Terminal size and ncurses
When programs like vi first came along, terminals had a predefined size: usually 80 columns and 24 lines (actually 25 lines, but the last line...
Searching text files from the command line
The find command is a powerful and flexible tool to locate files under a path.
Random numbers from the Linux kernel
Let the kernel generate random numbers for you using ‘getrandom.’
Working with Ollama
Now that I'm working with Ollama, I needed to figure out how to locate the models on my storage medium and determine the amount of...
A gentle introduction to ncurses
You can create your own programs that use a text user interface to control the screen.
Sharing Linux with a friend
I volunteer with Meals on Wheels once a week, and one of the clients on my route is a man my age. We frequently spend...
Exploring Ollama and Llama 3.1 for Advanced Language Modeling
Everywhere you look, someone is talking or writing about artificial intelligence. I have been keenly interested in the topic since my graduate school days in...
Heading to the Beach
Tomorrow, Saturday as I write this, we’ll be heading to Atlantic Beach, our current favorite. By then time you read it, we’ll be there enjoying the amazing views including the one in the picture above. We do this every year.
To make my computing life as seamless as possible, I take my laptop. I always sync my home directory from my primary workstation to my laptop, named Voyager3 or vgr3 for short.
Setting the status line for the screen program
In my recent article about the Screen program, I mention that one of the best things about the Screen program is that it gets out of the way and lets you just do your work. As a result, there may be no on-screen indication that you’re in a Screen session. That can cause a bit of bother.
I decided to investigate. What I found is interesting.
Using the screen command for flexibility
You might at first think of “screen” as the device on which your Linux desktop is displayed. That is one meaning. For SysAdmins like us,...
How I send email from the command line
There are times when I find it useful to send email from the command line. I’m not talking about using one of the text mode clients llike Alpine. I mean sending email directly from the command line.
How to access Rescue mode (runlevel 1) in Linux
I frequently find need to perform maintenance on the filesystem of one of my dozen or so physical computers. Many maintenance tasks require the system to be running the Rescue.target, formerly, runlevel 1. There are two methods you can use to enter Rescue mode.
The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins, Tenet 06 — Be the Lazy SysAdmin
I am a lazy SysAdmin. I am also a very productive SysAdmin. Those two seemingly contradictory statements are not mutually exclusive, rather they are complementary in a very positive way. This article is about working hard at the right tasks to optimize our own efficiency. It’s about finding a few of the myriad ways to use the short cuts already built into Linux.
Top Five reasons I use Dolphin as my file manager
Linux has many file managers, and all of us have our favorites. I’m currently using Dolphin. Find out why.
Top Five things you can do with nano
In the early stages of my experience with Linux servers, I had to learn how to edit text files using the command line. While there are other powerful text editors in Linux, such as vi and vim, I found Nano to be particularly useful.