Remove services (mpd) from system startup in Linux
I'm using MPD on Ubuntu and Debian and get annoyed by mpd starting at boot time under root.
Your startup services lie in the /etc/rc.d folder. You will observe that ls -l /etc/rc4.d for instance, will show you these files are weighted to run in order and symlink to their corresponding startup scripts in /etc/init.d.
To disable mpd, for instance, update-rc.d can help:
sudo update-rc.d -f mpd remove
Now you will be able to add mpd to a local user script on startup without having to sudo mpd --kill or sudo killall mpd.
Troubleshooting locales in the cloud on debian and ubuntu
If you use Amazon EC2 or Rackspace Cloud Servers, you may end up running into this after your create your instance. I often get these on Debian and Ubuntu (since it's debian based also).
lennycloud:~# perl
perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
LANGUAGE = (unset),
LC_ALL = (unset),
LANG = "en_US.UTF-8"
are supported and installed on your system.
perl: warning: Falling back to the standard locale ("C").
You're missing locales.
Update your apt database. sudo apt-get update
Download locales. sudo apt-get install locales
Now configure it, and download what locales you need. dpkg-reconfigure locales
I pick en_US ISO-8859-1, en_US.ISO-8859-15 ISO-8859-15 and en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8.
And that solves it.
Use s3sync.rb + screen to move your files to the cloud
Move to your s3sync dir.
screen ./s3sync.rb -r /home/tony/backups/ backup:backups -v
screen means you will be able to run the command as a screen process. ctrl-d to detach screen, screen -r to resume.
-r means recursive copy.
/home/tony/backups is where cron stores you backupps. You can replace this with whatever dir you want to sync.
backups is the name of the bucket. Do ./s3cmd createbucket
: is a seperator
backups is a prefix for the bucket.
-v means verbose, so you can see the progress in your screen.
If screen quits too fast, the command may not have worked.
If you detached and screen doesn't resume, your job may done, check your s3 to see if files transferred.
Also, make sure you have your s3config.yml file ready, you need to copy your key from your Amazon AWS account.
10-plus essential applications for Windows 7
As a full-time Linux user, I'm not a very big Windows fan. However, I'd like to present some apps I zealously adhered to over my old days as a poweruser.
When a friend or colleague has a bogged-down system (be it by viruses, badware or general oldness), I often ask if they're willing to Backup their Documents/Music and reformat. This means installing applications over again, but the improvements are always substantial.
Updates
- March 20, 2010 - Dress up article with some screenshots / images.
- March 17, 2010 - Added Sumatra PDF, a free, open source PDF viewer.
A note
The install wizards on these programs may bait you into downloading Yahoo! or Ask.com software. If the Terms of Service/Privacy policy in the install wizard says "I agree to xxx and to Installing Yahoo!/Ask.com", Don't check it. Just click next/Install. If you accidentally do, go to Add/Remove apps and uninstall, you don't want them.
Here are some of the apps I download after a fresh OEM install:
Grab all your essentials in one sitting: Ninite
Type (License): Freeware (Proprietary)
Website: http://ninite.com/
This program is a deliverance from the almighty himself. Check the boxes for the programs you want to install and it will create a batch installer. You need internet access to do this. It includes everything from Java and Flash to Dropbox, to VLC, to steam, Open Office, Abiword, Skype, etc.
I could end this post right here, but I'll go on.
Tweaking: TuneUp Utilities 2006-2010
Type (License): $49.00 / Demo (proprietary)
Website: http://www.tune-up.com/products/tuneup-utilities/
The king of all system control apps. Has full features for performance tweaking, removing junk files, optimizing network settings and even theming. The 2010 version even has a turbo mode that removes system services to make your computer zip. It has so many features I can't fit them.
Privacy / Performance: CCleaner
Alternative to: TuneUp Utilities
Type (License): Freeware (proprietary)
Website: http://www.ccleaner.com
This is a free registry/cache/junk file cleaner.
Tip: Make sure you go into settings and choose to "Secure delete". Choose the DoD 3-pass clean.
Tip 2: Consider checking the box to erase "Free space" too. Not all the time because it's time-consuming.
Privacy: Eraser
Type (License): Freeware (Open Source)
Site: http://eraser.heidi.ie/
Description: Delete means delete. Microsoft considers hard drive encryption to be a feature you pay for and its filesystems are extremely insecure (FAT32 has no security, anyone can view anything, NTFS has little). Microsoft is very deceptive that Windows doesn't notify you that you're not really permanently deleting your files until you overwrite them.
Read more about eraser at Stanford's SLAC: http://www.stanford.edu/services/encryption/desktop/windows/securedelete.html
Tip: Make sure to erase any free space on your hard drive as well.
Tip 2: You can also right click your Recycle bin and securely erase your bin.
Privacy: Truecrypt
Alternative to: Microsoft Bitlocker
Type (License): Freeware (Open Source)
Site: http://truecrypt.org
Even though you'll never need it. You never know when you'll get blindsided. You could lose your laptop, have it stolen, etc. Even having one layer of weak encryption will throw off thieves and give you great peace of mind.
Lite, Effective Antivirus: NOD32
Type (License): $40/yr Subscription (Proprietary)
Website: https://www.eset.de
ASM-based virus scanner. Very low memory footprint. Fast.
It also works great when using Windows 7 as a guest (a la VirtualBox)
Free Antivirus Alternatives
AVG Free
Type (License): Free (Proprietary)
Website: http://free.avg.com/de-en/homepage
ClamAV
Type (License): Free (Open Source)
Website: http://clamwin.com
Micro$oft Security Essentials
Type (License): Free (Proprietary)
Website: http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/
Audiophiles: Foobar
Type (License): Freeware (License)
Website: http://www.foobar2000.org/
Simple, playlist-based music player with a low memory footprint.
Torrenting: µtorrent
Website: http://www.utorrent.com
Type (License): Freeware (Proprietary)
Torrent client with tons of features, oddly small size and low-memory footprint. Very stable.
Office Essentials: Open Office
Alternative to: Microsoft Office
Website: http://www.openoffice.org
Type (License): Freeware (License here)
Get all your essentials with OpenOffice. Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint are too pricy.
PDF Viewer: Sumata
Alternative to: Adobe Reader
Website: http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/index.html
Type (License): Freeware (Open source)
This is a very lite, stable PDF viewing solution.
Gaming: Steam
Alternative to: Greedy retailers like Best Buy and Gamestop
Type (License): Freeware (Proprietary)
DRM gaming. But steam takes the pain out of it. No limits on redownloading the software you purchase. Stable. Time-tested. (You can grab this with Ninite too.)
You have to pay for the games, of course. However the long-term benefits of using Steam make it worth it. It saves you from scratched CD's and managing all your cd-keys.
Steam store also offers generous software bundles of related games (Civilization, Valve, etc) and can save you tons of money.
Virtualization / Guest OS: Virtualbox
Alternative to: VMWare Workstation, VirtualPC
Type (License): Freeware (License details here)
Website: http://www.virtualbox.org
If you want to try out Linux or keep a sandbox'd operating system to do programming on, VirtualBox is will accept Windows, Linux and *BSD as guest OS's. It'll run on Linux too.
Notes: Repairing a broken G1 / HTC Dream
HTC Dream / T-Mobile G1
Recently had a situation where I borked my G1 / HTC Dream. It took me hours to fix. This isn't a tutorial on how to install third party roms or root your G1, it's more of a troubleshooting thing.
Screen would be stuck on the "T-mobile G1 Screen". If it's on there for longer than 5-10 minutes, you have have an issue.
Had to pull battery out many times.
SPL to use is HardSPL. Look here: http://code.google.com/p/android-roms/wiki/Install_Hard_SPL. To check your SPL boot holding Camera+Disconnect buttons. Hold camera to switch between Fastboot and serial.
HardSPL includes fastboot. Fastboot lets you flash recovery images when no other options are available. You can grab flashboot for Linux/OS X/Windows at http://developer.htc.com/adp.html.
Fastboot binary may require you type sudo before, for elevated use permissions.
Download the SDK for your operating system, move fastboot into the /tools folder. If on linux or OS X, chmod +x fastboot.
$ sudo ./fastboot flash recovery recovery_image.img
Recovery images. cm-recovery 1.4 is OK. However RA-Dream (amon recovery) is superior (supports adb, console and sd card mounting from it). Big time saver because you'll be transferring stuff to/from your SD card often.
Reinstalling Cyanogen sometimes means you may need to install the original HTC 1.6 image (MD5sum: b3e12b004c155761a10b1a848288e0c3) http://www.baroukh.com/adp1/signed-dream_devphone_userdebug-ota-14721.zip
For the fastboot image (no signature for updater to check against, fastboot only, MD5: a06a3d24ff4cbe5c81317e41891e6965): http://www.baroukh.com/adp1/signed-dream_devphone_userdebug-img-14721.zip
Then you can grab Cyanogenmod and upgrade via Recovery: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=567610
Howdy!
I'm Tony Narlock. I'm a web developer from Texas with a love of open source software. I'm a ubuntero, a bsd user, a rails scaffolder, a drupaller, and a new python programmer. I can currently be found reading VIM tips, python books, and spending a weekend by the fire cooking a new app.Find Me On
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