Linux User Accounts and Security
Author’s note: This article is excerpted in part from Appendix 1 of my book, Linux for Small Business Owners, with some changes to update it...
How I use SSHFS to access remote filesystems
I've taken a lot of digital pictures over the years, and scanned a bunch more prints into digital format. I've also collected a good number...
What is an operating system?
The operating system manages the operation of the computer and of the application software which runs on the computer. The definition A simple definition of...
The dd command — the Disk Destroyer
Yes -- dd -- the disk destroyer. The command that strikes fear into the hearts of SysAdmins everywhere. It did for me, too, until I...
Harnessing Ollama for financial analysis
Several weeks ago, a person asked me to assist her with organizing her financial records and taking them to a tax professional. This person does...
The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins, Tenet 10 — Use common sense naming
Typing is not my forte and the Lazy SysAdmin does everything possible to reduce typing. I take that seriously. This tenet expands on that but there is much more to it than just reducing the amount of typing I need to do. It is also about the readability of scripts and naming things so that they are more understandable.
Perfctl malware infects thousands of Linux hosts since 2021
ArsTechnica has an article about the thousands of Linux systems infected by this well-designed malware that's been dubbed Perfectl. The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2023-33246, is...
Pandoc: Transform Your Documents with Ease
Pandoc is a versatile command-line tool facilitating seamless file conversions between different markup formats. It supports an extensive range of input and output formats, making...
I found a new way to stress-test my Linux hosts
I just discovered an important little program that allows me to stress-test my Linux hosts. Its name is -- stress -- of course. Stress has...
The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins, Tenet 09 — Test Early, Test Often
You know it’s as easy to forget to write about testing the programs I write as it is to overlook testing the programs themselves. Why is that?
I wish I had a definitive answer. In some ways it is like documentation. Once the program seems to work we just want to get on with doing whatever task caused us to write the program in the first place.
VirtualBox failures
I just tried to update VirtualBox and encountered some strange problems. It started when a student of mine tried to update their Fedora 40 host...
Unlocking the secrets of the /proc filesystem
In a previous article, 4 open source tools for Linux system monitoring, I looked at tools like top, htop, and others, that allow SysAdmins to...
My oldest computer is 19 years old; Linux keeps it going
Longevity – an interesting word. I use it here to help clarify some of the statements that I hear many people make. These statements are usually along the lines of “Linux can extend the life of existing hardware,” or “Keep old hardware out of landfills or uncertified recycling facilities.” So let me introduce you to my oldest computer.
Effortlessly Transform Your Markdown Documents to Accessible Formats with Pandoc
I have been experimenting extensively with Ollama and other artificial intelligence tools, and the answers to my prompts are always rendered in Markdown. I have...
How I create Linux device files — and why
First, what the heck is a Linux device file -- and why should I care? Linux handles almost everything as a file. This has some...