Shell Tutorials

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    Convert Video to Grayscale

    I'm a JavaScript fanatic but I've always been fascinated with media manipulation. Maybe it's because I've secretly always wanted to be a designer, but I'm fine with being able to manipulate art with software instead of create the art myself. One type of art I've always...

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    Open FaceTime Call from Command Line

    Communication tools are always associated with UIs, and for good reason -- if you want communication to be easy and intuitive, you need easy and intuitive interfaces. We need communication tools to provide the lowest barrier of entry, since not all users will be tech...

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    How to Reverse a Video

    One of my favorite media utilities is ffmpeg. This command line utility allows us to do some pretty amazing stuff like;Slice videosConvert video formatsModify video speedCombine audio and videoEvery once in a while I see a meme or funny video that...

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    Set Branch Alias with Git

    Version control systems can be difficult to use, especially when you don't use a UI app. Just think about main branch or revision names: svn uses "trunk", git uses "master", and mercurial (hg) uses "tip". I need to switch between mercurial and git...

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    How to Set Commit Author

    I've worn dozens of hats on a dozen different teams during my time at Mozilla, but none has been as rewarding and challenging as community management. Whether it's mentoring students, welcoming new contributors, or reviewing pull requests, there's always so much to be done. There's also...

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    Get File MIME Type from Command Line

    I've gotten skilled at shell scripting over the years. I love a good GUI but knowing how to automate makes you a much more powerful engineer. Much of my scripting requires recursing over directories and processing a file if it meets a given criteria, which...

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    List USB Devices from Command Line

    I was recently creating a Recalbox with my 5 year old son and it was an awesome experience; I saw the excitement and curiosity in his eyes while helping him put together a video game machine. We added NES, SNES, and Nintendo 64 games to...

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    Set Desktop Wallpaper from Command Line on Mac

    Whenever I need to accomplish a basic task that typically calls for interacting with a UI, I challenge myself to complete the task from command line. After all, most UIs are simply a mask over basic commands, especially when it comes to the operating system.

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    Mac Dark Mode from Command Line

    One of the best professional decisions I ever made was switching to a dark text editor theme. I suffered from horrible headaches for years, partially caused by late night coding sessions with blindingly bright computer screens. Recently Apple implemented a dark OS theme which helps...

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    How to Change Animated GIF Speed

    Comedians would tell you that timing is the most important part of any joke. The same could be said about animated GIFs; whether they're used as a meme or to illustrate a process, the speed of an animated GIF can effect its effectiveness. With that idea...