Archive for the 'guides' Category

An Introduction to Linux Operating System

An easy to read, accurate and in plain language guide to the linux operating system.

What is Linux

Preface

Some of my readers today will be aware of a beautiful operating system that goes by the name of Linux. For those who are not already familiar, here is a brief introduction: Linux is a free open-source alternative to Windows and Macintosh. Based off of Unix, Linus Torvalds laid the framework for the kernel many years ago and then made the source code open to all. He still works on the kernel today, but he’s not alone; millions of programmers around the world work to improve Linux with their free time. They’ve worked hard to bring Linux to maturity, and as of the past couple years, it has reached a mature stage where the average computer user is more than capable of using it. In other words, you no longer need to know how a computer works or how to program in order for Linux to be useful to you.

So why am I bringing up this topic? Quite frankly, there aren’t enough Linux users accessing TechwareLabs, and I believe this needs to change.

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How To Install VMware Server On OpenSUSE Linux 10.3

bold writing are command that you need to enter

red letting are command that you need to issue as root

  1. click on Computer > More Applications > YaST

  2. Put in root password for YaST

  3. Scroll down until you see Software Management and single click on it

  4. Check for the following software. If you don’t have it installed, install it

    1. kernel-source

    2. gcc

    3. gcc-c++

    4. make (This is most likely already installed, but just to double check)

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Howto: Create a Linux Box for Your Mom (50+ Resources)

Here is a great article from virtualhosting.com discussing some good resources for “getting your mom on linux”. Great idea!

By Jessica Hupp

For most computer literate children, a request from mom to get her set up on “this web thing” is met with panic and a feeling of drudgery. Are you about to expose your sweet mother to spam, phishing, viruses, or worse? Or perhaps more frightening, sign your life away as a 24/7 tech support center? Perhaps, but there’s a better way. By setting your mom up on a Linux machine, you can give her a safe, lean computing experience that will let her do all of the things she wants to do without giving you a nervous breakdown. Here, we’ve compiled over 50 of the best resources to help you get your mom on Linux without a whole lot of trouble.

Systems & Environments

With these systems and environments, you can get your mom set up with low maintenance and friendly interfaces.

  1. SimplyMEPIS: SimplyMEPIS is low-maintenance and great for Linux beginners.
  2. Linspire: Linspire is the “World’s Easiest Desktop Linux,” with a familiar look and feel for Windows users.
  3. Mandriva: Mandriva Linux was specifically designed to offer ease of use for new users.
  4. Ubuntu: One of the most popular Linux distributions, Ubuntu is stable and easy to use.
  5. KDE: The K Desktop Environment is easy to use, and offers basic desktop functions.
  6. Ximian Desktop: Ximian offers a simple layout, with large icons that are great for elderly users.
  7. Lycoris: This distribution looks a lot like windows, and offers great ease of use.
  8. SuSE: With SuSE, you’ll got lots of popular open source software like OpenOffice, Kaffeine, and more.
  9. GNOME: In this desktop environment, you’ll find an extremely usable GUI.

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Install Ruby On Rails and getting started

Getting Started With Ruby On Rails

Installing Ruby on Rails (RoR) on windows, OSX and Linux. Generally there are 3 installations: OSX, Windows and Linux, and Linux install is the most easy one.

Windows:

Go to http://www.rubyonrails.org/, and download the package containing gems (windows installer).

Install the package.

Update the gem system via:

gem update –system

Update installed gems via:

gem update

When this is done install the relevant gems. I would suggest the following as a minimum:
*rails (for the framework)
Please note, that rails 2.02 is the newest version, you can install an older version via

gem install v1.2.6 rails

*mysql (for database assess)
*mongrel (webserver better when webrick)

When asked for the version you want to use, choose the newst version, that has win32 in the option.

OSX 10.4 and 10.5

Go to http://www.macports.org/ and download the correct version of the file (tiger/leopard).

Read through the installation guide: http://www.macports.org/install.php

Quick guide:
Install the correct xcode for your system.
Install the macports program (this can take a little while)
When done, do:

sudo port install ruby
sudo port install rb-gems (enabling gems under ruby)
sudo gem install rails (framework)
sudo port install rb-mysql (mysql for use under RoR)
sudo gem install mongrel (webserver)
sudo port install subversion (for easy install for remote plugins)

Linux (Ubuntu like / Debian based)

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade (getting newst list, and updateing software before continuing).
sudo apt-get install ruby subversion mysql libmysql-ruby1.8

sudo gem install rails
sudo gem install mongrel

And you should be set to go.

IDE for use with RoR:
Textmate (OSX), has very poor subversion integration, but good RoR integration
Not free
Eclipse (good integration, via plugins)
http://www.eclipse.org/ download plugins via Aptana website, for RoR support.
Free

Aptana (good integration via plugins) http://www.aptana.com/
complete IDE, eclipse based. Free
IDEA (good integration via plugins)
Complete IDE suite, with great integration of subversion, mysql and even jira for bugtracking.
Professional, but expensive.

Remeber to point your IDE to where your RoR / rails is installed for best integration:
Windows most often: c:\ruby\bin
OSX: /opt/local/
Linux: /usr/bin/ruby

Errors:

Linux:

sudo gem update –system

Which introduced this error:

/usr/bin/gem:23: uninitialized constant Gem::GemRunner(NameError)

whenever I tried to run rubygems. On the rails forum, I found a fix for it!. Simply add the line to the file /usr/bin/gem (may be different on a mac):

require 'rubygems/gem_runner'

after

require 'rubygems'

Source: http://www.nickpeters.net/2007/12/31/fix-for-uninitialized-constant-gemgemrunner-nameerror/

This error when installing gems:

extconf.rb:1:in `require’: no such file to load—mkmf (LoadError)

from extconf.rb:1.

Do:

sudo apt-get install ruby1.8-dev

Best Practices when using SSH

Author: Ryan M.
Original Website: linuxsecurity.com

Introduction

Are you using SSH in the best way possible? Have you configured it to be as limited and secure as possible? The goal of this document is to kick in the new year with some best practices for SSH: why you should use them, how to set them up, and how to verify that they are in place.

All of the examples below assume that you are using EnGarde Secure Linux but any modern Linux distribution will do just fine since, as far as I know, everybody ships OpenSSH.

SSHv2 vs. SSHv1

There are numerous benefits to using the latest version of the SSH protocol, version 2, over it’s older counterpart, version 1 and I’m not going into a lot of details on those benefits here - if you’re interested, see the URL in the reference below or Google around. That being said if you don’t have an explicit reason to use the older version 1, you should always be using version 2.

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Optimize nVidia Video Cards for KDE 4

KWin, the standard KDE window manager in KDE4.0, ships with the first version of built-in support for compositing, making it also to compositing manager. This allows KWin to provide advanced graphical effects, similar to Compiz, while also providing all the features from previous KDE releases. Unlike Compiz, KWin still functions even when not system support for compositing is available, with only the compositing features being unavailable. KWin in KDE4.0 is also relatively new tails and has not been extensively optimized yet, therefore its performance may not be in loads areas comparable with performance of other compositing managers. In such cases performance should be improved with newer versions.Smoothness of KWin rendering can be improved by setting the env.variable KWIN_NVIDIA_HACK to 1. This sets ‘ _ _ GL_YIELD=NOTHING’ for KWin, letting KWin use more CPU Time for OpenGL operations, however at the expense of affecting performance of other applications. Therefore, this is disabled by default. This setting may be removed in the future if the negative impact becomes insignificant.

Open ~/.profile file and the following line:

export KWIN_NVIDIA_HACK=1

For more on this check COMPOSITE_HOWTO. Now see the difference.

Tip: In loads cases, overall smoothness may be increased by turning off direct rendering in advanced options in the Desktop Effects configuration module (Alt+F3->Configure Window Behavior).

No optimastion or tweaks for ATI video cards that I have noticed so far. If you know, let us know.

Install and Configure TrueCrypt With GUI On Ubuntu 7.10

Version 1.0
Author: Oliver Meyer <o [dot] meyer [at] projektfarm [dot] de>
Last edited 12/18/2007

This document describes how to set up TrueCrypt with GUI on Ubuntu 7.10. TrueCrypt is a free open-source encryption software for desktop usage.

This howto is a practical guide without any warranty - it doesn’t cover the theoretical backgrounds. There are many ways to set up such a system - this is the way I chose.

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Hacking Archos 605 Wifi - Linux Hack On Archos 605 WiFi

Some industrious programmers have found a way to hack the Archos 605 WiFi portable video player to run the Qtopia Linux platform. By the looks of it, the Qtopia hack doesn’t add much in the way of extra media features (the Archos does pretty well as-is), but it opens the door to developing the Archos 605 WiFi as a more generally useful and configurable tablet PC. The Qtopia hack appears to work on older models of the Archos players as well, although the Archos fifth-generation players seem to be easier to configure.