Setting up your BASH prompt. How to get the most out of the BASH shell.

Setting up your BASH prompt. A nice BASH shell prompt. This shows the current time and the current folder you are in as well as a full directory path if you are in a subfolder. PS1="-\t– \u@\h [\w]\$ "PS1="-\t– \u@\h [\w]\$ " How to set the contents of the Xterm title bar. Using the PROMPT_COMMAND … Read more

What to do after installing Ubuntu 20.04.

After installation of Ubuntu 20.04, you need to update all package repositories and then install all pending updates. Once this is done, then it will be ready and you may install other packages. During installation, there is the option to install all pending updates during that process, but I chose to do it after the … Read more

BIOS simulator for various Lenovo laptops, this is very good for technical support people.

This is a very good BIOS simulator page with various BIOS simulators for various Lenovo products. https://download.lenovo.com/bsco/index.html. There are Laptops and Desktops in this list. Just hover over the pale square in the top left to access the menu. You could follow along with the person seeking help and be on the same screen they … Read more

How to setup an SSH login using host keys instead of a password.

To setup an SSH login on your Linux machine that does not require a password and uses SSH host keys instead, follow this simple guide. Firstly, generate a set of keys for your SSH login. ubuntu ~/Documents $ ssh-keygen Generating public/private rsa key pair. Enter file in which to save the key (/home/ubuntu/.ssh/id_rsa): /home/ubuntu/Documents/id_rsa Enter … Read more

Getting started with Ubuntu 17.04 and setting up your system.

Getting started with the Ubuntu Linux distribution Getting started with Ubuntu is a lot of fun, this post will show you how to get setup after installation of the new Ubuntu 17.04 distribution. Download a copy of Ubuntu Kylin 17.04 here: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntukylin/daily-live/current/. After the installation of Ubuntu Kylin, I could not get the networking to … Read more

Linux Mint 18 tricks and tips for setting up your new desktop.

Setting up your new Linux Mint 18 MATE desktop is a lot of fun, this post will help out new users to get the distribution set up after installation and update packages. As well as getting some awesome new wallpapers and MATE themes. After installation, updating the package repositories is very important. This allows software … Read more

How to setup NTP on Ubuntu to set the system time automatically.

To install NTP on Linux and update the system time automatically from the Internet, firstly install the NTP client. jason@darkstar:~$ sudo apt-get install ntpjason@darkstar:~$ sudo apt-get install ntp Then install the ntpdate utility. sudo apt-get install ntpdatesudo apt-get install ntpdate Then you may synchronize the time on your machine with the Internet time server. jason@darkstar:~$ … Read more

Some useful tips for using Amazon Web Services for running a Linux server.

Amazon Web Services is a very powerful way to run a virtualized server in the cloud, but there are some tips that will help you greatly when deploying a server for the first time. SSH access is one. Changing the SSH port from 22 to 443 in the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file will help access when you … Read more

How to use VNC to connect to a remote Linux machine and administer it with the graphical desktop.

Using tightvnc to connect to a remote Linux machine is a good way to access a graphical desktop on a remote Linux box. Firstly; install the tightvnc server on the target machine to be accessed. homer@deusexmachina ~ $ sudo apt-get install tightvncserver [sudo] password for homer: Reading package lists… Done Building dependency tree Reading state … Read more

Simple MikroTik routing. Some useful links and information.

Simple static routing with a Mikrotik device. These links are useful when you are setting up a Mikrotik device and you need assistance with the complex setup of one of these tiny but powerful devices. http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Simple_Static_Routing. Creating a DMZ with a Mikrotik device. http://www.mikrotik.com/testdocs/ros/2.8/appex/dmz.php. Simple firewall script for a Mikrotik router. http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Basic_universal_firewall_script. Mikrotik Wireless FAQ. … Read more

How to setup and use Ubuntu 13.10 after initial installation.

Setting up Ubuntu 13.10 on a laptop. I have recently replaced the Debian 7.1 hard drive in my laptop with a new hard drive and I installed Ubuntu 13.10. After the installation; I was able to run sudo apt-get update and then I installed a nice new terminal and all of the extra codecs with … Read more

Useful BIOS Setup simulator. This is a good learning tool.

BIOS Setup emulator: http://appro.mit.jyu.fi/tools/biossimu/simu.html#. This is a BIOS Setup simulator. This runs as a HTML page and this is a very interesting diversion as well as a learning tool. The computers BIOS or Basic Input Output System is stored on a CMOS chip with the settings stored with the power supplied by a small button … Read more

Problems getting dual monitors working on Ubuntu 12.10 and how to do it with Linux Mint 13.

I have been trying to get dual monitors working in Ubuntu 12.10 and I have not had much luck at all; using the Linux Mint 13 distribution I managed to get this working; I used the arandr utility to set up the dual monitor desktop and it worked perfectly. I have a 3360*1050 pixels desktop … Read more

Useful Linux Mint & Ubuntu tips.

To change the default console font, type: setfont /usr/share/consolefonts/Lat7-TerminusBold32x16.psf.gzsetfont /usr/share/consolefonts/Lat7-TerminusBold32x16.psf.gz at the text console and then if you are happy with the size of that font, then type: sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setupsudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup and set the same font there as you selected before, and then the initial ram disk will be rebuilt for the running … Read more