Useful Linux Tips

[Stiffler]

I thought we could start a topic of all the useful Linux tips that we know.

I start off with some I picked up.

#1) Konqueror allows you to browse a remote system's files as if they were local. Just type in the url as -> fish://username@server/path
It uses ssh to connect, and will ask for your password.

#2) Similiar to #1, you can use shfs (secure shell filesystem) to mount a remote directory just like you can with NFS. This program also uses ssh to tunnel the connection, and will allow you to browse the remote filesystem as if it were on your own. I like this because I can effectively get NFS capability, but without all of the hassle, and with more security! Get this proggie at: http://shfs.sourceforge.net/.

#3) I use webmin to help out a bit with some of the config files. Download at: http://www.webmin.org/.

#4)I add several aliases to my /etc/profile file:
a) alias exit="clear && logout" Next time you exit, it will blank the console first. This is a good local security feature, looks clean, and is probably familiar to most Redhat users (weren't we all at some point in time? :-P).
b) alias ls="ls --color=tty" This will add pretty colors to the ls command. Some distros have this alias by default, but mine don't.
c) alias ll="ls --color -l" Same as above, but in list form. Yes, it is too much trouble to type ls -l.
d) alias su="su -c 'bash -l'" This enables all the aliases in /etc/profile.

#5) Use fbgrab to get a screenshot of your consol, ie. when you don't have X installed. Home page.

#6)If you want to do a big task remotely, like compile a large program, use a program called "Screen". If you need to disconnect the ssh connection, screen will still be running compiling you code. Just connect back to your pc via ssh or locally and reattach to screen with the command: screen -r. It has a log feature, so if your're compiling something like kde, the code will eventually fill up the buffer of the video output, so you can't scoll back, but with screen log, the output is saved to a text file. The text file will be large, but you will have a complete record of what happened. Another bonus to outputing to a text file is the fact that writting to a file is quicker than writting to the monitor. For a better explanation and commands visit: http://www.math.fu-berlin.de/~guckes/screen/.

That's all I have for now.

Jon

[Stiffler]

Oh, another favorite tip is the How-To on how to make TightVNC start up and shut down automatically, and have multiple servers going at the same time. This can be found here: http://caos.siue.edu/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=446&forum=6

Jon

[Guest]

Good tips!

Here is one that just about every Linux site has:

Never log in as root. If you don't have a non-root user name, then make one. You know why, right? Because, it's a conspiracy. They want you to make many user names in hopes that you will use the same password for your root account and your non-root acount. Then all they need to do is use some kind of key logger to get your password, and your think that your safe because you didn't log in as root, but in the background they have your password which gives them the right to do anything they want to.

CB