Fun Linux Commands

I wrote this post in Spanish in 2022 and adapted it to English in 2026.

This is a post whose only goal is to entertain. You won't learn anything about Linux, but you'll have a few laughs.

Ready for some fun?

Then let's get started with this list of fun Linux commands.

Important note:

This post was written to run these commands on Ubuntu, which is why I'm using apt as the package manager, but you can use dnf, pacman or whatever you have if your distro isn't Debian-based.

Snell Rojas

Get the Matrix Terminal on Your PC #

Ever wondered whether you could see the Matrix terminal on your PC?

I did, so I looked it up, and here it is.

Install:

$ sudo apt-get install cmatrix

Run:

$ cmatrix

Result:

Get a Campfire in Your Linux Terminal with aafire #

This command gives you a campfire-style fire effect in the terminal using ASCII characters.

Install:

$ sudo apt-get install libaa-bin

Run:

$ aafire

Result:

Get Cows in Your Linux Terminal #

I saved this one for last because besides cows it can also be dragons, skeletons, snowmen and even Hello Kitty.

All of them giving you custom messages that may or may not brighten your day, heh.

Install:

$ sudo dnf install cowsay

Run:

$ cowsay ¡Hola Mundo!

Result:

< ¡Hola Mundo! >
 --------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Cowsay has lots of fun options, and here are a few examples (Hola is Spanish for "hello"):

Snowman

$ cowsay -f snowman "Hola"
 ______
< Hola >
 ------
   \
 ___###
   /oo\ |||
   \  / \|/
   /""\  I
()|    |(I)
   \  /  I
  /""""\ I
 |      |I
 |      |I
  \____/ I

Skeleton cow

$ cowsay -f skeleton "Hola"
 ______
< Hola >
 ------
          \      (__)
           \     /oo|
            \   (_"_)*+++++++++*
                   //I#\\\\\\\\I\
                   I[I|I|||||I I `
                   I`I'///'' I I
                   I I       I I
                   ~ ~       ~ ~
                     Scowleton

So you can see every option cowsay has

There are so many options that they'd make this post unnecessarily long, so here's a way to see every one available, so you can have fun:

$ cowsay -l

Then pick one and run it with -f, for example:

$ cowsay -f hellokitty "Hola"
 ______
< Hola >
 ------
  \
   \
      /\_)o<
     |      \
     | O . O|
      \_____/

That's all for now. I may update this list in the future as I find more fun commands. Until next time!