Believe it or not, you can transform a Linux terminal or even a WSL box inside Windows into a fully capable workspace. It is a continuation entirely based on the command line where you can follow your tasks, your time sheets, your appointments and your events in a calendar, and write or take notes. Here’s how you can install and use it.
Why work in the terminal?
Practical collaborative workspaces such as the continuation of proton offices or Google workspace already exist, so why take the configuration of your own workspace in a terminal? These workspaces need the internet and a browser to work, and the modern Internet is designed to distract you in any way possible. You are constantly bombed with visual noise – Bassons, notifications, advertisements, pop -ups and all kinds of visual noise.
Usually, we were trained to keep a ton of open tabs and each new open tab creates much more space for distraction. More than distraction, an open environment like this practically requires you to change your context all the time. Each time you switch between the tabs, you lose a little concentration.
If you are someone like me who is easily distracted, a browser – or any graphic application, really – makes it simply difficult to stay focused for long periods.
Compare this to a terminal workspace purely based on the text, entirely driven by the keyboard. It even kills the most basic change of context to reach the touchpad or the mouse. He has no visual noise. Once you have loaded a terminal application and write (for example), you stick to your keyboard to control the interface and write. Even the release of the application or the launch of another is carried out by Keybinding or Tyning.
You get a complete control on your files and you can never lose access because it does not require an online account. You are not followed or sold at any time, because a terminal workspace is completely offline and completely portable. If you appreciate your confidentiality and your safety, you cannot beat a workspace that belongs to you. It is also modular by design.
There are tons of TUI applications (high -quality powerful text user interface available in Linux references for almost all kinds of productivity and desktop work. You can choose applications to meet your needs.
Anything that can execute the Linux terminal (which is almost anything with a CPU) can execute a workspace like this. And because it was not based on a graphic desktop environment, it is incredibly light. For example, there is a version of Tiny Core Linux which is only 11 MB. You can flash this on a USB stick, activate persistent storage, and now you have a portable office suite that you can take anywhere and plug into any machine that will start from the USB.
Build your own workspace with terminal applications
Before showing you my selection of TUI applications, I would like to reiterate that this workspace is supposed to be super flexible and modular. You can find all kinds of applications to adapt to your workflows. For example, Qalc is a nice application that displays unit or currency conversions and mathematics calculations as soon as you start to type. There are terminal applications for calculation sheets, messaging customers, cat customers, social media customers, browsers, RSS players, password managers, accounting tools, Markdown publishers and much more. You can view the GITHUB user’s impressive air conditioning apps to start.
It’s a wide selection, but you don’t need to get lost in weeds. Here is a basic starting workspace that is good enough to get things done.
sudo apt install taskwarrior timewarrior calcurse micro jrnl
Or if you are in the vault, try this:
sudo pacman -S task timew calcurse micro jrnl
Time and time tasks applications to manage your track tracks and leaves. JRNL and micro applications are intended for taking notes and writing. Calcurs is a basic calendar application to define the agendas.
As I have already mentioned, you do not necessarily have to use these specific applications. There are alternatives available for everyone.
If you use Evernote, there is a clin version available called geeknote. You can also interact with an obsidian safe with obs. There is also Watson and Moro, who are perfect for following the work on time. The list continues.
Work in the terminal
Instead of simply giving you a dry command list to use these applications, I want to show you how they can work in tandem to create a real workspace. The first thing you do is define the agenda. This is what is calculating.
In an empty terminal, type “Calcurs” and press Enter. The calcuit interface is divided into three panels: appointment, calendar and tasks. You use Arrow keys to jump around the calendar dates, which updates the appointment with events with events marked for this date.
Press the tab to switch to the task list and add all the waiting and future tasks here. Press “A” in the task list pane and type the task in the lower corner, where you can also give it a level of priority. In the appointment pane, select a date and press “A” to add an event. You can select a start and end hour, or leave it empty for an entire event.
Although Calcurs has a list of tasks, it is not a task manager. To do this, we will use Taskwarrrior. It works on a first input system. You add a task to your list, but unlike a checklist or a checklist, you focus only on the task at the top of the list. Then you mark it and go to the next. Type this command and press Entry to create a new task in the list.
task add your task goes here
Then, to mark this task performed:
task 1 done
You can configure keyboard shortcuts and modify the tasks later, or even modify how the list is displayed. In addition, you can use Taskwarrior in conjunction with its companion application, Timewarrior, to follow the duration of the duration of your list of your list. Tap this and press Entrance:
timew start task 1
You can now start working on the task 1. Once you are done, you can type:
timew stop task 1
And he will record it in the time sheet. You can also display a summary of the time followed.
Vim and Emacs are the most powerful text editors available on Unix Systems. They are built for extreme efficiency and speed. With one or the other publisher, you have a complete software development environment that also works for content writing. The drawback is that they are delivered with a massively steep learning curve if you come from standard publishers.
For most writers like me, the microphone should be enough. It’s quite simple and its keys are easy to memorize.
Just write microphone Follow -up of the text file name (it also supports Markdown files) to launch the editor. You can now start writing. Ctrl + S save and ctrl + Q leaves the publisher. You can find other key links by pressing CTRL + G.
The JRNL tool is useful to quickly note the notes without interacting with the files or the opening of a publisher window. Type something like this:
jrnl "this is a journal entry"
Alternatively, you can simply type JRNL and press Entrance into the newspaper within the publisher. To see your previous entries, type “JRNL” followed by any number.
jrnl -5
This shows the last 5 entries made.
That’s all you need to do your job without ever leaving the terminal. If you want to deepen your skills in terminal, consult our Linux terminal guide for beginners or find out what to know before starting in the terminal.
