "one-click install" scripts that add repositories, install kernels, and modify critical configurations without you actually having control over the process. These inventions can leave the system completely unstableSo it's best not to even smell them if you don't want any surprises.

Updates, stable software, and pre-installed applications

In distributions like Ubuntu or Linux Mint, LTS (Long Term Support) versions are the best option for new users or work teams, because They prioritize stability and security updates over always having the latest version.

Unstable or "proposed" software repositories only make sense if you know what you're doing, want to thoroughly test new features, and are willing to report bugs. For normal, everyday use, It's much smarter to stick with stable versions and update them with the official flow.

It's also tempting to uninstall pre-installed applications you don't use, but many have deep dependencies on other parts of the system. Removing them without knowing can cause problems. key packages are dragged and important components stop workingIgnore them or hide them from the menu if you don't need them, and that's it.

Practical Ubuntu tips to improve your daily life

Ubuntu (and many other distributions) hide little tricks that save you time. For example, You can immediately paste any text you have selected with a middle mouse click.It's a clipboard "parallel" to the typical one. Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V, very useful for repeated quick hits.

Virtual workspaces allow you to separate tasks onto different desktops: one for your browser and email, another for development, another for multimedia, etc. In Ubuntu, you can activate them from the appearance settings and then move between them using keyboard shortcuts or send windows from one area to another.

You can also make very granular decisions about which apps launch when you log in from the "Apps at login" panel. It's easy. Remove unnecessary services to speed up startup or add programs that you always want to have open without clicking every time.

If you miss a classic-style login sound, you can add a command that plays a clip to that same list of applications at startup and recapture that nostalgic touch without too much trouble.

Performance: swap, temporary folders in RAM, and graphics drivers

On machines with ample RAM (8 GB, 16 GB or more) you can adjust how the system uses the swap partition to reduce the impact on the disc and gain some agilityParameters such as vm.swappiness o vm.vfs_cache_pressure can be adjusted in /etc/sysctl.conf so that the kernel uses less swap space when it is not needed.

Another advanced trick involves mounting temporary folders like /tmp o /var/tmp in RAM using tmpfs. A) Yes Temporary operations are much faster and you avoid continuous writes to SSD disksJust remember that everything there disappears when you turn it off.

If you want to play games or simply push your GPU to its limits, it's important to check which driver your system is using. In Ubuntu, within "Software & Updates" you'll find an Additional Drivers tab where You can choose between open-source or proprietary drivers from the manufacturer.Testing which one gives you the best performance is usually a good idea, always using trusted repositories.

Interface customization and useful shortcuts

Tools like Unity Tweak (in older versions of Ubuntu) or their modern equivalents allow you to Customize the desktop appearance, change themes, icons, and dock behavior and adjust details such as active corners or number of desktops.

If you prefer the launcher bar at the bottom, like in Windows, instead of on the left, you can change it with a configuration command or from the desktop options, depending on your version. These are small changes that They facilitate the transition for newly arrived users..

Setting up custom shortcuts for typical actions also helps a lot: for example, assigning a combination to xkill to kill frozen windows, or a Ulauncher-type launcher to open applications and files simply by writing a few letters, instead of navigating through menus.

The terminal itself has its tricks: autocomplete with Tab, reverse search in history with Ctrl+R, or prevent certain commands from being saved in the history if you precede them with a spaceMastering these details gives you enormous fluency compared to simply writing from scratch every time.

Desktops, virtual consoles and touchpads

In addition to graphical windows, many distributions offer several virtual consoles accessible with Ctrl+Alt+FxOne usually contains the graphical environment, and in others you can open clean text sessions for administration, debugging, or rescue when the interface freezes.

On laptops, the touchpad can do much more than it seems: two-finger scrolling, horizontal scrolling, right-clicking in the bottom corner, etc. If these features don't work by default, it's usually enough to... Adjust the “Mouse and touchpad” options to take advantage of all the gestures that the hardware supports.

Finally, there are small visual tweaks that improve usability, such as configuring that Clicking on the icon of an already open application in the dock will minimize or restore it.Instead of opening a new window. They're small details that, added together, make the environment much more comfortable.

Ultimately, what makes the difference in Linux is not knowing a single trick, but combining several: mastering essential commands, understanding how packages are managed, choosing the right software to install, respect good safety practices and take advantage of the small desktop shortcuts. With all that in your toolkit, it doesn't matter if you work on Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, or any other distro: you'll have an agile, stable system adapted to your way of working, instead of you having to adapt to the system.