tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13184653524770306892012-02-16T06:33:55.202-07:00stardomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15306447582535668705noreply@blogger.comBlogger71100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318465352477030689.post-65553693598050268342009-05-17T08:30:00.000-06:002009-05-17T08:35:28.741-06:00Ok so here are some linux websites I find useful.<p>First for the distros that I use most<br><a href="http://www.debian.org">http://www.debian.org</a><br><a href="http://www.debian-multimedia.org">http://www.debian-multimedia.org</a><br><a href="http://www.slackware.com">http://www.slackware.com</a><br><a href="http://www.gentoo.org">http://www.gentoo.org</a><br><a href="http://www.crunchbang.org">http://www.crunchbang.org</a><br><a href="http://www.ubuntu.com">http://www.ubuntu.com</a><p>Now for the help sites I use most.<br><a href="http://www.linux.com">http://www.linux.com</a><br><a href="http://www.tldp.org">http://www.tldp.org</a> &lt;--Bar non the best collection of linux howto&#39;s<br>The forum sites for debian, ubuntu, and gentoo also provide great howto&#39;s <br>that will work on most linux systems even though they were written to be <br>distro specific.<br><a href="http://www.google.com">http://www.google.com</a> &lt;--the best search site for all linux programs lol. <br>This is where I find howto&#39;s and other info pertaining to linux and linux <br>programs. :)<p>Of course you all have a great site to follow at this site at <br><a href="http://gvlug.blogspot.com">http://gvlug.blogspot.com</a> which is where I post.<p>Well browse around and see what you like. If you find a great site for <br>linux or unix help let me know with an e-mail. See you all Tuesday!<p>Joe Mason<br><a href="mailto:joe@delswoodcraft.com">joe@delswoodcraft.com</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1318465352477030689-6555369359805026834?l=gvlug.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>stardomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15306447582535668705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318465352477030689.post-67855336750652416282009-05-15T08:21:00.001-06:002009-05-15T08:21:10.942-06:00Ok everyone we are less than a week away from our second Linux Users Group <br>meeting in the grand valley. Once again we will be meeting from noon to <br>one thirty on Tuesday May 19th at Main Street Bagel.<p>This months topic is going to be using the command line to manipulate and <br>edit text files. Text files are the way of storing configuration files in <br>linux. Almost every program that you&#39;ve ever used in linux, including our <br>pretty gui programs have a simple text file configuration. The files we <br>will focus on for this meeting include fstab, conkyrc, and cups.conf, and <br>hosts. Each of these files have a different syntax from one another but <br>follow conventions that many other configuration files use.<p>As always if you have a laptop bring it to the meeting with you as we will <br>be hacking away at the keyboard as much as possible with this meeting. As <br>always I will be available to anwser your questions to the best of my <br>ability.<p>I look forward to seeing you there.<p><br>Joe Mason<br><a href="mailto:joe@delswoodcraft.com">joe@delswoodcraft.com</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1318465352477030689-6785533675065241628?l=gvlug.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>stardomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15306447582535668705noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318465352477030689.post-83746097210254701872009-04-19T23:55:00.000-06:002009-04-20T00:58:33.940-06:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZQGgbtHZdPM/SewZAFTV59I/AAAAAAAAAAU/qYyFvZM9BNo/s1600-h/Screenshot.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZQGgbtHZdPM/SewZAFTV59I/AAAAAAAAAAU/qYyFvZM9BNo/s320/Screenshot.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326659948486453202" /></a> <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZQGgbtHZdPM/SewY_0AUFcI/AAAAAAAAAAM/-RzWJ1E8ATo/s1600-h/Screenshot-2.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZQGgbtHZdPM/SewY_0AUFcI/AAAAAAAAAAM/-RzWJ1E8ATo/s320/Screenshot-2.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326659943843239362" /></a> <br />Hello all! <br /> <br />Ok one of the things that I noticed many of you were looking for at our last meeting was some errata on linux commands for the command line. I've done some digging through some of my old books and such and then looked online and I found a great site for everyone. The site has all the information in it that I paid $19.99 for lol. <br /><a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/cmd/>Linux in a nutshell 5th edition</a> check it out and enjoy. <br /> <br />Now for a quick howto... <br /> <br />How many of you use twitter? Well perhaps you would like to send tweets directly from the command line. It's very simple to do this for debian or ubuntu users it's as simple as this. <br /> <br />Open a terminal window <br />type in Code: <br />sudo apt-get install python-twitter python-twyt <br /> <br />now in that same terminal type in Code: <br />touch .tweetrc <br /> <br />now use your favorite editor (I use vi and it's available on almost every unix/linux computer :) <br />to edit this file that we just created with the command touch <br />Code: <br />vi .tweetrc <br />or <br />gvim .tweetrc (for a graphical editor :) <br /> <br />Place the following lines into your file <br /> <br />[Tweet] <br />username: (your twitter username) <br />password: (your twitter password) <br /> <br />that's it save and exit your editor. <br />now back on that command line simply type this <br />Code: <br />tweet (your message here) <br /> <br />Now here is the cavet lol. no commas, or apostrophe's lol. It takes some getting used to but I'm sure that you'll figure it out. If you need help just get in touch with me and I'll help you out. <br /> <br />Next on deck... <br /> <br />Ideas for our next meeting. I would like to here from all of you what you would like me to prepare to help you with for our next meeting. I have tons of ideas for what I could present and workshop with all of you, but I don't know what you would like to learn. If I receive no suggestions then I'm going to plan on demonstrating and work-shopping conky. It's a great system monitor that I've just spent the last 20 or so hours figuring out how to configure the way I like it. Believe me when I tell you that configuring it is not for the faint of heart. It took me several hours to figure out the proper syntax for how to get mine to display lol. There is no easy howto online for this program and it's one of the most powerful, popular and customizable system monitors around. <br /> <br />I have included some screenshots of my desktop on this post to show you conky on the right side of my desktop. I spent so many hours working on it that I can't help but be a little proud of it. Notice that the small amount of jumbled text at the bottom is not apart of conky but is instead an embedded terminal showing the last few mesages of a log file <br /> <br />I hope to here from you all soon. Until then happy *nixing! <br /> <br />Joe <br />joe@delswoodcraft.com<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1318465352477030689-8374609721025470187?l=gvlug.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>stardomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15306447582535668705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318465352477030689.post-91593926406711530982009-04-17T10:20:00.000-06:002009-04-17T10:33:45.044-06:00Sorry it's been a week since our first meeting and I'm just now getting this post up. Thanks to all who attended, it was great to meet you all. Below is my outline that I followed roughly during our meeting. I'm going to work on some ideas for next months meeting and put together something with Rick. I hope to see you all there and new faces as well.<br /><br />Happy *nixing!<br />Joe<br /><br /><br />What is Linux?<br /><br />Linux is a kernel developed by linux torvolds as an tool to learn about intel 386 architecture processors.<br />The Linux OS is a collection of programs and the linux kernel. Other similar OS's include opensolaris (sun microsystems) bsd (Berkely software distrobution) HURD (GNU HURD)<br /><br />What makes linux different?<br /><br />The linux kernel is open-source. This is the key to linux and much of it's success. There are no hidden parts of the program. ANYONE is free to use, modify, redistribute, and yes even sell products based on the linux kernel. The kernel was first licensed under the origional GNU GPL (the GPL has changed over the years and the kernel license has changed over the years) and any redistribution of the kernel (modified or not) must adhere to the current GPL that it's licensed under.<br />Linus Torvolds holds the only copyright to linux. (long story but for legal reasons :)<br /><br />What is a distro?<br /><br />Ok to the real stuff. With so many distrobutions available what's the difference. A distrobution is nothing more than a collection of programs/scripts and the linux kernel bundled together for installation/use.<br />I've found that these distro's are gathered by mostly individuals or groups with a specific philosophy/goal in mind. They put together the programs/scripts and kernel and usually an installation program, or hopefully really good instructions for how to install the OS.<br /><br />ubuntu- goodwill towards others<br />debian- to create a "FREE" OS<br />slackware- to create the most "unix-like" OS<br />gentoo- Extreme configurability, and performance with a top notch<br /> ports-like package manager.<br /><br />What can linux do for you?<br /><br />First off Linux in general requires less resources than 98/NT/2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7. This means that perfectly good hardware will last you even longer than it's useful windows life. (That is not to say that the physical components have and added lifespan :)<br />Enhanced security features that microsoft is just beginning to add.<br />Advanced controls and permissions to keep your kids and your computer safe.<br />A never-ending supply of freely available programs to do just about anything you want to do! (anyone want to do rocket science, or map the universe, or genetic modification?)<br />Plain and simple Linux provides a free secure and activly developed suite of apps that run on almost any computer to perform almost any task, and definatly has alternatives to many of the most popular windows apps.<br /><br />What do I need to run Linux?<br /><br />Just about any computer will run linux. Also tons of portable devices are now able to run linux as well. The hardware you "need" is based upon what you want to do with your computer. I've set up linux on pentium I computers and laptops with great success. With proper knowledge and some good sense you could even get linux to run on a 486 and still have it perform well.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1318465352477030689-9159392640671153098?l=gvlug.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>stardomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15306447582535668705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318465352477030689.post-27609250396648016412009-03-31T17:51:00.000-06:002009-03-31T17:55:21.096-06:00ok if you ever wanted to stop a program that's frozen, or just get some more info for a program your command line is your best friend.<br />First off to take care of that pesky frozen program!<br /><br />In a terminal (xterm, gnome-term, aterm, mrxvt...) type in ps -A | grep <part><br /><br />ex. ps -A |grep fire (will locate any process id's that are for firefox)<br /><br />It will give a line similare to the one below<br />3510 ? 00:00:39 firefox-bin<br /><br />The first part of this line is the process id , then who owns the process then the amount of time the process has been running and finally the name of the process.<br /><br />Next we get rid of that pesky frozen program with the kill command. kill <pid><br /><br />ex. kill 3510 (to kill the frozen firefox)<br /><br />Run the ps command again to verify that it has indeed been killed. When successful your second ps command won't show up anything, and your browser should have already disappeared from your desktop.<br /><br />To get more information about a problematic program and what it's doing try executing it from an terminal window. Simply type the name of the command in at the prompt.<br /><br />ex. drivel<br /><br />This will display all the messages of what the program is attempting to do and possibly give some insight as to what the problem is to be fixed. (works fantastic for finding broken dependencies and such!) It's much faster for finding easy fixes than searching the system logs, but not as complete. It can also give you a great clue as to what you're looking for in your logs!<br /><br />Happy *nixing everyone!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1318465352477030689-2760925039664801641?l=gvlug.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>stardomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15306447582535668705noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318465352477030689.post-82794933249638163532009-03-29T17:08:00.000-06:002009-03-29T17:09:27.502-06:00Our first LUG meeting will be on Thursday, April 9 from Noon-1:30pm at Main Street Bagel in Grand Junction.<br />We will be covering an introduction to linux and discussing group meeting details. After that we will be helping those who wish to install linux. Rick and I will both be bringing live/install usb/cd/dvd's to facilitate the installations. If you wish to have linux installed on a laptop or netbook we should be able to help you get everything working. For those of you that want to install on your desktops at home I advise that you stay for the install-fest so that you can see examples and be able to avoid problems.<br />Well I hope to see plenty of people there!<br />Joe<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1318465352477030689-8279493324963816353?l=gvlug.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>stardomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15306447582535668705noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318465352477030689.post-9555649137802988892009-03-26T22:29:00.000-06:002009-03-26T22:29:39.769-06:00LUG in the Grand Valley<br /><p>Welcome to by blog for the Linux User Group in the Grand Valley. I've decided to create this blog as a place where I can put various information and help for the Linux OS, as well vent frustration at those aspects that I have yet to fully understand lol.</p><p><br />I hope you find what I post here helpful, and if you're interested in joining a linux user group and live within an easy drive to meet in Grand Junction Colorado please visit www.helpmerick.com for now to watch for news and info for joining. </p><p><br />Rick Castellini is a great guy that I met with yesterday for the first time. His site is a great Q&A site that offers some great content, from tips to advise his site is a must have bookmark for all computer users that want to use the tools, and don't want all the "techie" babble to go with it.</p><p><br />With any luck we will be able to put together a website and forum for members soon. Until then watch www.helpmerick.com and this blog for more updates.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1318465352477030689-955564913780298889?l=gvlug.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>stardomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15306447582535668705noreply@blogger.com0