Category: Ubuntu

Link: Tweak Ubuntu Unity: Get a dock-style launcher and Unity Dash

March 19, 2014 by Admin

One of the biggest complaints I receive about Ubuntu Unity is that the Launcher is locked to the left side — with no way to move it. Up until Ubuntu 11.10, there was a hack through the Compiz Config Manager that allowed you to move the Launcher to the bottom of the screen. It was unstable, caused crashes, and finally was removed as a solution. Eventually, from the developers of Unity it was declared that the option wouldn’t ever find its way into the configuration of the Launcher. Why? The main reason, I believe, is that it causes issues with the Unity Dash (there could be a plethora of other reasons, I’m sure).

This morning, though, I had an epiphany. Why try to break Unity to get the launcher on the bottom, when you can add a couple of apps and have the best of both worlds? You can still get the amazing functionality of the Dash and not have to be relegated to a launcher on the left side of the screen? When that hit me, it only took me a couple of seconds to realize what needed to be done to achieve what you see in Figure A above.

Full article here:
Tweak Ubuntu Unity: Get a dock-style launcher and Unity Dash (TechRepublic)
Related:
Restore Application Window Menus in Ubuntu’s Unity (Linux Tips)

Link: Browse Internet as Nobody knows what you are doing, Simple SOCKS Proxy setup under Linux

March 18, 2014 by Admin

As you may know ISPs can see those links you visit from your devices while using their service, this thing bother me and many users who knows about this stuff. Simply we can use SOCKS proxy using SSH. This approach is useful to surf web because things will be encrypted and your local administrator or ISP won’t be able to see what you are doing, they just can see encrypted packets are floating. 🙂

Also this method won’t eat much of your bandwidth but a little difference you may notice while testing your bandwidth using speedtest tools.

Full article here:
Browse Internet as Nobody knows what you are doing, Simple SOCKS Proxy setup under Linux (NoobsLab)

Link: Setting up Prosody (XMPP server) on the Raspberry Pi for house/apartment/secret club house-wide chatroom

March 16, 2014 by Admin

Although I only live with 4 others, wife, son & 2 cats, in a small 5 room apartment most evenings we are in different rooms, or in the summer 3 different floors, wearing headphones chilling to our own choices in music & tv. As I think it’s uncouth to yell out of the window or across the apartment to get someone’s attention I setup a Raspberry Pi Model B as an XMPP server running MUC. As it’s only for 3 people, unless we have visitors, I chose to run Prosody, it’s pretty lightweight, easy to setup, the stable version is in the raspbian repos & i’ve used it before. I’ve also used and run ejabberd, openfire, tigase, jabberd,… but IMHO they are heavier on resources and a bit harder to setup, and are overkill for my needs and anyway I like lua.

Full article here:
~~Setting up Prosody on the Raspberry Pi for house/apartment/secret club house-wide chatroom~~ (Executing Gummiworms)
NOTE: The author appears to have taken down the above article, but there is a cached version at the Wayback Machine.
Related articles:
Using the prosody xmpp/chat server (Debian Administration)
Installing Prosody XMPP Server on Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) (Linode Library)

Link: Pipelight: Use Silverlight In Your Linux Browser To Watch Netflix, Maxdome Videos And More

February 27, 2014 by Admin

Pipelight is project that brings Silverlight to any Linux browser that supports the Netscape Plugin API. Using it, you can use services that require Silverlight, such as Netflix, in native Linux web browsers like Firefox, Chrome or Midori.

Pipelight combines the effort by Erich E. Hoover (the Netflix Desktop developer) with a new browser plugin which – unlike Netflix Desktop which requires a Windows version of Firefox to run under Wine -, lets you access services that require Microsoft Silverlight using native Linux web browsers.

This solution isn’t Wine-free because the browser plugin continues to use Wine however, this shouldn’t have a big impact on performance:

Full article here:
Pipelight: Use Silverlight In Your Linux Browser To Watch Netflix, Maxdome Videos And More (Web Upd8)
Related:
Pipelight A Silverlight Alternative For Ubuntu/Linux Mint (NoobsLab)
Pipelight Installation – A Linux replacement for Silverlight – (LinOxide)
Pipelight – Using Silverlight in Linux browsers (Ubuntu Geek)
Use Silverlight in Firefox, Chrome in Ubuntu via Pipelight plugin (UbuntuHandbook)
Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr May Come With Pipelight Support (LinuxG.net)

Link: 5 Reasons Why PCLinuxOS Is Better For Windows XP Users Than Ubuntu

February 21, 2014 by Admin

I have recently written a series of articles showing How to install PCLinuxOS alongside Windows XP.

There are a number of reasons why I chose to write about PCLinuxOS over say Ubuntu or Linux Mint.

Here are five reasons why I think PCLinuxOS is a better fit for Windows XP and Windows Vista users than Ubuntu.

Full article here:
5 Reasons Why PCLinuxOS Is Better For Windows XP Users Than Ubuntu (Everyday Linux User)
Related:
PCLinuxOS Makes Desktop Linux Look Good (LinuxInsider)

Link: The Beginner’s Guide to iptables, the Linux Firewall

February 20, 2014 by Admin

Iptables is an extremely flexible firewall utility built for Linux operating systems. Whether you’re a novice Linux geek or a system administrator, there’s probably some way that iptables can be a great use to you. Read on as we show you how to configure the most versatile Linux firewall.

Full article here:
The Beginner’s Guide to iptables, the Linux Firewall (How-To Geek)

Link: How to automount NTFS partitions in Ubuntu on startup to unleash full potential of Unity search

February 13, 2014 by Admin

Under normal circumstances, the unmounted status of NTFS drives/partitions does not make much of a difference to the end user. A simple double-click will mount and open the drives. But with the advent of Unity and Dash search, the matter has acquired a new dimension now. Recently used files (and apps) are featured prominently and without the automounting of all drives and partitions, this feature is good as useless.

Full article here:
How to automount NTFS partitions in Ubuntu on startup to unleash full potential of Unity search (Tech Drive-in)

Xvidtune: a Linux command line interface to print or switch the video mode and/or interactively adjust existing video modes

February 10, 2014 by Admin

From the Ubuntu manuals page for xvidtune – video mode tuner for Xorg:

Xvidtune is a client interface to the X server video mode extension (XFree86-VidModeExtension).

When given one of the non-toolkit options, xvidtune provides a command line interface to either print or switch the video mode.

Without any options (or with only toolkit options) it presents the user with various buttons and sliders that can be used to interactively adjust existing video modes. It will also print the settings in a format suitable for inclusion in an xorg.conf file.

Normally the Xorg X servers only allow changes to be made with the XFree86-VidModeExtension from clients connected via a local connection type.

Note: The original mode settings can be restored by pressing the ‘R’ key, and this can be used to restore a stable screen in situations where the screen becomes unreadable.

Emphasis added. We had not heard of Xvidtune before, and it seems like it could be a handy tool to have in certain situations. See the manual page for your Linux distribution, or the Ubuntu manuals page for xvidtune for additional information. However, Tecmint warns:

Note: The Incorrect use of this program can do permanent damage to your monitor and/or Video card. If you don’t know what you are doing, don’t change anything and exit immediately.

Source: 8 Useful X-window (Gui Based) Linux Commands – Part I (Tecmint)

Link: How To Configure Port Knocking Using Only IPTables on an Ubuntu VPS

February 3, 2014 by Admin

Servers that are connected to the internet are subjected to all manners of attacks and probes by malicious users, scripts, and automated bots. It is sometimes a balancing act to secure your server from attacks without affecting legitimate access to your services and resources.

Certain types of services are meant to be visible and consumable to the public internet. An example of this is a web server. Other types of services are typically used by only the system administrator or a select number of individuals and are not meant to be a public resource.

A concept known as port knocking is a way of shielding processes that fit into the latter description. Port knocking works by covering the ports associated with a process behind a firewall until a specific, predetermined sequence of network activity occurs. At this point, the port knocking service reconfigures the firewall to allow access to the protected application.

Full article here:
How To Configure Port Knocking Using Only IPTables on an Ubuntu VPS (DigitalOcean)
Related:
How To Use Port Knocking to Hide your SSH Daemon from Attackers on Ubuntu (DigitalOcean)

Link: How to Use Btrfs On Newly Installed Disks (+ additional Btrfs links)

January 28, 2014 by Admin

Btrfs (pronounced ‘Butter F S’) is an advanced filesystem for Linux which can work across multiple hard disks and supports different fault tolerance models like RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10. Btrfs has been in development since 2008 and it is what is known as a “copy on write” filesystem which means that when the data changes in a block, then the block will be copied a new block written to the disk with the changes incorporated. This means that blocks are never modified but rather new blocks are created and the old blocks are later reused. This has advantages for performance especially when ensuring consistency and integrity (even after a power interruption).

Full article here:
How to Use Btrfs On Newly Installed Disks (Make Tech Easier)

Category: Ubuntu

Link: Tweak Ubuntu Unity: Get a dock-style launcher and Unity Dash

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Link: Browse Internet as Nobody knows what you are doing, Simple SOCKS Proxy setup under Linux

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Link: Setting up Prosody (XMPP server) on the Raspberry Pi for house/apartment/secret club house-wide chatroom

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Link: Pipelight: Use Silverlight In Your Linux Browser To Watch Netflix, Maxdome Videos And More

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Link: 5 Reasons Why PCLinuxOS Is Better For Windows XP Users Than Ubuntu

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Link: The Beginner’s Guide to iptables, the Linux Firewall

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Link: How to automount NTFS partitions in Ubuntu on startup to unleash full potential of Unity search

Like this:

Xvidtune: a Linux command line interface to print or switch the video mode and/or interactively adjust existing video modes

Like this:

Link: How To Configure Port Knocking Using Only IPTables on an Ubuntu VPS

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Link: How to Use Btrfs On Newly Installed Disks (+ additional Btrfs links)

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