Filed under: ntfs

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has a great little review of Paragon's NTFS for Linux driver, which can help you access & recover data stored on drives formatted with NTFS from Linux. This is important stuff guys, as it helps Linux users work with Windows in ways that help us get around MSFT's attempts to lock people into their own special formats. And while Paragon's software is proprietary, it's reasonably priced, with the Personal edition (which works on a bootable CD) at only $19.95. Not bad at all.

(Check out all of our posts on NTFS.)

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Filed under: k/ubuntu

Windows & Mac OS make it really, really simple to install software because there's really only one way to install: click on Setup.exe or Install.exe in the case of Windows, or a .dmg in the case of Mac OS. Linux is more difficult because there's such a variety of packaging formats. Now here comes the excellent How to install ANYTHING in Ubuntu!, which delivers exactly what it says. This puppy covers the package manager as a concept, the APT GUI Synaptic, using APT via the terminal (my preferred method), and how to install a package manually, no matter if that package is a .deb, .rpm, .tar.gz, .sh, .bin, or even a .exe. And while the title is for Ubuntu, this guide works for pretty much any Debian-based distro. Read & bookmark this one, guys - it's a keeper!

(Check out all of our posts on K/Ubuntu & software installation.)

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Filed under: k/ubuntu

Windows & Mac OS make it really, really simple to install software because there's really only one way to install: click on Setup.exe or Install.exe in the case of Windows, or a .dmg in the case of Mac OS. Linux is more difficult because there's such a variety of packaging formats. Now here comes the excellent How to install ANYTHING in Ubuntu!, which delivers exactly what it says. This puppy covers the package manager as a concept, the APT GUI Synaptic, using APT via the terminal (my preferred method), and how to install a package manually, no matter if that package is a .deb, .rpm, .tar.gz, .sh, .bin, or even a .exe. And while the title is for Ubuntu, this guide works for pretty much any Debian-based distro. Read & bookmark this one, guys - it's a keeper!

(Check out all of our posts on K/Ubuntu & software installation.)

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Filed under: kde, auditor

Robert volunteers for a St. Louis organization called ByteWorks, which takes old PCs & refurbs them, then teaches kids how to use 'em. At that point, the kids get to keep the PCs. Pretty cool program. Robert is helping them move from old versions of Windows to Linux, which is great. Unfortunately, these machines are so old that "modern" Linux desktops like GNOME and KDE are too much. Here's what I suggested:

<begin my email to Robert>

If this was for "normal" users we were trying to wean away from Windows, I would push KDE, but that's impossible with this ancient, underpowered hardware. Ice [a window manager] is way too different & weird. Actually, so is KFCE, since it's based on GNOME's ideas about desktops (which are quite bizarre).

Have you looked at this?

http://www.simplekde.org

It's a stripped-down KDE.

Or this?

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8239

Another stripped-down KDE.

Interestingly, Auditor - one of the absolute best Live CDs for security - switched from ICEwm to a stripped down KDE.

http://www.remote-exploit.org/index.php/Auditor_changes

Have you looked at this distro, which is specifically for old hardware & uses KDE?

VectorLinux
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=vector

<end my email to Robert>

(Check out all of our posts on KDE, ICE, XFCE, & Auditor.)

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Filed under: kde, auditor

Robert volunteers for a St. Louis organization called ByteWorks, which takes old PCs & refurbs them, then teaches kids how to use 'em. At that point, the kids get to keep the PCs. Pretty cool program. Robert is helping them move from old versions of Windows to Linux, which is great. Unfortunately, these machines are so old that "modern" Linux desktops like GNOME and KDE are too much. Here's what I suggested:

<begin my email to Robert>

If this was for "normal" users we were trying to wean away from Windows, I would push KDE, but that's impossible with this ancient, underpowered hardware. Ice [a window manager] is way too different & weird. Actually, so is KFCE, since it's based on GNOME's ideas about desktops (which are quite bizarre).

Have you looked at this?

http://www.simplekde.org

It's a stripped-down KDE.

Or this?

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8239

Another stripped-down KDE.

Interestingly, Auditor - one of the absolute best Live CDs for security - switched from ICEwm to a stripped down KDE.

http://www.remote-exploit.org/index.php/Auditor_changes

Have you looked at this distro, which is specifically for old hardware & uses KDE?

VectorLinux
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=vector

<end my email to Robert>

(Check out all of our posts on KDE, ICE, XFCE, & Auditor.)

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Filed under: bash, books

I'm really proud to announce that my 3rd book is now out & available for purchase: Linux Phrasebook. My first book - Don't Click on the Blue E!: Switching to Firefox - was for general readers (really!) who wanted to learn how to move to and use the fantastic Firefox web browser. I included a lot of great information for more technical users as well, but the focus was your average Joe. My second book - Hacking Knoppix - was for the more advanced user who wanted to take advantage of Knoppix, a version of Linux that runs entirely off of a CD. You don't need to be super-technical to use and enjoy Hacking Knoppix, but the more technical you are, the more you'll enjoy the book. Linux Phrasebook is all about the Linux command line, and it's perfect for both Linux newbies and experienced users. In fact, when I was asked to write the book, I responded, "Write it? I can't wait to buy it!"

The idea behind Linux Phrasebook is to give practical examples of Linux commands and their myriad options, with examples for everything. Too often a Linux user will look up a command in order to discover how it works, and while the command and its many options will be detailed, something vitally important will be left out: examples. That's where Linux Phrasebook comes in. I cover a huge number of different commands and their options, and for every single one, I give an example of usage and results that makes it clear how to use it.

Here's the table of contents; in parentheses I've included some (just some) of the commands I cover in each chapter:

1. Things to Know About Your Command Line
2. The Basics (ls, cd, mkdir, cp, mv, rm)
3. Learning About Commands (man, info, whereis, apropos)
4. Building Blocks (;, &&, |, >, >>)
5. Viewing Files (cat, less, head, tail)
6. Printing and Managing Print Jobs (lpr, lpq, lprm)
7. Ownerships and Permissions (chgrp, chown, chmod)
8. Archiving and Compression (zip, gzip, bzip2, tar)
9. Finding Stuff: Easy (grep, locate)
10. The find command (find)
11. Your Shell (history, alias, set)
12. Monitoring System Resources (ps, lsof, free, df, du)
13. Installing software (rpm, dkpg, apt-get, yum)
14. Connectivity (ping, traceroute, route, ifconfig, iwconfig)
15. Working on the Network (ssh, sftp, scp, rsync, wget)
16. Windows Networking (nmblookup, smbclient, smbmount)

I'm really proud of the whole book, but the chapter on the super-powerful and useful find command is a standout, along with the material on ssh and its descendants sftp and scp. But really, the whole book is great, and I will definitely be keeping a copy on my desk as a reference. If you want to know more about the Linux command line and how to use it, then I know you'll enjoy and learn from Linux Phrasebook.

You can read about and buy the book at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0672328380/) for $10.19. If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to contact me at scott at granneman dot com, or check out my web site for more info.

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Filed under: bash, books

I'm really proud to announce that my 3rd book is now out & available for purchase: Linux Phrasebook. My first book - Don't Click on the Blue E!: Switching to Firefox - was for general readers (really!) who wanted to learn how to move to and use the fantastic Firefox web browser. I included a lot of great information for more technical users as well, but the focus was your average Joe. My second book - Hacking Knoppix - was for the more advanced user who wanted to take advantage of Knoppix, a version of Linux that runs entirely off of a CD. You don't need to be super-technical to use and enjoy Hacking Knoppix, but the more technical you are, the more you'll enjoy the book. Linux Phrasebook is all about the Linux command line, and it's perfect for both Linux newbies and experienced users. In fact, when I was asked to write the book, I responded, "Write it? I can't wait to buy it!"

The idea behind Linux Phrasebook is to give practical examples of Linux commands and their myriad options, with examples for everything. Too often a Linux user will look up a command in order to discover how it works, and while the command and its many options will be detailed, something vitally important will be left out: examples. That's where Linux Phrasebook comes in. I cover a huge number of different commands and their options, and for every single one, I give an example of usage and results that makes it clear how to use it.

Here's the table of contents; in parentheses I've included some (just some) of the commands I cover in each chapter:

1. Things to Know About Your Command Line
2. The Basics (ls, cd, mkdir, cp, mv, rm)
3. Learning About Commands (man, info, whereis, apropos)
4. Building Blocks (;, &&, |, >, >>)
5. Viewing Files (cat, less, head, tail)
6. Printing and Managing Print Jobs (lpr, lpq, lprm)
7. Ownerships and Permissions (chgrp, chown, chmod)
8. Archiving and Compression (zip, gzip, bzip2, tar)
9. Finding Stuff: Easy (grep, locate)
10. The find command (find)
11. Your Shell (history, alias, set)
12. Monitoring System Resources (ps, lsof, free, df, du)
13. Installing software (rpm, dkpg, apt-get, yum)
14. Connectivity (ping, traceroute, route, ifconfig, iwconfig)
15. Working on the Network (ssh, sftp, scp, rsync, wget)
16. Windows Networking (nmblookup, smbclient, smbmount)

I'm really proud of the whole book, but the chapter on the super-powerful and useful find command is a standout, along with the material on ssh and its descendants sftp and scp. But really, the whole book is great, and I will definitely be keeping a copy on my desk as a reference. If you want to know more about the Linux command line and how to use it, then I know you'll enjoy and learn from Linux Phrasebook.

You can read about and buy the book at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0672328380/) for $10.19. If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to contact me at scott at granneman dot com, or check out my web site for more info.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments