c/linux · by EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world · 2y

Cool fancy programs?

Hello,

I'm looking for as many cool, even if pointless, programs as I can, be them terminal programs or gui ones. What do I mean by this? I'll use some examples:

The Cube (I believe it was called Compiz): the one we all know and love.
cmatrix
the hollywood one
That one whose name I forget but basically spawns a cat that chases your cursor, I saw it showcased on Pop!_OS' mastodon.
wobbly windows
Burn my window
tplay

if any of you know any other fancy program like this let me know please. I want to showcase them to non-linux people to show them what can be done here but not necessarily in other OSes (particularly Windows).

125 points · 72 comments · view on lemmy.world

72 Comments

piranhaphish@lemmy.world · 39 pts · 2y (2 replies)

fsv or tdfsb

These are 3D filesystem browser apps that let you navigate your filesystem as though files and folders were trees in a forest that you're walking/flying through.

They were practically useless aside from the wow factor. I believe one may have made it into a movie scene. Jurassic Park?

tonyn@lemmy.ml · 37 pts · 2y

It's a UNIX system. I know this!

MonkderZweite@feddit.ch · 1 pts · 2y

There was something like this in 2d, what was it's name again?

mvirts@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 2y (4 replies)

Gotta go with sl

https://github.com/mtoyoda/sl

vvv@programming.dev · 6 pts · 2y

https://github.com/rwos/gti

in the same vein

sebsch@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 pts · 2y (1 reply)

alias ls=sl

mvirts@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y

Plus

alias alias='echo "" #'

lattrommi@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 2y

sl -alFc | lolcat -itas 819

rainbow snake train

marcdw@lemmy.ml · 18 pts · 2y

cool-retro-term: A good looking terminal emulator which mimics the old cathode display...

BarrierWithAshes@kbin.social · 18 pts · 2y (2 replies)

Linuxwave - https://github.com/orhun/linuxwave - You can generate music from your OS.

EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Holy shit this is me(n)tal

meteokr@community.adiquaints.moe · 1 pts · 2y

[ removed ]

misophist@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 2y (2 replies)

xjack is one of my all-time favorite programs.

vim_b@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 2y

Unsettling. A+

tsonfeir@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y

Real Jacks type it while making eye contact.

yetAnotherUser@lemmy.ca · 17 pts · 2y (3 replies)

When talking about cool programs, you can't forget the classic cowsay

ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social · 8 pts · 2y (1 reply)

ponysay :)

pezhore@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 2y

I'm partial to Pokemon say.

MonkderZweite@feddit.ch · 3 pts · 2y

and fortune or fortune-mod. Combine it with cowsay for best effect.

digger@lemmy.ca · 17 pts · 2y (2 replies)

May I interest you in lolcat?

CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml · 19 pts · 2y (1 reply)

There's also dotacat written in Rust for people who find lolcat too slow.

vort3@lemmy.ml · 11 pts · 2y

Because dota is better than lol. Lol.

mjpc13@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 2y (1 reply)

You have telnet. You can watch the complete episode 4 of Star Wars in Ascii on your terminal (and other ASCII movies)

wgs@lemmy.sdf.org · 1 pts · 2y

This works on any OS though.

De_Narm@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 2y

eDEX-UI - its basically a terminal, but as shown in movies. Mostly inspired by TRON I believe.

Molten_Moron@lemmings.world · 14 pts · 2y

No more secrets sounds like it fits the bill

CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml · 14 pts · 2y (2 replies)

Fly-Pie is a good one! Also the same person makes modern versions of Burn My Windows, Desktop Cube and other such things.

ruplicant@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 2y (1 reply)

that guy Schneegans makes the most beautiful useless rice! i'm tempted to switch to gnome now..

CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 2y

Several of them are on the KDE store now too!

TootSweet@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 2y (1 reply)

asciiquarium
xcowsay (someone else mentioned cowsay, but this one's a graphical reimagining of the same idea.)
xeyes

CaptDust@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2y

+1 for asciiquarium

Quazatron@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 2y

That one whose name I forget but basically spawns a cat that chases your cursor

You mean Neko. Used to have it installed a long time ago. I don't know if it still works in this day of compositors and Wayland.

I also remember having a bunch of penguins running around my screen like little lemmings. Xpenguins I think it was called.

You can also get Xcowsay to pop up occasionally on your desktop to offer silly advice, just pipe it from fortune and add it to crontab.

Deckweiss@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 2y

kdeconnect

DrBob@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 2y (5 replies)

The Linux program that had a cat chase your mouse was Neko.

meteokr@community.adiquaints.moe · 8 pts · 2y (3 replies)

Is oneko the modern-ish version? As this sounds adorable.

DrBob@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 2y

I do believe it is!

MonkderZweite@feddit.ch · 1 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Yeah, neko is a programming language.

DrBob@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 2y

It is now. The widdle puddy tat dates to 1989.

turbowafflz@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y

Also AMOR (Amazing Misuse Of Resources) which has more characters and features

mvirts@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2y

All of xscreensaver

Cool retro terminal

Vincent@kbin.social · 8 pts · 2y

It's a website rather than an app, but if you open it fullscreen, it's just as much fun: https://hackertyper.com

krash@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 2y

https://github.com/dustinkirkland/hollywood

https://gitlab.com/jallbrit/cbonsai

Procrastinate away 😁

disheveledWallaby@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 2y

Cowsay, figlet, telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl, misfortune, cava, xscreensaver are a few that come to mind.

recarsion@discuss.tchncs.de · 7 pts · 2y

cowsay

LainOfTheWired@lemy.lol · 7 pts · 2y

Lolcat, yt-dlp, hyprland. Honesty though most of what I find cool these days wouldn't make any sense to a Windows user. Like DWM, ST, XBPS, lf, ly, neovim, etc.

christos@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y

https://gitlab.com/christosangel/ascii-matrix

https://gitlab.com/christosangel/c-pipes