Linux Poison

How to do CPU hotplug in Linux

2009-12-08T18:29:00.000+05:30

WHY DO WE NEED HOTPLUG CPU? As Linux becomes more prominent in the enterprise arena in mission critical data center type installations, features that support RAS (Reliability, Availability and Serviceability) are required. Since modern processor architectures provide advanced error and detection technology, offering the possibility to add and remove CPUs becomes extremely important for RAS

How To Install Additional true-type (ttf) Fonts in Linux

2009-12-08T17:50:00.000+05:30

If you are sitting at a Windows or Macintosh computer right now, then you are looking at a TrueType font as you read this! Fonts are the different styles of typefaces used by a computer to display text. Installing true-type fonts in Ubuntu/Fedora/OpenSuse is an easy task. One can find thousands of free fonts on the Internet (from sites such as 1001 Free Fonts or DaFont), and with this one could

How To Convert Existing ext3 non-root FileSystem to ext4 FileSystem

2009-12-06T13:58:00.000+05:30

Any existing Ext3 filesystem can be migrated to Ext4 with an easy procedure (as long as you are converting a filesystem that can be unmounted and which is non-root) which consists in running a couple of commands. This means that you can improve the performance, storage limits and features of your current filesystems without reformatting and/or reinstalling your OS and software environment.

Understanding Packet Filtering using iptables

2009-12-06T12:51:00.000+05:30

The Linux kernel uses the Netfilter facility to filter packets, allowing some of them to be received by or pass through the system while stopping others. This facility is built in to the Linux kernel, and has three built-in tables or rules lists, as follows: * filter — The default table for handling network packets. * nat — Used to alter packets that create a new connection and used for

How To Identify Which Ports (or Services) Are Listening/Open

2009-12-06T12:31:00.000+05:30

There are two basic approaches for listing the ports that are listening on the network. The less reliable approach is to query the network stack using commands such as netstat -an or lsof -i. This method is less reliable since these programs do not connect to the machine from the network, but rather check to see what is running on the system. For this reason, these applications are frequent

How to Verify Signed Fedora Packages

2009-12-06T12:21:00.000+05:30

All Fedora packages are signed with the Fedora GPG key. GPG stands for GNU Privacy Guard, or GnuPG, a free software package used for ensuring the authenticity of distributed files. For example, a private key (secret key) locks the package while the public key unlocks and verifies the package. If the public key distributed by Fedora does not match the private key during RPM verification, the

How to Use & Configure Google Public DNS on Linux System

2009-12-05T16:07:00.001+05:30

When you use Google Public DNS, you are changing your DNS operator from your ISP to Google Public DNS. In most cases, the IP addresses used by your ISP's domain name servers are automatically set by your ISP via the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). To use Google Public DNS, you need to explicitly change the DNS settings in your operating system or device to use the Google Public DNS

How to Convert smbpasswd to tdbsam on Samba

2009-11-30T14:20:00.000+05:30

The latest release of Samba offers many new features including new password database backends not previously available. Samba version 3.0.0 fully supports all databases used in previous versions of Samba. However, although supported, many backends may not be suitable for production use. The tdbsam backend provides an ideal database back-end for local servers, servers that do not need built-in

How to use Redirection and Pipes on Linux System

2009-11-29T16:11:00.001+05:30

Redirection With > you can forward the output of a command to a file (output redirection), with < you can use a file as input for a command (input redirection). Pipe By means of a pipe symbol | you can also redirect the output: with a pipe, you can combine several commands, using the output of one command as input for the next command. In contrast to the other redirection symbols > and <, the

Linux Standard Directory Structure

2009-11-29T16:00:00.000+05:30

Directory Description / Root directory—the starting point of the directory tree. /bin Essential binary files, such as commands that are needed by both the system administrator and normal users. Usually also contains the shells, such as Bash.

Advanced Linux Process Monitor - htop

2009-11-29T13:03:00.000+05:30

Most people familiar with Linux have used the top command line utility to see what process is taking the most CPU or memory. There’s a similar utility called htop that is much easier to use for normal tasks. htop is an interactive process viewer for Linux. It aims to be a 'better top': you can scroll the process list vertically and horizontally, and select a process to be killed with the arrow

Easy Data Encryption with TrueCrypt on Linux (Ubuntu/OpenSuSe) System

2009-11-29T12:22:00.000+05:30

TrueCrypt is a software system for establishing and maintaining an on-the-fly-encrypted volume (data storage device). On-the-fly encryption means that data is automatically encrypted or decrypted right before it is loaded or saved, without any user intervention. No data stored on an encrypted volume can be read (decrypted) without using the correct password/keyfile(s) or correct encryption keys.

How to play Encrypted DVDs on Ubuntu Linux

2009-11-23T22:43:00.000+05:30

To play encrypted DVDs, the libdvdcss2 package is essential. libdvdcss2 is a simple library designed for accessing DVDs like a block device without having to bother about the decryption. More information about this package can be found at VideoLAN. You can install libdvdcss2 as a 64-bit .deb package without installing the Medibuntu repositories: $ wget -c http://packages.medibuntu.org/pool/free/

How to Create a .deb package from Source files

2009-11-23T22:27:00.000+05:30

If your build from source is successful, you can make a Debian (Ubuntu) package (.deb) for future use or can distribute to other users: Install package tools: sudo apt-get install checkinstall CheckInstall keeps track of all files installed by a "make install" or equivalent, creates a Slackware, RPM, or Debian package with those files, and adds it to the installed packages database, allowing

How to Watch Log Files in Realtime - Tailf

2009-11-22T19:53:00.001+05:30

The most widely used command for monitoring log file is tail. Tail binary allows a user to watch the log file grow in realy time. Watching the log file grows can be done using an additional -f parameter. Alternatively, another approach to watch a log file grows can be done using tailf binary command. Tailf: tailf will print out the last 10 lines of a file and then wait for the file to grow.

HOW-TO convert DAA (Direct Access Archive) files to ISO in Linux

2009-11-21T23:25:00.000+05:30

The .daa file extension stands for 'Direct Access Archive' is a proprietary file format developed by PowerISO Computing for their CD/DVD image file-processing tool "PowerISO". Unlike the majority of CD/DVD image formats, the PowerISO's .daa format allows advanced features such as file compression, password protection, encryption and the ability to split files in to multiple volumes. Due to these

How to Convert cue and bin files into an iso/cdr/wav file - BChunk

2009-11-21T16:49:00.000+05:30

binchunker converts a CD image in a ".bin / .cue" format (sometimes ".raw / .cue") to a set of .iso and .cdr tracks. The bin/cue format is used by some popular non-Unix cd-writing software, but is not supported on most other CD burning programs. A lot of CD/VCD images distributed on the Internet are in BIN/CUE format. The .iso track contains an ISO file system, which can be mounted through a

Mobile Phone Manager for Linux – Wammu

2009-11-21T16:27:00.000+05:30

Wammu is a mobile phone manager that uses Gammu as its backend. It works with any phone that Gammu supports, including many models from Nokia, Sony-Ericssonn, Motorola, Samsung, Siemens, Huawei and others. Feature: * Read, edit, delete, copy for contacts, todo, and calendar. * Read, save, and send SMS. * SMS composer for multi-part SMS messages, and it can display SMS messages that include

Control Your Network badwidth with Wondershaper in Linux

2009-11-21T12:27:00.001+05:30

If you are a Network Administrator with little knowledge in Network Protocols and IPtables, don't worry you can also controll your network traffic with a simple tool named wondershaper. Installation: OpenSuSe 11.2 user can use "1-click" installer to install Wondershaper - here Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install wondershaper $ifconfig this will help you to find the network interface (eth0, eth1 or

How to Start/Stop & Disable Services in Ubuntu (Karmic Koala) Linux

2009-11-15T18:49:00.000+05:30

Services are programs (called daemons) that once started run continuously in the background and are ready for input or a changes in your computer and respond to them. For example the Apache server has a daemon called httpd (the d is for daemon) that listens on port 80 on your computer and when it receives a request for a page it sends the appropriate data back to the client machine. Many

Nvidia and ATI Proprietary Graphics Drivers support in OpenSuSe 11.2 Linux

2009-11-12T20:45:00.001+05:30

The problem of the proprietary (closed source) drivers is a very important subject in those 2006 days. The openSUSE decided to follow the kernels developers recommendations and not to include proprietary drivers with the kernel. Please look at the linux-kernel mailing list to better understand the situation. The reasons why a certain drivers is not included in the main openSUSE are the

Multimedia (MP3, MPEG-4, AVI, DiVX, etc.) support in OpenSuse 11.2 Linux

2009-11-12T19:52:00.001+05:30

Why doesn’t OpenSuSe support MP3 ‘out of the box’? OpenSuSe cannot include support for MP3 or DVD video playback or recording. MP3 formats are patented, and the patent holders have not provided the necessary licenses. OpenSuSe also excludes other multimedia software due to patent, copyright, or license restrictions, such as Adobe Flash Player and RealNetworks RealPlayer. That doesn’t mean you

Open Office 4 Kids - OOo4Kids

2009-11-08T13:52:00.000+05:30

Openoffice.org for kids or better say OOo4kids is a project that aims to provide a simplified version of openoffice.org for kids between 7-12 years. Ooo4Kids is based on OpenOffice.org source code. Everything is made with the idea to contribute back to OpenOffice.org Project, through OpenOffice.org Education Project, and students projects, but not only (all sort of contributions are welcome, of

IP Filtering Program Similar to PeerGuardian for Linux - iplist

2009-11-08T13:16:00.000+05:30

iplist is a Linux application for blocking connections to and from a specified range of hosts using the netfilter netlink-queue library. Iplist is an open source IP filtering program similar to PeerGuardian for Linux. Some typical reasons for using iplist are: * to protect your privacy * to ban a large number of unwanted clients * to block whole countries or networks * to block

Installing Software from Ubuntu Software Center (Karmic Koala)

2009-11-01T17:45:00.000+05:30

The Ubuntu Software Center is a virtual catalog of thousands of free applications available for Ubuntu — software to make your computer more useful. You can find applications by category or by searching, and you can install an application with the click of a button. The Software Center also lets you examine the applications installed on the computer already,and remove those you no