root@debian:~$ dpkg --get-selections > /root/package-selections
wiki.debian.org
Tag: linux
How can I view all UUIDs for all available disks on my system?
user@ubuntu:~$ ls -la /dev/disk/by-uuid
unix.stackexchange.com
What’s your favourite desktop and why?
In response to Voice of the Masses
My favourite Desktop is Unity because it is not MATE. This has been bugging me for quite some time.
Like almost everyone else on the planet, I was unhappy when in 2011 Canonical declared Unity Ubuntu’s new default desktop. After years of using GNOME 2, I just thought that Unity felt a bit awkward. But I stuck with it, mainly for a perceived lack of alternatives and my wish to avoid PPAs if at all possible.
Fast-forward a few years and, thanks to the excellent Martin Wimpress, I hear of MATE Desktop Environment almost every other podcast I listen to. With the release of Ubuntu 15.10, MATE is finally elevated to official flavour status and I was sure to be making the switch away from Unity.
I ended up using MATE for about one day before going back to Unity. It was quite an uncomfortable thing to have to admit, but there was a problem: After years of using Unity, I just thought that MATE felt a bit awkward…
ubuntu-mate.org
Remove packages that are no longer needed
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get autoremove
help.ubuntu.com
What we give away when we log on to a public Wi-Fi network
“Already 20 smartphones and laptops are ours. If he wanted to, Slotboom is now able to completely ruin the lives of the people connected.” Wouter Slotboom is one of the good guys, demonstrating to Maurits Martijn his effortless ability to retrieve people’s passwords, steal their identity, and plunder their bank accounts.
decorrespondent.nl
Copy public key to ssh server
user@ubuntu:~$ ssh-copy-id user@123.45.56.78
askubuntu.com
Setting the compilation tag using eyeD3 and Linux
With the eyeD3 command you can easily set the compilation tag for compatibility of your MP3 files with Apple gear. Just change to the directory containing the files making up the compilation (or soundtrack) and execute the following command:
user@debian:/path/to/your/compilation/$ find ./ -name "*.mp3" -exec eyeD3 --set-text-frame=TCMP:1 '{}' ';' &
Hope this snippet proves useful.
eyed3.nicfit.net
Executing Linux commands in the background using screen
The screen command allows you to detach a running process from a session and then reattach it at a later time. Its use is simple:
user@debian:~$ screen yourlinuxcommand
Now that yourlinuxcommand is executing, press Ctrl+A followed by D to detach the screen.
Obtain a list of all the running screen processes:
user@debian:~$ screen -ls
There is a screen on:
18470.pts-0.server(02/03/14 10:03:43) (Detached)
1 Socket in /var/run/screen/S-user.
Note the screen id in the above output. Use the screen id to reattach the session at anytime:
user@debian:~$ $ screen -r 18470.pts-0.server
The full story of Nokia and Microsoft
“When the N9, running MeeGo received the strongest positive reviews of any Nokia phone ever, the first handset of any brand considered better than the iPhone—what did Elop do? He said that no matter how well the N9 sold, Elop would never allow another MeeGo based device to be sold by Nokia.” Microsoft has just bought Nokia’s handset division for a knockdown price of 5.3 Billion Euros, prompting former Nokia employee Tomi Ahonen to chronicle the decline of this once mighty company since in September 2010 former Microsoft employee Steven Elop became the first non-Finnish director in Nokia’s history.
communities-dominate.blogs.com
30 Linux kernel developers in 30 weeks: Alan Cox
“The other aspect of it is the changing the world part. Directly, it’s put computers into places that could never afford proprietary licensing. Indirectly, it forms part of the first wave of the whole reclamation of culture and production by the people.” Alan Cox talks to Jennifer Cloer.
www.linux.com
The Dell XPS 13 Ubuntu Edition
“Only by patronizing Linux friendly vendors, early and often, will we see them pay more attention to pretty much the only free and open desktop alternative available.” Tarus Balog is happy with his XPS 13 running Ubuntu Linux.
www.adventuresinoss.com
In Tristan Schmelcher we appear to have another satisfied customer.
The Debian Administrator’s Handbook
“We wanted the book to be freely available (that is under the terms of a license compatible with the Debian Free Software Guidelines of course). There was a condition though: a liberation fund had to be completed to ensure we had a decent compensation for the work that the book represents. This fund reached its target of €25K in April 2012.” Raphaël Hertzog and Roland Mas hope that you will enjoy the book.
debian-handbook.info
How Linux is built
“You use Linux everyday, whether you know it or not…”
The Linux Foundation
youtube.com
Canonical’s ticking time clock
“Ubuntu could have stayed relevant if Canonical hadn’t tossed aside its user base to pursue Unity and tablets.” Barbara Hudson shares her doubts about Canonical’s apparent strategy for Ubuntu.
www.linuxinsider.com
Windows applications making GRUB 2 unbootable
“We need to defend ourselves against the predatory practices of some companies making us look bad: a relatively small number of people do enough detective work to realise that it’s the fault of a particular Windows application, but many more simply blame our operating system because it won’t start any more.” Debian developer Colin Watson asks for your help in an effort to mitigate the problems caused by antifeatures built into Windows software that result in broken Windows/Linux double-boot systems.
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~cjwatson/blosxom
Redirecting mail for the local root user
postfix is Ubuntu’s default mail transfer agent (MTA) and can be configured to deliver mail using a relay host that requires SMTP authentication. Get the necessary packages with the following command:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install postfix bsd-mailx
Begin to configure your postfix installation by choosing satellite system as the general type of configuration. Enter the local machine name as the mail name (eg mycomputer.edafe.org) and the SMTP server address of your email service provider as the SMTP relay host (eg smtp.relayhost.com). Edit the file /etc/postfix/main.cf and add the following:
smtp_sasl_auth_enable = yes
smtp_sasl_password_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
smtp_sasl_security_options = noanonymous
Create the file /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd and make the following entries:
smtp.relayhost.com user:password
Substitute smtp.relayhost.com with the address of the SMTP relay host and user:password with your login details. Continue by executing the following three commands:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo chown root.root /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo chmod 600 /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo postmap hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
Instruct postfix to reload its settings with the following command:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/postfix reload
Making changes to the alias table
The aliases table provides a system-wide mechanism to redirect mail for local recipients. Edit the file /etc/aliases to contain the following entries:
postmaster: root
root: localuser
localuser: user@yourdomain.com
The localuser is the system administrator. Substitute user@yourdomain.com with the email address that you would like mail for the root user to be redirected to. Finally, update /etc/aliases.db using the following command:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo newaliases
Mail for the local root user from now on will automatically be forwarded to user@yourdomain.com , using smtp.relayhost.com as the relay host.
www.postfix.org, help.ubuntu.com
Monitoring hard disks with smartmontools
SMART stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology and is built into most modern hard disks. The smartd daemon is part of smartmontools and monitors a disk’s SMART data for any signs of hardware problems. SMART is available with Parallel and Serial ATA disks, drives appearing as either /dev/hd* or /dev/sd*, respectively. Use the following command to obtain relevant information for your system:
user@ubuntu:~$ df -hl
If required, start by configuring postfix to redirect mail for the local root user. Get the necessary packages with the following command:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install smartmontools bsd-mailx
Configuring smartd
Edit the file /etc/smartd.conf and comment out any lines beginning with DEVICESCAN. If you are using a netbook or a laptop, add the following line for the smartd daemon to monitor the device /dev/sda:
/dev/sda -a -d ata -n standby -o on -S on -m root -M daily -M test
If you are using a desktop or a server, add the following line for the smartd daemon to monitor the device /dev/hda:
/dev/hda -a -d ata -n never -o on -S on -s (L/../../7/04|S/../.././02) -m root -M daily -M test
See man smartd.conf for more information on how to tailor the operation of smartd to your needs.
Starting smartd
Edit the file /etc/default/smartmontools and uncomment the line containing start_smartd=yes. Restart the smartd daemon with the following command:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/smartmontools restart
Verify that the local root user has received a test message from the smartd daemon. From now on, the smartd daemon will monitor the disk and, in the event of impending disk failure, alert the local root user by email.
Desktop Linux for the Windows power user
“As a lifelong Windows user, system builder, ex-gamer, and performance freak, I’m not drinking anyone’s Kool-Aid. I just want the most amount of control over my system as possible, and at this point in time, Ubuntu is the best follow-up to Windows XP.” Adam Overa walks the Windows user through the Ubuntu installation process from downloading the CD image to finding help online.
www.tomshardware.com
What exactly is LaTeX for?
“Many people discover LaTeX after years of struggling with wordprocessors and desktop publishing systems, and are amazed to find that TeX has been around for over 25 years and they hadn’t heard of it.”
Peter Flynn
LaTeX is a free document preparation system that enables you to create beautifully typeset pages. It implements a set of commands designed to control TeX, the typesetting engine developed by Donald E Knuth. LaTeX stores the information about your documents as plain text, thus avoiding the risk of vendor lock-in and ensuring that your documents will still be editable twenty years from now. LaTeX processes the plain text data and, with pdfTeX working in the background, generates PDF output of the highest typographic quality—perfect for viewing on-screen or printing on paper. LaTeX runs on many platforms and is included as standard with most Linux distributions. Ready-to-run LaTeX systems are also available for Windows and Mac OS X.
miktex.org, tug.org/mactex
Ubuntu Linux is for everyone
Ubuntu is a relatively new flavour of Linux. Since the release of ‘Warty Warthog’ in October 2004, it has become the most popular Linux distribution worldwide. Similar to its parent, Debian GNU/Linux, Ubuntu is based entirely on free software. It inherits outstanding package management and provides one-click access to thousands of downloadable applications.
Ubuntu can be installed as an application inside an existing Windows installation. This provides new users with a great opportunity to try Ubuntu at no risk to their existing setup. Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) is the latest version and available for download from today.
www.unbuntu.com