Which OS Utilities do you install as a matter of course?

I

IT_Architect

Verified User
Joined
Feb 27, 2006
Messages
1,114
Which OS Utilities do you install as a matter of course? E.G. screen, script (if it isn't installed), tree, locate, ne, python, etc.

Thanks!

Results as of 2021-12-08 across 7 respondents:
1 at
1 bc
1 bind-utils
1 bpytop
1 chrony
1 ftp (client))
2 git
3 htop
1 lnav
1 locate
1 lynx
1 mailx
3 Midnight Commander
1 mytop
2 nano
1 nc
1 ne
1 net-tools
1 pciutils
1 python
1 rsync
3 screen
1 script (if it isn't installed as with FreeBSD)
1 smartmontools
1 socat
1 sshpass
1 strace
1 sysstat
1 telnet
2 tree
2 unzip/zip
1 vim
1 whois
 
Last edited:
Richard G said:
Phoe....
Midnight Commander, screen, bind-utils, (m)locate, mailx, ftp (client), top things (top, mytop, htop), sometimes iptraf, net-tools.

That is what comes to mind when thinking quickly.

What is NE?
Click to expand...
Thanks!

ne is Nice Editor. It basically works like the editors and word processors used to on multi-user UNIX and XENIX systems when they used terminals like Hazeltines and VT-100s on user desktops.
 
Honestly I don't install a lot outside of the standard.

Linux
htop
nano
screen

FreeBSD
alias top top -P (because memory in htop is wrong in FreeBSD)
bash
nano or ee

Might need to look at mc again never liked it much. I do alot of aliasing for cmds I use alot.
 
Actually, here is one I use more than anything, and that is:
cls. It is clear plus clear scroll back so it works like Windows cls
# touch /usr/bin/cls
- Edit /usr/bin/cls and add the following:
#!/bin/sh
clear && printf '\033[3J'
# chmod 555 cls

- I've used nano and ee forever too. On the new Linux server I went with ne. If you like nano I think you might like ne better.
- For a file manager, I use WinSCP. There I can select my editor so for normal text it Textpad, on other files it is NetBeans where I have language-specific and tells me of syntax errors, which lines are not going to run and why, brace and bracket matching, and when I should be using a newer method and shows examples, right-click and set properties, etc.

bdacus01 said:
alias top top -P (because memory in htop is wrong in FreeBSD)
Click to expand...
Got it!

Other: net-tools, lnav,, htop, bpytop, git, mytop, iptraf, mailx, and bind-utils I'll have to check out to see if they are useful to me.,
 
Last edited:
IT_Architect said:
If you like nano I think you might like ne better.
Click to expand...
I've seen a bit on youtube.... any specials why I would like NE better? Because it looks a very lot like nano. And I mostly use an editor in console to find or change something quickly. I don't do big edits with it.

IT_Architect said:
For a file manager, I use WinSCP
Click to expand...
Oh sorry, I thought you were talking about tools for Linux console. WinSCP is for Windows.

If you also want to know Windows tools, I don't need any Windows filemanager, I use SSH and with MC if needed (quite seldom). On the servers I work most via console, so via SSH.

For Windows I use Flashfxp as FTP program, which can also do file managing by the way.
And SecureCRT as SSH client.
However, both are payware, but FlashFXP I'm using for many many years already and the lifetime license including updates is not expensive.
 
Ha - I thought I was the only one that liked nano.

I always install yum-utils since I find myself running needs-restarting a lot. If anyone knows of a better way, let me know.
 
Richard G said:
I've seen a bit on youtube.... any specials why I would like NE better? Because it looks a very lot like nano. And I mostly use an editor in console to find or change something quickly. I don't do big edits with it.


Oh sorry, I thought you were talking about tools for Linux console. WinSCP is for Windows.

If you also want to know Windows tools, I don't need any Windows filemanager, I use SSH and with MC if needed (quite seldom). On the servers I work most via console, so via SSH.

For Windows I use Flashfxp as FTP program, which can also do file managing by the way.
And SecureCRT as SSH client.
However, both are payware, but FlashFXP I'm using for many many years already and the lifetime license including updates is not expensive.
Click to expand...
1. ne is a terminal program. nano and ee are almost command-line programs but slightly better. ne uses the WordMaster standard keystrokes and drop-down menus etc. which will also teach you the keystrokes. E.G. More like Midnight Commander. It has a lot of features that if vi or nano have them, you'll never find them.

2. My only point was instead of a character-based file manager like MC, I use WinSCP because of its many advantages so I have no need for MC. I actually use it all the time. I navigate around with with it and when I find what I need, I type cd in putty and paste in the path.

3. "...SecureCRT" I've been using PuTTY, but have been looking for something Windows-based. I checked out YouTube and it looks perfect for what I need. It costs more than I expected, but I wasted more time on other crap that turned out to be less PuTTY. Thanks!
 
I install on each box:
net-tools vim mc whois yum-utils git smartmontools nc screen unzip bc at pciutils rsync strace sysstat socat telnet chrony lynx sshpass
 
bdacus01 said:
I think I saw the creater just rewrote this in C
Click to expand...
I see that ty (haven't been keeping up on the development, too many other things keeping me distracted), that's good, but for the time being I will still use the python version, as it looks like the FreeBSD version doesn't look like it is ready quite yet. Most of my back-end infrastructure (DNS cluster, backup/storage/archive, etc) is all FreeBSD based. It's a handy tool for quickly checking what is going on. lnav I also use a lot monitoring/searching logs.
 
cjd said:
Most of my back-end infrastructure (DNS cluster, backup/storage/archive, etc) is all FreeBSD based.
Click to expand...
Well cool. I love FreeBSD..

I was all FreeBSD until DA said they will stop support in Jan 2022.

Going to look at lnav.
 
IT_Architect said:
It costs more than I expected,
Click to expand...
That is correct. But with the current versions it work very long, even if you don't update every year. I'm still using 8.5.4. build 1942 because I don't want to pay for upgrades anymore as long as this works on all servers.
Indeed it does costs more then expected but it can do so much things and imho more easy then putty, I also bought it to get rid of all the fuzz and have something wich I can use everywhere for everything I need via SSH or telnet.

1.) Then it's indeed the difference I thought it was. More like with pulldown and options more visible than with nano. However I hardly use it for anythings else then edit and search or search and replace.

2.) Ah yes. I understand your point. It's just a different way of working with things. You work from Windows with the filemanager (WinSCP) and I work on the servers almost purely console based. But most I have to do is to give the ./build update and ./build update_versions commands. Hardly anything else, they just keep running.
 
Maybe it's better to remove the numbers in the initital post? Because for example I use vim too and nslookup but most of those are installed by the OS by default. I also use smartmontools, that seperate I believe.
 
Richard G said:
For Windows I use...SecureCRT as SSH clien
Click to expand...
I went to their site to download it because it looked like what I needed. They wouldn't let me create an account because they said I already had one with them so I must have looked at it when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I don't know why I didn't buy it then. I use PuTTY for a lot of automation of the maintenance of the servers but as far as a human interface, it would be fine if it could remember a password but it can't. The comparison articles and YouTube crow about Solar-PuTTY but I tried it and it's Mickey Mouse. It's a GUI for PuTTY and they get out of sync with each other and you cannot fix that when they do. SecureCRT is the only complete product that I've seen which is probably why they can command $99 for it. Sometimes I'm swithing VPNs, doing shutdowns and snapshots and restarts 50 times a day. PuTTY interferes with a normally smooth workflow of click-and-back-in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top