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Linux Part 2
Chris Katko
Member #1,881
January 2002
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So I'm running LinuxMINT now because I was forced to, but now I'm loving it. What are some apps or commands that you really like that you think someone should know or use?

-----sig:
“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

GullRaDriel
Member #3,861
September 2003
avatar

aptitude or equivalent in linux mint, dpkg, su , sudo , ssh, scp, rsh, rcp, ping, traceroute, whois, netcat, nmap, shell scripts whith expect, wget, curl ??

I don't really have understood the question

"Code is like shit - it only smells if it is not yours"
Allegro Wiki, full of examples and articles !!

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
avatar

(Contrived, incomplete list, not repeating Gull's commands...)

apt-file
awk
cat
cpan
diff, patch
fetchmail
find
gcc
grep, egrep
if, for, while
ifconfig
irssi
ldconfig
ldd
links, elinks
ln
locate, /sbin/updatedb
ls
lsmod
lspci
make
man, info
modprobe
mount, umount
msmtp
mutt
perl
perldoc
procmail
ps
rpm
sed
shutdown, reboot
slrn
top, htop
vi, vim, vimdiff
w, who
write
yum

Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
avatar

(needs root privileges, mount an iso as a directory)
mkdir -p /mnt/disk <-example name for directory
mount -o loop mydisk.iso /mnt/disk

dd if=/dev/dvd of=dvd.iso <- copy a dvd to an iso
dd if=/dev/cdrom of=cd.iso <- CD version

To make an ISO from files on your hard drive, create a directory which holds the files you want. Then use the mkisofs command.
mkisofs -o /tmp/cd.iso tmp/directory
This results in a file called cd.iso in folder /tmp which contains all the files and directories in tmp/directory.

Burning a cd or dvd is somewhat more system dependant (some programs might be omitted or included on different distros)
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/installation/35772-how-burn-dvd-iso.html

Goodbye Nero $$$ !

[EDIT]

How were you "forced" to use LinuxMINT?

They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas.

Neil Walker
Member #210
April 2000
avatar

Have you tried logging in with root priviles and using the command "rm -r *" from /, it helps test your backup/restore procedures are in fully working order.

Neil.
MAME Cabinet Blog / AXL LIBRARY (a games framework) / AXL Documentation and Tutorial

wii:0356-1384-6687-2022, kart:3308-4806-6002. XBOX:chucklepie

Chris Katko
Member #1,881
January 2002
avatar

Quote:

How were you "forced" to use LinuxMINT?

Work. I'm tasked with getting ROS (Robot Operating System) running on one of our test platforms. ROS is only stable on Ubuntu-variants.

I'm actually starting to love it, though. Both LinuxMINT and ROS. Linux has came soooo far from the first time I tried it years ago. Back then WiFi-support and videocard drivers were crap. And ROS is actually pretty damned amazing. It's mainly an inter-thread communication interface but it just does it so well, and allows you to visualize what's going on. It also makes multithreading insanely easy.

I'm honestly considering building a videogame using ROS as the underlying framework just for fun and science. You can literally pull up the amount of bandwidth (in KB/s) used by a particular topic (a user-labeled category of related-messages). So using a single terminal command I could find that my Hokuyo laser-range finder was running 4.6 KB/s and I could adjust the settings if I ever ran out of bandwidth on the USB line. You can also set with a single function the frequency that a thread is called (in Hertz).

It can also automatically build graphs like these to show the connections between the your independently threaded nodes:

{"name":"rxgraph.png","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/c\/9\/c973fe05299ebcf6e40f49aae80c4921.png","w":1127,"h":1050,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/c\/9\/c973fe05299ebcf6e40f49aae80c4921"}rxgraph.png

In that picture, every circle is an independent program and process. The squares are topics.

-----sig:
“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
avatar

I'd say some of my most used cli commands are: find, grep, tail, cat, dd, xargs (usually used with find), and rsync. Not to forget ssh! :)

--
Thomas Fjellstrom - [website] - [email] - [Allegro Wiki] - [Allegro TODO]
"If you can't think of a better solution, don't try to make a better solution." -- weapon_S
"The less evidence we have for what we believe is certain, the more violently we defend beliefs against those who don't agree" -- https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/592870205409353730

weapon_S
Member #7,859
October 2006
avatar

General help: man [program|topic], info [program|topic].
Handy for USB-drives: blkid (as root[1], lsof.
Scrolling console output: less.
Advanced argument input: xargs, xclip[2]
Most window managers have alt-F2, ctrl-<F1-F4>.

References

  1. That should be:"With admin priviliges". But apparently everybody in the Linux community is too lazy to make an admin account, including yours truly.
  2. Hah, I had to look this one up and reinstall it. So thanks for reminding me.
Chris Katko
Member #1,881
January 2002
avatar

I think people are missing the other half of my topic. What apps do you recommend and why? For instance, Geany is a really nice highlighting syntax-sensitive source code editor.

-----sig:
“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

Matthew Leverton
Supreme Loser
January 1999
avatar

I use primarily use Sublime Text and Firefox.

Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
avatar

I tend to use:

  • Kate Editor
    Because its featureful yet simple


  • Google Chrome
    Because it frees up memory when you close tabs, even though it uses up a crap load of memory....


  • Konsole (xterm replacement)
    Because xterm SUCKS


  • Amarok (music player)
    I really like the dynamic and smart playlist features.


  • Kmail (email)
    Habit mostly. The version I'm using is a bit long in the tooth now, and the new version doesn't really have anything going for it atm.


  • Akregator (rss feeds)
    It "just works"

And probably others I'm forgetting.

--
Thomas Fjellstrom - [website] - [email] - [Allegro Wiki] - [Allegro TODO]
"If you can't think of a better solution, don't try to make a better solution." -- weapon_S
"The less evidence we have for what we believe is certain, the more violently we defend beliefs against those who don't agree" -- https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/592870205409353730

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
avatar

WTF is an "apps"? ::) n00b.

  • amarok is great for music (though a while ago I think demonicmaniac in IRC told me about a daemon and command-line client for music, which I think would suit me better, but I haven't gotten around to getting it set up yet).

  • firefox is best for Web, IMHO. Best with Pentadactyl, NoScript, Adblock Plus, Cookie Monster, Ghostery, and Better Privacy addons as a solid core (block everything by default and allow trusted scripts and cookies as you encounter them).

  • gVim is the best GUI editor. 8-) But you might as well just fire up vim. Less expensive and better integrated.

...

  • gnome-terminal or a virtual console for everything else. >:(

LennyLen
Member #5,313
December 2004
avatar

bamccaig said:

WTF is an "apps"? n00b

Sorry kid, but some of us were calling computer programs apps when you were still in diapers.

Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
avatar

Indeed. Its short for Applications.

--
Thomas Fjellstrom - [website] - [email] - [Allegro Wiki] - [Allegro TODO]
"If you can't think of a better solution, don't try to make a better solution." -- weapon_S
"The less evidence we have for what we believe is certain, the more violently we defend beliefs against those who don't agree" -- https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/592870205409353730

m c
Member #5,337
December 2004
avatar

vlc
mplayer
rhythmbox
gimp
gThumb
firefox
mkvtoolnix
aegisub
wine
mencoder
vim
irssi
rtorrent
gcc
open mpt
mate/gnome3/e17
maybe audacious

[edit] and gnome-terminal. I like its configuration options better than other terminals. I have profiles that start a window at a different size each to fit their unique background images. And you can take the menu away to save space. It is much better than other terminal emulators that I have ever used if you take the time to make lots of good configurations and I like the backround pictures that I use (anime breasts and so on, currently its mainly characters from kampfer and sora no otoshimono).

(\ /)
(O.o)
(> <)

van_houtte
Member #11,605
January 2010
avatar

I prefer to have passwordless ssh'ing with keys

http://linuxconfig.org/Passwordless_ssh

Once you get comfortable with that you can use ssh-agent to load your keys into memory and jump from box to box to box withought keying the password every time.

Get yourself familiar with some basics:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingTheTerminal

Learn vim, emacs or whatever have you text editor.

As for GUI apps, I like firefox and whatever comes with the distro in general. If i'm looking for a package in ubuntu I use aptitude search [packagename]

I still use xmms to play my media (xmms = winamp for linux), vlc for movies etc

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m c
Member #5,337
December 2004
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I used to use xmms but then they changed xmms to audacious so I used that.

I still need to start using ssh keys but the thing is that I think my passwords are secure (10+ digits, upper + lower case + 2 different symbols + numbers) and each server has a different password (for example, but not my actual system, would be for example a server loli.domain.com with password ILove$Candy#701717) and I access my servers on the go (home computer, own laptop, work laptop, friends laptop, computer at other persons place).

So the question that I ask myself, is this relatively safe, and in the end what is less secure? Carrying a usb stick with a bunch of key files, or the risk of a keylogger trojan or something? Because of this uncertainty and natural resistance to change I have never used the key system even if it might be superior (and disable password login probably stop that bloat on the auth log from all those Chinese and Russian and etc servers trying to hack in).

But what about this: keylogger = malicious software (which might theoretically also steal your key files even if unlikely).

THREAT COMPARISON:

  • Password:

  • * Malicious Software

  • Keys:

  • * Lost/Stolen USB

  • * Malicious Software

Encrypt the whole usb drive? Store key files in encrypted archive? Now they are just 1 memorised password away from all being found.

  • Keys:

  • *1 password = all keys = all servers

  • Separate passwords:

  • *1 password = 1 server and a clue / hint if you use a similar naming convention for guessing your other passwords.

But then what changes in the ssh protocol are there between password or key file.
Probably if you have a secure home system and you do everything from that, key file much more convenient.

(\ /)
(O.o)
(> <)

Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
avatar

m c said:

I used to use xmms but then they changed xmms to audacious so I used that.

Not quite. XMMS was stagnant for a long time, and some people forked it to create Audacious around the same time XMMS 2 start up.

--
Thomas Fjellstrom - [website] - [email] - [Allegro Wiki] - [Allegro TODO]
"If you can't think of a better solution, don't try to make a better solution." -- weapon_S
"The less evidence we have for what we believe is certain, the more violently we defend beliefs against those who don't agree" -- https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/592870205409353730

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
avatar

Your sarcasm detector. ::) It's broken. "App" is now a buzzword with an implied meaning that is far more specific.

Append:

@"m c": Your keys should have a passphrase as well, so using public key authentication requires both a key pair and the corresponding passphrase (unless you're doing it wrong). Using a key store like ssh-agent allows you to enter your passphrase once [every timeout period] without having to repeatedly do it. Very useful for e.g., Git work.

I use the ssh-agent-setup function in my .bash_functions. Best to use a -t too so that after a bit the key is forgotten and needs to be re-added.

# In your .bashrc:
source ~/.bash_functions
ssh-agent-setup -- -t 900

# Once logged in:
ssh-add
<..etc..>
ssh user@example.com

Edit: Smarter ssh-agent setup in .bash_functions.

jhuuskon
Member #302
April 2000
avatar

Work. I'm tasked with getting ROS (Robot Operating System) running on one of our test platforms. ROS is only stable on Ubuntu-variants.

No no no for fucks sake no in the name of god we don't need Yet Another x86 Linux Robot Controller.

I sincerely hope you're doing something more esoteric than industrial robot controllers. Industrial x86/Linux-based robot controllers have been done. They're not really good.

The only industrial controllers I've ever seen crashing, really crashing, have been the Linux-based ABB robot controllers. Never seen a PLC crash. Hell, our Windows 7 desktops are more stable than those controllers. Funny, the newer units that have the pendant running on Windows don't ever crash, they just have these annoying little bugs...

You don't deserve my sig.

Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
avatar

I don't know if you can blame linux. Just the idiots who made the controler system.

I find linux is rather stable on a bunch of different devices I have access to, except one. a Lenovo Tablet, which wow. They totally fucked it up. Buggy as hell, crashes and reboots. And sometimes, it shuts itself off, and doesn't want to turn back on.

--
Thomas Fjellstrom - [website] - [email] - [Allegro Wiki] - [Allegro TODO]
"If you can't think of a better solution, don't try to make a better solution." -- weapon_S
"The less evidence we have for what we believe is certain, the more violently we defend beliefs against those who don't agree" -- https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/592870205409353730

Tobias Dammers
Member #2,604
August 2002
avatar

Indeed. Its short for Applications.

Which is just a more marketing-friendly word for "program".

Anyway, a few secret tips that haven't been mentioned yet:

  • ack. Exactly like grep, only better (PCRE syntax instead of traditional; ignores source control garbage; colored output; etc.). The debian package is called ack-grep, but you can just install Perl and pull the script from betterthangrep.com and dump it somewhere your shell can find it.


  • zsh, my favorite shell, with intelligent completion and what have you (it even completes things like ssh server names, arguments, man pages, etc.). Much better than bash, yet the scripting syntax is backwards-compatible with bash and sh.


  • fromdos and todos: super-simple if you have to fix broken (DOS) line endings.


  • at - schedule tasks to run at a specified time; fills the gap that cron jobs leave


  • antiword - transform MS-Word documents into plain-text (I have configured mutt to automatically do this when someone sends me a Word document)


  • pdf2text - same for PDF


  • lynx can dump HTML as formatted plain-text with the -dump option. This, too, I have configured into mutt.


  • .ssh/config - look it up, it can make your life a LOT easier if you ssh a lot. You can set up aliases for servers you visit a lot, configure default arguments, etc.


  • ssh-add - cache ssh passphrases in memory, so you'll only have to enter them once


  • scp and rsync - copy files over ssh. Combined with .ssh/config, zsh, and ssh-add, you'll even get auto-completion on the remote end, that is, I can go <tt>$ scp ./whatev.txt tobias@home:doc<Tab></tt>, and it will complete it just like it would if it were locally (but with the correct entries from my home machine).

---
Me make music: Triofobie
---
"We need Tobias and his awesome trombone, too." - Johan Halmén

Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
avatar

ack. Exactly like grep, only better

A heartfelt thank you, an ATTABOY and an extra slice of raisin pie for you!

They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas.

van_houtte
Member #11,605
January 2010
avatar

m c said:

I used to use xmms but then they changed xmms to audacious so I used that.I still need to start using ssh keys but the thing is that I think my passwords are secure (10+ digits, upper + lower case + 2 different symbols + numbers) and each server has a different password (for example, but not my actual system, would be for example a server loli.domain.com with password ILove$Candy#701717) and I access my servers on the go (home computer, own laptop, work laptop, friends laptop, computer at other persons place).So the question that I ask myself, is this relatively safe, and in the end what is less secure? Carrying a usb stick with a bunch of key files, or the risk of a keylogger trojan or something? Because of this uncertainty and natural resistance to change I have never used the key system even if it might be superior (and disable password login probably stop that bloat on the auth log from all those Chinese and Russian and etc servers trying to hack in).But what about this: keylogger = malicious software (which might theoretically also steal your key files even if unlikely).

For me typing in passwords everytime is a slow and finger wasting process. Also ~10 characters is no longer enough:

{"name":"password_strength.png","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/c\/d\/cd9d6ced29020f565a4933ca1c842551.png","w":740,"h":601,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/c\/d\/cd9d6ced29020f565a4933ca1c842551"}password_strength.png

with ssh-keygen it's easy to generate a 2048 bit key. The effort is worth the gains, wether you value your data or not, not entering your password every single time really makes your life easier. And, as I mentioned previous, once you load up ssh-agent into memory with your ~/.bashrc you will have your keys loaded into your computers memory at all times, so you wont have to enter your password every damnn time you jump from server to server to server

Quote:

).So the question that I ask myself, is this relatively safe, and in the end what is less secure? Carrying a usb stick with a bunch of key files, or the risk of a keylogger trojan or something?

I dont like carrying stuff around me, so I have my keys saved in a server, to access that server, i dont use keys, just keyboard based authentication. That server is my gateway to all my other servers. It's a compromise but my password and username is strong enough for now.

zsh, my favorite shell, with intelligent completion and what have you (it even completes things like ssh server names, arguments, man pages, etc.). Much better than bash, yet the scripting syntax is backwards-compatible with bash and sh.

I've also heard great many things about zsh, any docs you'd recommend?

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Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
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I used to advocate passphrases that were keyed in one row up, so "MacintoshFanboy" would become "&qd8h59wyRqhg96", but that gets tiresome enough that I've switched to "patterns", such as "5tgbNHY^7ujm<KI*" (type that in, character for character to "get" it). That said, maybe Matt's suggestion a couple of months ago to use one long easily remembered passphrase with a unique postfix of a few characters for individual passwords is best.

They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas.

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