The many vulnerabilities uncovered that allow malicious read-write access to hard drives connected to ASUS routers continues to be a dangerous thing that needs to be addressed. There is a patch for ASUS routers that patches this vulnerability; but it is up to the users to install this patch. This is far too easy to … Read more
The tar command on Linux is very useful for uncompressing files on your Linux machine. The most used command on a Linux system is uncompressing files that you have downloaded from an Internet source. The tar -xvf command will uncompress a tar.gz file. ~$ tar -xvf myfile.tar.gz~$ tar -xvf myfile.tar.gz To uncompress a tar.bz2 file … Read more
A very good CPU-Z alternative for a Linux machine. This awesome utility for Linux is an alternative to the CPU-Z program for Windows machines. This allows the user to gather information about their computer with a nice tabbed interface. There is a tab to gather system/OS information as well as CPU statistics. This is very … Read more
How to find out what rpm package provides a file that you need. The yum provides command is useful for finding out this information. You may use wildcards to search for a file, this can make finding it easier. [homer@localhost jackhammer]$ yum provides */redhat**.jpg Loaded plugins: langpacks nagios-3.5.1-4.fc20.x86_64 : Nagios monitors hosts and services and … Read more
This simple one liner will print out your IP address and then IPv6 equivalent if you have it set. [homer@localhost ~]$ ifconfig enp6s1 | awk ‘/inet/ { print $2 } ‘ | sed -e s/addr:// 192.168.1.2 fe80::213:46ff:fe3a:283[homer@localhost ~]$ ifconfig enp6s1 | awk ‘/inet/ { print $2 } ‘ | sed -e s/addr:// 192.168.1.2 fe80::213:46ff:fe3a:283 Here … Read more
Securing your Linux computer with iptables is a great way to make sure that you are safer from Internet attacks. The iptables(8) system is the built in firewall for a Linux system. This makes it very easy to secure your computer. Before you change any settings, backup your iptables configuration. iptables-save > backup.confiptables-save > backup.conf … Read more
Some very useful Linux shell commands and tricks. Print numbers in sequence. [homer@localhost ~]$ seq 8 24 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24[homer@localhost ~]$ seq 8 24 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 … Read more
Linux hardware information commands. There are many commands available for Linux that allow the user to get information about their hardware. Here is a handful of them. The lshw command is very useful for getting information about your installed hardware. ubuntu ~ $ sudo lshw -short H/W path Device Class Description ============================================================================================================================================== system HVM domU … Read more
The caps lock key on Linux is very annoying when hit accidentally. Especially when you are typing a password. This simple command will disable the key permanently. homer@deusexmachina ~ $ setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocapshomer@deusexmachina ~ $ setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps If you put this in Startup Applications which may be found under System-Preferences-Startup Applications, the caps lock … Read more
This simple one-liner allows conversion of an IP address from decimal to binary. I came up with this after playing around with cut and grep. homer@deusexmachina ~/Documents $ ipcalc 172.18.31.2 | grep Address | cut -b 33-68 10101100.00010010.00011111. 00000010homer@deusexmachina ~/Documents $ ipcalc 172.18.31.2 | grep Address | cut -b 33-68 10101100.00010010.00011111. 00000010 The -b parameter … Read more
Ubuntu 12.04 has proven to be more secure than Windows and Macintosh operating systems. This is not surprising though. The preponderance of Linux distributions based upon Debian is making it even easier for people to get started with computing. Ubuntu has always been a good choice for desktop computing, the easy to use desktop and … Read more
The WIFI Radar application for Linux is used to perform a wireless site survey to determine the signal strength of a wireless network that you are deploying at a particular site. This application makes a survey of wireless signal strength very easy indeed. The SSID/MAC address of the access point is shown, as well as … Read more
The md5sum command on Linux is used to get a number that is the checksum of the file. This is commonly used to verify downloaded files to check that the file has not been modified. Below is an example, the md5sum command is used on a BMP file and I get the file checksum output … Read more
The unrar command for Linux takes care of opening rar files. Firstly, install the command with the yum install unrar command. [root@localhost Downloads]# yum install unrar[root@localhost Downloads]# yum install unrar Or this way on a Debian GNU/Linux system. [user@debian ~]$ sudo apt-get install unrar[user@debian ~]$ sudo apt-get install unrar Then you may unpack your rar … Read more
The MATE desktop that is available for the popular Linux Mint distribution is to be offered in the repositories for Ubuntu 14.04. This will offer a better Linux desktop environment than the default Unity desktop that Canonical have created. The Ubuntu distribution has been used in Doctor Who, this helps push this distribution of the … Read more
The Polar Vortex weather event is freezing America as I write this, but the media are saying that it is as cold as the surface of Mars. This is wrong. Mars is very cold at night due to the thin atmosphere. Mars` atmosphere is as thin as ours at 100,000 feet. This means that the … Read more
Best Openbox themes. Metro X: http://box-look.org/content/show.php/Metrox+20131103?content=161079. A Windows 8 Metro inspired Openbox theme. Win 7: http://box-look.org/content/show.php/Win7?content=162490. A Windows 7 styled theme for PekWM. Nodoka openbox theme: http://box-look.org/content/show.php/Nodoka?content=126725. This is an Openbox theme intended for use with the Nodoka GTK engine. Turquoise nights: http://box-look.org/content/show.php/Turquoise+Nights+Ob?content=120386. A dark theme for Openbox. Solaris theme for Fluxbox: http://box-look.org/content/show.php/Solaris%3A+Java+Fluxbox+System?content=63303. TWM theme: … Read more
The dwm window manager for Linux is a very fast and very easy to use WM that offers a tiling WM and a very fast way to interact with your Linux machine. Type sudo apt-get install dwm dmenu to install this window manager. As shown in the screenshot to the right, this is a very … Read more