Julian's Linux Blog

Add a Dock to your Gnome desktop

2010-10-04T14:46:00.000-07:00

This tutorial will allow you to add a Mac style doc to your desktop. Cool!

http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/365979-add-these-desktop-docks-for-a-better-desktop-experience

Repeating a series of commands in bash

2010-09-17T08:32:00.001-07:00

Wow, this was really cool... captured from a thread on reddit..

I learnt something handy in BASH recently - operate-and-get-next (Ctrl-o). If you type:
$ echo one one $ echo two two $ echo three three
Then up-arrow back to 'echo one'. Then press Ctrl-o instead of enter it will execute the command and display the following one in your history ('echo two' in this case).Very handy for replaying a series of commands.

Simplify LDAP with Fedora's 389 Directory Server

2010-09-14T16:08:00.000-07:00

If you've ever had to deal with LDAP, you know it is not an easy beast to master. In fact, the command line tools for LDAP alone would keep many users from even attempting to learn how to take advantage of this powerful tool. If you look, you'll find several tools that make the job of managing LDAP data easier. One of the best is the 389 Directory Server for Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. 389 is extremely powerful and offers a simple to use GUI for all aspects of user, group, and server management.

Systemd and Fedora 14

2010-09-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

Systemd and Fedora 14: "LWN.net: 'Systemd, an alternative to Upstart or System V init, has made big strides since it was announced at the end of April. It has been packaged for Fedora and openSUSE, and for users of Fedora Rawhide, it gets installed as the default.'"

Fedora Supports KSplice!

2010-08-31T20:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/08/31/ksplice-now-free-for-fedora-users/

'nuff said!

Managing sshd Keys

2010-08-31T05:25:00.000-07:00

Managing sshd Keys: "One of my pet peeves is blindly accepting ssh server keys. This is usually cause by a lazy or uninformed Sysadmin who has failed to properly manage his server keys, but secondly by users discounting the importance of verifying server keys and not demanding their credential validation process be better protected.

Google now offers video chat for Linux

2010-08-19T18:53:00.001-07:00

http://www.google.com/chat/video

It's about time!

Linux Security Flaw Patched

2010-08-18T11:14:00.001-07:00

A "highly dangerous" privilege escalation vulnerability that would permit an attacker to execute arbitrary code as root from any GUI application via X server, was recently patched in the Linux kernel, writes Lucia Constantin on Softpedia. The flaw, which affects both x86_32 and x86_64 platforms, is said to have been present since the release of Linux 2.6.0.

http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/ITL-catches-vulnerability-flaw-and-Linux-Security-Summit-wrapup/

Full Disk Encryption - A Step Further

2010-08-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

http://lfde.org/

This is a product that encrypts the boot partition as well and allows you to move it to a portable storage device such as a flash drive - physical security is (almost) everything, right?

Top 5 Open Source Linux Server Provisioning Software

2010-08-11T09:02:00.001-07:00

Server provisioning is nothing but load the Linux or UNIX like operating systems automatically with actual operating systems, device drivers, data, and make a server ready for network operation without any user input. Typically you select a server from a pool of available servers, load the operating systems (such as RHEL, Fedora, FreeBSD, Debian), and finally customize storage, network (IP, gateway, bounding etc), drivers, applications, users etc. Using the following tools you can perform automated unattended operating system installation, configuration, set virtual machines and much more. These software can be used to install a lot (say thousands) of Linux and UNIX systems at the same time.

http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/server-provisioning-software.html

LinuxCon: Exploits Show Linux Is Vulnerable

2010-08-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

LinuxCon: Exploits Show Linux Is Vulnerable: "eSecurity Planet: 'There is a widely held belief that Linux is a completely secure operating system. But to Brad Spengler of the grsecurity project, the belief is far from accurate. And he has the kernel exploits to prove it.'"

Labels and cards with gLabels from beginner to advanced

2010-08-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

Labels and cards with gLabels from beginner to advanced: "WorldLabel: 'In the world of label creation software for Linux, gLabels is the long-standing market leader. It offers a convenient graphical interface in which you can design labels with the same tools you are used to finding in image editing software, but it also supports business-friendly advanced features like 'mail merge' and barcode generation.'"

Marvell promises $100 tablet for students

2010-03-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why an FM receiver was included in the spec. Does any student really listen to the radio anymore?

Marvell announced its intent to deliver a $100, Android-ready tablet computer built around a 1GHz Armada 600 series processor. Aimed at students, the "Moby" will offer WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, an FM receiver, and Adobe Flash compatibility, the company says.

http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/Marvell-Moby/

On the other hand, here's a pretty slick looking device for the same price:

A startup that includes former members of Openmoko has begun shipping a hackable Linux-based "copyleft" clamshell for $99. Qi Hardware's Ben NanoNote incorporates Ingenic's MIPS-compatible 336MHz XBurst Jz4720 processor, 32MB SDRAM, and 2GB NAND flash, and offers a 3-inch, 320 x 240 display.

http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/Qi-Hardware-Ben-NanoNote/

That's My Girl

2010-03-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

Transcript for the spiders:

[19:59] Jasnea Tosh: hi
[19:59] juliantosh: hi jas. what you doing?
[19:59] Jasnea Tosh: just chatting with you
[20:00] juliantosh: cool. so do you want to try and help jessica with her computer problem?
[20:00] Jasnea Tosh: yeah
[20:01] juliantosh: ok. we will have to try and find a spare hard drive around the house and burn another copy of Fedora to a dvd. then we will talk to her mother
[20:02] Jasnea Tosh: sound good:)
[20:02] juliantosh: i would be so proud of you if you converted some of your friends to Linux!
[20:03] Jasnea Tosh: it is goin to be fun helping a friend
[20:03] juliantosh: yup. what is your favorite thing about linux?
[20:05] Jasnea Tosh: you dont have any problems
[20:07] Jasnea Tosh: and it rocks

A New Video Editor for Linux

2010-03-03T01:41:00.000-08:00

OpenShot is filling a void in Linux video media editing. Currently available as a package under Debian, soon to be compiled and packaged for other major distros like Fedora.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/openshot-finally-excellent-video-editor-linux/

Zenoss: We Can Ditch Nagios Now

2010-03-01T03:58:00.000-08:00

Another perfect example of open source software gone commercial is Zenoss. As a full-featured network and service monitoring solution, Zenoss is one of the best monitoring tools available.

Most importantly, Zenoss combines two functionalities. First and foremost an enterprise environment requires host and service monitoring, with notifications. Network monitoring really means checking services, checking that hosts are up (they ping), and possibly writing your own plugins to check various other aspects of a server or network device. Until now, Nagios has filled that role.

Second, once a decent monitoring solution is in place, getting time-based information becomes desirable. Memory and CPU usage is the most prevalent example: if you’re checking available swap space every so often with Nagios, you may know when you start running low. But it may be just as important to see a graph of the last week’s usage. Tools like Cacti or Munin, which collect data frequently and use RRD graphs to display it, are very useful.

Zenoss fills both roles, without the annoying shortcomings prevalent in the alternative solutions. Zenoss uses the terms Availability Monitoring and Performance Monitoring to describe these two fundamental roles.

http://www.zenoss.com/

Linux: Can it get any easier?

2010-03-01T01:56:00.001-08:00

In recent iterations of Ubuntu the process of sharing folders has become incredibly easy. No more configuring of Samba (at least not by the user). But can anything in Linux be that easy?

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensource/?p=1310

Creating An NFS-Like Standalone Storage Server With GlusterFS On Fedora 12

2010-02-24T02:18:00.000-08:00

This tutorial shows how to set up a standalone storage server on Fedora 12. Instead of NFS, I will use GlusterFS here. The client system will be able to access the storage as if it was a local filesystem. GlusterFS is a clustered file-system capable of scaling to several peta-bytes. It aggregates various storage bricks over Infiniband RDMA or TCP/IP interconnect into one large parallel network file system. Storage bricks can be made of any commodity hardware such as x86_64 servers with SATA-II RAID and Infiniband HBA.

http://www.howtoforge.com/creating-an-nfs-like-standalone-storage-server-with-glusterfs-on-fedora-12

50 Open Source Tools: Desktop Downloads

2010-02-24T01:46:00.000-08:00

Just found a nice big list of interesting FOSS software. Some is focused strictly on Linux, others for Windows, and some are ports to both.

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/3866581/50-Open-Source-Tools-Desktop-Downloads.htm

Build Regular Expressions with a GUI

2010-02-24T01:09:00.000-08:00

Kodos is a Python program that helps you learn and create regular expressions via a GUI interface. Vincent Danen offers this introduction to using regular expressions.

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensource/?p=1251

Linux frustrates!

2010-02-22T08:10:00.000-08:00

A nice article for Linux N00bz. Starts off a little whiney, but ends up giving you a little peace in the end.

I have heard of my geeky friends talking about this Linux stuff. I wasn't sure what it was so I asked them about it. Honestly, I thought they were trying to sell me some religion the way they jumped all over me trying to explain what Linux is. They did make some very good points though. I have always felt uncomfortable with using a pirated version of windows but I can't justify the expense of buying an original version. I am also tired of all the problems I have been having because of virus and spyware infestations. These Linux guys tell me that they don't have any problems with that stuff.

http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/locutus/linux-frustrates-37036

LTSP 5.2 is out!

2010-02-22T08:05:00.000-08:00

After almost two years or work and 994 commits later made by only 14 contributors, I'm proud to announce that the Linux Terminal Server Project project released LTSP 5.2 on Wednesday the 17th of February.

https://www.stgraber.org/2010/02/21/ltsp-52-out

Tin Hat: High security Linux

2010-02-22T01:18:00.000-08:00

Tin Hat is a Linux distribution derived from hardened Gentoo which aims to provide a very secure, stable and fast Desktop environment that lives purely in RAM.

Tin Hat boots from CD, or optionally a pen drive, but it is not a LiveCD. It does not mount any file system from CD via unionfs or otherwise. Rather, Tin Hat is a massive image (approx. 2.3GB) which loads into tmpfs upon booting.

http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=8892

Record your Desktop with Linux Tools

2010-02-16T03:05:00.000-08:00

You can capture video of all of the amazing things happening on your desktop with one of Linux’s many screencasting applications. These programs are perfect for creating demonstrations for blogs and tutorials, and for illustrating projects with more than just still images.

Many different programs are available, and they all provide a different set of features, options, and output formats. When choosing, consider the degree of control you want to have over your video resolution and whether the video is intended to work on non-Linux operating systems. Common open source output formats, such as FLAC and Ogg Theora, work natively on Linux but require software and plugins on proprietary operating systems. User interfaces also vary greatly; some applications are nothing more than an icon in the system tray while others depend on large interfaces with many options.

http://www.cherrysave.com/linux/record-your-desktop-with-linux-tools/

Determine If Shell Input is Coming From the Terminal or From a Pipe

2010-02-16T02:32:00.001-08:00

Working on a little script the other day I had the need to determine if the input to the script was coming from a pipe or from the terminal. Seems like a simple enough thing to determine but nothing jumped immediately to mind and a quick internet search didn't help much either. After a bit of pondering I came up with two solutions: the stat command and using information from the proc file system.

http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/determine-if-shell-input-coming-terminal-or-pipe

Install software updates and security patches without rebooting

2010-02-15T20:23:00.001-08:00

There's a real irony to my article this week. Just as I began to write, I got an e-mail from one of my hosted service providers. To paraphrase the message, it says: "Dear Customer, we will be performing maintenance on your application server for a few hours this weekend. We plan to install critical software updates and security patches. During this window you may experience brief interruptions in service. Sorry for the inconvenience."

You've seen similar messages before. Perhaps you even write them and send them out to your own customers when you need to install software updates and security fixes. While the process of installing software updates is disruptive and expensive -- Gartner estimates downtime for a critical system costs $42,000 an hour -- there's no getting around the need to apply updates. According to Microsoft, 90 percent of the attacks in the wild exploit known vulnerabilities.

It's essential to patch systems to keep them reliable and secure. But while you must patch, must you reboot the server to apply the patch? Not necessarily.

http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/techexec/2010/021510bestpractices.html

F12 Upgrade

2010-02-15T06:23:00.000-08:00

Finally got around to upgrading a couple of F10 machines to F12. The only problem I encountered was with the nouveau video drivers conflicting with the previous nvidia setup.

FedoraForum.org came through with the correct set of incantations to get init 5 back up...

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=204752

Hands-on: new single-window mode makes GIMP less gimpy

2010-02-08T01:09:00.000-08:00

The venerable GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is undergoing a significant transformation. The next major release, version 2.8, will introduce an improved user interface with an optional single-window mode.

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2010/02/hands-on-new-single-window-mode-makes-gimp-less-gimpy.ars

A newbie's guide to Fedora 12

2010-02-08T01:08:00.000-08:00

Fedora is a great choice of distribution to start with. It's easy to install and just as easy to use. It's one of the most well-respected distributions available, and has a very tight relationship with its parent and chief sponsor, Red Hat. With Fedora, you have access to one of the largest communities in the world of Linux, and one of the the biggest selections of software to play with. In this mini-feature, we're going to walk you through your first steps installing and using Fedora 12 so that everyone can get started and have fun in the Linux community.

http://www.tuxradar.com/content/newbies-guide-fedora-12