[123001860010] |<title>Why Penguin is Linux logo?</title>
[123001860020] |<h4>Beginning</h4>
[123001860030] |digg_url = http://www.linuxscrew.com/2007/11/14/why-penguin-is-linux-logo/; <strong>Penguin</strong> as <strong>logo</strong>/<strong>mascot</strong> for <strong>Linux</strong> was discussed first in early 1996 by several people in the <a>linux-kernel mailing list</a>.
[123001860040] |The idea of such mascot came from <a>Alan Cox</a> first.
[123001860050] |Among many other suggestions made by different people there were parodies of other operating system logos, sharks or even eagles.
[123001860060] |You can find them <a>here</a>.
[123001860070] |Some of them:
[123001860080] |At some point Linus Torvalds casually mentioned that he was rather fond of penguins and it stopped the debates at once.
[123001860090] |Here is this Linus’ email:
[123001860100] |Re: Linux Logo prototype Linus Torvalds (torvalds@cs.helsinki.fi) Thu, 9 May 1996 17:48:56 +0300 (EET DST)
[123001860110] |Somebody had a logo competition announcement, maybe people can send their ideas to a web-site..
[123001860120] |Anyway, this one looks like the poor penguin is not really strong enough to hold up the world, and it’s going to get squashed.
[123001860130] |Not a good, positive logo, in that respect..
[123001860140] |Now, when you think about penguins, first take a deep calming breath, and then think “cuddly”.
[123001860150] |Take another breath, and think “cute”.
[123001860160] |Go back to “cuddly” for a while (and go on breathing), then think “contented”.
[123001860170] |With me so far?
[123001860180] |Good..
[123001860190] |Now, with penguins, (cuddly such), “contented” means it has either just gotten laid, or it’s stuffed on herring.
[123001860200] |Take it from me, I’m an expert on penguins, those are really the only two options.
[123001860210] |Now, working on that angle, we don’t really want to be associated with a randy penguin (well, we do, but it’s not politic, so we won’t), so we should be looking at the “stuffed to its brim with herring” angle here.
[123001860220] |So when you think “penguin”, you should be imagining a slighly overweight penguin (*), sitting down after having gorged itself, and having just burped.
[123001860230] |It’s sitting there with a beatific smile –the world is a good place to be when you have just eaten a few gallons of raw fish and you can feel another “burp” coming.
[123001860240] |(*) Not FAT, but you should be able to see that it’s sitting down because it’s really too stuffed to stand up.
[123001860250] |Think “bean bag” here.
[123001860260] |Now, if you have problems associating yourself with something that gets off by eating raw fish, think “chocolate” or something, but you get the idea.
[123001860270] |Ok, so we should be thinking of a lovable, cuddly, stuffed penguin sitting down after having gorged itself on herring.
[123001860280] |Still with me?
[123001860290] |NOW comes the hard part.
[123001860300] |With this image firmly etched on your eyeballs, you then scetch a stylizied version of it.
[123001860310] |Not a lot of detail –just a black brush-type outline (you know the effect you get with a brush where the thickness of the line varies).
[123001860320] |THAT requires talent.
[123001860330] |Give people the outline, and they should say [ sickly sweet voice, babytalk almost ]“Ooh, what a cuddly penguin, I bet he is just _stuffed_ with herring”, and small children will jump up and down and scream “mommy mommy, can I have one too?”.
[123001860340] |Then we can do a larger version with some more detail (maybe leaning against a globe of the world, but I don’t think we really want to give any “macho penguin” image here about Atlas or anything).
[123001860350] |That more detailed version can spank billy-boy to tears for all I care, or play ice-hockey with the FreeBSD demon.
[123001860360] |But the simple, single penguin would be the logo, and the others would just be that cuddly penguin being used as an actor in some tableau.
[123001860370] |Linus
[123001860380] |In <a>this interview</a> Linus comments on the penguin bite:
[123001860390] |I’ve been to Australia several times, these days mostly for Linux.Conf.Au.
[123001860400] |But my first trip –and the one when I was bitten by a ferocious fairy penguin: you really should keep those things locked up! –was in 93 or so, talking about Linux for the Australian Unix Users Group.
[123001860410] |<h4>Tux</h4>
[123001860420] |<img/>The first person called the penguin “Tux” was James Hughes who said that it stood for “(<strong>T</strong>)orvalds (<strong>U</strong>)ni(<strong>X</strong>)”.
[123001860430] |Tux was designed for a Linux logo contest.
[123001860440] |Confusingly, there were actually three separate contests and Tux didn’t win any of them.
[123001860450] |This is why Tux is formally known as the Linux <strong>mascot</strong> and not the <strong>logo</strong><em><strong>.</strong></em><sup> </sup>
[123001860460] |Tux was created<sup> </sup>by Larry Ewing using the first publicly released<sup> </sup>version (0.54) of <a>GIMP</a>.
[123001860470] |It was released by him under the following condition:
[123001860480] |Permission to use and/or modify this image is granted provided you acknowledge me lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP if someone asks.
[123001860490] |<img/>Tux does not accurately portray any of the 19 species of penguin although he somewhat resembles an <a>Adelie penguin</a>.
[123001860500] |He is often dressed or portrayed differently, depending on context; for example, when representing the <a>PaX</a>, security <a>patch</a> for linux kernel, he wears a <a>helmet</a> and brandishes an <a>axe</a> and <a>shield</a>, and his eyes are red.
[123001860510] |Recently, Tux has been redrawn to blend more appropriately into “crystalized” desktop themes (see picture left).
[123001860520] |<h4>Other facts</h4>
[123001860530] |<li>Tux had an uncredited use in the <a>Al Gore’s Penguin Army video</a> controversy.</li>
[123001860540] |<li>During the Q&A session following his <a>COMDEX</a> Fall 1999 keynote address, <a>Linus Torvalds</a> was asked if he had any idea how many stuffed penguins had been sent to <a>Bill Gates</a>.
[123001860550] |Torvalds’ response was another question: “To the nearest thousand?”</li>
[123001860560] |<li><img/>Tux has been adapted to a <a>Designer Toy</a> called a Gwin and is distributed by <a>October Toys</a>.
[123001860570] |It is redesigned by different artists and sold in short collectable runs through the October Toys website and other collectable vinyl toy sites.
[123001860580] |There are also artists who buy a <a>blank Gwin</a> to hand paint and customize as a one-off art piece.</li>
[123001860590] |<li>A tattoo of Tux is also known as a “Tuxtoo”.</li>
[123001860600] |<li>Another uncredited use of the Tux currently can be seen at <a>dunk the scammer</a> where a designer apparently tries to depict the Tux as a symbol for Internet crime</li> 
[123001860610] |<strong>Information improvisation: </strong>You can get our complete <a>650-195</a> exam pass resources including our latest <a>HP0-S23</a> and <a>F50-531</a> training courses.
[123001860620] |<a>JN0-360</a> and <a>HP0-J39</a> are also playing vital role in IT world. 
[123001870010] |<title>Generate strong passwords online and offline</title>
[123001870020] |<img/>To <strong>generate</strong> random and <strong>secure</strong> <strong>passwords</strong> offline I recommend oldie <a><strong>mkpasswd</strong></a>.
[123001870030] |It was written by Don Libes from <a>National Institute of Standards and Technology</a> very long time ago but works perfectly.
[123001870040] |Install mkpasswd in <strong>Debian</strong> or any other distro containing APT by command:
[123001870050] |<code>sudo apt-get install -y mkpasswd</code>
[123001870060] |For some reason <strong>Ubuntu</strong>’s repository contains makepasswd that was written by Marco d’Itri and has similar functionality.
[123001870070] |To install it run <code>sudo apt-get install makepasswd</code>.
[123001870080] |Generate strong password by executing mkpasswd or makepasswd in command line.
[123001870090] |Examples:
[123001870100] |<code>makepasswd --char=10</code> <code>mkpasswd -s "salt"</code>
[123001870110] |Another way is to get strong password <strong>online</strong> with <a>www.goodpassword.com</a> that provides you with service free of charge.
[123001880010] |<title>PCLinuxOS Magazine Latest Issue (Nov 2007)</title>
[123001880020] |<a><strong>PCLinuxOS</strong></a> that was founded in October 2003 is free, easy-to-use Linux-based operating system for the home.
[123001880030] |It is distributed as a LiveCD, and can also be installed to a local hard drive.
[123001880040] |Locally installed versions of <a><img/></a>PCLinuxOS utilize the Advanced Packaging Tool (or APT), a package management system (originally from the Debian distribution), together with Synaptic, a GUI frontend to APT.
[123001880050] |PCLinuxOS differs from the other distros in that it doesn’t have a Debian base.
[123001880060] |PCLinuxOS gets its genes from Mandrake.
[123001880070] |PCLinuxOS has a nice feature that allows the users to take a snapshot of their current hard drive installation (user settings, applications, documents etc.) and compress it into an ISO CD/DVD image allowing them to backup their data easily as well as create custom live CD/DVD.
[123001880080] |<a>PCLinuxOS Magazine</a>, November 2007 (Issue 15) is available to download as <strong>pdf</strong> and <strong>html </strong>versions<a></a>.
[123001880090] |Some highlights include:
[123001880100] |<li>Linux Command Line Tutorial</li>
[123001880110] |<li>KDE User Guide, Part 10</li>
[123001880120] |<li>The Hardware Database Needs You</li>
[123001880130] |<li>Linux Directory Structure</li>
[123001880140] |<li>Syncing The Repos</li>
[123001880150] |<li>And more…</li> 
[123001880160] |Download <strong><a>pdf</a> </strong>or read it <a>here</a> in <strong>html</strong>.
[123001890010] |<title>Asterisk unveils customized Linux distro</title>
[123001890020] |<img/><strong>Asterisk</strong> is an <a>open source</a>/<a>free software</a> implementation of a telephone <a>private branch exchange</a> (PBX) originally created by <a>Mark Spencer</a> of <strong>Digium</strong>.
[123001890030] |The basic Asterisk software includes many features available in proprietary PBX systems: <a>voice mail</a>, <a>conference calling</a>, <a>interactive voice response</a> (phone menus), and <a>automatic call distribution</a>.
[123001890040] |Asterisk is released under a <a>dual license</a> scheme, the <a>free software license</a> being the <a>GNU General Public License</a> (GPL), the other being a <a>proprietary software license</a> as to allow <a>proprietary</a>/<a>closed</a> and <a>patented</a> code, such as the <a>G.729</a> codec to work with the system.
[123001890050] |Asterisk runs on <a>NetBSD</a>, <a>OpenBSD</a>, <a>FreeBSD</a>, <a>Mac OS X</a>, and <a>Solaris</a>, although as the native platform, <strong>Linux</strong> is the most supported of these.
[123001890060] |<img/>AsteriskNOW is an open source Software Appliance; a <strong>customized Linux distribution</strong> that includes <a>Asterisk</a> (the leading open source telephony engine and tool kit), the AsteriskGUI, and all other software needed for an Asterisk system.
[123001890070] |AsteriskNOW is easy to install, and offers flexibility, functionality and features not available in advanced, high-cost proprietary business systems.
[123001890080] |As it comes from documentation, installation is as easy as install certain Linux distro:
[123001890090] |<li>Download the AsteriskNOW ISO file, and create a CD image from the file, which is required before installation can begin.
[123001890100] |The process for burning a CD image will vary depending upon the CD authoring software you are using.</li>
[123001890110] |<li>Insert your newly created AsteriskNOW CD into the CD-ROM drive of the PC.</li>
[123001890120] |<li>Boot from the CD by restarting the PC.
[123001890130] |A basic AsteriskNOW boot menu with several options will be provided.
[123001890140] |For the standard graphical installer, simply press <enter.><Enter>.</enter.></li>
[123001890150] |<li><enter.> From here, follow the self-explanatory on-screen prompts to guide you through the installation process.</enter.></li> 
[123001890160] |Useful links: <a>Quick Start Guide</a>, <a>Download Page</a>
[123001900010] |<title>Firefox 3 Beta 1 is Ready!</title>
[123001900020] |<img/>Really nice news: <strong>Mozilla</strong> announced <strong>Firefox 3</strong> Beta 1 and it’s available for free download now!
[123001900030] |This is the ninth developer milestone focused on testing the core functionality provided by many (actually MANY) new features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 3:
[123001900040] |New features and changes in this milestone that require feedback include:
[123001900050] |<li>Improved<strong> security</strong> features such as: better presentation of website identity and security, malware protection, stricter SSL error pages, anti-virus integration in the download manager, and version checking for insecure plugins.</li>
[123001900060] |<li>Improved <strong>ease of use</strong> through: better password management, easier add-on installation, new download manager with resumable downloading, full page zoom, animated tab strip, and better integration with Windows Vista and Mac OS X.</li>
[123001900070] |<li><strong>Richer personalization</strong> through: one-click bookmarking, smart search bookmark folders, direct typing in location bar searches your history and bookmarks for URLs and page titles, ability to register web applications as protocol handlers, and better customization of download actions for file types.</li>
[123001900080] |<li>Improved <strong>platform features</strong> such as: new graphics and font rendering architecture, native web page form controls, colour profile management, and offline application support.</li>
[123001900090] |<li><strong>Performance improvements</strong> (!!!) such as: better data reliability for user profiles, architectural improvements to speed up page rendering, over 300 memory leak fixes, and a new XPCOM cycle collector to reduce entire classes of leaks.</li> 
[123001900100] |Useful Links:
[123001900110] |<li><strong>Download</strong> <a>Firefox 3 Beta 1</a> for <a>Linux</a> (and <a>Windows</a>, <a>Mac OS X</a>) in over <a>20 different languages</a></li>
[123001900120] |<li><strong>Direct link</strong> to <a>tarball</a> for Linux</li>
[123001900130] |<li><strong>Get more information</strong> on <a>what’s new</a> in Firefox 3</li>
[123001900140] |<li><strong>Screenshots </strong>are <a>here</a></li> 
[123001910010] |<title>GNU GRUB Simplified for Newbies</title>
[123001910020] |<img/><strong>GNU GRUB</strong> is a <a>boot loader</a> package from the <a>GNU Project</a>.
[123001910030] |GRUB is the <a>reference implementation</a> of the <a>Multiboot Specification</a>, which allows a user to have several different <a>operating systems</a> on their computer at once, and to choose which one to run when the computer starts.
[123001910040] |GRUB can be used to select from different <a>kernel images</a> available on a particular operating system’s partitions, as well as to pass boot-time parameters to such kernels.
[123001910050] |<a>Here</a> is the Joydeep Bakshi’s <strong>GBUB guide </strong>that is distibuted under <a>Open Content License</a> and covers the following fields:
[123001910060] |<li>MBR, boot sector, boot loader</li>
[123001910070] |<li>Backup &Restore boot loader</li>
[123001910080] |<li>Grub stage1, stage2, stage3 and relation among them</li>
[123001910090] |<li>Making Grub Floppy</li>
[123001910100] |<li>Making Grub CD</li>
[123001910110] |<li>Making Grub Pen drive</li>
[123001910120] |<li>stage1 and stage2 on different media</li>
[123001910130] |<li>Grub’s device and device.map file</li>
[123001910140] |<li>Grub Rescue</li>
[123001910150] |<li>Super Grub Disk</li>
[123001910160] |<li>Grub’S GUI configuration</li>
[123001910170] |<li>Manual booting with Grub shell</li>
[123001910180] |<li>Disk investigation with Grub</li> 
[123001910190] |<a>Read full guide here…</a>
[123001910200] |More useful links: <a>GNU GRUB</a> <a>GNU GRUB FAQ</a> <a>GNU GRUB Manual 0.97</a> <a>The list of command line and menu entry commands</a> <a>GNU GRUB on Wikipedia</a>
[123001930010] |<title>Microsoft tells how to recover data using Linux</title>
[123001930020] |<img/>Recently I came across nice article published at <strong>Microsoft</strong>’s site <strong><a>Port 25</a></strong> about how to <strong>recover crashed Windows</strong> using <strong>Linux</strong>.
[123001930030] |It’s rather helpful staff written by Chris Travers (who own <a>Metatron Technology Consulting</a> by the way).
[123001930040] |Here is an introduction quote from the document:
[123001930050] |digg_url = http://www.linuxscrew.com/2007/11/26/microsoft-tells-how-to-recover-data-using-linux/; We have all run into cases where Windows refuses to load for one reason or another.
[123001930060] |The problem may be a hardware or a software failure, and the problem may seem to be irrecoverable.
[123001930070] |Yet often Linux can be used to help recover data that otherwise might be lost.
[123001930080] |In writing this paper, we generally assume that either a Linux workstation is available to accept recovery information or that a USB drive of sufficient size is available to hold the data.
[123001930090] |Generally in either case, enough free space should be available to store the entire hard drive as a bit-for-bit file and still have at least 2GB of space free.
[123001930100] |However, if more space is available, the process of organizing the recovered data is a bit easier.
[123001930110] |If neither of these is available, the utility of Linux in data recovery will be limited.
[123001930120] |Download this document in as pdf format <a>here</a>.
[123001930130] |You can read interesting comments on their site by clicking at <a>this link</a>.
[123001930140] |By the way, <a>Port 25</a> site is copyrighted by Microsoft under the Microsoft Permissive License that is available <a>here</a>.
[123001940010] |<title>Long-awaited Pidgin 2.3.0 is out!</title>
[123001940020] |<img/>digg_url = http://www.linuxscrew.com/2007/11/27/long-awaited-pidgin-230-is-out/; One of the best instant messengers named <strong><a>Pidgin</a></strong> (previously Gaim) released it’s latest version <strong>2.3.0</strong>.
[123001940030] |According to developers’ description Pidgin is a multiprotocol IM client and it’s goal is to hide protocols from the user as much as possible (users have to know about individual protocols when they create or modify accounts, but in day-to-day communication and usage, the intent is that users don’t have to think about protocols at all).
[123001940040] |Pidgin supports the following protocols:
[123001940050] |<li><a>.NET Messenger Service</a> (MSN)</li>
[123001940060] |<li><a>OSCAR</a> (<a>AIM</a>/<a>ICQ</a>/<a>.Mac</a>)</li>
[123001940070] |<li><a>XMPP</a> (<a>Jabber</a>, <a>Google Talk</a>)</li>
[123001940080] |<li><a>Gadu-Gadu</a></li>
[123001940090] |<li><a>Internet Relay Chat</a></li>
[123001940100] |<li><a>MySpaceIM</a></li>
[123001940110] |<li><a>Novell GroupWise</a></li>
[123001940120] |<li><a>SILC</a></li>
[123001940130] |<li><a>Yahoo!</a></li>
[123001940140] |<li><a>Zephyr</a></li>
[123001940150] |<li><a>Lotus Sametime</a> (previously supported by the third party <a>gaim-meanwhile</a> plugin)</li>
[123001940160] |<li><a>QQ</a> (previously supported by the third-party <a>OpenQ</a> plugin)</li>
[123001940170] |<li><a>Session Initiation Protocol</a> (SIP) (only with chat function)</li>
[123001940180] |<li><a>DirectNet</a>, 3rd party plugin for DirectNet — peer to peer instant messenger</li>
[123001940190] |<li><a>IMPS</a>, <a>Smart VAS</a></li>
[123001940200] |<li><a>Tlen.pl</a>, <a>SourceForge</a></li>
[123001940210] |<li><a>Xfire</a>, <a>gfire</a></li>
[123001940220] |<li><a>RVP</a>, <a>Fabien Carrion</a></li>
[123001940230] |<li><a>Skype</a>, <a>Plugin to access the API of Skype (needs Skype running)</a></li> 
[123001940240] |Read full developer’s changelog <a>here</a> and download Pidgin from <a>pidgin.im/download</a>.
[123001940250] |It’s available as source tarball, as binary packages for Fedora, CentOS/RHEL and other major Linux distributions, plus 2.3.0 version is ready also for Windows users.
[123001950010] |<title>Solar + Tiny PC + Linux = Sweeeet</title>
[123001950020] |digg_url = http://www.linuxscrew.com/2007/12/03/solar-tiny-pc-linux-sweeeet/; Really interesting device was found today in the vast expanses of Internet.
[123001950030] |Company named <a>Aleutia</a> (established in London, 2006) sells extremely mini PC that consumes really small amount of energy (8 watts!!!), runs Linux and can be powered by sun!
[123001950040] |It’s named <a>Aleutia E1</a> and is available starting at 180 £.
[123001950050] |See details below!
[123001950060] |Seller announces the following product specifications (see detailed specs <a>here</a>):
[123001950070] |<li>Processor: 200MHz x86 CPU, Memory: 128MB SDRAM, Storage: 2GB (included Compact Flash card), Power Supply (US, UK, or EU).</li>
[123001950080] |<li>3 x USB 2.0 ports (480Mbps transfer rate), 1 x 10/100 Ethernet port, VGA port to connect LCD display (supports resolutions up to 1280×1024)</li>
[123001950090] |<li>Power consumption of 8W with CPU and SDRAM running at full speed.
[123001950100] |With external devices (USB 2.0 CD Rewriter, USB-powered hard drive) power consumption rises to 11W.</li>
[123001950110] |<li>Dimensions: 11.5cm (Width) x 11.5cm (Lenght) x 3.5cm (Height)</li>
[123001950120] |<li>Puppy Linux Operating System (version 2.14) –similar in appearance to MS Windows, stable, and pre-installed.</li>
[123001950130] |<li>Excel-compatible spreadsheet software (Gnumeric), Word-compatible word processor (Abiword)</li> 
[123001950140] |Looking at these specs and using Google it was discovered that Aleutia sells <a>Norhtec</a>’s device <a>The MicroClient Jr</a>!
[123001950150] |Do you see the difference at the pictures below?
[123001950160] |Maybe hand? <img/>
[123001950170] |By the way, Norhtec’s one is of 120$… From Norhtec’s site:
[123001950180] |The MicroClient Jr. is a revolutionary device that is especially designed for installations having limited physical space and temperature concerns.
[123001950190] |It does not matter if you are in a jammed office, a crowded place, or public transportation –it can be easily integrated with a VESA LCD to bring you computer access at any time.
[123001950200] |It can attach to any VESA mounting fixture, allowing it to be securely mounted onto desks, room walls, or buildings, and thereby optimizing your work area.
[123001950210] |It can also attach directly to LCDs of any size to create a mobile system for the use at trade shows, presentations, promotions, etc.
[123001950220] |Unlike the traditional laptop design, the MicroClient Jr. can be used with a large size LCD.
[123001950230] |Furthermore, with FANLESS design, MicroClient Jr. is ideal for use in hot climates without air conditioning.
[123001950240] |Get more details on The MicroClient Jr. <a>here</a>… Sweeeet! <img/>
[123001950250] |<strong>Information improvisation: </strong>If you are looking for fast success in <a>JN0-343</a> exams then join today to explore complete <a>HP2-T16</a> resources and pass <a>HP2-E31</a> certification on first try.
[123001950260] |A person can chose <a>312-50</a>  <a>HP0-J40</a> for his easiness. 
[123001970010] |<title>Defragmentation in Linux? Only in sometimes</title>
[123001970020] |<img/><a>Sander Marechal</a> published at <a>LXer</a> interesting observations on file defragmentation that is would be needed in Linux:
[123001970030] |I still wondered how on earth it was possible the 100k+ files in Gentoo’s portage system –updated every time I synchronize the portage tree –didn’t fragment my filesystem.
[123001970040] |Or was my filesystem fragmented and did I not know?
[123001970050] |Only recently, I found a script that is actually able to put numbers to all this gut-feelings, and the results were quite surprising in my opinion.
[123001970060] |Result: to achieve notable fragmentation level it’s necessary to do utmost.
[123001970070] |File fragmentation mainly happens in filesystems that contain large files.
[123001970080] |Pretty interesting.
[123001970090] |Full article is <a>here</a>, as well as testing <a>script</a>, also you’re welcome to read LXer <a>discussion</a> on this.
[123001970100] |Script for defragmentation is available at <a>this page</a>.
[123001980010] |<title>Install Ubuntu packages by clicking html link</title>
[123001980020] |digg_url = http://www.linuxscrew.com/2007/12/16/install-ubuntu-packages-by-clicking-html-link/;<strong><a>Apturl</a></strong> allows to install Ubuntu packages using <em>apt:pkgname</em> like syntax with any compatible browser like Firefox, Konqueror or other.
[123001980030] |Let me note that apturl comes with Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10 by default and is very useful while placing links through manuals, howtos etc.
[123001980040] |For example, to install ntop utility in Ubuntu I’d suggested to run the following command from terminal: <code>sudo apt-get install ntop</code>, but now I can just place the link like this: <a>hey, install ntop by clicking here!</a>
[123001980050] |Here is graphical representation of this example:
[123001980060] |After you click pressing “ok” button Ubuntu will start installation process of certain package:
[123001980070] |I hope this would be useful for bloggers writing manuals for Ubuntu Gutsy users.
[123001980080] |Real thanks apturl’s author Harsh J (aka <a>Qwerty Maniac</a>).
[123001990010] |<title>Latest nmap 4.50 is out. Must upgrade!</title>
[123001990020] |<strong><img/></strong><strong>Nmap</strong> is well known open source tool for security auditing and many other related network exploring activities.
[123001990030] |Here is it’s developers’ description taken from their site:
[123001990040] |Nmap uses raw IP packets in novel ways to determine what hosts are available on the network, what services (application name and version) those hosts are offering, what operating systems (and OS versions) they are running, what type of packet filters/firewalls are in use, and dozens of other characteristics.
[123001990050] |It was designed to rapidly scan large networks, but works fine against single hosts.
[123001990060] |Nmap runs on all major computer operating systems, and both console and graphical versions are available.
[123001990070] |Few days ago latest version <strong>4.50</strong> of this outstanding tool was <a>released</a> celebrating 10 years anniversary.
[123001990080] |Among notable changes are <a>Zenmap GUI</a>, <a>new generation OS detection</a>, the <a>nmap scripting engine</a>, new host discovery system, advanced <a><img/></a>traceroute and ~ 1500 new <a>version detection</a> signatures.
[123001990090] |Full changelog is <a>here</a>, binary <a>packages</a> for almost all operating systems (including Linux, BSD, Windows) can be downloaded at project’s <a>download page</a>.
[123001990100] |One of major changes in 4.50 is multi-platform Graphical User Interface (GUI) that would be helpful for nmap newbies as well as experienced people.
[123001990110] |Manual page is <a>here</a>, screenshot is right <img/>
[123002000010] |<title>Security Guide for Linux by NSA</title>
[123002000020] |<img/>The <a>National Security Agency</a> (NSA) recently <a>issued</a> security configuration guides for various operating system, including MAC OS X, Windows, Linux and Solaris.
[123002000030] |The published guides are used by the government and are pretty interesting.
[123002000040] |Guide for Linux is presented as <a>Hardening Tips for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5</a> and <a>Guide to the Secure </a><a>Configuration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5</a>.
[123002000050] |Of course most of recommendation suit other distributions.
[123002000060] |Here is the introduction quote from latter guide:
[123002000070] |The purpose of this guide is to provide security configuration recommendations for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5 operating system.
[123002000080] |The guidance provided here should be applicable to all variants (Desktop, Server, Advanced Platform) of the product.
[123002000090] |Recommended settings for the basic operating system are provided, as well as for many commonly-used services that the system can host in a network environment.
[123002000100] |The guide is intended for system administrators.
[123002000110] |Readers are assumed to possess basic system administration skills for Unix-like systems, as well as some familiarity with Red Hat’s documentation and administration conventions.
[123002000120] |Some instructions within this guide are complex.
[123002000130] |All directions should be followed completely and with understanding of their effects in order to avoid serious adverse effects on the system and its security.
[123002000140] |Above mentioned guide covers the following directions: system-wide configuration (for example, iptables and ip6tables setup, logging, selinux and etc.) and services configuring (SSH, Avahi server, MTA, LDAP and many others).
[123002000150] |Linux Screw (and NSA btw <img/>) strongly recommends every system administrator to get familiar with this guide(s).
[123002000160] |Thanks to <a>G-Loaded!</a>
[123002000170] |(Technology and Open-Source Software related journal).
[123002010010] |<title>Sexy wallpapers and backgrounds for Ubuntu Linux. Part 2</title>
[123002010020] |<img/>Below is the next portion of <strong>sexy wallpapers</strong> for <strong>Ubuntu</strong> Linux as well as for any other distributions and operating systems (previous set is <a>here</a>).
[123002010030] |digg_url = http://www.linuxscrew.com/2008/01/07/sexy-backgrounds-for-ubuntu-linux-part-2/;
[123002010040] |Again great thanks to <a>www.gnome-look.org</a>!
[123002020010] |<title>Linux Foundation Podcast: Linus Torvalds</title>
[123002020020] |<img/>This one is the first podcast from Linux Foundation’s series “Open Source Visionaries”.
[123002020030] |And it’s normal that it’s Linus Torvalds interview <img/>Podcast is now available in <a>MP3</a> and <a>OGG</a> at LF’s <a>Open Voices</a> page.
[123002020040] |Transcript is <a>here</a>.
[123002020050] |Jim Zemlin: You don’t love the kernel community, do you?
[123002020060] |Linus Torvalds: Well, some people I worked with, I mean, it – when you work with people for five or ten years, maybe you don’t love them that way but at least you trust them in a very real sense on a personal level.
[123002040010] |<title>Secure Linux/Unix system that runs OpenSSH service</title>
[123002040020] |I came across invaluable article on how to make Linux system that runs <a>OpenSSH</a> server to be even more secure.
[123002040030] |It’s written by 17-year-old (!!!)
[123002040040] |<a>Peter Upfold</a> from <a>FOSSwire</a> and covers the following simple steps:
[123002040050] |<li><img/>Disable SSH protocol 1</li>
[123002040060] |<li>Enable key-based logins</li>
[123002040070] |<li>Don’t enable password-based logins</li>
[123002040080] |<li>Don’t run on port 22</li>
[123002040090] |<li>No remote root logins</li> 
[123002040100] |I found these tips invaluable and sire that there is no doubt SSH-2 protocol remains the most common and safe method to access remote Linux or Unix system.
[123002040110] |The article is freely available <strong><a>here</a></strong>.
[123002050010] |<title>KDE 4 Era begins</title>
[123002050020] |Today it was <a>announced</a> that <a><strong>KDE 4.0</strong></a> is finally released and as it was proudly noted in press release, with this major version the KDE Community marks the beginning of the KDE 4 era.
[123002050030] |<strong>K Desktop Environment</strong> was created in 1996 by <a>Matthias Ettrich</a>, who was troubled by UNIX certain aspects and proposed the formation of not only a set of applications, but rather a whole <a>desktop environment</a>, in which users could expect things to look, feel, and work consistently.
[123002050040] |Major version KDE 4.0 comprises numerous improvement that can be grouped as follows: <strong>libraries</strong>, <strong>desktop</strong>, <strong>applications </strong>and <strong>artwork</strong>.
[123002050050] |Full list of updates and improvements is too long to quote it here, so you might read it from protosource (:
[123002050060] |<a>Official announcement page</a>, <a>KDE 4.0 Visual Guide</a>
[123002050070] |Here are some significant points of the new system:
[123002050080] |The KDE 4 Desktop has gained some major new capabilities.
[123002050090] |The Plasma desktop shell offers a new desktop interface, including panel, menu and widgets on the desktop as well as a dashboard function.
[123002050100] |KWin, the KDE Window manager, now supports advanced graphical effects to ease interaction with your windows.
[123002050110] |Visual updates through vector-based artwork, changes in the underlying libraries, user interface enhancements, new features, even new applications —you name it, KDE 4.0 has it.
[123002050120] |Okular, the new document viewer and Dolphin, the new file manager are only two applications that leverage KDE 4.0’s new technologies.
[123002050130] |Soon after KDE Community announcement, <strong><a>Kubuntu</a></strong> KDE 4.0 live CD became available and it is one of ways to get familiar with new KDE 4.0 today. ~ 550 MB ISO images are freely downloadable <a>here</a> (servers are overloaded right now, so be patient <img/>).
[123002060010] |<title>Slackware + NetBSD = VoltaLinux</title>
[123002060020] |<a><strong>VoltaLinux</strong></a> is a GNU/Linux distribution based on Slackware and includes <a>pkgsrc</a> package system from <a>NetBSD</a>.
[123002060030] |Recently this project released <a>2.0 version</a> of their distro where any system administrator can enjoy the clean design of Slackware and power of *BSD with the availability of more than 5900 ports ready to be installed.
[123002060040] |Basically VoltaLinux is intended for servers or small/embedded devices as it requires only 12MB of RAM (it was tested).
[123002060050] |I found the idea to cross the power of above mentioned systems quite interesting.
[123002060060] |You can download VoltaLinux 2.0 ISO from <a>here</a>, <a>installation instructions</a> are the same as for Slackware.
[123002070010] |<title>Linux + 532Mhz CPU + 128Mb RAM + audio/video + Wi-Fi = Photoframe! Huh?</title>
[123002070020] |digg_url = http://www.linuxscrew.com/2008/01/15/linux-532mhz-cpu-128mb-ram-audiovideo-wi-fi-photoframe-huh/;One of my favorite sites recently <a>published</a> entertaining brief article about Linux-based device.
[123002070030] |Just imagine photoframe with 0.5 Ghz CPU, 128 Mb RAM, up to 16Gb SD memory, MP3/MPEG-4 playback and Wi-Fi.
[123002070040] |Huh?
[123002070050] |No jokes, it’s upcoming <a>Agfaphoto</a>’s AF5080W product and below are it’s specs!
[123002070060] |<li>Processor —Freescale i.MX31 SoC with ARM11 core clocked at 532MHz</li>
[123002070070] |<li>Memory —128MB; 5-in-1 memory card reader supporting up to 16GB SD</li>
[123002070080] |<li>Display —8-inch, 800×600 SVGA</li>
[123002070090] |<li>Images —JPEG, GIF, PNG, WMF</li>
[123002070100] |<li>Audio —MP3, WMA</li>
[123002070110] |<li>Video —H.264 AVI, MJPEG, MPEG-4 (and via networked STB, MPEG 1 and MPEG-2)</li>
[123002070120] |<li>I/O —WiFi, USB</li>
[123002070130] |<li>Features —slideshow, clock, calendar, alarm, and remote control</li>
[123002070140] |<li>Frame —tripod base with three interchangeable veneers: brushed aluminium, black plastic, and wood effect</li> 
[123002070150] |As for me, I was impressed and little bit confused: I have internet gateway/proxy with lesser hardware running in our office! <img/>
[123002070160] |<img/>That server can’t do animation-enhanced slideshow, doesn’t have calendar, alarm functions and can’t play video or audio.
[123002070170] |But above-mentioned digital photoframe can do it easily, as well as it can play video from STB (set-top box) and transfer data via Wi-Fi.
[123002070180] |Nice device among those that aren’t worse buying however potentially are perfect gifts!
[123002070190] |The toy is to be shipped by AgfaPhoto and developed by <a>Sagem</a> Communications.
[123002070200] |Hardware part is based on Freescale Semiconductor’s <a>i.MX31</a> system-on-chip (SoC).
[123002070210] |There is no official information on pricing and/or availability, but if you’re interested just wait until it appear at <a>AgfaPhoto’s photoframes page</a>.
[123002080010] |<title>Sun acquires MySQL AB</title>
[123002080020] |<img/>Exciting news was published today at <a>Jonathan Schwartz</a>‘ (Chief Executive Officer and President of Sun Microsystems) blog:
[123002080030] |We announced big news today –our preliminary results for our fiscal second quarter, and as importantly, that <strong>we’re acquiring <a>MySQL</a> AB</strong>. …<img/>This puts products like MySQL in an interesting position.
[123002080040] |They’re a part of every web company’s infrastructure, to be sure.
[123002080050] |And though many of the more traditional companies use MySQL (from auto companies to financial institutions to banks and retailers), many have been waiting for a Fortune 500 vendor willing to step up, to provide mission critical global support.
[123002080060] |Read full article <a>here</a> and <a>here</a> (official agreement announcement)…
[123002090010] |<title>10 good Unix command line habits to pick up</title>
[123002090020] |<img/>as usual provides us with excellent article about good habits which would help Unix administrators to improve their command line usage efficiency and break away from bad usage patterns in the process.
[123002090030] |I was impressed by this article and realized my everyday <a>CLI</a> usage is full of “bad patterns”.
[123002090040] |Nice point to give up them and pick up good style.
[123002090050] |<img/>When you use a system often, you tend to fall into set usage patterns.
[123002090060] |Sometimes, you do not start the habit of doing things in the best possible way.
[123002090070] |Sometimes, you even pick up bad practices that lead to clutter and clumsiness.
[123002090080] |One of the best ways to correct such inadequacies is to conscientiously pick up good habits that counteract them.
[123002090090] |This article suggests 10 UNIX command-line habits worth picking up —good habits that help you break many common usage foibles and make you more productive at the command line in the process.
[123002090100] |Each habit is described in more detail following the list of good habits.
[123002090110] |Those 10 good habits to adopt are:
[123002090120] |<li><a>Make directory trees in a single swipe</a>.</li>
[123002090130] |<li><a>Change the path; do not move the archive</a>.</li>
[123002090140] |<li><a>Combine your commands with control operators</a>.</li>
[123002090150] |<li><a>Quote variables with caution</a>.</li>
[123002090160] |<li><a>Use escape sequences to manage long input</a>.</li>
[123002090170] |<li><a>Group your commands together in a list</a>.</li>
[123002090180] |<li><a>Use <code>xargs</code> outside of <code>find</code></a>.</li>
[123002090190] |<li><a>Know when <code>grep</code> should do the counting —and when it should step aside</a>.</li>
[123002090200] |<li><a>Match certain fields in output, not just lines</a>.</li>
[123002090210] |<li><a>Stop piping <code>cat</code>s</a>.</li> 
[123002090220] |Full article is <a>here</a>.
[123002100010] |<title>Fun: Windows vs. Linux for toasters</title>
[123002100020] |digg_url = http://www.linuxscrew.com/2008/01/18/fun-windows-vs-linux-for-toasters/;Last week both systems Microsoft Windows <a><strong>Vivid Toasting Technology</strong></a> (VTT) 2008 Starter Edition and <a><strong>Heatu</strong></a> Linux 9.06 (<strong>Dainty Toast</strong>) were released for modern toasters.
[123002100030] |Yesterday <a>Linux Screw</a> has an opportunity to test both and the results were demonstrated at the Annual Bread Valley Conference at Jan 17 2008 in Texas, USA.
[123002100040] |Reactions were mixed as Heatu Linux 9.06 and Windows VTT went head-to-head.
[123002100050] |Windows VTT 2008 Starter Edition
[123002100060] |<img/>The first product of its new Microsoft Kitchen(tm) brand, Windows VTT is designed to make bread toasting more user-friendly.
[123002100070] |A Microsoft press release started, “The complications and hassle associated with the production of grilled bread products that made them inaccessible to the end user have been removed with the release of Windows VTT.
[123002100080] |Just plug in a slice and play”.
[123002100090] |Windows VTT 2008 natively contains drivers for toasters that are based on many heat-generating processors like latest AMToast and new Core Toast Duo.
[123002100100] |Other toasters may be used with special drivers included into upcoming Toasting Plus! pack.
[123002100110] |Microsoft recommends that VTT 2007 only be used with MS SlicedBread(tm).
[123002100120] |A Microsoft spokesman said, “VTT still contains a few issues that make it incompatible with other brands.
[123002100130] |We should have a service pack to resolve these problems within six months”.
[123002100140] |<img/>The VTT demonstrations faced several setbacks.
[123002100150] |One of the toasters were actually exploded, causing the fire alarms to go off.
[123002100160] |In addition, several toasters produced bread that was burned on one side but cold on the other.
[123002100170] |Finally, several times VTT crashed while toasting and had to be rebooted.
[123002100180] |Every time that happened the toaster hung up or toasters has typical blue color.
[123002100190] |Heatu Linux 9.06 
[123002100200] |Heatu 9.06 is completely different than VTT.
[123002100210] |Whereas VTT comes pre-installed on many portable toasters (laptoasts also), Heantu must be downloaded from the <a>heatu.com</a> or purchased on CD/DVD and then installed on the toaster.
[123002100220] |Installation, however, is fairly easy, and Heatu works on a variety of machines and configurations.
[123002100230] |A few proprietary toasters are not supported (such as the I2O-Toast-a-Matic) because the specifications are still not available.
[123002100240] |The greatest feature of Dainty Toast (Heatu 9.06) is its multi-user format.
[123002100250] |Each user can customize what kind of toast they want, and Heatu will retain the settings for future sessions.
[123002100260] |This, however, requires each user to log in.
[123002100270] |On the plus side, Heatu can produce toast for several users at once.
[123002100280] |Linux Screw team was impressed with the Dainty Toast testing results.
[123002100290] |The toasters didn’t crash, didn’t explode, and always produced perfectly toasted bread.
[123002100300] |However, some users were concerned about easy-to-use of Linux command line.
[123002100310] |Onlookers were impressed after XToast GUI System was shown, one man even lost consciousness when Toastiz window manager effects were demonstrated.
[123002100320] |Reactions
[123002100330] |While Heatu Linux was more popular, many people expressed a preference for Windows VTT.
[123002100340] |“VTT is backed by Microsoft, what is Heatu backed by?
[123002100350] |What if something goes wrong with Heatu?” an executive for a bread company asked.
[123002100360] |A columnist who had just flown in from the Atlanta Pundit Showcase said, “Windows VTT is yet another innovative Microsoft product.
[123002100370] |Microsoft will revolutionize the kitchen appliance industry and bring computerized appliances to the masses.”
[123002100380] |Nevertheless, Dainty Toast had a clear edge on VTT.
[123002100390] |One attendee clutching a Heatu 9.06 CD-ROM said, “Not only is Heatu free, but it’s also more stable and powerful.
[123002100400] |I know what I’m going to be using at home.”
[123002100410] |Another person said, “Did you see how that one Windows toaster exploded?
[123002100420] |Wow!
[123002100430] |I can see where they got the name VTT.”
[123002100440] |Finally, after taste testing the bread from Windows VTT, a college student gagged and said, “Yuck!
[123002100450] |This is awful.
[123002100460] |Windows ‘Plug-and-Play’ technology should be called ‘Plug-and-Burn’.”
[123002120010] |<title>10+ advices BEFORE you rebuild Linux kernel</title>
[123002120020] |<img/>digg_url = http://www.linuxscrew.com/2008/03/04/10-advices-before-you-rebuild-linux-kernel/;Many Linux newbies think that kernel recompilation is inherent and almost necessary thing to do after OS is just installed or some time later.
[123002120030] |By the following advices I would try to show these fellows in which situations this really makes sense and what to do if one persists <img/>
[123002120040] |<strong>1</strong>. If you don’t know why you should patch/recompile kernel –DO NOT DO THIS.
[123002120050] |<strong>2</strong>. If your running kernel is smart and supports all necessary hardware, technologies and doesn’t contain critical vulnerabilities –DO NOT REBUILD IT.
[123002120060] |<strong>3</strong>. If you don’t know what are kernel patches and why they are used –DO NOT REBUILD KERNEL.
[123002120070] |<strong>4</strong>. If kernel with needed functionality is available as binary package for your distribution (especially in official repositories) –DO NOT BUILD KERNEL.
[123002120080] |<strong>5</strong>. If you insist, certainly read <a>Kernel HOWTO</a> and notes about kernel recompilation in regards to your distribution.
[123002120090] |<strong>6</strong>. Do change kernel config values only if you know what they mean.
[123002120100] |<strong>7</strong>. Don’t forget to build initrd before rebooting your system.
[123002120110] |<strong>8</strong>. Do not remove workable kernel and make it default in boot loader menu (like grub).
[123002120120] |<strong>9</strong>. Don’t panic if something goes wrong –most probably the same situation happened to thousands people earlier.
[123002120130] |But sometimes shit happens.
[123002120140] |<strong>10</strong>. Rebuilding procedure usually takes hours depending on hardware you use.
[123002120150] |BE PATIENT! <img/>
[123002120160] |<img/><strong>11</strong> (thanks to <a>Erek Dyskant</a>).
[123002120170] |Use your distro’s package management system to build kernels whenever possible (like make-kpkg in Debian or rpmbuild in Fedora/RedHat/CentOS)
[123002120180] |I really hope this helps and pretty sure you’ll build your “perfect” kernel once <img/>
[123002120190] |<strong>Any further advices are WELCOME!</strong>
[123002120200] |P.S. Thanks to <a>Stas Kogut</a> for encouraging me to write this post.
[123002130010] |<title>Copy files from Windows to Linux safely</title>
[123002130020] |Many systems administrators of LAN and WAN networks, which contain Windows, Mac and Linux hosts, once face the problem on how to <strong>securely</strong> <strong>transmit</strong> some <strong>data</strong> <strong>between</strong> these systems.
[123002130030] |It is always possible to use <strong><a>SCP</a></strong> when copying files between two Unix machines but what if you have to move files from <strong>Windows</strong> PC to <strong>Linux</strong> server for example?
[123002130040] |It’s nice to know that there are good guys who created tool for this operation named <strong><a>WinSCP</a></strong>.
[123002130050] |<img/>Actually <a>WINSCP</a> is an open source free SFTP client and FTP client for Windows as it’s said on their site.
[123002130060] |The following features are supported:
[123002130070] |<li>Graphical user interface</li>
[123002130080] |<li>Translated into several languages</li>
[123002130090] |<li>Integration with Windows (drag&drop, URL, shortcut icons)</li>
[123002130100] |<li>U3 support</li>
[123002130110] |<li>All common operations with files</li>
[123002130120] |<li>Support for SFTP and SCP protocols over SSH-1 and SSH-2 and plain old FTP protocol</li>
[123002130130] |<li>Batch file scripting and command-line interface</li>
[123002130140] |<li>Directory synchronization in several semi or fully automatic ways</li>
[123002130150] |<li>Integrated text editor</li>
[123002130160] |<li>Support for SSH password, keyboard-interactive, public key and Kerberos (GSS) authentication</li>
[123002130170] |<li>Integrates with Pageant (PuTTY authentication agent) for full support of public key authentication with SSH</li>
[123002130180] |<li>Windows Explorer-like and Norton Commander-like interfaces</li>
[123002130190] |<li>Optionally stores session information</li>
[123002130200] |<li>Optionally supports standalone operation using a configuration file in place of registry entries, suitable for operation from removable media</li> 
[123002130210] |So, as not every computer runs Linux today yet, you are welcome to use WinSCP meanwhile <img/>
[123002130220] |<img/>There are still many real programmers around the world and that’s why <a>here</a> is SFTP, SCP (any many other protocols) browser for MACs named <a>CYBERDUCK</a>.
[123002130230] |It makes no sense to list all features it supports here, so just visit their site to get surprised <img/>
[123002130240] |P.S. Have a good transfer! <img/>
[123002140010] |<title>Nagios installation and configuration in SUSE Linux</title>
[123002140020] |<img/>As we know <strong>Nagios</strong> is extremely popular open source network <strong>monitoring system</strong>.
[123002140030] |It watches hosts across the local area network (LAN) and/or across the Internet, services that you can specify, alerting you when things go bad.
[123002140040] |The following step-by-step guide written by Novel people (actually by Rainer Brunold) for sure would help if you plan to deploy Nagios monitoring system with <strong>Novel SUSE Linux</strong>.
[123002140050] |At least it helped me <img/>
[123002140060] |I don’t want to write here a full documentation about Nagios, I prefer to give you a basic installation guide so you can set it up very easy and play with it yourself.
[123002140070] |The installation guide will show you how to install Nagios as well as some interesting extensions and how they integrate into each other.
[123002140080] |During this installation you will make many modifications to the installation that will help to understand how it works, how you can integrate systems and different services.
[123002140090] |I will also provide some articles about monitoring special services where I describe what they do and what configuration changes are needed.
[123002140100] |All together should give you a very good overview and documentation on how you can enhance the Nagios installation yourself.
[123002140110] |The rest of the article is <a>here</a>.
[123002140120] |Respect to the author!
[123002150010] |<title>ptunnel: send/receive TCP traffic via ICMP reliably</title>
[123002150020] |Yes, it can be useful sometimes.
[123002150030] |For example, you have access to Wi-Fi network but you’re not allowed to access Internet via <strong>TCP/UDP</strong> as these protocols are blocked.
[123002150040] |At the same time <strong>ICMP</strong> is opened and you can ping everything alive in Internet.
[123002150050] |So, to check your email just have <a><strong>ptunnel</strong></a> installed and work around the restrictions set by the Wi-Fi network sysadmin easily.
[123002150060] |Ptunnel is an application that allows you to reliably <strong>tunnel</strong> TCP connections to a remote host using ICMP echo request and reply packets, commonly known as ping requests and replies.
[123002150070] |It is not a feature-rich tool by any means, but it does what it advertises.
[123002150080] |So here is what it can do:
[123002150090] |<li>Tunnel TCP using ICMP echo request and reply packets</li>
[123002150100] |<li>Connections are reliable (lost packets are resent as necessary)</li>
[123002150110] |<li>Handles multiple connections</li>
[123002150120] |<li>Acceptable bandwidth (150 kb/s downstream and about 50 kb/s upstream are the currently measured maximas for one tunnel)</li>
[123002150130] |<li>Authentication, to prevent just anyone from using your proxy</li> 
[123002150140] |1. <strong>Install ptunnel in Ubuntu or Debian</strong> apt-get install ptunnel
[123002150150] |2. <strong>Start ptunnel proxy:</strong>
[123002150160] |<code>ptunnel -p proxy_address -lp listen_port -da destination_address -dp dest_port [-c network_device] [-v verbosity] [-u] [-x password] [-f file]</code>
[123002150170] |The following example assumes that ptunnel is run as root, both on the proxy and client.
[123002150180] |To tunnel ssh connections from the client machine via a proxy running on proxy.pingtunnel.com to the computer login.domain.com, the following command line would be used:
[123002150190] |<code>ptunnel -p proxy.pingtunnel.com -lp 8000 -da login.domain.com -dp 22</code>
[123002150200] |An ssh connection to login.domain.com can now be established as follows:
[123002150210] |<code>ssh -p 8000 localhost</code>
[123002150220] |P.S.
[123002150230] |A brief manual on how to use ptunnel can be got <a>here</a>.
[123002150240] |P.P.S.
[123002150250] |If you are sysadmin and have to forbid Internet access to some user in LAN, don’t forget to block ICMP! <img/>
[123002160010] |<title>Tiny perl script for UDP flooding</title>
[123002160020] |Sometimes it is necessary to perform <strong>UDP flood</strong> towards some network device(s) in order to test its behavior in stress… Actually I am sure that every system administrator might use this small <strong>perl script</strong> for this purpose.
[123002160030] |Certainly there are many special programs for this but believe me that it is much more easier to do the following:
[123002160040] |<strong>1</strong>. <code>#touch >/tmp/flood.pl</code> <strong>2</strong>. <code>#chmod +x /tmp/flood.pl</code> <strong>3</strong>.
[123002160050] |Copy the this code to /tmp/flood.pl:
[123002160060] |<strong>4</strong>. Then <code>/tmp/flood.pl 192.168.0.1 0 0 0</code>, where 192.168.0.1 is IP you would like to flood with huge amount of UDP datagrams.
[123002160070] |Thanks to Ivan Pepelnjak from <a>http://ioshints.blogspot.com/</a>.
[123002170010] |<title>OpenBSD: Corporate Mail Server with Postfix, MySQL, ClamAV, SA, Amavis-new</title>
[123002170020] |<img/>Few days ago I started configuring corporate mail server that should be deployed on <a><strong>OpenBSD</strong></a> and comprise the following features:
[123002170030] |<li>Easy to configure and powerful MTA (<a><strong>Postfix</strong></a>)</li>
[123002170040] |<li>Virtual domains and user accounts (this information is stored in <strong>MySQL</strong> database)</li>
[123002170050] |<li>Antispam and antivirus checking for all accounts (<a><strong>spamassassin</strong></a> and <a><strong>clamav</strong></a> via <a><strong>amavis-new</strong></a>)</li>
[123002170060] |<li>Secure access to mailboxes through POP3, IMAP and HTTP (<a><strong>squirellmail</strong></a>)</li>
[123002170070] |<li>Secure SMTP server</li>
[123002170080] |<li>Extremal Stability and Security</li> 
[123002170090] |Actually OpenBSD 4.2 was chosen because of it’s “security by default”.
[123002170100] |Thankfully <a>Daniele Mazzocchio</a> from friendly site <a>www.kernel-panic.it</a> wrote an <strong><a>excellent article</a></strong> about how to build such mail server on this operating system:
[123002170110] |Offering a reliable and secure email service is probably one of the top priorities of most system administrators; therefore, in the next chapters, we will build a full-featured mail server, based on open-source software and focusing on security.
[123002170120] |<a>Read more…</a>
[123002170130] |The only thing that is not covered by it is mail content filtering with <a>maildrop</a> and vacation messages that users often ask to set while they are out.
[123002170140] |Working on it! <img/>
[123002180010] |<title>Install Ubuntu as Windows XP/Vista Application (with Wubi)</title>
[123002180020] |<img/>Today it is possible to install <strong>Ubuntu</strong> Linux 8.04 (Hardy Heron) under <strong>Windows</strong> XP or Vista without necessity to create separate partition for it.
[123002180030] |The tool that allows to do it is called <strong><a>Wubi</a></strong>.
[123002180040] |Actually it is Ubuntu installer for Windows helping you ro install and uninstall Ubuntu with few clicks.
[123002180050] |<strong><a>Here</a></strong> is nice brief article on how to set it up under Vista:
[123002180060] |Wubi adds an entry to the Windows boot menu which allows you to run Linux.
[123002180070] |Ubuntu is installed within a file in the Windows file system (c:\wubi\disks\system.virtual.disk), as opposed to being installed within its own partition.
[123002180080] |This file is seen by Linux as a real hard disk.
[123002180090] |Sweeet! <img/>
[123002190010] |<title>Mount your Flickr account as regular Linux drive</title>
[123002190020] |<img/><a><strong>Flickr</strong></a> is an extremely popular image/video hosting website, web services suite and an online community platform.
[123002190030] |It was one of the earliest Web 2.0 applications.
[123002190040] |In addition to being a popular Web site for users to share personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers as a photo repository.
[123002190050] |It hosts more than two billion images.
[123002190060] |Now it is possible to <strong>mount</strong> your Flickr account on Linux PC as a <strong>virtual filesystem</strong>, allowing you to browse through your photos as if they were on a locally connected drive.
[123002190070] |It can be now easily done with <strong><a>Flickrfs</a></strong>:
[123002190080] |Once mounted, it retrieves information about your photos hosted on your flickr account, and shows them as files.
[123002190090] |You can now easily copy photos from your local machine to this mount, and it will automatically upload them to your flickr account.
[123002190100] |Similary, you can copy the files from your mount to your local machine, and it will download your images from flickr.
[123002190110] |All the files in the mount have a meta file attached to them, which provides access to title, description, tags, and license information.
[123002190120] |Modifying any of these fields and saving the meta file, will update them on the server as well.
[123002190130] |You are lucky if you chose <strong>Ubuntu</strong> as detailed <a>step-by-step installation guide</a> is available at author’s site for Ubuntu users.
[123002190140] |Of course you are welcome to use it under other Linux distributions e.g. Slackware <img/>
[123002200010] |<title>Real 10$ Wi-Fi antenna (Video)</title>
[123002200020] |<img/>Why spend $100 or more on a Wi-Fi antenna when you can create your own one for $10?
[123002200030] |The following components are needed:
[123002200040] |<li>35-mm foam (like the kind desktop and laptop PCs usually come with)</li>
[123002200050] |<li>Solid-core copper wire</li>
[123002200060] |<li>Small brass plate</li>
[123002200070] |<li>Multiple BNC connectors</li> 
[123002200080] |Follow the instructions in the video:
[123002210010] |<title>Why and how to migrate to ext4</title>
[123002210020] |<a><strong>Ext4</strong></a> is the latest in a long line of Linux file systems, and it’s likely to be as important and popular as its predecessors.
[123002210030] |As a Linux system administrator, you should be aware of the advantages, disadvantages, and basic steps for migrating to ext4.
[123002210040] |<strong>IBM <a>DeveloperWorks</a></strong> article explains when to adopt ext4, how to adapt traditional file system maintenance tool usage to ext4, and how to get the most out of the file system:
[123002210050] |<img/>The single most dramatic improvement in ext4 is in file and file system size.
[123002210060] |Thus, the users who are most likely to need ext4 are those who have more than a few terabytes of disk space.
[123002210070] |The list of features in Table 1, though, may present some other tempting improvements.
[123002210080] |For instance, you might want to try ext4 if you have directories with huge numbers of subdirectories or if you need timestamps accurate to less than a second.
[123002210090] |<a>Read more >></a>
[123002220010] |<title>FAQ: static routes after restart/reboot in Fedora/RedHat/CentOS</title>
[123002220020] |<img/>Static routing is the term used to refer to the manual method used to set up routing.
[123002220030] |An administrator enters routes into the router using configuration commands.
[123002220040] |This method has the advantage of being predictable, and simple to set up.
[123002220050] |It is easy to manage in small networks but does not scale well.
[123002220060] |<strong>Question</strong>: How can I save <strong>static routes</strong> I set up in my Fedora/RedHat/CentOS Linux after I <strong>reboot</strong> server?
[123002220070] |<strong>Answer</strong>: In Fedora Linux (or RedHat, CentOS) you can set up static routes for certain network interface (for example eth1) by editing file <code>/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/route-eth1</code>.
[123002220080] |For example, you have to save static route added by the following command:
[123002220090] |<code>route add -net 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 192.168.100.1 dev eth1</code>
[123002220100] |To do it, just add the following line to /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/route-eth1:
[123002220110] |<code>ADDRESS0=192.168.0.0 NETMASK0=255.255.255.0 GATE</code><code>WAY0=192.168.100.1</code>
[123002220120] |<strong>Information improvisation: </strong>We provide guaranteed pass <a>1z0-451</a> exam with online <a>microsoft mcp</a> training and <a>70-681</a>.
[123002220130] |You can also get best quality <a>NS0-154</a> along with <a>70-620</a> for your guaranteed success. 
[123002230010] |<title>FAQ: How to retreive hardware manufacturer name, serial numbers, etc. in Linux command line</title>
[123002230020] |<img/><strong>Question</strong>: How can I get information about hardware manufacturer, model name, serial number, BIOS information using Linux command line (CLI)?
[123002230030] |<strong>Answer</strong>: You are welcome to use <a><strong>dmidecode</strong></a> which helps to get information about your system’s hardware as described in your system BIOS.
[123002230040] |That information typically includes system manufacturer, model name, serial number, BIOS version, asset tag as well as a lot of other details depending on the manufacturer.
[123002230050] |Beware that DMI data have proven to be too unreliable to be blindly trusted.
[123002230060] |Dmidecode does not scan your hardware, it only reports what the BIOS told it to.
[123002230070] |Dmidecode was first written by Alan Cox and is now being further developed and maintained by Jean Delvare.
[123002230080] |It is released under the General Public License (GPL).
[123002230090] |This tool can be easily downloaded from <a>here</a> (source code) or can be installed as binary package included into repositories of many distributions like Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo.
[123002230100] |FreeBSD version is also <a>available</a>.
[123002230110] |Actualy it is reported that dmidecode works well on the following systems:
[123002230120] |<li>Linux i386</li>
[123002230130] |<li>Linux x86_64</li>
[123002230140] |<li>Linux ia64</li>
[123002230150] |<li>FreeBSD i386</li>
[123002230160] |<li>FreeBSD x86_64</li>
[123002230170] |<li>NetBSD i386</li>
[123002230180] |<li>OpenBSD i386</li>
[123002230190] |<li>BeOS i386</li>
[123002230200] |<li>Cygwin i386</li>
[123002230210] |<li>Solaris x86 (CVS version)</li> 
[123002230220] |In Ubuntu (my favourite distro) just execute the following: <code>sudo aptitude install dmidecode</code> (sample output is <a>here</a>).
[123002250010] |<title>FAQ: How to unload NIC driver?</title>
[123002250020] |<strong>Question</strong>: I want to reset counters in <code>/proc/net/dev</code> (also shown in <code>ifconfig</code> output as RX and TX bytes) and thus I have to unload network interface driver.
[123002250030] |How to do it?
[123002250040] |<strong>Answer</strong>: There are two commands in Linux CLI coming by default which would help to unload drivers: <code>rmmod</code> and <code>modprobe</code>.
[123002250050] |First of all it is necessary to find what kernel module controls certain NIC and then unload that module.
[123002250060] |For example, you have VIA VT6102 (RHINE-II) network card that is recognized by Linux as eth0 and want to disable its driver temporarily.
[123002250070] |Just execute the following:
[123002250080] |“<code>sudo rmmod via-rhine</code>” or “<code>sudo modprobe -r eth0</code>” (or “<code>sudo modprobe -r via-rhine</code>“).
[123002250090] |You can use command <code>dmesg</code> to determine the name of kernel module you wish to unload.
[123002260010] |<title>Download Fedora 9 today and get kernel 2.6.25 and ext4 for FREE! ;)</title>
[123002260020] |<img/>As it was planned <strong>Fedora 9</strong> (codename “<strong>Sulphur</strong>“) is <a>released</a> today.
[123002260030] |As for me it wasn’t such expected as Ubuntu <a>Hardy Heron</a> but it is still very important event in Open Source world.
[123002260040] |So, here is the list of new features in this version of RedHat sponsored Linux distribution:
[123002260050] |<li>This release features <strong><a>GNOME 2.22</a></strong>.
[123002260060] |GNOME now includes a webcam photo and video creation utility called <strong>Cheese</strong>, improved network filesystem support, a new international clock applet, Google Calendar support and custom email labels in Evolution, a new Remote Desktop Viewer, improved accessibility features, and <strong>PolicyKit</strong> integration.</li>
[123002260070] |<li><strong>KDE 4.0.3</strong> is available in the KDE Live image as well as the regular DVD.</li>
[123002260080] |<li><strong>Xfce 4.4.2</strong> is available as part of this release.</li>
[123002260090] |<li><strong><a>NetworkManager</a></strong> 0.7 provides improved mobile broadband support, including GSM and CDMA devices, and now supports multiple devices and ad-hoc networking for sharing connections.
[123002260100] |It is now enabled by default on installations from DVD, CD, the network, and Live images.</li>
[123002260110] |<li>The Fedora installer, <strong>Anaconda</strong>, now supports partition resizing for ext2/3, NTFS filesystems, creating and installing to encrypted file systems, improved Rescue Mode with FirstAidKit, independent locations for the second stage installer and the software packages.
[123002260120] |A redesigned, larger <code>netboot.iso</code> image now features a second stage installer partly for this reason.</li>
[123002260130] |<li>Live USB images now support persistence, so your data and setting changes will be preserved even after rebooting.</li>
[123002260140] |<li><strong><a>PackageKit</a></strong>, a new set of graphical and console tools, with a framework for cross-distribution software management, has replaced <strong>Pirut</strong> in this release of Fedora.
[123002260150] |The <strong>PackageKit</strong> graphical updater is available instead of <strong>Pup</strong>.
[123002260160] |Behind <strong>PackageKit</strong>, the performance of <code>yum</code> has been significantly improved.</li>
[123002260170] |<li>FreeIPA makes managing auditing, identity and policy processes easier by providing web-based and command line provisioning, and administration tools to ease system administration.
[123002260180] |FreeIPA combines the power of the Fedora Directory Server with FreeRADIUS, MIT Kerberos, NTP and DNS to provide an easy, out of the box solution.</li>
[123002260190] |<li><a>Ext4</a>, the next version of the mature and stable ext3 filesystem is available as a option in this release.
[123002260200] |Ext4 features better performance, higher storage capacity and several other new features.</li>
[123002260210] |<li>This release of Fedora uses <a><strong>Upstart</strong></a>, an event-based replacement for the <code>/sbin/init</code> daemon.</li>
[123002260220] |<li>Firefox 3 brings a number of major improvements including a native look and feel, desktop integration, the new Places replacement for bookmarks, and a re-worked address bar.</li>
[123002260230] |<li>The completely free and open source Java environment OpenJDK 6 is installed by default.
[123002260240] |<a>IcedTea</a> 7, derived from OpenJDK 1.7, is no longer the default.
[123002260250] |<a>IcedTea</a> includes a browser plug-in based on GCJ, and is available for both x86 and x86_64 architectures.
[123002260260] |GCJ is still the default on PPC architecture.</li>
[123002260270] |<li><a>OpenOffice.org</a> 2.4, with many new features, is available as part of Fedora 9.</li>
[123002260280] |<li>Fedora now includes <a><strong>Perl 5.10.0</strong></a>, which features a smaller memory footprint and other improvements.</li>
[123002260290] |<li>Fedora now includes <a>TeXLive</a> to replace the older, unmaintained TeX distribution.</li>
[123002260300] |<li>Fedora 9 features a 2.6.25 based kernel.</li>
[123002260310] |<li>Kernel crashes can be more automatically reported to <a>http://www.kerneloops.org/</a> and diagnosed in a friendly way via the kerneloops package installed by default.
[123002260320] |Crash signatures are commonly referred to as oopses in Linux.</li>
[123002260330] |<li>Work on the start-up and shutdown in X has yielded noticeable improvements.</li> 
[123002260340] |***** Download Fedora 9 <a>here</a>
[123002260350] |***** Complete Release Notes are <a>here</a>
[123002260360] |***** <a>Here is the link to Fedora Wiki</a>
[123002280010] |<title>FAQ: How to disable directory browsing in apache/httpd?</title>
[123002280020] |<strong>Question</strong>: How can I disable building of directory index in apache/httpd?
[123002280030] |In other words, how to prevent users from seeing the contents of published directories?
[123002280040] |<strong>Answer</strong>: Actually you are totally right that you wish to disable this feature.
[123002280050] |One of the “must do’s” on setting a secure apache web server is to disable directory browsing.
[123002280060] |Usually apache comes with this feature enabled but its always a good idea to get it disabled unless you really need it.
[123002280070] |First of all find where is the main apache’s config file <code>httpd.conf</code> is located.
[123002280080] |If you use Debian, it should be here: <code>/etc/apache/httpd.conf</code>.
[123002280090] |Using some file editor like Vim or Nano open this file and find the line that looks as follows:
[123002280100] |<code>Options Includes Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews</code>
[123002280110] |then remove word <code>Indexes</code> and save the file.
[123002280120] |The line should look like this one:
[123002280130] |<code>Options Includes FollowSymLinks MultiViews</code>
[123002280140] |After it is done, restart apache (e.g. <code>/etc/init.d/apache restart</code> in Debian).
[123002280150] |That’s it! <img/>
[123002290010] |<title>The Simpsons are made with Linux...</title>
[123002290020] |<img/>Below are the quotes from rather interesting interview with Joel Cohen, writer and associate producer of <a>The Simpsons</a>.
[123002290030] |Joel is an Emmy award-winning writer and a keynote speaker at the <a>Red Hat Summit</a> this June.
[123002290040] |The Simpsons is usually described as satirical parody of the middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its titular family (<a>wiki’s one</a>).
[123002290050] |Crudely animated scenes were produced with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Linux animation technology, so our animators were able to show us these scenes incredibly quicky…
[123002290060] |<strong><em>The Simpsons</em> has been on for 20 years now.
[123002290070] |What does the team do to keep creativity alive for that long?</strong>
[123002290080] |I look forward to talking about this more at the Summit, but basically it is a lot of brainstorming, building on ideas, constantly pushing ourselves to find new, previously un-mined veins for stories and jokes, and shamelessly ripping off other people’s ideas (somehow this last one is the easiest).
[123002290090] |<strong>How did you wander from a career in sales to writing for <em>The Simpsons</em> and other shows and movies?</strong>
[123002290100] |A question my parents have asked me repeatedly, although when they ask, they are more sneering and judgmental.
[123002290110] |<strong>I noticed while Googling that there’s another Joel Cohen who turned out to be a biologist.
[123002290120] |Maybe you could convince them that’s you.
[123002290130] |Although he appears to have more than a few years on you in age, so make sure the parents have images turned off when they’re surfing. </strong>
[123002290140] |It is for exactly that reason that I have refused to allow my parents home to have electricity–that way they can never look me up on a computer.
[123002290150] |The power generated by the water wheel isn’t enough to run anything but the basic necessities.
[123002290160] |Some people call it cruel, I call it protecting my self-interests.
[123002290170] |I always wanted to write; I just never really pursued it until I found myself in LA growing bored with my sales job.
[123002290180] |Once I made the decision to pursue a career in writing, it was incredibly tough, and were it not for getting the chance to write some jokes for the comedian Kathy Griffin, I very well might still be selling bad movies to video stores or late night commercial spots on CNN Latin America.
[123002290190] |So the next time someone out there rents a bad movie or hears of an insomniac in Peru buying something they saw on late night TV, well, that’s my legacy.
[123002290200] |<strong>Can you explain how <em>The Simpsons</em> used Linux?</strong>
[123002290210] |Well, before I answer this, I first will admit to being only a writer and consequently both ignorant and in awe of our animators and their process.
[123002290220] |That said, based on conversations with them, I am willing to commit to the following answer:
[123002290230] |The show is all hand-drawn and digitally animated, and the movie was too.
[123002290240] |However, because we were writing and re-writing the movie at such a furious pace, the scenes we would write needed to be seen and approved or revised (or often rejected) before they committed to the very labor-intensive process of hand drawing the cels.
[123002290250] |For that purpose, crudely animated scenes were produced with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Linux animation technology, so our animators were able to show us these scenes incredibly quickly.
[123002290260] |Once a scene or piece of a scene was approved, it would begin the more traditional animation route; however, the volume and speed of material that was created for the movie could never have been done without that Red Hat-fueled system.
[123002290270] |<strong>I saw an interview with you and Tim Long where you guys mentioned that the Americans were writing most of the Canada jokes on the show.
[123002290280] |Any cracks on Canada you need to set straight?</strong>
[123002290290] |We once had an episode where a bunch of characters sang “Oh, Canada” (the national anthem), and I noticed that they skipped a line in the song when they sang.
[123002290300] |I pointed it out to my boss, and he said no one would notice.
[123002290310] |I was of course indignant until the episode aired in Canada and the US and indeed, no one did notice.
[123002290320] |Therefore, I’ve given up and just try every day not to be teased too much by the American bullies I work with.
[123002290330] |<strong>Who’s been your favorite character to write, major or minor?</strong>
[123002290340] |I love writing for Moe the bartender and Ralph Wiggum.
[123002290350] |It’s a chance to explore the furthest depths of misery and stupidity respectively –both wonderful places to visit and even better to come home from.
[123002290360] |<strong>And of course we have to ask… What’s your favorite episode?
[123002290370] |Or even a top 5? </strong>
[123002290380] |My very favorite episode is one I saw a crude version of my first day and was absolutely blown away by.
[123002290390] |It is a homage to the VH1 show “Behind the Music,” but our version is called “Behind the Laughter.”
[123002290400] |My very first half-hour working on the show was spent watching this episode, and I was amazed by how great it was.
[123002290410] |My second half-hour was spent hearing all of the talented writers on the show talking about how to make it better–and they were right.
[123002290420] |It was like sitting around with amazing artists as they talked about how to improve the Mona Lisa.
[123002290430] |The final product is terrific, and as such, I have a fondness for it.
[123002290440] |It also may be the only episode of the show since I have worked there that hasn’t gotten worse as a result of my presence.
[123002300010] |<title>Bug #1 in Ubuntu</title>
[123002300020] |<img/>By the way do you know what bug was posted by <a>Mark Shuttleworth</a> as a first and major one?
[123002300030] |Here it is (2004-08-20):
[123002300040] |Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace.
[123002300050] |This is a bug, which Ubuntu is designed to fix.
[123002300060] |Non-free software is holding back innovation in the IT industry, restricting access to IT to a small part of the world’s population and limiting the ability of software developers to reach their full potential, globally.
[123002300070] |This bug is widely evident in the PC industry.
[123002300080] |Steps to repeat: 1.
[123002300090] |Visit a local PC store.
[123002300100] |What happens: 2.
[123002300110] |Observe that a majority of PCs for sale have non-free software pre-installed.
[123002300120] |3. Observe very few PCs with Ubuntu and free software pre-installed.
[123002300130] |What should happen: 1.
[123002300140] |A majority of the PCs for sale should include only free software like Ubuntu.
[123002300150] |2. Ubuntu should be marketed in a way such that its amazing features and benefits would be apparent and known by all.
[123002300160] |3. The system shall become more and more user friendly as time passes.
[123002300170] |No jokes, here is <a>permanent link</a> to this at launchpad.
[123002300180] |I strongly recommend to read the comments (selectively) at least in order to watch how Open Source world changed since 2004…
[123002310010] |<title>Why did Ubuntu become so popular? UbuntuCat's point of view.</title>
[123002310020] |<img/>Were you wondering why Ubuntu is Linux distribution #1 for new users (and not new) and how could it become so popular leaving behind such old-times like Mandriva, Linspire, Fedora and even Ubuntu’s ancestor Debian?
[123002310030] |I was.
[123002310040] |And as for me, I think that people stick to community rather than to technology… Do you agree? <img/>
[123002310050] |Here is the <a>nice article</a> to read in which UbuntuCat (one of the most active writers at <a>ubuntuforums.org</a>) tries to find out how did Ubuntu end up so popular…
[123002310060] |I think this goes along with the forums being less intimidating, but associating the Ubuntu “Humanity Towards Others” philosophy with the distro seemed to give it a purpose and a flavor beyond mere technology.
[123002310070] |<a>Read more >></a>
[123002320010] |<title>Create .deb or .rpm from .tar.gz with checkinstall</title>
[123002320020] |<img/><a><strong>Checkinstall</strong></a> is extremely useful utility to create <strong>.deb</strong> packages for Debian, Ubuntu (or <strong>.rpm</strong> packages for Fedora, RedHat, CentOs) from <strong>.tar.gz</strong> (or .tgz) source tarball after it’s compiled at your Linux box.
[123002320030] |In other words you can prepare binary package for later usage without need to compile software from sources every time you need to get it installed on certain Linux box.
[123002320040] |Another application of checkinstall is software deinstallation that was compiled and installed from sources.
[123002320050] |As you might already noticed, not every programmer adds “uninstall” rule to Makefile and thus command “make uninstall” would fail.
[123002320060] |The nice solution is to use checkinstall to prepare binary package from sources and then install or uninstall it with <code>dpkg</code> command (or <code>rpm</code> in RedHat based distributions).
[123002320070] |Here is the short algorithm on how to prepare .deb package from <a>clamav</a> source tarball:
[123002320080] |1. Install checkinstall: <code>sudo aptitude -y install checkinstall</code> (Ubuntu, Debian and related distributions) or <code>sudo yum install -y checkinstall</code> (for rpm based distributions, please note that checkinstall usually isn’t included to standard Fedora/RedHat repositories, so you will need to link up third party repo like <a>DAG</a>) or compile checkinstall from sources
[123002320090] |2. Get clamav sources: <code>wget http://mesh.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/clamav/clamav-0.81.tar.gz</code> (as an example)
[123002320100] |3. Install libraries that might be necessary for clamav compilation: <code>sudo aptitude install libgmp3 libgmp3-dev</code> (this command is applicable for Debian and certainly will be different for Fedora or RedHat)
[123002320110] |4. Compile clamav: <code>tar xvfz clamav-0.81.tar.gz</code> <code>cd clamav-0.81/</code> <code>./configure --sysconfdir=/etc</code> <code>make</code>
[123002320120] |5. Run checkinstall and follow its intuitive instructions (enter package description etc.): <code>sudo checkinstall -D make install</code>
[123002320130] |6. When finished you’ll get clamav-0.81_0.81-1_i386.deb (or rpm package if you use Fedora/RedHat/CentOs) you may want to install with <code>sudo dpkg -i clamav-0.81_0.81-1_i386.deb</code> (or <code>sudo rpm -i ...</code>) or move to another PC for later installation.
[123002330010] |<title>FAQ: How to set up atomatic Linux reboot if kernel panic occurs?</title>
[123002330020] |<strong><a><img/></a>Question</strong>: How can I get my Linux server rebooted/restarted automatically if it caught a kernel panic?
[123002330030] |<strong>Answer</strong>: As you might know, kernel panic is an action taken by an operating system upon detecting an internal fatal error from which it cannot safely recover; the term is largely specific to Unix and Unix-like systems (it’s a wiki’s description).
[123002330040] |By default Linux wouldn’t not reboot after panic occurs, but the following option of sysctl will cause a kernel to reboot after N seconds you specify.
[123002330050] |In our example server will be rebooted in 15 seconds if kernel panic stopped its operation:
[123002330060] |1. Open sysctl’s configuration file: <code>sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf</code>
[123002330070] |2. Add there the following line: <code>kernel.panic = 15</code>
[123002330080] |or
[123002330090] |1. Execute the following command: <code>/sbin/sysctl -w kernel.panic=15</code>
[123002330100] |Hope it helps!
[123002330110] |<strong>Information improvisation: </strong>Sign up with <a>000-151 exam</a> for getting incredible online <a>itil v3 certification</a> courses and <a>199-01</a> prep guides.
[123002330120] |We also provide best <a>000-979</a> dumps  <a>HP2-T16</a> with guaranteed success. 
[123002340010] |<title>Linux aternatives to Windows software roundup</title>
[123002340020] |Below are the links to sites you may want to visit in order to find Linux equivalent of certain commercial Windows software:
[123002340030] |<img/>1. <strong><a>Open Source Alternative</a></strong> Quick and useful guide to the best open source software.
[123002340040] |You can fing here the open source alternatives to your favorite commercial products (not only Windows ones).
[123002340050] |The main advantage of this site is that you can browse through their software categories and compare pros and cons of both commercial products as well as open source software.
[123002340060] |2. <strong><a>The Linux Alternative Project</a></strong>
[123002340070] |The goal is to provide an informational and available website for all <strong>linux</strong> users.
[123002340080] |I will be periodically updating the database with Windows software and the <strong>Linux</strong> equivalents and alternatives.
[123002340090] |Nice and simple site to find Windows software alternative project name and see comments on it for your Linux box.
[123002340100] |3. Linux Screw’s <strong><a>Windows Software => Linux Software</a></strong> page That page is based on Linux Alternative Project’s staff but it is updated more often and contains some new applications suggested by our visitors.
[123002340110] |You are welcome to leave a comment and offer and Linux or Windows application you wish to be added to Linux Screw’s software equivalents list.
[123002340120] |<img/>4. LinuxQuestions.org’s <strong><a>Linux Software equivalents</a></strong> page This is categorized list of programs that was prepared to prevent duplicating threads like “Where can I get a program for Linux that is similar to XYZ program on Windows?”.
[123002340130] |Useful and informative list.
[123002340140] |5. <strong><a>Windows-Linux Software</a></strong> Russian table of equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software in Linux.
[123002340150] |Very informative and descriptive.
[123002340160] |The page is available in many languages including English, Russian, Italian, Spanish, French, German and others.
[123002340170] |Of course you are welcome to use Google to find needed software <img/>
[123002350010] |<title>#ln -s /dev/null /dev/clue</title>
[123002350020] |<img/><img/>found at <a>http://17outs.com/</a>.
[123002360010] |<title>Change MAC address of network interface in Linux</title>
[123002360020] |Well, thankfully this is rather trivial task for <strong>Linux</strong> and you can change <strong>MAC address</strong> of your network adapter using a few CLI/console commands.
[123002360030] |Honestly speaking it is impossible to literally change MAC address as it’s loaded into firmware but you can configure Linux so it will transform old MAC to the new one the fly.
[123002360040] |The commands are are below but before typing them let’s consider why one might need this.
[123002360050] |One of the simplest examples is here: you acquire <strong>IP address</strong>, gateway, DNS entries via DHCP server which is set up to give out your IP settings to your MAC address only so if you change [possibly broken] network adapter you will need to ask sysadmin to change DHCP server’s settings… If this looks familiar to you, just type the following commands with <em>sudo</em> prefix or under superuser/root:
[123002360060] |<code>ifconfig eth0 down ifconfig eth0 hw ether 00:19:7e:53:8c:a3 ifconfig eth0 up</code>
[123002360070] |<em>eth0</em> –is hardware name of your network interface, you can use <code>ip link</code> to see all available interfaces identified by your system.
[123002360080] |<em>00:19:7e:53:8c:a3</em> is new MAC address you’d like to apply to the NIC.
[123002360090] |These commands should be added into startup scripts if you require them to appear after Linux system reboots.
[123002360100] |This works on any distribution like Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, RedHat, Suse whatever.
[123002370010] |<title>FAQ: How to block/allow packets sent by specific Operating System with iptables?</title>
[123002370020] |<strong><img/>Question</strong>: How can I block traffic coming from specific operating system in Linux?
[123002370030] |In other words, how can I block traffic from Windows users on my firewall and allows other people?
[123002370040] |<strong>Answer</strong>: There is an <strong>iptables</strong> module named <strong><a>OSF</a> </strong>(passive OS Fingerprinting)<strong> </strong>that was written by <a>Evgeniy Polyakov</a>.
[123002370050] |This module allows passively detect OS packet was sent from and perform various netfilter actions based on this match.
[123002370060] |Packets with SYN bit set are analyzed.
[123002370070] |In order to install OSF module, do the following:
[123002370080] |1. Download latest release from <a>here</a>, for example as follows: <code>wget http://tservice.net.ru/~s0mbre/archive/osf/osf-2008_06_14.tar.gz</code>
[123002370090] |2. Edit Makefile from unpacked archive in order to set proper path to iptables headers (iptables.h and libiptc/ dir).
[123002370100] |3. If your kernel sources can not be accessed via /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build, you have to replace KDIR variable with the correct path to kernel sources.
[123002370110] |4. Run <code>make</code> that should build ipt_osf.ko kernel module.
[123002370120] |5. Run <code>make lib</code> that will build libipt_osf.so shared library (copy it to where all other iptables shared libs are placed in your distro e.g. /lib/iptables or /lib64/iptables in Fedora).
[123002370130] |6. Run <code>make bin</code> that will build userspace applications which allows to load fingerprints and obtain information about matched packets (load, osfd, ucon_osf).
[123002370140] |7. Download signatures list: wget http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/etc/pf.os
[123002370150] |8. Install kernel module: <code>insmod ./ipt_osf.ko</code>
[123002370160] |9. Load signatures: <code>./load ./pf.os /proc/sys/net/ipv4/osf</code>
[123002370170] |10. Set up iptables rules allowing/disallowing packets generated by certain OS: <code>iptables -I INPUT -j ACCEPT -p tcp -m osf --genre Linux --log 0 --ttl 2</code>
[123002370180] |This example allows traffic from Linux systems and logs packets from other ones: <code>ipt_osf: Windows [2000:SP3:Windows XP Pro SP1, 2000 SP3]: 11.22.33.55:4024 -> 11.22.33.44:139</code>
[123002370190] |BTW, OSF has following options:
[123002370200] |<li>–log If present, OSF will log determined genres even if they don’t match desired one.
[123002370210] |0 –log all matched and unknown entries.
[123002370220] |1 –only first one.
[123002370230] |2 –log all matched entries.</li>
[123002370240] |<li>–ttl 0 –true ip and fingerprint TTL comparison.
[123002370250] |Works for LAN.
[123002370260] |1 –check if ip TTL is less than fingerprint one.
[123002370270] |Works for global addresses.
[123002370280] |2 –do not compare TTL at all.
[123002370290] |Allows to detect NMAP, but can produce false results.</li>
[123002370300] |<li>–connector If present, OSF will log all events also through netlink connector(1.0 id).
[123002370310] |More about connector can be found in <code>Documentation/connector</code> in kernel source tree.</li> 
[123002380010] |<title>Install Firefox 3 in Debian Etch</title>
[123002380020] |If you downloaded fresh Firefox 3 installation e.g. from <a>here</a> and tried to install it in Debian Etch, you might notice that latest version of the popular browser requires GTK+ 2.10 while Etch contains only 2.8:
[123002380030] |Thankfully there is no need to upgrade GTK+, the tips given <a>here</a> (and <a>here</a>) will keep you from headache.
[123002380040] |The only thing that is necessary to do to get Firefox 3 working at Debian Etch, is to get GTK+ from backports by the following commands:
[123002380050] |<code>wget http://apt.linex.org/linex/gtk-2.10/libgtk2.0-0_2.10.13-2%7Ebpo.1_i386.deb dpkg-deb -x libgtk2.0-0_2.10.13-2~bpo.1_i386.deb gtk2-10</code>
[123002380060] |Then copy contents of newly created directory <code>gtk2-10</code> to /opt/firefox3 and add the following line into <code>/opt/firefox3/firefox</code>:
[123002380070] |<code>#!/bin/sh # export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/firefox3/gtk2-10/usr/lib"</code>
[123002380080] |It is necessary to inform Firefox where is new GTK+ is located <img/>Now it’s time to start Firefox…
[123002380090] |P.S.
[123002380100] |In other distributions you can try to compile/install GTK+2.10 manually: <code>cd /usr/local/src wget http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/gtk+/2.10/gtk+-2.10.14.tar.bz2 tar xjf gtk+-2.10.14.tar.bz2</code> <code>mkdir gtk210 cd gtk+-2.10.14 ./configure --prefix=/opt/firefox3/gtk2-10 make install </code>
[123002390010] |<title>Configure Sudo: no password for certain commands (nopasswd)</title>
[123002390020] |<strong>Sudo</strong> (Super User Do) is Linux console only utility allowing users to execute programs which require root rights without knowing root <strong>password</strong>.
[123002390030] |There are lots of topic why sudo rocks on the Web so here you can find a tip how to configure sudo in order to execute certain root right requiring programs without any passwords (it known as <strong>sudo nopasswd</strong>).
[123002390040] |There are several ways to configure sudo in Linux regardless distribution you use.
[123002390050] |Its configuration file is located at <strong>/etc/sudoers </strong>and can be edited using any text editor like vi, nano, pico, gedit, mcedit whatever:
[123002390060] |<code>sudo vi /etc/sudoers</code> or <code>sudo visudo</code>
[123002390070] |So, in order to allow user named <em>artemn</em> to execute, say, <em>ifconfig</em> command and assign IP addresses, netmasks to interfaces, add the following line to /etc/sudoers:
[123002390080] |<code>artemn ALL = PASSWD: ALL, <strong>NOPASSWD</strong>: /sbin/ifconfig</code>
[123002390090] |Please notice if there is already line for <em>artemn</em> in <em>sudoers</em> file, just replace it with the new one.
[123002400010] |<title>Set Linux Gateway</title>
[123002400020] |One can say that it is rather trivial task to <strong>set <a>Linux gateway</a></strong> (or in other words to set up/change default gateway in Linux operating system) but I noticed that this question is one of the most popular among linux newbies so I decided to post a <strong>quick tip</strong> here on Linux Screw.
[123002400030] |There are two most used ways to set up default gateway using<strong> Linux console</strong>.
[123002400040] |Of course modern linux distributions comes with graphical tools and programs for this purpose but old school CLI commands will live forever as are very simple and allow to do the job very quickly:
[123002400050] |<strong><code>route add default gw 10.0.0.1</code></strong> where 10.0.0.1 is IPv4 IP address of default gatway you would like to set up in your Linux.
[123002400060] |<strong><code>ip route add default via 10.0.0.1</code></strong>
[123002400070] |According to general networking recommendation it is a good practice to have gateway’s IP as the last IP from selected pool so very often default gateway’s IP will end with .254 e.g. 10.0.0.254.
[123002400080] |Anyway using above mentioned commands you can apply ANY default gateway.
[123002400090] |By the way, if you’d like to delete current default gateway, here is corresponding command:
[123002400100] |<strong><code>route del default</code></strong>
[123002400110] |Hope it helps!
[123002400120] |P.S. Don’t forget that these commands require root previleges.
[123002410010] |<title>FAQ: Reconfigure Xorg: Ubuntu way</title>
[123002410020] |<strong>Q</strong>: How can I <strong>reconfigure</strong> <strong><a>Xorg</a></strong> windows system in <strong>Ubuntu</strong>?
[123002410030] |I played with its configuration and broke it!
[123002410040] |<strong>A</strong>: First recommendation is to always save a copy of /etc/X11/xorg.conf before editing it.
[123002410050] |Once you decide you would like system to create new xorg.conf type one of these commands and follow instructions at the screen:
[123002410060] |<code>dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg</code>
[123002410070] |or
[123002410080] |<code>sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg</code>
[123002410090] |In most cases it helps.
[123002410100] |Update: for automatic configuration (autodetect) you should use the following:
[123002410110] |<code>sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg</code>
[123002420010] |<title>MySQL Replication Manual</title>
[123002420020] |<img/>This quick <strong>manual</strong> tells how to set up database <strong>replication</strong> in <strong>MySQL</strong>.
[123002420030] |Basically it was written for 5.* MySQL versions but is also applicable for 3.23/4.0 ones (btw they are still in use, believe me).
[123002420040] |As you might already know, replication allows you to create a copy of certain MySQL database from a master server on another server (slave).
[123002420050] |What is the most important, all updates made to that database on master server will be replicated to the database on the slave server immediately, so that both databases are synchronized almost in real time mode (if you need completely real-time synchronization/mirroring, the only solution is to deploy MySQL cluster).
[123002420060] |One of the main issues is that replication features coming out-of-the-box with Open Source MySQL software don’t provide full back/forward compatibility.
[123002420070] |This means that you can easily replicate data from master and slave of the same MySQL versions only e.g. 5.0.
[123002420080] |But if you like to replicate database from 5.0 master to 4.0 slave (or from 3.23 master to 5.0 slave), it is not possible in most cases.
[123002420090] |From the beginning we have two Linux boxes with MySQL installed (5.0.27 version in my example), server has database <em>reptest</em> we need to replicate to slave.
[123002420100] |<strong>A. Configure Master:</strong>
[123002420110] |Configure MySQL to accept incoming connections from another hosts in the network.
[123002420120] |In order to do it, comment the following lines in <code>/etc/my.cnf</code> (exact location depends on Linux distribution you use) as follows:
[123002420130] |<code>#skip-networking #bind-address=127.0.0.1</code>
[123002420140] |and restart MySQL by “<code>/etc/init.d/mysql restart</code>” or “<code>mysqladmin reload</code>” command.
[123002420150] |Make sure that slave can access master’s MySQL via network (e.g. execute on slave “<code>telnet <server_ip> 3306</code>“).
[123002420160] |The next step is to configure master to log all database changes into binary log that will be used by slave for replicating, add the following lines to <code>/etc/my.cnf</code> in <code>[mysqld]</code> section:
[123002420170] |<code>log_bin = mysql-bin binlog-do-db=reptest server-id=1</code>
[123002420180] |Then restart MySQL and log on to its shell with root rights:
[123002420190] |<code>/etc/init.d/mysql restart mysql -u root -p Enter password:</code>
[123002420200] |Type in MySQL shell the following commands:
[123002420210] |<code>GRANT REPLICATION SLAVE ON *.* TO 'slave_user'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'slave_password'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;</code>
[123002420220] |Note: If you use 4.0 MySQL or older, you need to replace REPLICATION SLAVE in above line to FILE, so the lines will look like:
[123002420230] |<code>GRANT FILE ON *.* TO 'slave_user'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'slave_password'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;</code>
[123002420240] |The next commands are:
[123002420250] |<code>USE reptest; FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK; SHOW MASTER STATUS;</code>
[123002420260] |The last command should provide the following output we will use later on slave server:
[123002420270] |Now quit from MySQL shell as we need to prepare current dump of <em>reptest</em> database: <code>quit</code>.
[123002420280] |Now, run from shell “<code>mysqldump -u root -p --opt reptest >reptest.sql</code>” and transfer reptest.sql file to slave server.
[123002420290] |<strong>2. Configure Slave:</strong>
[123002420300] |Create reptest database:
[123002420310] |<code>mysqladmin create reptest</code>
[123002420320] |and apply previously created/transfered dump to it via command:
[123002420330] |<code>mysql -u root -p reptest </path/to/reptest.sql</code>
[123002420340] |Now edit <code>/etc/my.cnf</code> on slave and add the following lines to <code>[mysqld]</code> section:
[123002420350] |<code>server-id=2 master-host=192.168.0.1 master-user=slave_user master-password=slave_password master-connect-retry=60 replicate-do-db=reptest</code>
[123002420360] |where 192.168.0.1 is IP address of the server and server-id is unique ID assigned to slave Linux box.
[123002420370] |Now restart MySQL with <code>/etc/init.d/mysql restart</code> and log on MySQL shell:
[123002420380] |<code>mysql -u root -p reptest Enter password:</code>
[123002420390] |The next step is to apply changes saved in binary log on server:
[123002420400] |<code>SLAVE STOP; CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_HOST='192.168.0.1', MASTER_USER='slave_user', MASTER_PASSWORD='slave_password', MASTER_LOG_FILE='mysql-bin.001', MASTER_LOG_POS=73; SLAVE START;</code>
[123002420410] |Now whenever <code>reptest</code> is updated on the master, all changes will be replicated to <code>reptest</code> on the slave.
[123002420420] |Here are useful links you can use to get more information about MySQL replication and how to configure it:
[123002420430] |<a>http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/replication-howto.html</a> <a>http://www.howtoforge.com/mysql_database_replication</a> <a>http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2005/06/16/MySQLian.html</a>
[123002420440] |If you’re planning to replicate on a remotely hosted machine, here are some of the <a>best MySQL hosting plans</a>.
[123002440010] |<title>OpenLDAP + Samba Domain Controller on Debian or Ubuntu</title>
[123002440020] |<img/>Historically <strong>domain controllers</strong> (DCs) were Windows servers responding to security authentication requests (logging in, etc.) within the Windows Server domain.
[123002440030] |Today <strong><a>Samba</a></strong> project goes beyond emulating Windows shares and can be used as Primary Domain Controller in <strong>Windows network</strong>.
[123002440040] |To help people who are under installing/configuring Samba as a DC in their network I published here several links which helped me with this task.
[123002440050] |First of all, be ready for long time configuring as compared with Windows Active Directory configuration it takes much more time to do the same task with Samba… But practically vendor independent solutions usually worth time spent on compiling, installing, configuration and maintenance.
[123002440060] |Why Debian/Ubuntu?
[123002440070] |Looking through Google’s findings regarding DC set up on these distributions, I noticed some kind of lack of the quality resources lying at the top.
[123002440080] |1. The first place one should visit in order to start with above mentioned task is <a>Samba official documentation</a>.
[123002440090] |Probably not everything that is covered by it would be used, but this is the only place you can find some special aspects of installation and configuration their software.
[123002440100] |2. Ricky Jone’s <a>article</a> on howtoforge.com is an excellent guide on how to get the task done on <strong>Ubuntu</strong> 7.10.
[123002440110] |3. Excellent article “<a>SAMBA (Domaincontroller) Server For Small Workgroups With Ubuntu 6.10</a>” written by Till Brehm is applicable also for later <strong>U</strong><strong>buntu</strong> versions.
[123002440120] |4. Steve Lacey wrote interesting and informative article about <a>Samba on <strong>Debian</strong> as primary DC</a> on his blog.
[123002440130] |5. A certain mawi wrote very informative manual:
[123002440140] |<a>Samba And Ldap On Debian</a> –<a>Upload a Document to Scribd</a> Read this document on Scribd: <a>Samba And Ldap On Debian</a> 
[123002450010] |<title>Comparing Bash with... Windows command line shell...</title>
[123002450020] |You may already be known that Microsoft claims that Windows PowerShell (comes with its Vista by default) script language helps IT professionals achieve greater control and productivity and to accelerate the automation during system administration process.
[123002450030] |As a non-Windows but *nix systems administrator/engineer I was always interested if it is possible to access those functions and objects we can easily get in Bash (of course we are talking about each operation system’s specific procedures and objects).
[123002450040] |And these days I came across a good article “<a>Shell Games</a>” (by Marcus Nasarek) telling about above mentioned matters…
[123002450050] |Both Bash and the Windows Vista PowerShell include commands for navigating directories, managing files, and launching other programs.
[123002450060] |System administration is an important duty for the shell, and Bash and PowerShell are equipped to help manage systems from the command prompt.
[123002450070] |Whereas Bash typically relies on a combination of newer tools and classic Unix utilities, the PowerShell has its own set of command-line programs.
[123002450080] |Windows refers to PowerShell commands as cmdlets.
[123002450090] |The PowerShell cmdlet called Get-Process is a counterpart to ps, and the cmdlet Get-Content corresponds to less.
[123002450100] |PowerShell differs significantly from previous Windows command shells.
[123002450110] |In this article, I look at how Windows Vista PowerShell compares with Bash.
[123002450120] |<a>Read more >></a>
[123002450130] |More useful links:
[123002450140] |1. <a>Microsoft PowerShell official page</a> 2.
[123002450150] |<a>Bash Reference Manual</a> 3.
[123002450160] |<a>GNU Bash for Windows</a>
[123002460010] |<title>Ubuntu Install Gnome</title>
[123002460020] |Why one should want to install <strong>Gnome</strong> in <strong>Ubuntu</strong> as it comes with this distribution by default?
[123002460030] |The answer is rather short: it works for Ubuntu server initially installed without X window manager.
[123002460040] |Here you go:
[123002460050] |<code>sudo aptitude install ubuntu-desktop gdm</code>
[123002460060] |When done you can run gnome desktop manager (gdm) and type your username and password to access Gnome Desktop and start using GUI applications:
[123002460070] |<code>sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start </code>
[123002460080] |If you still have troubles with starting gnome once installed necessary apt packages, most the probably the problme is in improper video driver selected by default.
[123002460090] |Try the command below or use <a>google</a> or <a>ubuntu forums</a> to find more information about “xorg.conf”:
[123002460100] |<code>sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg</code>
[123002470010] |<title>FAQ: How to order pizza from Linux CLI?</title>
[123002470020] |<img/><strong>Q</strong>: How can I order my favourite pizza by using Linux command line interface?
[123002470030] |<strong>A</strong>: Well… You can use <a>Pizza Party</a> application written by <a>Cory Arcangel</a> and Michael Frumin!
[123002470040] |Here are some features this outstanding application provides:
[123002470050] |<li>Can order pizza with only a few keystrokes.</li>
[123002470060] |<li>Can save pizza preferences.</li>
[123002470070] |<li>Can use batch files for ordering many pizzas.</li>
[123002470080] |<li>Has easy to use flags for ordering different toppings.</li>
[123002470090] |<li>Runs on most UNIX-like operating systems.</li>
[123002470100] |<li>Supports most currently popular topings like “mushrooms”, and “pepperoni”!</li>
[123002470110] |<li>Unattended / background operation.</li>
[123002470120] |<li>Pizza Party is distributed under the <a>GNU General Public License</a>.</li> 
[123002470130] |Download Pizza Party’s initial source code <a>here</a> and python ported version from this link.
[123002470140] |P.S.
[123002470150] |This portion of Friday humour is provided by <a>Royal HeHe2-ness!</a> <img/>
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[123002480010] |<title>Linux Screw is up and running!</title>
[123002480020] |Due to technical and financial issues Linux Screw site was down since end of August… Now we are happy to announce that we are up again and ready to provide our visitors (you <img/>) with interesting information, docs, tips, manuals etc.
[123002480030] |Great thanks to our readers for being with us!
[123002490010] |<title>Future plans for Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope)</title>
[123002490020] |<img/>Today Mark Shuttleworth <a>unveiled</a> in <a>ubuntu-devel-announce</a> mail-lists some future plans for Ubuntu 9.04 that will be named as The Jaunty Jackalope.
[123002490030] |Here is the part of Mark’s short message:
[123002490040] |<img/>There are some specific goals that we need to meet in Jaunty.
[123002490050] |One of them is boot time.
[123002490060] |We want Ubuntu to boot as fast as possible –both in the standard case, and especially when it is being tailored to a specific device.
[123002490070] |The Jackalope is known for being so fast that it’s extremely hard to catch, and breeds only when lightning flashes.
[123002490080] |Let’s see if we can make booting or resuming Ubuntu blindingly quick.
[123002490090] |“Fast boot time…” sounds like really good idea… <img/>
[123002510010] |<title>Another 10 good Unix habits to pickup</title>
[123002510020] |<img/>Well, <strong>IBM</strong> publishes a new article about <strong>useful Unix command line habits</strong> as a follow-up to <a>Michael Stutz’s article</a>.
[123002510030] |I promise that after reading this article you will say something like “A-ha, I didn’t know you could do that!” <img/>
[123002510040] |<img/>Here is the part of that staff:
[123002510050] |The !$ command returns the last argument used with a command.
[123002510060] |But what happens if you have a command that used arguments and you want to reuse just one of them?
[123002510070] |The !:1 operator returns the argument used in a command.
[123002510080] |The example in Listing 3 shows how you can use this operator in combination with the !$ operator.
[123002510090] |In the first command, a file is renamed to a more meaningful name, but to preserve use of the original file name, a symbolic link is created.
[123002510100] |The file kxp12.c is renamed in a more readable manner, then the link command is used to create a symbolic link back to the original file name, in case it’s still used elsewhere.
[123002510110] |The !$ operator returns the file_system_access.c argument, and the !:1 operator returns the kxp12.c argument, which is the first argument of the previous command.
[123002510120] |<strong>Listing 3</strong> <code>$ mv kxp12.c file_system_access.c $ ln –s !$ !:1</code>
[123002510130] |Read more <a>here</a>…
[123002530010] |<title>FAQ: How to disable/remap a keyboard key in Linux?</title>
[123002530020] |<strong>Q</strong>: How can I disable one or several keys of my laptop keyboard in Linux?
[123002530030] |When I press DELETE key it gets stuck and deletes everything <img/>
[123002530040] |<strong>A</strong>: No problem!
[123002530050] |You can use the following command to remap or disable any key of your keyboard:
[123002530060] |<code>xmodmap -e 'keycode <value>=<action>'</code>
[123002530070] |For example, run the following to disable your DELETE key: <strong><code>xmodmap -e 'keycode 107='</code></strong>.
[123002530080] |BTW you can get keycode that corresponds to certain keyboard button by using simple command <code>xev</code>
[123002530090] |The full list of available keycodes and actions assigned to them on UK keyboard is below…
[123002530100] |keycode 8 = keycode 9 = Escape keycode 10 = 1 exclam keycode 11 = 2 quotedbl keycode 12 = 3 sterling keycode 13 = 4 dollar keycode 14 = 5 percent keycode 15 = 6 asciicircum keycode 16 = 7 ampersand keycode 17 = 8 asterisk keycode 18 = 9 parenleft keycode 19 = 0 parenright keycode 20 = minus underscore keycode 21 = equal plus keycode 22 = Delete keycode 23 = Tab keycode 24 = Q keycode 25 = W keycode 26 = E keycode 27 = R keycode 28 = T keycode 29 = Y keycode 30 = U keycode 31 = I keycode 32 = O keycode 33 = P keycode 34 = bracketleft braceleft keycode 35 = bracketright braceright keycode 36 = Return keycode 37 = Control_L keycode 38 = A keycode 39 = S keycode 40 = D keycode 41 = F keycode 42 = G keycode 43 = H keycode 44 = J keycode 45 = K keycode 46 = L keycode 47 = semicolon colon keycode 48 = apostrophe at keycode 49 = grave asciitilde keycode 50 = Shift_L keycode 51 = numbersign asciitilde keycode 52 = Z keycode 53 = X keycode 54 = C keycode 55 = V keycode 56 = B keycode 57 = N keycode 58 = M keycode 59 = comma less keycode 60 = period greater keycode 61 = slash question keycode 62 = Shift_R keycode 63 = KP_Multiply keycode 64 = Alt_L keycode 65 = space keycode 66 = Caps_Lock keycode 67 = F1 keycode 68 = F2 keycode 69 = F3 keycode 70 = F4 keycode 71 = F5 keycode 72 = F6 keycode 73 = F7 keycode 74 = F8 keycode 75 = F9 keycode 76 = F10 keycode 77 = Num_Lock keycode 78 = Scroll_Lock keycode 79 = Home KP_7 KP_7 Home keycode 80 = Up KP_8 KP_8 Up keycode 81 = Prior KP_9 KP_9 Prior keycode 82 = KP_Subtract keycode 83 = Left KP_4 KP_4 Left keycode 84 = Begin KP_5 KP_5 Begin keycode 85 = Right KP_6 KP_6 Right keycode 86 = KP_Add keycode 87 = End KP_1 KP_1 End keycode 88 = Down KP_2 KP_2 Down keycode 89 = Next KP_3 KP_3 Next keycode 90 = Insert KP_0 KP_0 Insert keycode 91 = Delete KP_Decimal KP_Decimal Delete keycode 92 = 0×1007ff00 keycode 93 = keycode 94 = backslash bar keycode 95 = F11 keycode 96 = F12 keycode 97 = Home keycode 98 = Up keycode 99 = Prior keycode 100 = Left keycode 101 = Begin keycode 102 = Right keycode 103 = End keycode 104 = Down keycode 105 = Next keycode 106 = Insert keycode 107 = Delete keycode 108 = KP_Enter keycode 109 = Control_R keycode 110 = Pause keycode 111 = Print keycode 112 = KP_Divide keycode 113 = Mode_switch keycode 114 = Break 
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[123002550010] |<title>Try Google Chrome in Linux</title>
[123002550020] |There is still no native Linux support of newly unveiled browser <a>Google Chrome</a> but guys from <a>CodeWeavers</a> prepared the <a><strong>port</strong></a> of <a>Chromium</a> (official name of Google Chome for Linux).
[123002550030] |This staff is already available for downloading as <a>DEB packages</a> for Ubuntu (32-bit and <a>64-bit</a>), as <a>RPM</a> for RedHat, Fedora, CentOS etc. as well as <a>self installable script</a> for any other Linux distribution.
[123002550040] |Well, after quick testings there are no doubts that it is not a good option if you wish to have quick and stable alternative for Firefox… But of course it is good for evaluation purposes or for those people who CAN’T wait for official release of Chrome for Linux <img/>Certainly the port is based on Windows copy run by Wine (don’t forget to upgrade it).
[123002550050] |Actually CodeWeavers says that this is just a proof of concept, for fun, and to showcase what Wine can do.
[123002560010] |<title>Speedlinks - 18 September 2008</title>
[123002560020] |Below are the links which caught my eye this week, I hope that some of them will be useful and interesting for you…
[123002560030] |<li><strong><a>Canonical Store</a></strong> is <strong>to sell multimedia codecs</strong> for Ubuntu.
[123002560040] |Codecs are developed by <a>Fluendo</a> and <a>Cyberlink</a>.
[123002560050] |It is still possible to do <code>sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras</code> and get that staff installed…</li>
[123002560060] |<li>In <strong><a>A comparative look at compact sysadmin distributions</a></strong> article <a>Cory Buford</a> shares the observations he got during review of several portable (not more 210 Mb) Linux distros which may be helpful to handle “minor catastrophes”.
[123002560070] |BTW I prefer <a>RIPLinuX</a> <img/></li>
[123002560080] |<li>T-Mobile, Google and HTC <strong><a>announce</a></strong> that first phone based on <a>Android</a> platform will be out next week (23th of September 2008).</li>
[123002560090] |<li>Google is going to launch its own “computer navy” (sea <a>floating data centres</a>).
[123002560100] |Now jokes –rumors.</li>
[123002560110] |<li>Codeweavers company has adapted <a><strong>Google Chrome browser for Linux and Mac platform</strong></a>.</li>
[123002560120] |<li><strong><a>Mozilla asks to display firefox EULA in Ubuntu 8.10</a></strong>.
[123002560130] |Some people are really disturbed about that.</li>
[123002560140] |<li><a><strong>XFCE 4.6</strong></a> first <a>alpha</a> is out for public testing.</li> 
[123002560150] |And we just launched <a>Linux and Open Source News</a> aggregator at <a>Linux Screw</a>, so you are welcome to set it your homepage <img/>