Tag Archive for "terminal"

Although Terminal.app is built into Mac OS X I thought it would make an excellent choice for my first software review. Terminal has been, and probably always will be the most used, most diverse, and most trusted application on my laptop.

Terminal is launched about 20 times a day, every day. I use it for simple tasks like verifying DNS configuration at a client site. I use it for more complex tasks such as creating multiple SSH tunnels through a network to get a problem on a switch or server. The terminal is probably the one and only tool that I could not live without on the Mac. From shipping files securely across the public Internet to watching traffic go through the attached LAN, I simply can not identify with anything else as being my swiss army knife in the professional world.

Helpful tips:

Over time, Terminal tends to seemingly freeze for a second or two when opening. Delete (or move) /private/var/log/asl/* and Terminal will return to normal!
I mapped AppleKey-Space to open the spotlight search. Pressing those two keys then typing T <enter> immediately launches Terminal. Who needs specialized launchers like QuickSilver when you have it right in the OS?!?!
Install MacPorts to increase the usefulness of Terminal. This allows you to add custom builds of popular UNIX tools like Curl, WGet etc. Handy stuff.