Most clipboard implementations only have the ability to store one item in them, so if you copy and paste a lot having space for one item only can be frustrating. Add to that the fact that selecting any text when using X11 (the underlying graphical platform underneath Linux) copies it to the clipboard in the default configuration, you can easily lose what you wanted to copy. Enter Klipper.

xclip is a command line interface to the X11 selections (X11 clipboard). It can also be used for copying files, as an alternative to sftp/scp, thus avoiding password prompts when X11 forwarding has already been setup. xclip reads from Standard Input or from one or more files and copy it to the X11 clipboard making it available to the X applications.

You can copy command line output to X Windows clipboard directly using xclip command. You can read from standard input (keyboard), or from one or more files, and makes the data available as an X selection for pasting into any X applications such as gedit, OpenOffice or Firefox / email client.

One script that I did come across recently allows you to copy the contents of files selected in the Nautilus Gnome file browser to the clipboard. This is great for copying things like code snippets and customized email signatures for those applications that don't natively offer that functionality.

One of the things that has annoyed me most about GNOME as I've played with it lately is the lack of a clipboard manager comparable to Klipper on KDE. However, as I was looking for a package in Synaptic, I managed to come across a program that does the job quite well: Glipper.

The clipboard system in Linux (X11 to be more specific) receives complaints from users who expect it to work differently when applications are closed.

The clipboard is one thing that we often take forgranted. The concept of copy and paste is almost burnt into our minds, and we use it to move text and objects from application to application.

Want a better solutions for copying and pasting than the OS clipboard or the temporary buffer? Get to know Vim's registers.

One thing I really enjoy about OS X are a number of clipboard managers for OS X that allow you to retain a clipboard history of multiple items with easy access and navigation. Productivity tools like this also exist for some Linux desktop managers.