Using the command line calendar and date functions in Linux
have always been interested in historical dates and determining the actual day of the week an event occurred. What day of the week was the Declaration of Independence signed? What day of the week was I born? What day of the week did the 4th of July in 1876 occur? I know that you can use search engines to answer many of these questions. But did you know that the Linux command line can supply those answers, too?
6 Linux metacharacters I love to use on the command line
Using metacharacters on the Linux command line is a great way to enhance productivity.
Early in my Linux journey, I learned how to use the command line. It’s what sets Linux apart. I could lose the graphical user interface (GUI), because it was unnecessary to rebuild the machine completely. Many Linux computers run headless, and you can accomplish all the administrative tasks on the command line. It uses many basic commands that all are familiar with—like ls, ls-l, ls-l, cd, pwd, top, and many more.
David Both: My Open Source Story
Here I am, almost 30 years into my personal crazy open source story, and it shows no sign of abating. And my problem is that I like to know how things work and to fix things. I started fixing TVs, ours and the neighbors’, when I was nine or ten. Read on to discover how that led me into the open source world.
Why DOS only has 16 colors
Have you ever wondered why DOS text only comes in 16 colors and 8 background colors?
Open and the right to repair and modify
The right to repair the hardware we purchase is as basic and important as the right to see and modify the code for the open source software we use. One vendor has embraced that with a passion. System76 of Denver, Colorado, builds a complete line of repairable desktops and laptops. They’re also in the process of designing a new laptop that uses components that can be upgraded as well as repaired.
How to configure multiple websites with Apache web server
Here’s how to host two or more websites on Apache, a popular and powerful web server. With name-based virtual hosting, you can use a single IP address for multiple websites. Modern web servers, including Apache, use the hostname portion of the specified URL to determine which virtual web host responds to the page request. This requires only a little more configuration than for a single site.
SpamAssassin, MIMEDefang, and Procmail: Best Trio of 2024
This trio of applications can be combined to manage server-side email sorting in a beautiful and elegant way. They are my “Best Trio,” because resolving the problem I set out to fix—effective server-side email sorting—took three pieces of software working together. Here’s how I got everything to work using SpamAssassin, MIMEDefang, and Procmail–three common and freely available open source software packages.
Using ‘awk’ to filter text
Here’s how to use awk to strip out sample code from a Markdown file.
Using the Alpine Linux email client to access messages from any network
Sometimes when I’m traveling, I have trouble sending email from my devices that typically connect to my ISP at home via hardwire or WiFi. This is because some ISPs do not like outbound email to leave their network unless it is routed through their own email servers. But you need to have an account with the ISP in order to send outbound email through their servers.
This intentional blocking of outbound port 25 for email is usually aimed at preventing hijacked hosts from acting as spambots and sending email over the ISP’s network.
Read about how I circumvented that problem.
Replacing rc.local in systemd Linux systems
Missing rc.local for adding commands to run on startup?
The rc.local file was—and in some cases still is—the place for Linux sysadmins to put commands that need to be run at startup. Use of the rc.local file is not only deprecated but after a couple of hours worth of attempts, was not working in any event. This despite the fact that the systemd documentation mentions the use of a “generator” that generates systemd services from an rc.local file if one exists.
Here’s how to set up similar functionality with today’s systemd.
Problem solving strategies for SysAdmins
Solving complex problems is not a straightforward proposition.
I’ve participated in plenty of technical interviews with people who had passed many certification tests and who had fine resumes. I also participated in many interviews in which we were looking for Linux skills, but very few of those applicants had certifications. Very few of the Linux applicants were yet certified.
Few of the Windows certificate owners could reason their way through the scenarios we presented while a very large percentage of the Linux applicants were able to do so.
Managing devices in Linux
There are many interesting features of the Linux directory structure. In this article I cover some fascinating aspects of the /dev directory.
Device files are also known as device special files. Device files are employed to provide the operating system and users an interface to the devices that they represent. All Linux device files are located in the /dev directory, which is an integral part of the root (/) filesystem.
Get started with Midnight Commander, a visual shell and file manager for Linux
Midnight Commander (MC) is a text-based Command Line Interface (CLI) program. It is particularly useful when a GUI is not available but can also be used as a primary file manager in a terminal session even when you are using a GUI. Midnight Commander can be used to interact with local and remote Linux computers using the CLI.
The man page for Midnight Commander calls it a visual shell because it’s capabilities are greater than the file manager we usually use it as. This article will provide you with enough information to get started using Midnight Commander as a file manager as well as its other capabilities.
Streamline Your Small Business with This Open Source Accounting App
Using GnuCash puts you in control of your small business.
Get Publii – Static Site Generator
You don’t need a web content management system to create and maintain websites.