Want to make your Ubuntu look like a busy-looking console? Hollywood is a utility that will split your console into a multiple panes of genuine technobabble, perfectly suitable for any Hollywood geek melodrama. It is particularly suitable on any number of computer consoles in the background of any excellent schlock technothriller.

Hollywood is open source software, created by Dustin Kirkland in 2014 and has been used by NBC News, on Saturday Night Live, in cybersecurity commercials for Experian, Full Frontal by Samantha Bee, Map Men, and magazine articles such as this one from Texas A&M University.

How to Install Hollywood in Ubuntu:

Hollywood is available in Ubuntu main repositories, though it’s always old.

The Hollywood PPA contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, and Ubuntu 20.04.

1.) Open terminal from system application menu, then run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:hollywood/ppa

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2.) Then refresh system package cache and install the utility via following 2 commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install --install-recommends hollywood

To start hollywood, run command hollywodd either in terminal (toggle fullscreen mode vi F11) or TTY console (Ctrl+Alt+F3). And stop it via Ctrl+C.

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA, either use Software & Updates utility or run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:hollywood/ppa

To remove Hollywood utility, run command:

sudo apt remove hollywood