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Posts tagged linux
Compiling Linux Apps from Source
May 13th
Just wanted to share this great resource with folks. My brother has recently gotten into linux and he’s trying to stick it out because of the difficulty factor. He got very confused, as did we all, about installing applications and understanding how things are separated in open source and not all bundled together like Windows – where in windows your OS/Desktop/Kernel are all known as Microsoft Windows – compared to linux where your kernel, desktop, distributions, applications are all different applications working together.
OK; I’m ranting. Linux Reality is an awesome podcast, which was retired at episode 100. I’ve downloaded all his files and I listen to it periodically. A good replacement would be Going Linux. This one that I’m sharing is about compiling linux application from the provided source.
How to Backup Your Linux Data
May 12th
Since I’m new to linux, one of the most important tip to know is how to back up your data. With Windows we’re all used to the fact that our data is saved in multiple areas on the computer. Unless you’re very computer savvy it’s hard to know where everything is. It’s a bit different with linux. The files to your applications may be in different areas of the file structure, but all of your important confirguration files to those applications is conviently saved in your /home directory.
Hidden Files and Folders
You may not see them at first. That’s because they are hidden. If you’re using the GNOME desktop, then your file browser (equivilent to Windows Explorer) is Nauttilus. Find your /home directory, usually found /home/{username}/. You can either click on View | Show Hidden Files, or keyboard shortcut CTRL+H to show your hidden files and folders. Once that’s done you will see files and folder that begin with a period.
May 10th
A GUI is a very complex piece of software and there could be any number of reasons why it would lock up on you. If you need to kill your x server and then restart it, here are some tips:
Killing X server via Terminal
Open a Terminal (ex: gnome-terminal) and type:
# init 3
That will kill the x server and throw you into runlevel 3 mode (all text). If it doesn’t find the command, then switch to the root user by typing “su -” (you will need to know the root password).
Restarting X server
If you need to restart the X server, and you’re in GUI mode, simply use the keyboard combination CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE. For the most part, it’ll work.
Virtual Machine
Apr 8th
I’m toying with the idea of using a virtual machine inside of linux. It’s been about two+ weeks or so since I last logged into my windows partition. And to be honest it’s mainly because my activation is up and I just don’t want to try and figure it out anymore. I learned the other day that I can run VM software inside of linux (other OSs too) and actually save a particular state (just like I used to with video game emulators) and if anything goes wrong – just load from my last save. This can probably work as well, in regards to activation. I don’t plan on installing or using heavy applications – so in theory, if I get my installation fine and immediatly install the apps I plan on using. Then I can save that state and whenever things go wrong just reload my last state and I’ll have another 30-days of bliss windows usage. Just a thought.
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