Linux-Noob Forums - Tips and Tricks

Useful Linux Tools

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:16:34 +0100

I just came across a problem myself that Linux installer will only see one of my disks after making a RAID array. And I didn't think of downloading any tools that are useful to have when working with Linux. So starting a list of what would be useful tools for when working with Linux.

List of Useful tools:

1. bootable usb/dvd with liveCD/DVD or other bootable Linux distro

Installing Microsoft fonts

Tue, 11 May 2010 11:12:15 +0200

This is an update to anyweb's tutorial How to Install Microsoft TTF Fonts in Red Hat. Since that tutorial was written, it is much easier with most modern distributions to install the fonts.

Why do you want the Microsoft fonts?

Most Linux distributions ship without this pack of fonts distributed by Microsoft, but most websites assume that you have this base set of fonts installed. What that practically means is that many websites will have weird-looking fonts and will not display as the designer intended. Installing the fonts makes your Linux web browsing experience much more familiar and again, things look as intended!

How to Install

In most distributions, it is now very simple to download and install the font pack in one step.

Go to your package manager or software management application (e.g. Ubuntu Software Centre) and search for msttcorefonts. Choose to install that package.

If you can't find or don't want to use the graphical package manager, you can go to a terminal and do:

Code:
sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts

(for Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint etc.)

Code:
su -c "yum install msttcorefonts"

(for Fedora, CentOS, RHEL, etc.)

Once the package has been downloaded and installed, you will need to log out and log back in so that your web browser so that it has access to the fonts. Fire up your browser again and you should start to see web pages rendering in the way they were designed to, with those Microsoft fonts.

If you are still having problems and the new fonts aren't showing up, try running this command as root:

Code:
sudo fc-cache -fv

That should be it!

how to build Customize DVD

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:45:45 +0100

i have CentOS 5.2 DVD and i copy image all DVD to image file (linux.iso) and change ks.cfg in this below

# ks.cfg : Created by Instalinux at Tue Nov 18 23:07:32 PST 2008

# COE-Profile used: Custom

lang en_US

langsupport --default en_US

mouse generic3ps/2

keyboard us

install

timezone --utc Asia/Bangkok

rootpw --iscrypted JBxtfQL27O.XE

network --bootproto static --ip 192.168.1.2 --netmask 255.255.255.0 --gateway 192.168.1.1 --nameserver 192.168.1.1 --device eth0

network --bootproto static --ip 172.168.1.1 --netmask 255.255.255.0 --device eth1

cdrom

selinux --disabled

firewall --disabled

clearpart --all --initlabel

zerombr yes

bootloader --location=mbr

part /boot --size 75 --fstype ext2

part / --size 1500 --grow --fstype ext3

part swap --size 512 --fstype swap

%packages

@admin-tools

@development-tools

@development-libs

@system-tools

@base

@core

@dns-server

@editors

@ftp-server

@java

@java-development

@legacy-network-server

@legacy-software-development

@legacy-software-support

@mysql

@network-server

@server-cfg

@text-internet

@web-server

kernel-devel

lm_sensors

net-snmp-libs

net-snmp

mrtg

iptraf

mc

php-mysql

php-cli

php-common

php-dba

php-devel

php-gd

php-imap

php-ldap

php-mbstring

php-ncurses

php-odbc

php-pdo

php-snmp

php-xml

php-soap

php-xmlrpc

bind-chroot

bind-devel

bind-libbind-devel

bind-libs

bind-sdb

bind-utils

binutils

binutils-devel

caching-nameserver

system-config-bind

ypbind

%post

mkdir -p /etc/nax/install/

cp -rf /tmp/cdrom/rar-3.7.0-0.1.beta1.el5.rf.i386.rpm /etc/nax/install/

cp -rf /tmp/cdrom/naxpacketv2008-fc8.tar /etc/nax/install

it's all package select install working fine. but post install it's not working

1. i copy rar-3.7.0-0.1.beta1.el5.rf.i386.rpm to "CentOS" directory (** CentOS directory include all rpms)

2. i copy naxpacketv2008-fc8.tar to "CentOS" directory also. ** it's my application

after installed i looking in /etc/nax/install directory rar-3.7.0-0.1.beta1.el5.rf.i386.rpm,naxpacketv2008-fc8.tar not found

how to working.

ext.

1. i want to use shell script in post install section also. like this(install-core.sh in naxpacketv2008-fc8.tar)

#!/bin/sh

#### linux core #####

cd /etc/nax/install

cd src

cp -rf linux-2.6.23.1.tar.bz2 /usr/src/

cp -rf iptables-1.3.8.tar.bz2 /usr/src/

cd /usr/src

bunzip2 linux-2.6.23.1.tar.bz2

bunzip2 iptables-1.3.8.tar.bz2

tar -xvf linux-2.6.23.1.tar

tar -xvf iptables-1.3.8.tar

cd linux-2.6.23.1

make bzImage

make modules

make modules_install

make install

cd ..

cd iptables-1.3.8

chmod +x extensions/.layer7-test

make KERNEL_DIR=/usr/src/linux-2.6.23.1

make install KERNEL_DIR=/usr/src/linux-2.6.23.1

cd /etc/nax/install/src

cd l7

make install

##### iptables #########################

cd /sbin

mv iptables iptables.old

mv iptables-save iptables-save.old

mv iptables-restore iptables-restore.old

ln -s /usr/local/sbin/iptables iptables

ln -s /usr/local/sbin/iptables-save iptables-save

ln -s /usr/local/sbin/iptables-restore iptables-restore

##########################################

#### ipp2p #########

cd /etc/nax/install/sysconfig/ipp2p-0.99.14

make clean

make

cp -rf libipt_ipp2p.so /usr/local/lib/iptables/

insmod ipt_ipp2p.ko

depmod -a

cp ipt_ipp2p.ko -rf /lib/modules/2.6.23.1/kernel/net/ipv4/netfilter/

##### service ###

rpm --force -ivh *.rpm

cp -rf modsecurity_crs_10_config.conf /etc/httpd/modsecurity.d/

very thank for any anwser.

Beryl.

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:01:06 +0100

So I have installed beryl, nvidia drivers for gforce fx 5200, and avant. Beryl and avant start on startup. I figured that out on my own (freaking Sweeet). Well heres what I have. I have the Microsoft wireless photo keyboard. So when I turn my Volume up or down. There is a white box that appears on my screen. My terminal window is completely white still after doing updates. and my awm dont show the launchers i have added to the application. Everything is a plain white box. Any Help would be really helpfull. Thanks

Distro-Ubuntu 7.10

Stop and Start Terminal

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 17:11:28 +0200

When using a terminal you might be aware of the ^Q and ^S (that is Ctrl + q or Ctrl + s), these start and stop the terminal.

Say a terminal is scrolling lots and lots of information, obviously you can't read it, so you could do ^S, which would freeze the terminal at that point. Then you can read, do ^Q to start it again and so on.

Personally, in these days where terminals hold hundreds (or thousands) of lines there is little point. In fact most people probably just run the command again and use more/less to scroll the output.

I sometimes find that when I am using a terminal, with say irssi, that I accidently hit Ctrl+s. This will then cause irssi to stop and it will finally timeout and drop the server, needless to say a bit of a pain.

So here is the tip, you can unset the key press, ensuring that you don't accidentally hit the key.

Code:
$ stty stop ''

As simple as that. There is little need to unset the start key press as you will not be able to stop it now. You can add that line into you bashrc and then it will never affect you again.

For those that are interested you can see the current tty setup with:

Code:
$ stty -a

Never forget that every little niggle that can be removed can improve your productivity

SSH Break

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:46:55 +0200

Being very used to killing telnet connections with Ctrl+] (or ^]) then quit, I wanted a simpler method with SSH.

Basically what this is for is, lets say your remote shell has hung up on you. Normally what I would do is open another shell and kill the process. This is obviously a pain to keep doing.

A quick bit of googling and I found this:

[/url][url=http://www.theclonchs.com/wiki/SSHBreak]http://www.theclonchs.com/wiki/SSHBreak

You can either edit the global ssh_config as the example in that URL says (/etc/ssh/ssh_config) or in the local user configuration (~/.ssh/config).

So to test that you have it working properly do:

Code:
mark@tone ~ % ssh localhost

Password: 

Last login: Fri Jul 20 15:45:45 2007 from localhost

mark@tone ~ % 

mark@tone ~ % Connection to localhost closed.

So I typed Enter ~. and it quit. No more hung ssh connections! YAY

vi/vim tips

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 21:46:59 +0200

Consult [/url][url=http://lagmonster.org/docs/vi2.html]http://lagmonster.org/docs/vi2.html for more, I found its a pretty good reference.

However one option seems understated. If you want to delete everything from the cursor to the end of the file you'd do (while out of INSERT mode):

Code:
dG

The d tells vi to delete, the G tells vi to go to the end of the file.

SSH and BASH

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 23:37:57 +0100

How many times have I seen people using SSH aliases to shorthand the long statements they need to type to login:

Code:
alias ssh-home="ssh -p 12345 znx@somelong.hostname.com"

Now whilst this eases the pain, you are missing some real magic that SSH and BASH can provide you! So lets get started:

Edit/Make the ~/.ssh/config

Code:
Host some

  HostKeyAlias somelong.hostname.com

  HostName somelong.hostname.com

  User znx

  Port 12345

Now what's that all about you say, well now the original long top line can be replaced with:

Code:
ssh some

MAGIC!

But that's not all, you can infact setup BASH to provide you with a tab completion on those new short hostnames!

Edit/Add to your ~/.bashrc

Code:
HOSTFILE=~/.hosts

function _ssh() {

 local cur

 cur=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]}

 if [ "${cur:0:1}" != "-" ]; then

COMPREPLY=( $(awk '/^Host '$2'/{print $2}' $HOME/.ssh/config) )

 fi        

 return 0

}

complete -F _ssh ssh sftp scp

complete -A hostname ssh sftp scp

Edit/Add to a ~/.hosts

Code:
192.168.1.2  some.long.host hostname

192.168.1.3 other.long.host host

To update the current shell you are running do:

Code:
source ~/.bashrc

Now here is the magic:

Code:
ssh s

At which point you will be given the option of "some" or "some.long.host". Better than all that is this, when you edit your ~/.ssh/config or your ~/.hosts to update or add a new host, it is INSTANTLY in your tab complete.

Weeeeee!

Code:
ssh home

ssh work

ssh somefriend

ssh here

ssh there

Love Linux

Do You Miss the "Win Key" in Linux?

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 15:21:45 +0200

The credit for figuring out how to do this goes out to Scott from TheOpenSourceWeblog.

I had dugg this tutorial or "how to" a few weeks ago, and although there were only 9 diggs, I still figured it was a trick worth mentioning around here.

Quote:Coming from Windows myself, I used the "win key" or the "super" key heavily to get to the Start menu, but now after switching to Linux with the KDE desktop, I sure do miss that key. And I'm too lazy to press Alt+F1. This is a guide that will get that "win key" working in Linux again. Although it's a guide for KDE, it can work in GNOME as well.

Here's the direct linky:

[/url]http://opensource.weblogsinc.com/2005/05/2...-linux-use-kde/

Here's the link if you want to digg it:

[url=http://digg.com/linux_unix/Do_You_Miss_the..._to_Get_it_Back]http://digg.com/linux_unix/Do_You_Miss_the..._to_Get_it_Back

Linux packag List.

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 08:24:22 +0200

Can somebody help me, how to find out the packages that been install to my computer(Linux).

Is there any command to do that..?

HOW TO: Set a particular process to run on a specific cpu ( SMP )

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 22:15:54 +0200

OK, Well znx needs to be thanked once again for this.

Where this can be used for example:

If you are running 4 gaming servers assuming you are using Dual Xeon processors with HT ( classed as 4 cpu's in linux)

Server 1 uses 60% CPU Usage

Server 2 Uses 60% CPU Usage

Server 3 Uses 20% CPU Usage

Server 4 Uses 20% CPU Usage

Rather than letting the distro automtically assign CPU's it is sometimes better for you to do it manually. In this instance it would make server to have

Server 1 using CPU0

Server 2 using CPU1

Server 3 + 4 using CPU2

Leaving you with a spare CPU.

Example of how to install this in Debian / Redhat / Other:

Code:
# apt-get install schedutils

Redhat

Code:
# up2date schedutils

Other

Code:
# rpm -ivh schedutils*

If you have a particular process running and it will retain the same PID throughout then you can do the following command:

Code:
# taskset -c 1 -p 13545

'-c 1- = Which cpu you wish the process to run on. In my example this can be set to Either ( CPU0, CPU1, CPU 2, CPU3 )

'-p 12345- Is the process, if the process does not retain the same PID then you need to do the following:

Code:
# taskset -c 3 ./server1.sh

If the 'respawning' script needs to be run in screen, you would do:

Code:
screen -m -d -s -- taskset -c 3 ./server1.sh

The parent and child, no matter how many times new children (therefore new PIDs) it will still run on CPU3 ( -c3 )

More information on this can be found @ [/url]http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/setting-proc...or-process.html

And more information about re-spawning scripts can be found @ [url=<___base_url___>/index.php?showtopic=1746][/url][url=<___base_url___>/index.php?showtopic=1746]https://www.linux-noob.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1746

I hope this helps.

Sorry if some of the lingo is incorrect. I tried my best, im a linux noob

Thanks to znx again.

Xen 3.0 Install Script for RHES 4

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 15:44:31 +0200

I'm having a problem with the xen-install-rhel4.1 script while attempting to install Xen on RedHat 4 - I'm getting stopped at this point:

Code:
eval `/etc/xen/scripts/grubread.pl $active_kernel_version < ${GRUB_CONF}`

if [ -z "$GRUB_ROOT" -o -z "$FS_ROOT" ]; then

    echo "Unable to update ${GRUB_CONF}." > /dev/stderr

    exit 1

fi

What are the -z and -o options for and how are they being used here? If I can get a better understanding of what is happening, I can figure out a work around or be able to fix the issue.

Exit program & Messages trouble

Sun, 16 Jul 2006 22:17:01 +0200

Is there any way of being able to EXIT a program without having all my windows to close?

EG. Ctrl+Alt+Del and then chose which program you wanna terminate (if its not responding etc)

Im on FC4 and FF

--------------------------

Also, here on the forum I have noticed lately that if I want to respond to a few comments under a same topic, my comments end up squeezed into ONE instead of multiple.

Why and what can I do about it?

Hardening FC4

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 14:55:47 +0200

Hello everyone. Over the next few days I would like to do a security review on my FC4 server at home. I was wondering if anyone could recommend any hardening applications that would assist me in this process?

Building a POP3 Mail Server

Sun, 16 Apr 2006 09:40:46 +0200

You want to set up a POP3 mail server