Linux Command Cheatsheet

version 20250715, by AG, reformatted by Google Gemini 2.5 Pro

Python Management 🐍

Commands for managing Python versions with pyenv and handling virtual environments.

Pyenv: Python Version Management

# List all available python versions
pyenv versions

# Install a specific python version
pyenv install 3.9.13

# Set a specific python version for the current directory
pyenv local 3.10.6

Note: You can use a Python version installed via pyenv as the interpreter for projects in IDEs like PyCharm.

Venv: Virtual Environments

First, ensure you've set your desired Python version using pyenv.

# Create a virtual environment in a folder named .venv
python3 -m venv .venv

# Activate the virtual environment
source .venv/bin/activate

# Deactivate the virtual environment
deactivate

Version Control & Remote Operations 🌐

Commands for Git, SSH, SCP, and running processes on remote servers.

Git: Discard Local Changes

To discard all local changes and sync with the remote repository:

# Reset local repository to the last commit (discards all local changes)
git reset --hard

# Fetch the latest changes from the remote 'origin'
git fetch origin

# Pull the changes for a specific branch
git pull origin <branch_name>

SSH & SCP: Remote Connection & File Transfer

# Connect to a remote server via SSH
ssh [email protected]

# Copy a local file to a directory on a remote server
scp platform_info.py [email protected]:~/working_dir

# Copy a directory from a remote server to the current local directory (-r for recursive)
scp -r [email protected]:~/remote_dir/ ./my_local_dir

Running Processes on a Remote Server

To run a script in the background on a remote server, ensuring it continues even after you log out:

# Run a python script on CPU cores 1 and 2 in the background
nohup taskset -c 1,2 python measure_script.py &

VPN connection to server(s)

To run a script in the background on a remote server, ensuring it continues even after you log out:

sudo openconnect --servercert=<certwillbeissuedbyserveronconnectionattempt> --protocol=nc https://udun.site.cas.cz --authgroup="department" --user=username

Remote JupyterLab Access

Connect to your server via SSH:
```
ssh [email protected]
```

On the server, activate the correct environment (e.g., conda) and start JupyterLab on a specific port:

# Example for conda
conda activate my_custom_env

# Start jupyter on port 8888, accessible from any IP on the server
jupyter lab --no-browser --port=8888 --ip=0.0.0.0

In a new local terminal window, create an SSH tunnel that forwards the server's port to your local machine:
```
ssh -L 8888:localhost:8888 [email protected]
```
Open the JupyterLab URL (provided in the server's terminal output) in your local web browser. It will look something like http://127.0.0.1:8888/lab?token=....

Hardware & System Information 💻

Commands to inspect system hardware, storage devices, and power status.

General Device Information

# Display a detailed tree of all hardware (device manager alternative)
sudo lshw

# List all PCI devices
lspci

# List all USB devices
lsusb

Change CPU frequencies/govenor:

sudo cpupower frequency-set -g performance  # to set different governor
cpupower frequency-info  # to check info and available governors

Storage Devices (SSD/HDD)

# List all NVMe SSDs
sudo nvme list

# Get a detailed SMART log for a specific NVMe drive
sudo nvme smart-log /dev/nvmeXXX

# Show detailed info and wear for a drive using smartmontools
sudo smartctl -a /dev/nvme0n1

# Manually trigger the TRIM command on an SSD to clean unused blocks
sudo fstrim -v /

Webcam & IR Camera

Your primary camera is typically /dev/video0 and the IR camera might be /dev/video2.

# Enable the IR camera to activate when requested by an application
# Requires chicony-ir-toggle: [https://github.com/PetePriority/chicony-ir-toggle](https://github.com/PetePriority/chicony-ir-toggle)
chicony-ir-toggle -d /dev/video2 on

Keyboard: Reassign Keys

To find the keycode for a specific key press:

# Listens for key presses and prints their codes
acpi_listen

For a detailed guide, see the Gentoo Wiki on ThinkPad Special Buttons.

Power Profiles

# Check the current power profile status
powerprofilesctl

Alternatively this can be used:

sudo cpufreq-set -g performance
sudo cpufreq-set -g powersave

where -g specifies the governor on CPU (available ones can be listed by cpufreq-info)

Software & Desktop Environment 🖥️

Commands for package management, desktop environment tweaks, and other utilities.

Pip: Update All Packages

# Upgrade all installed Python packages using pip
pip install --upgrade $(pip freeze | awk '{split($0, a, "=="); print a[1]}')

XFCE: Reset Panel

If the XFCE panel is broken, this command chain will reset it to its default configuration.

xfce4-panel --quit ; pkill xfconfd ; rm -rf ~/.config/xfce4/panel ; rm -rf ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml ; xfce4-panel

More details can be found on the Linux Mint Forums.

Xfce4 set keyboard shortcut to switch between keyboard layouts

setxkbmap -option grp:shift_caps_toggle

ClamAV: Terminal Antivirus

# Scan a single file
clamscan MyFile.txt

# Scan an entire directory
clamscan suspiciousdir

Pandoc: Document Converter

A powerful command-line tool for converting between formats like LaTeX, Word, Markdown, HTML, and more. See Pandoc Demos.

# Convert a LaTeX file to a .docx Word document
pandoc -s DP_AG.tex -o example2.docx

# Convert a .docx Word document to a LaTeX file
pandoc -s Layout_AG.docx -o example3.tex

QEMU/KVM: Lightweight Virtualization

A lightweight option for running virtual machines on Linux.

# Install the core QEMU system
sudo apt install qemu-system

# Install Virt-Manager, a GUI for managing QEMU/KVM virtual machines
sudo apt install virt-manager

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