Linux Easter Eggs - Part 1

I don't know about you, but I get the occasional pun from Windozers, saying "Dude, what's the fun in linux?". I believe it's a wasted effort trying make them see the beauty of the linux command line, or the innumerable other things that make linux the life of a Linuxer. So lets set the record straight... the fun way 

Linux is strictly more fun than Windoze, and I mean that in the most serious sense possible . The folks whose efforts go into the creation of any flavour of Linux are not answerable to Mr.Bill. So every once in a while, the programmer, if he (or she) feels like, adds something to the program that's normally not supposed to be there... and is quite a bit of fun when you stumble across it. These little manifestations of the impishness of programmers are what we call Easter Eggs.

So here's a little basket of Easter Eggs (-- some from Linux itself, some from Apps that I usually run on Linux)... which you can sample at leisure, and have some fun while you're at it

   A (GNOME) Fish Called Wanda

The first Easter Egg in the GNOME Desktop Environment which deserves mention, is "Wanda", the GNOME fish. In his article Prank - Wanda the fish , our friend and co-Linuxer shredder12 introduced us to her, and to some of her little quirks like her shy nature (best observed by clicking her directly) . But he was slightly unfair to Wanda, because you can shoo her away permanently, without having to reboot. All you need to do is kill the gnome-panel process, which is fairly simple, and the following command should do the trick: 

[cracky@cracktop] $ killall gnome-panel

Wanda is a part of the GNOME panel. You can also "free the fish" by pressing F thrice (FFF) after opening the "About" dialog of the gnome-panel. 

In fact, this cute little fish (and a certain someone, who took an instant liking to her) inspired me to write this article! Also, to those of you who've not watched it... I'll grab this chance to recommend the movie A Fish Called Wanda.
 I think I can safely say that Linux seems to be quite funner already... 

GEGLs from Outer Space!!

You may ask "What on earth is a GEGL??" --- it stands for Genetically Engineered Goat, Large. These "things" are goat-like creatures with an extra leg (I feel it looks like a hand sometimes)!! The GNOME desktop environment has a hidden game, called Killer GEGLs from Outer Space. To play, fire up the "Run" dialog using Alt+F2 and type in it, "gegls from outer space".

Enjoy the game 
 

GEGL Cow

This one is quite simple... not a game, just another instance of a hidden GEGL. In the properties dialog of the gnome-panel (which can be opened by right-clicking any panel on your desktop and selecting properties), if you right-click thrice on any of the tabs, a GEGL cow flies past, waving!!

Linux Apps can tell you the answer to the Ultimate question of Life (the Universe, and Everything)!!

If you know your Sci-Fi, then you wouldn't need telling what this answer is... If you don't, then I recommend reading "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. Watch the movie if reading isn't your thing.

In the meantime, allow these nice linux applications to help you find the answer:

KRunner is the app which shows up on pressing Alt+F2 in the K Desktop Environment (KDE). Fire up KRunner and type the word "life" into it, and the answer will show up!

If you think this Easter Egg business is beneath the developers of the old school Linux apps, then here's a surprise for you. Start an instance of vim

[cracky@cracktop] $ vim

Now in the escape mode, type :help 42 and see what vim tells you  (this also works while you're editing some file using vim).

Google isn't quite a linux application, but even its built-in calculator would get you the answer just fine. Perform a google search for "answer to life the universe and everything" and see for yourself.

 VLC : VLC Loves Christmas??

Not another one of those recursive Acronyms (we all know GNU). But if you knew what I'm about to tell you now, I'm sure you would agree with me that VLC does indeed love Christmas .

In the Christmas season, the VLC icon wears a Santa hat!! Never seen it? Guess what, it is wearing the hat right now... try looking at it closely in the title bar of your VLC Media Player. If you can't see it clearly (gosh dang these full HD resolutions!!) try the larger icon in Help > About. (If your vlc isn't looking merry this christmas, upgrade to the latest version...)

Well, I guess that's it for now... More such fun facts about your favourite apps will follow, in the next part.

Merry Christmas!