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Showing posts from July, 2014

Malicious Linux commands to avoid

Warning: Don't run these commands on your machine. They can erase your valuable data or crash your machine. It is worthwhile to have basic knowledge about malicious commands in Linux.  Don't blindly run the commands instructed in websites or scripts downloaded from the internet. Just verify the contents of the script for any commands that can harm your computer. If you want to know what a command can do use the man pages if you are offline. You can get the information of a command by typing info <command name> in the terminal. Example:  info sudo If you are connected to the internet then type man <command name> in the terminal to get the updated documentation. Example:  man sudo Again, the following commands can heavily damage your OS. These are extremely dangerous and should not be attempted on any computer that has any physical connection to valuable data. 1.   COMMANDS THAT CAN DELETE FILES AND FOLDERS rm -rf / rm -rf . rm

ANTI-VIRUS FOR LINUX

Do I need to have an anti-virus software for Linux? Isn't Linux virus free? If it is virus free then why are some anti-virus software in the software-center? If you are an average user of Linux you might be having these questions. So, do we really need an anti-virus software installed? The answer is  'yes'  and ' no'.  Don't worry after reading this post you will know if you need an anti-virus for your Linux. There are viruses for most all platforms, they are just more common on Windows. You can actually run Windows without a virus scanner if you keep it patched and are really careful. If you are really careful and know what you are doing you can get away without a scanner. The fact of the matter is: viruses/worms take advantage of flaws or holes in the code. There are some viruses targeted on Linux platform. Linux and other UNIX platforms are regarded are well protected, but not immune to computer viruses.  It is said that Linux is not targeted because its low

INSTALLING JAVA IN UBUNTU

This post explains how to install Java in Ubuntu. You can install Iced tea java (open source) or the Oracle java. Installing Iced tea java is simple where as to install Oracle java you have to struggle a little with the command line. Let's get started. First I'll tell you how to install iced tea java and then we'll see how to install oracle java. 1. INSTALLING ICED TEA JAVA: Open a terminal by pressing  CTRL + ALT + T  keys or by searching for “terminal” in dash. Type the following to installed iced tea java on your machine. sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jre icedtea-plugin That should install the java run time environment and the plugin for your browser. 2. INSTALLING ORACLE JAVA: To install oracle java you should first download the  32bit or 64bit Linux "compressed binary file" - it has a ".tar.gz" file extension.  Now we need to uncompress the file. Right click on the file and select “ extract here ”. OR you can do it the terminal way: tar -xvf jre-7-

INSTALLING MOBILE PARTNER IN LINUX

Most of you who have a Huawei USB modem (data card) might have tried to install mobile partner (dash board) in Linux. Here I will show you how to install mobile partner in Linux. First, you have to copy the folder called Linux in the data card. The files in the data card are not accessible from Linux so copy them from Windows. Now right click the file “ install ” in the “ Linux”  folder. Go to the permissions tab and select the check box beside  Allow executing as a program. Now open a terminal by pressing  CTRL + ALT + T   keys. Change the working directory to the folder “ Linux”  by using “ cd <path to folder>”. Now type ./install. If you had installed this software in your system before, you will get a prompt: " The software is exist, do you want overwrites? ([Y]/[N])", enter "y" to overwrites or "n" to exit. If you do not had installed this software in your system before, you will get a prompt: " Please input the install path[/usr/local/Mobi

CUSTOMISING UBUNTU BOOT SPLASH SCREEN

Are you bored with the purple boot splash screen in Ubuntu? You can customize the boot splash screen as you wish. After reading this post you will be able to play with your splash screen. 1. Use your favorite Wallpaper to replace the Purple boot splash: NOTE: 1.  Ensure the desktop wallpaper is the correct resolution for your monitor 2. Here there is no animation INSTRUCTIONS: Open a terminal by pressing  CTRL + ALT + T  and type: sudo mkdir /lib/plymouth/themes/simple This will create a folder called “simple”. After that rename your wallpaper as “ wallpaper.png ”. Now we need to copy the wallpaper to  /lib/plymouth/themes/simple. Open nautilus by typing  gksu nautilus   in the terminal. Now copy the wallpaper to  /lib/plymouth/themes/simple . Return to the terminal and type: sudo gedit /lib/plymouth/themes/simple/simple.plymouth In gedit paste the following: [Plymouth Theme] Name=Simple Description=Wallpaper only ModuleName=script

CUSTOMISING PLYMOUTH THEME

You can change your plymouth theme ( Ubuntu boot splash) as you wish. In this post I will tell you how to change your plymouth theme. Plymouth themes can be downloaded from the internet. You can download plymouth themes from gnome-look website. You have to extract the downloaded theme file. Now open a terminal by pressing  CTRL + ALT +T . Now type the following in the terminal: gksunautilus Now copy the extracted theme file to  /lib/plymouth/themes Copy the file “ splash”  to   /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d   (Optional, for better buffer) . Now type the following in the terminal: sudo update-alternatives --install /lib/plymouth/themes/default.plymouth default.plymouth /lib/plymouth/themes/ubuntu-sunrise/ubuntu-sunrise.plymouth 200 sudo update-alternatives --config default.plymouth Choose the number associated with your theme. Type in the terminal sudo update-initramfs –u Now type sudo reboot That's it. You have installed you

INSTALLING FLASHPLAYER IN UBUNTU

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Adobe® Flash® Player is a lightweight browser plug-in and rich Internet application runtime that delivers consistent and engaging user experiences, stunning audio/video playback, and exciting gameplay.   Note:  Adobe Flash Player 11.2 will be the last version to target Linux as a supported platform. Adobe will continue to provide security backports to Flash Player 11.2 for Linux. To install Adobe Flash player in your Ubuntu follow these steps: Open a terminal by pressing  CTRL + ALT+ T  keys and type the following: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sparkers/ppa Then type sudo apt-get update After that type the following to install Lightspark: sudo apt-get install lightspark browser-plugin-lightspark You can use Google chrome which has Flashplayer installed by default

BLENDER FOR UBUNTU

Blender is a powerful and free 3D graphics tool used by designers and artists worldwide.Blender is an integrated 3d suite for modelling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback (games). Blender has its own particular user interface, which is implemented entirely in OpenGL and designed with speed in mind. Blender was first conceived in December 1993 and became a usable product in August 1994 as an integrated application that enables the creation of a diverse range of 2D and 3D content. Blender provides a broad spectrum of modeling, texturing, lighting, animation and video post-processing functionality in one package. Through its open architecture, Blender provides cross-platform interoperability, extensibility, an incredibly small footprint, and a tightly integrated workflow. Blender is one of the most popular Open Source 3D graphics applications in the world. Aimed at media professionals and artists world-wide, Blender can be used to create 3D visualiza

ALTERNATIVES TO UBUNTU SOFTWARE-CENTER

Software-center is a graphical interface for package management in Ubuntu. There are many alternatives to the Ubuntu software-center. 1. APPGRID: Appgrid is a lightweight alternative to Ubuntu software-center. It will also allow you to purchase applications. You can install it in Ubuntu with these following commands: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:appgrid/stable sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install appgrid 2. LUBUNTU SOFTWARE-CENTER:  Lubuntu software-center is another alternative to Ubuntu software-center. The Lubuntu Software Center lets you browse and install thousands of applications available for Lubuntu. You can view available applications by category, or search quickly by name or description. You can also examine the applications already installed, and remove those you no longer need. You can install it by using the following command: sudo apt-get install lubuntu-software-center 3. DEEPIN SOFTWARE-CENTER: You can install deepin software-center by using the following commands: s

Games for Linux - Lugaru HD

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LUGARU   Do you love playing games? If you are using Linux you might have been feeling bad about the scarcity of nice games in Linux. Well, here's a nice game for you! It's Lugaru, a game about a rabbit with combat skills. Lugaru is the first commercial game by Wolfire Games. Lugaru's main character is Turner, an anthropomorphic rabbit with curiously well developed combat skills. After seeing his family and friends murdered by wolf raiders he embarks on a quest of revenge, only to uncover a deeper plot that threatens the entire island. Using a wide variety of intuitive combat techniques, the player combats wolves and hostile rabbits across three different landscapes (grasslands, snow, desert). The game was released for Linux on August 26, 2005. The game has two modes: story mode and challenges mode. In the story mode you    will play as Turner to avenge his family and friends. In the challenges mode you will have 14 challenges. It involves the player progressing through a s

Coloured man pages!

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Are you bored from viewing monochrome(black & white) man pages?  Let's make the world a little bit colorful. coloured man page Colored man pages allow for a clearer presentation and easier digestion of the content. Let's see how to do it. Method 1: Open a terminal and type the following codes: sudo apt-get install most export PAGER="most" That's it now open your favorite man pages   and you will be awestruck to see colored man pages. Method 2:  This method has the advantage that  less  has a bigger feature set than  most , and is the default for viewing man pages. Add the following to a shell configuration file. All that needs to be done is to export bold and underline values of termcap. Adding the values to the  ~/.bashrc  will make sure that they are always used: # Less Colors for Man Pages export LESS_TERMCAP_mb=$'\E[01;31m' # begin blinking export LESS_TERMCAP_md=$'\E[01;38;5;74m' # begin bold export LESS_TERMCAP_me=$'\E[0m'