A friend asked me for a way to batch-convert images into PDFs. Instead of using online converters, here's a command-line solution using ImageMagick that works on both Mac and Linux. It converts all images in a folder to individual PDFs and optionally merges them into one file.
I've been a long-time user of GNU Screen, and I've always recommended it to anyone working with remote servers. Screen is an excellent tool that's saved me countless times when SSH connections drop or I need to run long-running processes. But it has one major problem: it's tough to configure and learn.
Recently I discovered tmux, and I'm making the switch. If you're not familiar with terminal multiplexers or you're struggling with Screen's complexity, tmux might be exactly what you need.
I've been a bash user for years. It's the default on most Linux systems and Mac OS X, and it works fine. But I kept hearing about Zsh (Z Shell) and how much better it is – better tab completion, better history searching, more customization options.
The problem is that Zsh is intimidating to configure. The configuration file can be hundreds of lines long, and getting it right requires deep knowledge of shell scripting.