Ubuntu Kung Fu - ftp ITB

369 Pages·2008·6.19 MB·English

Prepared exclusively for J.S. Ash
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Prepared exclusively for J.S. Ash
Ubuntu Kung Fu
Tips, tricks, hints and hacks
Keir Thomas
The Pragmatic Bookshelf
Raleigh, North Carolina Dallas, Texas
Prepared exclusively for J.S. Ash
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ucts are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and The
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Copyright © 2008 Keir Thomas.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmit-
ted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN-10: 1-934356-22-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-934356-22-7
Printed on acid-free paper.
B2.0 printing, July 15, 2008
Version: 2008-7-15
Prepared exclusively for J.S. Ash
Contents
1 Introduction 15
1.1 How to read this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.2 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2 An Ubuntu administration crash course 19
2.1 The Ubuntu desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.2 Users, passwords and files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3 Command-line or GUI? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4 Software installation and management . . . . . . . . . 35
2.5 Using gconf-editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.6 Editing configuration files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
2.7 Making and keeping backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.8 Rescue me! What to do if it all goes wrong . . . . . . . . 55
2.9 Miscellaneous things you ought to know . . . . . . . . 57
3 The tips 62
1. Set any picture as wallpaper with a single-click . . . . 62
2. See (and reuse) the most recently typed commands . . 63
3. Add cool new visualizations to Totem/Rhythmbox . . . 64
4. Switch monitor resolutions with a single mouse-click . 64
5. Closely monitor a laptop computer’s power consumption 65
6. Stop the cursor blinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
7. Scroll without the mouse in Firefox and Evolution mail
windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
8. Optimize startup for faster boot times . . . . . . . . . . 66
9. Graph the system bootup performance . . . . . . . . . 70
10. Change Gedit’s printing font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
11. Shrink or enlarge images at the command line . . . . . 72
12. View all of a digital photo’s technical information . . . 73
13. Have Ubuntu speak to you . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
14. Instantly search for files in Nautilus . . . . . . . . . . . 74
15. Take photos or record videos with your webcam . . . . 74
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CONTENTS 6
16. Add RAR file compression support to Ubuntu . . . . . . 75
17. Add a swap file or expand existing swap space . . . . . 75
18. Get rid of the virtual console legal boiler-plate . . . . . 76
19. Make Wubi installations of Ubuntu run faster . . . . . 77
20. Create website or email links that automatically install
software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
21. Make fonts look superb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
22. Download updates faster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
23. Slow down a touchpad’s scrolling . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
24. Ensure your Windows partition is always available under
Ubuntu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
25. Improve the GNOME Terminal look and feel . . . . . . 82
26. Ensure Ubuntu always knows the time . . . . . . . . . 83
27. Get more data onto CD-R discs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
28. Share files across the network (without tearing your
hair out) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
29. Save ink when printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
30. Browse the web from the command-line . . . . . . . . . 87
31. Create an “Ubuntu install” USB stick . . . . . . . . . . 88
32. Add a menu entry for Ubuntu’s compression tool . . . 90
33. Quickly run applications without opening a terminal
window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
34. Instantly search Google for any word or phrase . . . . . 91
35. Ensure you’re informed about the newest releases of
Ubuntu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
36. Create a file delete command that uses the trash . . . 93
37. Configure Ubuntu’s firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
38. Repair Windows from within Ubuntu . . . . . . . . . . . 98
39. Empty the trash even if told you can’t . . . . . . . . . . 99
40. Logon automatically after boot-up . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
41. Use an alternative wifi connection manager . . . . . . . 100
42. Make Evolution more like Outlook (just a little bit) . . . 101
43. Give Ubuntu a static IP address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
44. Format a USB memory stick (or camera memory card) 104
45. Protect Ubuntu so it can’t be booted without a password 107
46. Dump the text on a virtual console to a file . . . . . . . 109
47. Eliminate the time period during which sudo/gksu pow-
ers hang around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
48. Access Ubuntu files from Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
49. Kill a crashed GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
50. Make Ubuntu safe for children to use . . . . . . . . . . 113
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CONTENTS 7
51. Run two (or more) desktops at the same time . . . . . . 116
52. Go completely fullscreen in virtually any application . 117
53. Make Calculator to round-up (or down) to two digits . . 118
54. Follow the moon’s phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
55. Import Internet Explorer settings into Firefox . . . . . . 118
56. Drag and drop files onto the terminal window . . . . . 119
57. Use older digital cameras with Ubuntu . . . . . . . . . 119
58. Use the ultra-quick xterm to bash-out commands . . . 120
59. Install all the program compilation tools you’ll need . . 121
60. Avoid network slowdowns and incompatibilities . . . . 121
61. Print at the command-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
62. Find the Ubuntu version and code-name . . . . . . . . 123
63. Get your webcam working in Ubuntu . . . . . . . . . . 124
64. Downgrade to Firefox 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
65. Install all the multimedia playback codecs you’ll ever
need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
66. Get better DVD movie playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
67. Run the terminal with a single key-press . . . . . . . . 127
68. See the APT cow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
69. See what Firefox plugins are installed . . . . . . . . . . 128
70. Kill the network connection instantly . . . . . . . . . . 128
71. Post blog entries from your Ubuntu desktop . . . . . . 128
72. Intelligently select only the files you want . . . . . . . . 129
73. Temporarily disable a user account . . . . . . . . . . . 130
74. Take complete control of desktop effects and animations 131
75. Do some desktop publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
76. Control volume levels at the command-prompt . . . . . 133
77. Search the Ubuntu file system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
78. Remove the “bad password” wait period . . . . . . . . . 137
79. Make desktop icons REALLY big . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
80. Run Ubuntu... without Linux! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
81. Instantly hide a file or folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
82. Scan for viruses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
83. Temporarily login as root user at the command-line . . 142
84. Start the screensaver from the command-line . . . . . 143
85. Get the most out of (or into) a Nautilus window . . . . 143
86. View images at the command-line . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
87. Administer the printer from a web browser . . . . . . . 144
88. Move a window without clicking the titlebar . . . . . . . 144
89. Connect to shared folders from the command-line . . . 145
90. Deactivate Caps Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
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91. Format floppies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
92. Switch to a lightweight file manager . . . . . . . . . . . 147
93. Use syntax highlighting in Gedit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
94. Stop zip files sent colleagues getting lost in the email . 150
95. Use an alternative email client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
96. Ensure people hear you when using a microphone . . . 152
97. Quick browse to a location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
98. Turn off the beep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
99. Add a second hard disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
100. Update Ubuntu in the background . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
101. Install 465 open source fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
102. Be careful not to badly name files/folders in your Win-
dows partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
103. Make your Windows partition read only . . . . . . . . . 156
104. Stop Nautilus neatly arranging icons . . . . . . . . . . . 157
105. Run GUI programs from a terminal window without
tying up input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
106. Set the CPU speed from the desktop . . . . . . . . . . . 158
107. Switch to Kubuntu, Xubuntu, or Edubuntu without
installing from scratch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
108. SSH into Ubuntu from Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
109. Recover a damaged desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
110. Recover a damaged desktop #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
111. Enable the root user . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
112. Quickly create graphical text banners . . . . . . . . . . 161
113. Securely erase data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
114. Play emacs games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
115. Fix video playback problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
116. Turn any text file into a PDF at the command-line . . . 164
117. Avoid repetitive strain injury when using Ubuntu . . . 165
118. Uninstall Ubuntu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
119. Network Ubuntu, Mac and Windows... without doing
anything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
120. Access ISO images as if they’re disk drives . . . . . . . 167
121. Improve Ubuntu’s Microsoft Office 2007 file support . 168
122. Use a friendly version of vim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
123. Get around partitioning errors if using BootCamp on
Macs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
124. Have Macs correctly refer to Ubuntu in dual-boot mode 170
125. Sleep, Ubuntu, sleep! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
126. Instantly create a HTML slideshow of photos . . . . . . 171
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127. Reveal the desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
128. Set hard disk power-saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
129. View the GNOME desktop version . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
130. Avoid GNOME startup errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
131. Use FTP under Ubuntu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
132. Switch to old-fashioned tree-view in Nautilus . . . . . . 175
133. Kill any crashed program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
134. Increase the number of documents remembered by Gedit176
135. Utilize all a sound card’s features . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
136. Monitor network speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
137. Make the command-prompt colorful . . . . . . . . . . . 178
138. Make Windows permanently available . . . . . . . . . . 180
139. Give the boot menu a wallpaper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
140. Access all removable storage from the command-line . 183
141. Reconfigure your graphics card from the ground-up . . 183
142. Unlock the package database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
143. Administer Ubuntu using a web browser, from any com-
puter (or operating system) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
144. Give Nautilus windows their own wallpaper . . . . . . . 187
145. Create an encrypted filestore accessible from any oper-
ating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
146. Find out how much disk space is available . . . . . . . 192
147. Make Ubuntu blue (or dark grey, or dark brown) . . . . 192
148. Use versions of Ubuntu that are entirely Free Software 193
149. Install OpenOffice.org’s database component . . . . . . 194
150. Monitor your computer’s temperature and fan speeds . 194
151. Print multiple photos on one sheet of paper . . . . . . . 195
152. Try some alternative web browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
153. Quickly hide/unhide windows using the keyboard . . . 197
154. Convert images from one format to another at the command-
line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
155. Significantly expand Gedit’s functionality . . . . . . . . 198
156. Make new mail windows taller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
157. Avoid making badly burned CD-R/RW discs . . . . . . 199
158. Import email messages from Outlook and/or Outlook
Express . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
159. Use the Mac OS “quit” keyboard shortcut . . . . . . . . 200
160. Switch to bash if sh is in use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
161. Instantly edit a file when you’re viewing it in less . . . . 201
162. Access Ubuntu’s desktop from any computing device . 201
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163. Remove the annoying delay when installing Firefox exten-
sions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
164. View technical details of your PC’s hardware . . . . . . 202
165. Switch to old-fashioned “spatial browsing” mode . . . . 203
166. Clear the package cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
167. Search man pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
168. Convert a PDF to an image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
169. Use a dial-up modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
170. Steal the Windows (or Mac OS) fonts . . . . . . . . . . . 206
171. Use unusual characters or symbols . . . . . . . . . . . 208
172. Encrypt and sign emails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
173. Get a nice trashcan on the desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
174. Create .zip files using maximum compression . . . . . 214
175. Create an Ubuntu “updates” CD/DVD . . . . . . . . . . 215
176. Stop Ubuntu “greying out” stalled program windows as
quickly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
177. Get a high-quality (and free) command-line word pro-
cessor by installing Microsoft Word . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
178. Create a “superuser terminal” shortcut . . . . . . . . . 218
179. Find out who you are! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
180. Install Ubuntu partner software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
181. Use a GUI version of vim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
182. Rescue a crashed GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
183. See a quote of the day whenever you login . . . . . . . . 221
184. Make GNOME SystemMonitor appear when Ctrl+Alt+Delete
is hit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
185. Change your computer’s name (hostname) . . . . . . . 225
186. Reduce the Wubi boot delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
187. Swap around the minimize, maximize, and close buttons226
188. Add an über-Start button to Ubuntu . . . . . . . . . . . 227
189. View technical details of PDF files . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
190. Connect to a remote computer as if you are sitting in
front of it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
191. Change Ubuntu’s system sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
192. Move around the command-line like a pro . . . . . . . . 231
193. “Scroll” a virtual console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
194. Do math at the command-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
195. Create keyboard shortcuts that use the “Windows” key 234
196. Create a text file without a text editor . . . . . . . . . . 235
197. Turn off the OpenOffice.org splash screen . . . . . . . . 236
198. See which virtual console you’re working at . . . . . . . 236
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