Think Linux

Watch videos on web sites

2007-12-17T08:07:00.000-08:00

This will guide you on how to watch videos on Stage6 and any other web site.

Since DivX doesn't release a Linux version of "DivX Player" we will use "mplayerplug-in for mozilla".

In order to mplayerplug-in work with Stage6, version 3.45 or higher is required.

Some Linux distros, like Debian Etch, come with old binaries so we need to compile is from source. If you're using a Fedora Core or RedHat based distro, there's a *.rpm file available to download.

So, here we go:

Download the file at this link:
http://sourceforge.net/pro...239

Fedora Core:

Download the *.rpm file.

Install:

sudo rpm –ivh mplayerplug-in-*

Open Firefox and go to "about:plugins" to check if install was successful.
Done.

Debian:

To compile mplayerplug-in, mozilla-dev package is required:

sudo apt-get install mozilla-dev

Download the *.tar.gz file.
Unpack and compile:

tar -xzvf mplayerplug-in-*
cd mplayerplug-in
./configure
make
sudo make install

Link mplayerplug-in lib to Firefox's plugins folder:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/iceape/plugins/mplayerplug-in* /usr/lib/iceweasel/plugins/

Open Firefox and go to "about:plugins" to check if install was successful.
Done.

External Links

mplayerplug-in site
Stage6

Upload videos to Stage6 from Linux

2007-12-16T21:51:00.000-08:00

This will guide you on how to upload videos to Stage6 from Linux.

What works:

Upload videos to Stage6

What does not work:

Upload progress bar

Watch videos

Since DivX doesn't release a Linux version of "DivX Uploader" we will use the Windows version with Wine.

"Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X, OpenGL, and Unix. Think of Wine as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs. Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code, however Wine can optionally use native Windows DLLs if they are available. Wine provides both a development toolkit for porting Windows source code to Unix as well as a program loader, allowing many unmodified Windows programs to run on x86-based Unixes, including Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and Solaris."
-- http://www.winehq.com/

First of all, please read this carefully:

- Is Microsoft Windows® Required?
The short answer is "No".

"DivX Uploader" works with WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator), a software application that implements the windows API, enabling you to run Win32 apps with the Linux operating system.

But to make "DivX Uploader" work you will need 3 (three) DLL files from Microsoft Windows®, and according to EULA, you need a valid a Windows® License in order to use then. More details about this read here:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_can...n_your_computer

ie: If you do not have a Microsoft Windows License, don't proceed!

Now, for those that have a Microsoft Windows® License, this is what we'll do:

First you'll need Wine. Today it's available on almost every distribution. Make a Google for Wine on your distribution and install it.

Next we'll use Firefox® Portable (No please! Don't pronounce the letters IE in front of me!):

"Mozilla Firefox®, Portable Edition is the popular Mozilla Firefox web browser bundled with a PortableApps.com Launcher as a portable app, so you can take your bookmarks, extensions and saved passwords with you."
-- http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

Go to http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable and download it.

Now open a terminal and type and hit enter:

wine Firefox_Portable_*.*.*.*_en-us.paf.exe

The GUI will appear. When asked where to install point to:

z:\home\username\FirefoxPortable

Fine. Now download the "DivX Uploader":
http://download.divx.com/player/sta...erInstaller.exe

On terminal, type and hit enter:

wine DivXWebPlayerInstaller.exe

When asked, don't install Firefox.
An error message will appear. Just ignore it.

After this go to your Windows® box (in my case, I'm using Windows XP®, so I don't know if it will work with other versions) and copy these files:

regedt32.exe
msvcp60.dll
urlmon.dll
iertutil.dll

Back to Linux, open a text editor (gedit for example) and copy and paste:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins\@divx.c  om/DivX Browser Plugin,version=1.0.0]
"Path"="C:\\Program files\\DivX\\DivX Web Player\\npdivx32.dll"
"XPTPath"="C:\\Program files\\DivX\\DivX Web Player\\npdivx32.xpt"
"GeckoVersion"="1.00"
"Version"="1.0.0"
"Vendor"="DivX,Inc."
"Description"="DivX® Web Player"
"ProductName"="DivX® Web Player"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins\@divx.c  om/DivX Browser Plugin,version=1.0.0\MimeTypes]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins\@divx.c  om/DivX Browser Plugin,version=1.0.0\MimeTypes\video/divx]
"Description"="DivX Video Files"
"Suffixes"="divx,div"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins\@divx.c  om/DivX Content Upload Plugin,version=1.0.0]
"Path"="C:\\Program files\\DivX\\DivX Content Uploader\\npUpload.dll"
"XPTPath"="C:\\Program files\\DivX\\DivX Content Uploader\\npUpload.xpt"
"GeckoVersion"="1.00"
"Version"="1.0.0"
"Vendor"="DivX,Inc."
"Description"="DivX® Content Upload Plugin"
"ProductName"="DivX® Content Upload Plugin"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins\@divx.c  om/DivX Content Upload Plugin,version=1.0.0\MimeTypes]


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins\@divx.c  om/DivX Content Upload Plugin,version=1.0.0\MimeTypes\application/x-divxcontentupload]
"Description"=""
"Suffixes"=""

Save it as "mozillaplugins.reg"

On terminal, type and hit enter:

wine regedt32

Import "mozillaplugins.reg" you just created.

On terminal, type and hit enter:

winecfg

And travell to:

Libraries > New override for library

Select from the drop-drown menu:

urlmon

Hit Add and then OK.

Move the DLL files:

msvcp60.dll
urlmon.dll
iertutil.dll

To:

~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32

And you are done!

So, you'll only use Firefox® Portable to upload videos to Stage6.
To execute Firefox® Portable, type the following on terminal and hit enter:

wine ~/FirefoxPortable/FirefoxPortable.exe

Probably you'll wish to create a shortcut for it.

Please note that, as stated on the begining of this howto, the upload progress bar does not work, at least for now.

External Links

Stage6
Stage6 - Think Linux

Squid on Windows

2007-12-16T11:20:00.000-08:00

Squid is a full-featured Web proxy cache. It's free, open-source software.

This tutorial is also available for Linux.

Download

Download the last stable release at this link:
http://squid.acmeconsulting.it/download/dl-squid.html

Install

This will suppose that your local Ethernet cards are set with IP: 192.168.0.xxx and your server card with IP: 192.168.0.1.

Extract the binary archive in the desired directory (default c:\squid)
Copy and rename the following files:

squid.conf.default to squid.conf
mime.conf.default to mime.conf
cachemgr.conf.default to cachemgr.conf

Now let's edit the squid.conf. Open this file on notepad and go to line 2454 and add:

acl LAN src 192.168.0.0/24

Go to line 2566 and add:

http_access allow LAN

Go to line 2893 and add:

visible_hostname squid

Go to line 2987 and add:

httpd_accel_host virtual
httpd_accel_port 80
httpd_accel_with_proxy on
httpd_accel_uses_host_header on

Close saving it.

Go to START and click RUN. Type and hit enter:

cmd

This will open the command line. Type and hit enter:

cd c:/squid/sbin

Type and hir enter:

squid -i

This will install the Squid service using the config file. The default config file is c:/squid/etc/squid.conf and default service name is Squid.
Type and hit enter:

squid -z

This will create the cache directory.
Start squid service:

net start Squid

It's all done. Next time Windows starts the squid service will be started by default.

Now go to others machines and configure, for example, Firefox to use Proxy 192.168.0.1 and Port 3128.

Uninstall

Go to START and click RUN. Type and hit enter:

cmd

This will open the command line. Type and hit enter:

cd c:/squid/sbin

Type and hir enter:

squid -r

This will remove the Squid service. You may remove the c:/squiq directory if you do not intent to use squid anymore.

For further details, check External Links.

External links

Squid Web Proxy Cache
Acme Consulting
Squid 2.6 for Windows
Configurando um Squid Ninja
Linux Home Server HOWTO - Squid Web Proxy
Linux Resources at KrnlPanic.com
FedoraForum.org - squid and dansguardian - problems!
FedoraForum.org - Internet Connection Sharing?
FedoraForum.org - Firewall

Flash Player

2007-12-16T10:14:00.000-08:00

Download the *.tar.gz file from this link:
http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer
Unpack and move:

tar -xzvf install_flash_player*
tar -xzvf install_flash_player*
cd install_flash_player*
mkdir /home/user_name/.mozilla/plugins
cp libflashplayer.so /home/user_name/.mozilla/plugins

External link

Macromedia Web Site

sudo - execute a command as another user

2007-12-16T08:28:00.000-08:00

On Linux there is a root user and others individual users. The root is the superuser.

Now let's present to you the sudo command:

sudo allows a permitted user to execute a command as the superuser or another user, as specified in the sudoers file.
If the invoking user is root or if the target user is the same as the invoking user, no password is required. Otherwise, sudo requires that users authenticate themselves with a password by default (NOTE: in the default configuration this is the user’s password, not the root password). Once a user has been authenticated, a time-stamp is updated and the user may then use sudo without a password for a short period of time (5 minutes unless overridden in sudoers).

So, it's good idea to add yourself in the /etc/sudoers file.

Open the terminal. Type:

su

Hit enter. Type your root password. Hit enter. Type and hit enter:

chmod +w /etc/sudoers
echo 'login_name ALL=(ALL) ALL' >> /etc/sudoers
chmod -w /etc/sudoers
exit

Where "login_name" is your user account.
If you don't want to be prompted a password, use:

echo 'login_name ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL' >> /etc/sudoers

If you are prompted for a password with 'sudo' it is the user password, not root.

Your sudoers file now will have the following section:

# User privilege specification
root        ALL=(ALL) ALL
login_name  ALL=(ALL) ALL

Now you can install binary RPM with sudo command as a local user. Notice in below that you can't install RPM as a local user but you CAN if you use sudo command.

Example:

sudo yum update
Password:   <-- type your user password, not root

NOTE: From now on this guide will use the "sudo" command instead of "su" and users are advised to do the same.

External links

Personal Fedora Core 8 Installation Guide

Iomega Zip100 parallel port

2007-12-16T08:13:00.000-08:00

We'll configure your Iomega Zip100 parallel port.

Create the zip100.0 folder:

sudo mkdir /media/zip100.0

Edit fstab:

sudo gedit /etc/fstab

Copy and paste:

/dev/sda4 /media/zip100.0 vfat noauto,user 0 0

Edit folder ownership:

sudo chown /media/user_name zip100.0
sudo chgrp /media/user_name zip100.0
sudo chmod 775 zip100.0

Mount your drive:

To modprobe your drive, create a laucher with the following:

sudo /sbin/modprobe imm

And set it to execute on terminal.
If you want to mount the drive manually:

mount /dev/sda4

Or use the "Drive Mount Applet".

External Link

https://iomega-na-en.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/i..._lva=1282&p_li=

Java

2007-12-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

Download "Linux (self-extracting file)" at this link:
http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp

We'll instal java now:

sudo mv *.bin /opt
cd /opt
sudo chmod +x *-linux-i586.bin
sudo ./*.bin

Hit enter.
Hold the enter key down until the yes/no line appears to allow you to agree to the license agreement.
Type "yes" and hit enter.
Next remove the *.bin file:

sudo rm *.bin

And link the java pluggin to Firefox:

sudo ln -s /path_to_java/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so

Where path_to_java is the directory you installed it (e.g.: /opt/jdk1.6.0).
It suposes that usr/lib/firefox/ is where firefox is install.

sudo gedit /etc/profile.d/java.sh

And paste this text and save:

#!/bin/sh
JAVA_HOME=path_to_java
export JAVA_HOME
JAVA_BIN=$JAVA_HOME/bin
CLASSPATH=$CLASSPATH:$JAVA_HOME:$JAVA_HOME/lib
PATH=$JAVA_BIN:$PATH
export JAVA_BIN CLASSPATH PATH

Where path_to_java is the directory you installed it (e.g.: /opt/jdk1.6.0). Close the terminal and log in/out.

Open Firefox and type:

about:plugins

Java should be listed as install.

To test your install, visit this link:
http://java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml

This page tests to see if the JVM is working on your computer. This test applet, written with Java technology, displays information about your operating system, the JVM and the Java. If you can see the dancing Duke logo image animated in the applet above, then the Java is functioning correctly.

Possible Error

In some cases people go to test page and java doesn't work. In adition they got a file in /home/user_name/ called "plugin_stack.trace" with the following inside:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError
at sun.plugin.AppletViewer.initEnvironment(Unknown Source)
at sun.plugin.navig.motif.Plugin.doit(Unknown Source)
at sun.plugin.navig.motif.Plugin.start(Unknown Source)

It's a SELinux related.
Type:

sudo touch /.autorelabel

It will ask for a full file system relabeling on next reboot.
After that, reboot the computer and it will spend some time getting the SELinux stuff back in order.

Visit the test link again and see if it works now.

External link

Java Web Site

Squid

2007-12-16T07:44:00.000-08:00

Squid is a full-featured Web proxy cache. It's free, open-source software.

This tutorial is also available for Windows.

Search for the "squid" package for you distribution.

On Debian:

sudo apt-get install squid

On Fedora Core:

sudo yum install squid

Now we'll configure Squid:

sudo gedit /etc/squid/squid.conf

Go to line 2394 and add:

acl LAN src 192.168.0.0/24

Go to line 2506 and add:

http_access allow LAN

Go to line 2842 and add:

visible_hostname squid

Close saving it. Type and hit enter:

sudo gedit /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/ifcfg-eth0

Where eth0 is your local network card. Your internal network card may apperar also as eth1, eth2 and etc. Change theses lines:

IPADDR=192.168.0.1
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
BOOTPROTO=none

Close saving it. Type and hit enter:

sudo gedit /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/hosts

And add these lines:

127.0.0.1 Your_OS_name localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.0.1 squid squid.mydomain.com

Where "Your_OS_name" will be the name of your box.
Close saving it.

Now to make squid start on every boot type and hit enter:

On Debian:
Nothing need to be done. Just start squid:

sudo /etc/init.d/service squid restart

On Fedora Core:

sudo /sbin/chkconfig squid on
sudo /sbin/service squid restart
sudo /sbin/service iptables restart
sudo /sbin/service network restart

You are done here. Now go to others machines and configure, for example, Firefox to use Proxy 192.168.0.1 and Port 3128.

For further details, check External Links.

External links

Squid Web Proxy Cache
Configurando um Squid Ninja
Linux Home Server HOWTO - Squid Web Proxy
Linux Resources at KrnlPanic.com
FedoraForum.org - squid and dansguardian - problems!
FedoraForum.org - Internet Connection Sharing?
FedoraForum.org - Firewall

Streamtuner

2007-12-16T07:30:00.000-08:00

Streamtuner

Streamtuner is a stream directory browser. Through the use of a plugin system, it offers an intuitive GTK+ 2.0 interface to Internet radio directories such as SHOUTcast and Live365.

First install Streamripper to record streams.
Together with streamtuner, Audacious will be instaled.

Search for the "streamtuner" package for you distribution.

On Debian:

sudo apt-get install streamtuner

On Fedora Core:

sudo yum install streamtuner

Done.

External link

streamtuner - A stream directory brownser

Streamripper

2007-12-16T07:26:00.000-08:00

Streamripper was started sometime back in early 2000. Streamripper started as a way to separate tracks via Shoutcast's title-streaming feature. This has now been expanded into a much more generic feature, where part of the program only tries to "hint" at where one track starts and another ends, thus allowing a mp3 decoding engine to scan for a silent mark, which is used to find an exact track separation.

Download the lastest version at this link:
http://sourceforge.net/p...172

We'll unpack and compile it:

tar -xzvf streamripper-*.*.*.tar.gz
cd streamripper-*
./configure
make
sudo make install

Instalation done.

Streamripper is a command line program. You my consider installing Streamtuner, a stream directory browser. Through the use of a plugin system, it offers an intuitive GTK+ 2.0 interface to Internet radio directories such as SHOUTcast and Live365.

External link

Streamripper Home Page

Gmail Notifier

2007-12-16T07:10:00.000-08:00

Gmail Notifier is a Linux alternative for the notifier program released by Google, it is written in Python and provides an attractive and simple way to check for new mail messages.

Download the *.tag.gz file at this link:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=125937

Now we'll unpack and edit:

tar -xzjf gmail-notify-*.*.*.tar.gz
cd gmail-notify-*
gedit notifier.conf

You'll see text bellow. Change the "gmailusername" and "gmailpassword" field.

#MAKE SURE YOU CHANGE THE BELOW OPTIONS TO SUIT YOUR SYSTEM
#THE README FILE EXPLAINS EACH OPTION

[options]

lang = English
browserpath = htmlview %u

# account information
gmailusername = your_gmail_username    <- Type your username here, without @gmail.com.
gmailpassword = your_gmail_password    <- Type your gmail password here.

# popup position
voffset = 25
hoffset = 10

# all values below are in in milliseconds

# you should not set this lower than 20000 (20 seconds)
checkinterval = 60000
# you shouldn't need to change this one
animationdelay = 15
# change to whatever you like
popuptimespan = 5000

Hack

Looks like one of the python libs gmail-notifier uses has been changed.
A fix is:
Open GmailConfig.py and notifier.py with gedit and using the "replace" tool replace all:

sys.path[0]+

With the actual path gmail-notifier is installed in. I my case:

/home/trek1701/bin/gmail-notify/

To make it run on every boot

Go to:

System > Preferences > More Preferences > Sessions

On tab "Starter Programs", click Add and navigate to file "notifier.py" adding it.

External link

SourceForge.net: Gmail Notifier

True Type fonts

2007-12-16T06:55:00.000-08:00

Allow the user to see documents and web pages that uses True Type fonts.

For Fedora Core, follow this link:
http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-fedora-fc8.html#ttf

For Debian:

sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts ttf-freefont

Log out and log back in.

External link

Personal Fedora Core Installation Guide - Mauriat Miranda

ATI fgrlx driver - Debian

2007-12-16T06:17:00.000-08:00

Download the driver installer to your home folder:
ATI Proprietary Linux x86 Display Driver

Intall linux-headers:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Install necessary packages:

sudo apt-get install module-assistant build-essential fakeroot dh-make debhelper debconf libstdc++5

Create .deb packages:

sh ati-driver-installer-*.run --buildpkg Debian/etch

Remove old ATI driver (if present):

sudo dpkg -r fglrx-kernel-*.*.*-*-*
sudo dpkg -r fglrx-kernel-src
sudo dpkg -r fglrx-driver

Intall new ATI driver:

sudo dpkg -i fglrx-kernel-src_*.deb
sudo dpkg -i fglrx-driver_*.deb

Edit Xorg manually if needed:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Edit Catalist manually if needed:

sudo gedit /etc/ati/amdpcsdb

Compile and rebuilding your kernel module dependency:

sudo m-a prepare,update
sudo m-a build,install fglrx-kernel
sudo depmod

Check if Radeon driver is enable:

lsmod | grep radeon

Disable Radeon driver if enable:

sudo modprobe -r radeon

Check if fglrx driver is enable:

lsmod | grep fglrx

Enable fglrx driver if disable:

sudo modprobe fglrx

Test 2D hardware acceleration on terminal:

glxgears

Test 3D hardware acceleration on terminal:

fgl_glxgears

External links

ATI Proprietary Linux x86 Display Driver
Forlong's Blog

Firestartrer

2007-12-16T06:10:00.000-08:00

An excelent GUI firewall for linux if you don't like iptables.

Search for the "firestarter" package for you distribution.

On Debian:

sudo apt-get install firestarter

On Fedora Core:

sudo yum install firestarter

External link

Firestarter Web Site

Automatic and Timed Login

2007-12-15T22:25:00.000-08:00

This is how you should do to configure your Fedora box to automaticaly login to an account:

Go to:

System > Administration > Login Screen

Enter your root password.

On the "Users" tab enter your non-root user name in the "Include" box by clicking on the "Add" button, typing your user name and clicking the "Add" button in the dialog box.

Important: Click the "Apply User Changes" button.

On the "Security" tab tick the check box for "Enable Automatic Login" and "Enable Timed Login".

Select your user name in the "User:" box and type "10" in the "Pause before login:" box.

Click "close".

External link

FedoraForum.org

Jabbin - Voice on GTalk

2007-12-15T22:20:00.000-08:00

Jabbin is an Open Source Jabber client program that allows free PC to PC calls using the VoIP system over the Jabber network including Google Talk with voice.

Go to https://sourceforge.net/...861 and download the lastest package for your distro.

Search for the "qca" and "qca-tls" package for you distribution.

On Debian:

sudo apt-get install qca qca-tls

On Fedora Core:

sudo yum install qca qca-tls

Them install the downloaded package.
On Debian:

sudo dpkg -i name.of.the.package.deb

On Fedora Core:

sudo rpm -ivh name.of.the.package.rpm

To start the program type on terminal:

jabbin

Hit enter. Let's configure the Google Talk account.

Open Jabbin.

From the File menu, select Account Setup…

Click ‘New’ in the ‘Jabbin: Jabber Accounts’ window.

Enter a name for your account in the ‘Name:’ field (we suggest ‘Google Talk’). Also, make sure that the box next to ‘Register new account’ is not checked.

Click ‘Add.’

Enter your full Gmail email address in the ‘Jabber ID:’ field (including ‘@gmail.com’).

Open the ‘Connection’ tab.

Check all boxes.

Enter ‘talk.google.com’ in the ‘Host:’ field, and enter ‘5223′ in the ‘Port:’ field (5222 will not work).

Open the “Misc.” Tab

Enter ‘Jabbin’ in the ‘Resource:’ field. If this field is left blank, you won’t be able to sign in.

Click ‘Save.’

External link

Jabbin - Jabber VoIP Client

Disable IPv6 Features - Fedora Core

2007-12-15T22:10:00.000-08:00

FC has IPv6 support activated by default. Most likely you do not use IPv6. If you wish to eliminate the slight extra resources consumed by enabling IPv6, then you may do the following steps.

This may speed up your DNS lookup times when using the internet.

Disable IPv6 Networking Support

Open the terminal. Type and hit enter:

sudo gedit /etc/sysconfig/network

Change:

NETWORKING_IPV6=yes

To:

NETWORKING_IPV6=no

Disable IPv6 Protocol Stack for Kernel

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.conf

Add the following 2 lines:

alias net-pf-10 off
alias ipv6 off

Disable IPv6 Firewall

Stop ipv6 firewall:

sudo /etc/init.d/ip6tables stop

Turn ipv6 firewall off during future usage:

sudo /sbin/chkconfig --level 35 ip6tables off

Issue with localhost

The following entry for localhost using IPv6 can be removed:

::1    localhost.localdomain   localhost

If you choose to remove the above IPv6 entry, then you must keep the following IPv4 entry for localhost:

127.0.0.1 fedora1 localhost.localdomain localhost

Where "fedora1" will be the name of your box.

External link

Personal Fedora Core 6 Installation Guide

IEs4Linux - Internet Explorer on Linux

2007-12-15T22:04:00.000-08:00

IEs4Linux is the simpler way to have Microsoft Internet Explorer running on Linux (or any OS running Wine).
No clicks needed. No boring setup processes. No Wine complications. Just one easy script and you'll get three IE versions to test your Sites. And it's free and open source

Search for the "cabextract" package for you distribution.

On Debian:

sudo apt-get install cabextract

On Fedora Core:

sudo yum install cabextract

Install IEs4Linux:

wget http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/downloads/ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
tar zxvf ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
cd ies4linux-*
./ies4linux

Done.

External link

IEs 4 Linux - Internet Explorer 6, 5.5, 5 on Linux

Print to PDF

2007-12-15T21:57:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you want to convert a file to pdf. OpenOffice do a great job here, but only on its documents.
To convert from others application, we need to print as a *.ps file (Post Script) and them create the pdf file.

To create the *.ps file, go to the print screen and select the option "Print to file" and click "Print". You'll be prompted to choose where you want to save it.

The output will be a normal PostScript file.
On a terminal do:

ps2pdf filename

That's it. This command will create your pdf file.

External link:

FedoraForum.org - Topic

Kaffeine

2007-12-15T21:45:00.001-08:00

A great audio/video player.

Search for the "kaffeine" package for you distribution.

On Debian:

sudo apt-get install kaffeine

On Fedora Core:

sudo yum install kaffeine

External link

Kaffeine Web Site

Command: zip

2007-12-15T21:38:00.000-08:00

Zipping a directory and all of its contents in Linux is extremely easy. Here's the command required, at its most basic:

zip -r zipname path

For example, the following will zip the entire contents of the directory mywork. The resulting zip file will be called myzip.zip:

zip -r myzip mywork

Then to unzip it, simply enter:

unzip myzip

Changing The Compression Rate

By default, the compression rate used, is 6. 0 gathers together all the files but does not compress them, 1 applies the least compression, and 9 applies the maximum compression. The greater the compression, the longer it takes to zip and unzip files.

Here's an example:

zip -r myzip -9 mywork

Winzip's Compression vs. zip's

In case you're curious about the difference in compression rates between Winzip 7.0 and the zip command, I can tell you this. 15 web pages totalled 1.83Mb. The best I could get with Winzip was 620k, and the best I could get with Linux was 623k. That means Winzip has a better compression rate of 0.14%! I'm not about to get picky about it, are you? (And if you're getting out a calculator to check my sums, you definitely need to get out more!)

For More on zip

For the full nitty-gritty on zip (as with most things in Linux), enter:

info zip

External link:

Newbie's Linux Manual: Winzip or Linzip? - The zip and unzip Commands

UnRAR

2007-12-15T21:35:00.000-08:00

UnRAR allows you to unpac *.rar files.

Search for the "unrar" package for you distribution.

On Debian:

sudo apt-get install unrar

On Fedora Core:

sudo yum install unrar

Command: tar

2007-12-15T21:30:00.000-08:00

Compressing a directory and all of its contents in Linux is extremely easy. Here's the command required, at its most basic:

Compress:

tar -czf name.tar.gz path

tar -cjf name.tar.bz2 path

Un-compress:

tar -xzvf name.tar.gz path

tar -xjvf name.tar.bz2 path

For more info, type:

tar --help

Bootchart

2007-12-15T21:06:00.000-08:00

This is a HOW-TO install Bootchart and generate your own bootchart.

Install:

Go to http://www.bootchart.org/download.html and download bootchart-0.9.tar.bz2. This should save the file to your home folder. If it saves the file to your desktop instead go to your desktop and drag the file into your "Home" folder. (Left mouse click on the file and drag it on top of your "Home" folder while holding the left mouse button down. Then release the mouse button.)

Open terminal. Type and hit enter:

tar jxvf bootchart-*.tar.bz2

Type:

cd bootchart-*

Now run the installer

sudo ./install.sh

When I installed it I didn't have grubby installed and the install script bawked at this. This is completly ok. the installer will still install the file to correct location. If you issue this command:

ls /sbin/

You should see boochartd.

If you get the error like so:

[root@**** bootchart-*]# ./install.sh
./install.sh: line 15: grubby: command not found
./install.sh: line 16: grubby: command not found
./install.sh: line 19: grubby: command not found
./install.sh: line 20: grubby: command not found

Please continue to step 3

Step 3: DO NOT COPY & PASTE FROM BELOW!!! This is just a example of what your looking AT.

We need to edit your grub.conf while your still root, type:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf

Look for this section (Please Note you may have rhgb after the =/ secion in your Grub Conf)

title OS name (X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX)
 root (hd0,0)
 kernel /boot/vmlinuz-X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX ro root=LABEL=/
 initrd /boot/initrd-X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX.img

Now what you have to do is copy this section and paste it after the "initrd /initrd-..."
so that you now have 2 entries for the same kernel so you should have something like so:

title OS name (X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX)
 root (hd0,0)
 kernel /boot/vmlinuz-X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX ro root=LABEL=/
 initrd /boot/initrd-X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX.img

title OS name (X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX)
 root (hd0,0)
 kernel /boot/vmlinuz-X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX ro root=LABEL=/
 initrd /boot/initrd-X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX.img

So now we need to edit the first kernel section by adding the bootchartd command so when the system boots it records the processes.
add the follwoing to the =/ of the top kernel line

init=/sbin/bootchartd

So you have the following:

title OS name (X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX)
 root (hd0,0)
 kernel /boot/vmlinuz-X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX ro root=LABEL=/
 initrd /boot/initrd-X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX.img

title OS name Boot Chart (X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX)
 root (hd0,0)
 kernel /boot/vmlinuz-X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX ro root=LABEL=/ init=/sbin/bootchartd
 initrd /boot/initrd-X.X.XX-X.XXXX_OSX.im

Once you have your grub.conf set up correct, click save in gedit and close the file.
Now reboot your system. Once you log back in, open firefox and browse to site Render Boot Chart here.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the browse button. Click Filesystem then in the right window click var then click log You should see a file in there name bootchart.tar.tgz. Once the chart is rendered you can save the png file to your desktop or where ever firefox saves your downloads. All you now need to do is open it up in your favorite image editor or image viewer and scroll to the top left corner to see how long it takes for your system to boot.

Adjusting services:

Go to: Desktop > System Configuration > Server Configuration > Services
Enter your root password and hit enter.

Don't be afraid to disable services. The worst that can happen is something won't work and on reboot you simply re-enable it.

Priorities:
LN = Only laptops need this.
DN = Only Desktops need this.
AN = All need this! Keep it enabled.
HR = Highly Recommended! But not absolutely needed. Better to keep enabled.
NB = Not needed at all but nice to have.
NN = Not needed, disable at will. Keep enabled if you're using things itn it's description, though.

[ service ] : [ Description ] : [ Priority ]

NetworkManager : Best network selection : LN

acpid : Power managment : HR

anacron : More Cron management, run cron jobs that were left out due to downtime : HR

apmd : For laptop's battery monitoring : LN

atd : Similar to Cron's functions : NN

auditd : Provide the linux kernel with a mandatory logging facility : HR

autofs : Auto-detect/mount filesystems : HR

ahavi-daemon : Zeroconf stuff : NN

avavi-dnsconfd : DNS Zeroconf stuff : NN

bluetooth : needed for bluetooth wireless devices to work : NN

btseed : BitTorrent Seeding : NN

bttrack : BitTorrent tracking : NN

cpuspeed : dynamic CPU speed daemon : LN

crond : Automated tasks : AN

cups : Central Unix Printing System : HR

cups-config-daemon: Central Unix Printing System through D-Bus : HR

dc_client : SSL session cache client proxy : NN

dc_server : SSL session server : NN

dhcdbd : D-BUS control of ISC DHCP client : NN

diskdump : Create Dump files if system crashes : NN

firstboot : First-boot configuration utility : NN after your first boot

gpm : Mouse support in terminals (runlevel 3) : NN

haldaemon : Hardware Abstraction Layer : AN

hidd : bluetooth HID daemon : NN

hplip : HP Printer service : AN for all that use HP Printers
httpd : Apache's Web server : NN

iptables : Firewall. Plain and Simple. : AN

irqbalance : distribute hardware interrupts across processors on a multiprocessor system in order to increase performance, use this only if you have a SMP (multiprocessor) system : NN

isdn : Integrated Services Digital Network : NN

kudzu : hardware probe at startup, only if you're changing hardware : NN

lirc : Infrared controls : NN

lisa : Similar to "Network Neighbourhood" : NB

lm_sensors : System sensor monitoring : AN motherboard that have CPU / fan sensors

mcstrans : used for SELinux, use this only if you have SELinux enabled : NN

mdmonitor : For RAID environment. Only if you use RAID : NN

mdnsresponder : Howl network : NN

messagebus : The system-messenger dbus : AN

mysqld : MySQL's database server : NN

named : BIND DNS server : NN

nasd : Network Audio System server. It is frequently a link or a copy of the appropriate server binary for driving the most frequently used server on a given machine. : NN

netdump : netconsole & netcrashdump utility : NN

netfs : Network filesystems, mounts and unmounts all Network File System (NFS), SMB/CIFS (Lan Manager/Windows), and NCP (NetWare) mount points, if you aren't mounting any net-based volumes you can turn this off : HR

netplugd : Dynamic network managment : NN

network : Network connectivity & services : AN

nifd : Network interface monitor daemon : NN

nscd : Name service caching daemon : NN

ntpd: Network Time Protol : NN

nfs + nfslock : NFS servers : NN

pcscd : PC/SC Smartcard Daemon. The purpose of PCSC Lite is to provide a Windows(R) SCard interface in a very small form factor for communicating to smartcards and readers. The PCSC daemon is used to dynamically allocate/deallocate reader drivers at runtime and manage connections to the readers. : NN

portmap : RPC connections, like NFS / NIS : NN

pcmcia : Laptop PCMCIA : LN

readahead_early : Caches boot services & therefore decreases boot time : AN

readahead_later : Caches boot services & therefore decreases boot time : AN

restorecond : used for SELinux, use this only if you have SELinux enabled : NN

rpcgssd : NFS v4 connection helper : NN

rpcidmapd : NFS v4 connection helper : NN

rpcsvcgssd : NFS v4 connection helper : NN

saslauthd : plaintext auth in cyrus-sasl : NN

sendmail : Mail server, although there are better ones out there I'd disable this one and install something like squirrelmail. Either way, it's enabled by default and can be disabled. : NN

smartd : SMART Disk Monitoring Daemon. It's a daemon that monitors the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) system built into many ATA-3 and later ATA, IDE and SCSI-3 hard drives. The purpose of SMART is to monitor the reliability of the hard drive and predict drive failures, and to carry out different types of drive self-tests. This version of smartd is compatible with ATA/ATAPI-7 and earlier standards (see REFERENCES below). : HR

smb : The Samba or SMB server : NN

snmpd : Simple Network Management Protocol : NN

snmptrapd : Simple Network Management Protocol : NN

squid : It's a high-performance proxy caching server for web clients. : HR

sshd: remote SSH server : NN

syslog : System & Kernel logger. VITAL!: AN

wpa_supplicant : Wireless auth helper : AN who use wireless
xfs : X font server. Vital to graphic functioning!: AN

xinetd : the replacement for inted, xinetd is a internet superdaemon. HR

ati-fglrx / nvidia-glx : Livna graphics drivers services : HR

Services you want to disable *should* be disabled in runlevels 3, 4 and 5.
The command for editing:

chkconfig [service] [ on | off ]

External links

Bootchart
FedoraForum.org - Speed up your boot time!
Fedora Project Wiki
FireStarter
Sygate Online Services
Wikipedia

AlsaMixer

2007-12-15T20:55:00.000-08:00

Using AlsaMixer:

Open the terminal. Type:

sudo alsamixer

Hit enter.

Turn everything there up to 75%. "PCM" and "Master" should be about 80%. Make sure "Mic" is set to "Mic 1" and "Mic Boost" is on (press "m" on the keyboard to switch it).

Hit F4 to give you record options. Once again, set every thign to 75% except "Capture" which should be 80% or higher.

Hit "Esc" to exit.