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Convert text to picture
generates a picture file with the text. Some other samples in: http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/text/

Remove all unused kernels with apt-get
Remove old kernels (*-generic and *-generic-pae) via apt-get on debian/ubuntu based systems. Tested on ubuntu 10.04 - 12.04.

Suppress output of loud commands you don't want to hear from
This works even if there are spaces in any word in the command line.

Use nroff to view the man pages
Using nroff , it is possible to view the otherwise garbled man page with col command.

Convert (almost) any video file into webm format for online html5 streaming

Hiding password while reading it from keyboard
Allow to read password in a script without showing the password inserted by the user

Move files around local filesystem with tar without wasting space using an intermediate tarball.

Convert all files *.mp4 to *.mpeg using ffmpeg (Windows Cmd line)
Note: %~nI expands %I to a file name only (cf. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490909.aspx)

Follow tail by name (fix for rolling logs with tail -f)
If you use 'tail -f foo.txt' and it becomes temporarily moved/deleted (ie: log rolls over) then tail will not pick up on the new foo.txt and simply waits with no output. 'tail -F' allows you to follow the file by it's name, rather than a descriptor. If foo.txt disappears, tail will wait until the filename appears again and then continues tailing.

Use nroff to view the man pages
Using nroff , it is possible to view the otherwise garbled man page with col command.


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