The essential and usual one handed listing aliases: alias l='ls -laFT' alias ll='ls -1aF' alias k='ls -laFTrt' alias kk='ls -1aFrt' Some X + tee magic

The essential and usual one handed listing aliases: alias l='ls -laFT' alias ll='ls -1aF' alias k='ls -laFTrt' alias kk='ls -1aFrt' Some X + tee magic for logging. alias xlog='mv .xlog.txt .xlog.txt.old && startx -- -nolisten tcp 2>&1 | tee . xlog.txt > /dev/console' alias xdbg='mv .xdbg.txt .xdbg.txt.old && startx -- /usr/X11R6/bin/X -keepPriv 2>&1 | tee .xdbg.txt > /dev/console' And in ~/.xinitrc run an oddly colored xterm with /dev/console output: xterm -C -fg '#b00020' -geometry 80x38+0+0 & Most folks don't start X manually but when working on X itself, extra logging can often help.