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Use Case: Linux Beginner Guide

You just installed Commandeck and you're not sure where to start. This guide is for you. You don't need to know any commands — Commandeck already includes dozens of ready-to-use buttons.

You already have 29 buttons

The first time Commandeck launches, it populates your grid with three categories of pre-built buttons:

  • Hardware (13 buttons) — disk, memory, CPU, temperature, GPU, and disk-space tools
  • Linux Essentials (12 buttons) — system info, users, logs, updates, and basic maintenance
  • Network (4 buttons) — interfaces, connections, ports, and listening services

These buttons are ready to use right now. No setup needed.

Want more? Development tools (git, Docker, Python, Node) and other sets are available as free, one-tap button packs. Open the hamburger menu → Button Packs to browse and install them.

What each default button does

Hardware

Button What it shows you
Disk Usage How full each partition is (df -h)
Memory Usage RAM and swap usage (free -h)
CPU Load Current load and the busiest processes
Temperature CPU/sensor temperatures if lm-sensors is installed
Block Devices Hard drives, USB drives, partitions (lsblk)
Largest Directories The biggest folders under /
NVIDIA GPU NVIDIA GPU status (nvidia-smi)
AMD GPU AMD GPU detection, activity and temperature
NCDU Interactive disk-usage explorer (offers to install ncdu if missing)
btop Live system monitor (offers to install btop if missing)
NVIDIA Settings Opens the NVIDIA control panel
Hardware Info One-shot hardware report — CPU, memory, devices
Disk I/O Disk read/write statistics

Linux Essentials

Button What it shows you
Running Processes All processes, sorted by CPU usage
System Info Kernel version and Linux distribution
Logged-in Users Who is currently logged in (w)
Last Logins Login history
Failed Services Services that have crashed or failed to start
System Journal Last 50 lines of the system log
Kernel Messages Hardware and driver messages
Clear Trash Empties your Trash folder
System Update Updates your system (works on Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch)
Reboot Reboots the computer
Shutdown Powers off the computer
Tail Syslog Last 50 lines of the system log

Warning

Reboot and Shutdown have Confirm before running enabled — a dialog will ask you to confirm before anything happens.

Network

Button What it shows you
Network Interfaces Your IP addresses and network cards (ip addr)
Active Connections Established TCP connections
Open Ports Services listening on your machine
Listening Services Services listening on TCP ports

Start by clicking things

Click Disk Usage. A small dialog pops up with your filesystem information. Click Memory Usage. Try a few more.

You cannot break anything by clicking these buttons — they only read information. The two buttons that actually do something (Reboot and Shutdown) ask for confirmation first.

Declutter: uninstall a pack, or hide a category

The default buttons come as button packs. If a whole set isn't useful to you, the cleanest way to declutter is to uninstall the pack: open the hamburger menu → Button Packs, find it, and click Uninstall. Its buttons are removed — and you can reinstall the pack any time with one tap.

If you'd rather just tuck a category out of sight for now (without removing anything), you can hide it instead:

  1. Open Preferences → Categories
  2. Toggle the category off

A hidden category and its buttons disappear from view but aren't deleted — bring them back any time from the same place.

Customise a button name or color

The default button names are functional but generic. You can rename or recolor them to suit your style — this is free for everyone, no Pro needed.

Right-click any button → Edit:

  • Change the Label to something friendlier (Disk Usage → How full is my disk?)
  • Pick a Color to make important buttons stand out
  • Change the Icon to one that makes sense to you

Create your first custom button

Custom buttons are free and unlimited. Here is an easy one to start:

  1. Press Ctrl+N (or click +)
  2. Label: My IP address
  3. Command: hostname -I
  4. Execution mode: Show output
  5. Click Save

Now you have a one-click way to see your local IP address.

What if a button shows an error?

Some buttons require software that may not be installed:

  • Temperature — needs lm-sensors (sudo apt install lm-sensors)
  • NCDU and btop — offer to install themselves the first time you run them
  • If you install the Development pack, its Docker/Python/Node buttons need those tools installed

If a command fails, an output dialog opens showing the exact error. Usually it is a missing package — copy the package name and install it.

Getting more out of Commandeck

Once you are comfortable with the defaults: