Linux: Making Life Easy

[subratabera]

Hello friends,

As many of us using Linux as our prime operating system, it is very important to keep it loaded with all the goodies we can't live without. I am starting this new thread to discover the possibilities of the Open Source Software and what can be done using OSS. I also want you to contribute to this thread with useful tips, news and ofcourse your own experience with Linux...

So here it goes...

Tips and Tricks-->
Fedora Core 6, 7, 8, 9

*www.gagme.com/greg/linux/

Here you can find...How to-->
Add support for other repositories
Install MP3 plug-in
Install Macromedia Flash/Shockwave Plug-in
Install DVD player
Install MPlayer Media Player
Install VLC (VideoLAN Client)
Install RealPlayer 10 Media Player
Install Java J2RE and Mozilla Plug-in
Install NTFS driver
Install Internet Explorer
Install Other Odds and Ends
Other Useful Resources

13 Things to do immediately after installing Ubuntu

Some more useful links-->

Fedora Core 6, 7, 8, 9

*www.mjmwired.net/resources/

*fedorasolved.org/

HowTo: Five steps to a more secure Linux-->
*thinkhole.org/wp/2006/10/30/five-steps-to-a-more-secure-ssh/

Everything you need to know about Fedora (Core 6)...
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showpost.php?p=366982&postcount=47

Configuring broadband in ubuntu

Ubuntu Wiki: Hardy
Fedora 9 Installation Guide

Who said linux is not for games. Check these links and surprise yourself...

PlayDeb - Look Here First

This is a team-based realism modification, based on the free and popular Enemy Territory...
*www.truecombatelite.net/ (And yes, its totally free)

Tremulous - a great FPS game...
*tremulous.sourceforge.net/

Best Linux Submarine Simulator...
*dangerdeep.sourceforge.net/

Top 10 Free Linux Games...
*techgage.com/print/top_10_free_linux_games

The best in linux gaming, free and commercial...
*www.happypenguin.org/

The Linux Gamers' Game List...
*www.icculus.org/lgfaq/gamelist.php?license=free

Super Mario War
*smw.72dpiarmy.com/

Stendhal is a full fledged multiplayer online adventures game (MMORPG)
*arianne.sourceforge.net/?arianne_url=games/game_stendhal

Cube - Multi player 1st person shooter game
*wouter.fov120.com/cube/

Some Nice Racing Games
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showpost.php?p=461140&postcount=116

More Open Source Games
*osswin.sourceforge.net/games.html

You need utilities, right...
Here they are...

The best dictionary in the whole world!!!
*www.stardict.org/ (Online version)
*stardict.sourceforge.net/ (Offline version)
No match at all...StarDict wins clearly...

Do you want automatic installation of everything you need, try Fedora Frog (for Fedora 5,6 (Core), 7 and 8 )-->
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41014

Fedora Helper for FC6
*brandonhutchinson.com/Fedora_Helper.html

or, Automatix (for UBUNTU users)-->
*www.getautomatix.com/

Web-based interface for system administration for Linux-->
*www.webmin.com/

Install any application in Linux with just a single click!!!!
*klik.atekon.de/ (works on any platform)
The easiest way to install softwares in Linux...Do you know anything easier than this...

Do you know...

Why linux can be updated without rebooting. Check this out-->
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40983

Why "su" is not equal to "su -" -->
If you switch user to root without the dash you do not get roots path, but your present working directory does not change.
if you switch to user root with the dash, you get roots path and your present working directory change to roots home directory.

Understanding your Linux better...

Services in Fedora Core 5-->
*www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-services-fc5.html
Services in Fedora Core 6-->
*www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-services-fc6.html
Services in Fedora Core 7-->
*www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-services-f7.html

The Best Linux Web Resources-->
*www.foogazi.com/2006/11/07/the-best-linux-web-resources/

How to install boot and run Live Linux on a USB flash pen drive...
*www.pendrivelinux.com/ (Almost any flavour)

Index of Linux books...(don't know about legal issues)
*debian.yaako.org/books/?N=A

Want To Avoid Buying Hardware That May Not Be Compatible With Linux?
Here is the list...

Automatically mount your Linux partition in Windows.
*www.codejacked.com/automatically-mount-your-linux-partition-in-windows/

Linux Easter Egss
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showpost.php?p=348650&postcount=22

Shell script to make ur life easy (by mediator)
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showpost.php?p=349650&postcount=24

*www.beginlinux.org/ -- A nice link by Mehul.

How to install ANYTHING in Ubuntu!

A tutorial for building DVD's from main, universe and multiverse repositories

Cleaning up a Ubuntu GNU/Linux system

Stuff for the Linux UnAware

Random News...

Hilarious code inside Linux Kernel 2.6.17!!
*truehacker.blogspot.com/2006/11/hilarious-code-in-linux-kernel.html

Can open source methodology make a movie?
*trends.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/11/07/2014209&from=rss

Why Linux is better...
*www.whylinuxisbetter.net/

UNIX: Command Line Jokes!!!
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showpost.php?p=385663&postcount=75

Wait there's more...

20 Must Read HOWTOs and Guides for Linux

OxygenOffice Professional - an enhanced version of original OpenOffice.org

Beginner’s Guide: Run Linux like any other program in Windows

Run Existing Windows Installation on Ubuntu with Vmware Player

Loads of Linux Links

 

[mediator]

Making fedora better => *www.stanton-finley.net/fedora_core_5_installation_notes.html

More => *www.hostlibrary.com/fedora_core_5_installation_notes.html

Alternatives for Windows softwares in Linux! => *wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Linux_software_equivalent_to_Windows_software

List of GUI/Window Managers => *www.linux.org/apps/all/GUI/Window_Managers.html !

Keep in tune folks, will post more when I'll have the time to search mah collection!

 

[phreak0ut]

Thank you! Hope this thread becomes a sticky

 

[Manshahia]

Yeah thnx for the Links.
It helped me a Lot.

 

[~Phenom~]

whoa gr8 links.
thanx guys.

 

[subratabera]

Random News..

Surprise! Microsoft Windows Live is protected by Linux!!
Check this out...

*truehacker.blogspot.com/2006/11/microsoft-windows-live-is-powered-by.html

 

[mediator]

Here's a script that makes ur life more easy!

echo -n "Enter shutdown timing (like 06-00) : ";read tim
echo "Shutdown scheduled for $tim"
while [ 1 ]
do
if [ "`date "+%H-%M"`" = "$tim" ];then
echo "`date -R`" > log.log
/sbin/shutdown -h now
echo "SHutdown Initiated"
exit
else
echo -n ""
fi
done

1. Save it as "autoshutdown.sh"
2. As root command "sh autoshutdown.sh"
3. Fill 07-00 for 7AM, 19-00 for 7PM and 04-35 for 4.35 AM!

Its a autoshutdown script made purely by me some 2 yrs back and still use it to shutdown my PC when required! Its good for people who have MTNL night plan. So that they can download torrents all night and shutdown PC automatically before or at 8 AM. U can use it for other purposes toooo! I hope u like it.

 

[gary4gar]

i shutdown using this method or from terminal. next time a get a warning from azureus and other that i was not shut tidily. so how to unload and the apps from the memory( like we close them manully)??

 

[mediator]

Oops! Well I have said so that people can use it when downloading torrents. But personally I neva downloaded a single torrent yet on my PC. I actually use it when large files from websites are being downloaded using download accelerator/resumer , when using limewire etc.
Well u can ignore the Azureus warning if the torrent resumes fine. Or it may have a shutdown option to close it itself. The kill command use to close apps can be used. But it will be same as shutdown as it executes kill for all processes finally! So if the torrent resumes fine, u can ignore the warning!

 

[gary4gar]

also i have seen myself, the system shutdown in a diffrent way as we do it with a script or through terminal, while the normal way is clicking on shutdown icon.


i do'nt know much about shell so can't tell but it seems two diffrent methods are envolved.

 

[subratabera]

Here's a script that makes ur life more easy!

Thanks...
That's a good one...

The thread is updated with more links (Games, Web resources sections)...
Check it out...

(I hope mods will make this thread a sticky...)

 

[praka123]

ppl ppl y? u can use cron to set timings for ur d/ling torrents may be u can use some gui's for crond like gnome-schedule

 

[mediator]

^^Thats correct P.K. Neways never knew of Gnome-Scehule. But I trust mah own programs and shell scripts more than GUI ones. There were 2-3 popular programs on windows (hell forgot their name now). They offered to shutdown automatically. But many times when I woke up around 10 am (shutdown timing scheduled for 8am) I found the PC still running and their count gone!!
Windows commandline in that case is much better than the GUI ones. Similarly for such simple things I prefer shell scripts. I don't trust GUI in these cases much!!

 

[subratabera]

Another good news for Linux Gaming...

ATI offers DirectX - OpenGL converter. And yes its open source...
*www.macworld.com/news/2006/11/10/hlsl2glsl/index.php#

 

[mediator]

Nice!

 

[demoninside]

a good thread.

 

[subratabera]

Tutorial: How To transfer your Linux system to a new hard drive...

Materials
- Old drive (duh)
- New drive
- Linux install disc (any live cd will do, I just happened to use that as it was the first bootable Linux CD I found)
- A bit of time

Procedure
1) Hook up new drive. I used secondary master, hdc.

2) Reboot into the live CD, this saves complications of dynamic directories and such.

3) Partition the drive with cfdisk or equivalent. Make sure you set up the same partition layout as previously. I had a 20GB drive to work with, so I created 1.5gb for / (partition 1), 256mb swap (partition 2), and 18gb for server data (partition 3).
This mirrored my existing setup, the only difference being that the new partitions were much larger.

4) Time to format (reiserfs, for example):
mkreiserfs /dev/hdc1
mkswap /dev/hdc2
mkreiserfs /dev/hdc3


5) Mount the root partitions:
mkdir /mnt/old
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/old
mkdir /mnt/new
mount /dev/hdc1 /mnt/new


6) Copy the old partition onto the new one:
cp --recursive --verbose /mnt/old/bin /mnt/new/bin


7) Get a drink, take a walk, etc. This is going to take a while.

8) Repeat steps 5-7 as needed for other partitions. For example, to copy your /home on hda5 to hdb5:
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/old/home
cp --recursive --verbose /mnt/old/home /mnt/new/home


9) Once it's finished, check out the new fstab:
vi /mnt/new/etc/fstab


10) Verify that all the partitions are still arranged how you want them set up.

11) Run lilo on the new drive to make it bootable (for Grub support, go here):
chroot /mnt/new
/sbin/lilo
exit

12) If all went well, you should be able to shut down, swap the new hard drive into the position of the old one, and boot into your much roomier new hard drive.

Source: *www.openaddict.com/page.php?4

 

[mediator]

Hehe, this guide will surely rock. I'll gonna try this one when I'll have the time. Thanx man!

 

[subratabera]

OK. Here I am again with something new...

I know all of you Linux fans like UBUNTU but feels something missing and then customize it to your taste by installing FLASH, JAVA, AMAROK, REALPLAYER etc. etc.
What if you get all these goodies preinstalled and ready to use. Well, then you should try...

Linux Mint 2.0 "Barbara"

It is Ubuntu "Edgy Eft" all dressed up in DECENT colors and everthing is installed already. I mean everything you would download after a install. Java, Flash, MP3 codecs, Windows codecs, DVD playback - already installed.

According to a review it loads much more faster and has an updated splash screen and a custom boot screen.

Give it a try...

 

[mediator]

Kewl mahn! Noobies gonna luv this!