Ubuntu is a free open source operating system based on the Debian GNU/Linux distribution.
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3answers
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How to password protect gzip files on the command line?
I want to create some tar.gz (and possibly tar.bz2) files, using the tar command on Ubuntu 10.04.
I want to password protect the file.
What is the command to do this (I have Googled, but found ...
18
votes
5answers
10k views
18
votes
5answers
5k views
What is the difference between Debian and Ubuntu?
From what I heard Ubuntu is a basically a Debian Linux with some extra applications and drivers pre-installed in order to make it more user friendly.
Is that all? Or are there deeper, more ...
18
votes
8answers
44k views
How to get an inactive RAID device working again?
After booting, my RAID1 device (/dev/md_d0 *) sometimes goes in some funny state and I cannot mount it.
* Originally I created /dev/md0 but it has somehow changed itself into /dev/md_d0.
# mount ...
18
votes
1answer
15k views
How to reload /etc/environment without rebooting?
/etc/environment is officially the correct place for system wide environment variables. But how can I reload the assignments in this file without rebooting or relogging?
Interestingly enough google ...
17
votes
7answers
3k views
Why create many partitions?
I have noticed that when installing Ubuntu some people create multiple partitions for directories. Like one for root, one for home, one for boot. What is the advantage to doing this over installing ...
17
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4answers
37k views
How do I create an admin user on Ubuntu?
I want to create a a user having sudo powers in Ubuntu. How can I do that?
17
votes
3answers
4k views
Zsh not hitting ~/.profile
I've just installed zsh on my Ubuntu system. It seems zsh isn't executing ~/.profile on init. To my best understanding, this should be an automatic behavior. What am I missing?
17
votes
3answers
28k views
How can I update gcc to the latest version in Ubuntu 10.04?
I have Ubuntu 10.04 32-bit with gcc 4.4.3 currently installed on it. I want to upgrade it to gcc 4.6.1.
How to update using Ubuntu Package Manager:
apt-get upgrade/install
As a second option I ...
17
votes
2answers
8k views
What's difference between group admin and adm?
There's two similar groups in ubuntu: admin and adm, I found that /var/log/apache2 is in the adm group, and default sudoers includes admin group, what's difference between the two?
17
votes
5answers
6k views
How do I make mailto: links open gmail in Ubuntu?
I've tried using this How-To Geek guide, but it doesn't work. Running the script from the terminal works (although I had to change its permissions first), but clicking on a mailto: link does nothing.
...
17
votes
7answers
7k views
Find all user-installed packages
Is there any way to get a list of all user-installed packages on an Ubuntu system, i.e. the packages that were installed on top of the default installed packages?
(The idea is to get a comprehensive ...
17
votes
1answer
8k views
Ubuntu's /etc/alternatives mechanism
I'm trying to better understand Ubuntu's /etc/alternatives mechanism. The basics are easy: it allow for multiple "providers" to be installed on the same machine, and configures which is the default. ...
16
votes
5answers
3k views
Does dual-booting an OS require a dual-core processor?
My friend claims that dual booting, using two different OSes, requires a multi-core or multi-threaded processor. Is this true?
And if I install additional OSes, will my computer slow down any?
16
votes
5answers
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what does the asterisk mean after a filename if you do ls -l
I've done an ls -l inside a directory, and my files are displaying like this :
james@nevada:~/development/tools/android-sdk-linux_86/tools$ ll
total 9512
drwxr-xr-x 3 james james 4096 2010-05-07 ...
16
votes
6answers
6k views
Alternative for WinMerge in Ubuntu
I need to compare/diff/merge files in an easy way. In windows I would use WinMerge. What alternatives for this are available in Ubuntu?
The things I must be able to do:
See 2 files line by line ...
16
votes
8answers
8k views
Is it possible to dual boot two OS's at the same time?
Is it possible to dual boot two OS's at the same time?
For example: I'm currently dual booting Ubuntu 11.04 and Windows 7. Ubuntu is running on a single 500gb HDD, Windows 7 is running on 1TB RAID 1 ...
16
votes
1answer
11k views
How to open a menu with 'Open Terminal Here' in Ubuntu 10.04 by left clicking desktop, or inside folder?
How can I customize Ubuntu 10.04 so the menu created by left clicking inside a folder or desktop gives me the option of opening up a terminal in that location? I have thsi functionality in the XFCE ...
16
votes
6answers
25k views
How to extract text with OCR from a PDF on Linux?
How do I extract text from a PDF that wasn't built with an index? It's all text, but I can't search or select anything. I'm running Kubuntu, and Okular doesn't have this feature.
16
votes
9answers
1k views
How safe is locking the screen?
So, both windows and linux have a pretty useful feature that allows you to leave everything running on the PC while also keeping invaders away by locking the screen. My question is:
Say I leave my ...
16
votes
1answer
10k views
How can I launch the GNOME image viewer from the terminal?
It's the default image viewer for Ubuntu, and apparently it's called Eye of Gnome. I would like to be able to launch it from the command line, passing it a file name to open.
16
votes
10answers
21k views
Enable System Beep in Ubuntu
I have tried and tried to get the system beep working, but with no success.
I have selected System-->Sound-->System Beep-->Enable Audible Beep (from the Gnome Desktop)
I have tried from a Terminal ...
16
votes
4answers
28k views
How can I get VirtualBox to play nicely with dual monitors?
I use VirtualBox to run a Ubuntu x64 guest under a Vista x64 host with a 19" and 15" monitor.
I enable seamless mode in VirtualBox, but the windows don't actually move anywhere other than the ...
16
votes
6answers
81k views
boot Windows from GRUB rescue
This is my situation:
installed Ubuntu without a CD (using unetbootin)
dual boot installation (Windows XP+Ubuntu)
didn't like the installation and decided to boot into Windows and delete the Linux ...
16
votes
2answers
6k views
How to start networking on a wired interface before logon in Ubuntu Desktop Edition
Problem
Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop Edition (and possibly previous versions as well, I haven't tested them) has no network connections after boot until at least 1 user logs in. This means any services that ...
15
votes
10answers
17k views
How to upgrade Git on Ubuntu Hardy?
I have Git version 1.5.4.3 installed, but I think this must be an old version. I'm running Ubuntu Hardy 8.04. I need to install at least version 1.6 to get a Git GUI to work. How do I upgrade my ...
15
votes
3answers
31k views
How to install vim.full in Ubuntu?
I've installed Ubuntu Server but I have only vim.basic?
How do i install vim.full?
Tried with aptitude install vim but it said it's always installed.
Because vim is a soft link to vim.basic.
15
votes
3answers
9k views
Installing Microsoft ttf fonts on Ubuntu
I want to install a Microsoft Vista TTF font (lets say Consolas), on Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope).
How do I go about doing that?
15
votes
2answers
11k views
Is it possible to install the Helvetica font on linux?
I don't know too much about the licensing issues surrounding fonts, but I would like to install Helvetica on my machine for my own personal use. I haven't been able to find a whole lot about this on ...
15
votes
3answers
10k views
How to run a cron job as a specific user?
I would like to run a cron job as a specific user on my machine. How may I specify the user for a cron job to run as?.
I am running on Ubuntu 10.0.4
[Edit]
The cron jobs will be running on a ...
15
votes
10answers
2k views
Software to switch between OS
My question might sound too weired and tricky, but is there any way (software/hardware) that I can use to switch between 2 OS without restarting my PC?
Actually I have Windows 7 and Ubuntu installed ...
15
votes
7answers
6k views
Remote desktop to Mac from various platforms (Windows, Ubuntu)
I fear I know the answer to this already, but I would like to be able to connect to my Mac Mini in a 'remote desktop' fashion.
I would like to connect to my Mac as if I were sat at my desk, but I ...
15
votes
6answers
280 views
Want to try out Linux, what do?
I've been learning ruby on rails for a while. At first I resisted using the console, but after a while I can say that I LOVE it. If Linux is anything like that, I think it's going to be legit.
I ...
14
votes
4answers
15k views
How do I make Bash my default shell on Ubuntu?
I have a .bash_profile in my home directory, but it isn't getting run on login. If I do the following, then things seem to be as I expect:
ssh myhost
bash
source ~/.bash_profile
But normally that ...
14
votes
4answers
12k views
'No such file or directory' error in bash, but the file exists?
On Ubuntu, I get a 'No such file or directory' error when I try to execute a command.
I have checked with 'ls -la' , the file 'adb' is there and it has 'x' flag
So why I am getting a 'No such file ...
14
votes
3answers
3k views
Alternative to Windows Explorer for long path names
Update:
I found that not only Windows Explorer but also other software
suffers from too long path names. For example, in Firefox, when I
save a webpage into a directory, I still cannot do it if its ...
14
votes
2answers
8k views
easy_install will not connect through proxy
I'm running Ubuntu Server 10.04 64-bit under VirtualBox, and it seems that everything except easy_install and pip can connect to the Internet. I have set and exported the http_proxy environment ...
14
votes
4answers
13k views
Synergy Key Mapping
I'm running a Synergy server on Ubuntu and a Synergy+ client on OSX. The server has a standard windows keyboard with shift, ctrl, windows, and alt keys. My MacBookPro has shift, fn, control, ...
14
votes
6answers
6k views
Linux keylogger without root or sudo! Is it real?
Somebody on Youtube claims to have a keylogger on Ubuntu that was neither executed nor installed as root. The link below shows a demo of it working.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1fZAZTwyPQ
...
14
votes
2answers
9k views
Ubuntu shutdown fail “* Killing all remaining processes…”
I have a fresh installation of Ubuntu Server. "reboot" works, but shutdown fails on the * Killing all remaining processes... step. I am using:
sudo shutdown now
After the failure, indicated by ...
14
votes
4answers
49k views
On Ubuntu 9.10, where is the xorg.conf file in Karmic Koala?
I am trying to change this xorg.conf file that I used to modify under Ubuntu 9.04, so it can have the higher resolutions of my monitor. Under 9.04, the monitor was unknown, and I had to key in all ...
14
votes
2answers
398 views
Sending mail from the command line
Ok, I've looked far and wide for something to take care of this little email project I have.
First, some background:
My family has a secret santa every year and I've offered to write a script to ...
14
votes
4answers
528 views
Is there a bootchart-style analyzer for what happens AFTER you log in?
Bootchart is an excellent tool for seeing what goes on when your computer boots. However, it only charts up to the login screen. Is there any way to analyze what is happening when I actually log in? I ...
13
votes
2answers
2k views
Why is it so hard to find a file in Ubuntu?
It's very hard to find files in Ubuntu. In Windows, you could just go to C:\Program Files and you would find what you need. In Ubuntu, you must use search to find something you need. Maybe I am ...
13
votes
4answers
10k views
How do I find (and kill) process running on a certain port? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Finding the process that is using a certain port in Linux
I'm using Ubuntu Linux 11.04. How do I write a shell script expression that will find the process running on ...
13
votes
3answers
8k views
How to rotate images automatically, based on exif data
When I make pictures with my camera (Olympus E-520), in the exif data the orientation is stored.
The standard image viewer on Ubuntu is displaying this images right. Windows viewer however not.
Is ...
13
votes
5answers
48k views
How do I restore the Gnome Panel volume control in Ubuntu?
I use alsa, and I don't have a volume control applet on my Gnome Panel.
When I right click and select "add to panel", there is nothing that has to do with "sound", "audio" or "volume" in the list, ...
13
votes
7answers
6k views
How to vertically split widescreen into two virtual workspaces on Ubuntu/Gnome?
My new laptop has a big 16:9 screen, and I'm finding it hard to fully utilize it during the 95% of the time that I'm not watching HD movies on it.
I'd like to set it up as a kind of virtual dual ...
13
votes
3answers
8k views
How to open Mac Keynote presentations on Ubuntu?
How to open Mac Keynote presentations on Ubuntu? Can it be imported to Impress?
13
votes
2answers
403 views
killall shenanigans
So I was sitting around wondering what would happen if I typed:
sudo killall -u root
...aaaaaand now the OS will not load. How do I fix this without just doing a reinstall?
I'm not super worried ...
