When you're tracking down wayward processes and figuring out what they're doing, lsof is an indispensible command for finding all open files, and the processes that opened them. Juliet Kemp gives us some good tips on using this simple but excellent command.
The chattr (change attributes) command allows you to view and change the attributes of the ext2 and ext3 filesystems, such as setting the immutable bit, synchronous writes, and append-only. Juliet Kemp shows us how.
Flash cookies are the secret nasties of using the Flash player on any platform, and most computer users don't even know they exist. Like HTTP cookies, it is rather naive to assume that they are always used for our benefit. In this two-part series, Carla Schroder shows the Adobe way and then the Linux way of managing Flash cookies.
Command-Line-Fu is a new, bash.org-style site for collecting command-line tips and tricks. Juliet Kemp gives us a quick tour of this endlessly-useful new site.
Linux is cram-full of all kinds of remote administration utilities, and even the oldtimers such as gdm and kdm are still good and useful. Juliet Kemp shows us how to use kdm and gmd to enable remote graphical desktops on KDE and Gnome.
OpenSSH has a number of great shortcuts for managing multiple passwords and encryption keys. Juliet Kemp shows us how.
Linux has a multitude of handy specialized commands and fast ways to do things. Juliet Kemp shows us how to read compressed files without unpacking them first.
KDE's Konqueror file manager and Web browser is a powerhouse loaded with useful features. However, sometimes it takes a bit of digging to unearth treasures and to figure out how to make it do what you want. Carla Schroder offers up tips on creating view profiles that stick, and how to open it exactly to the profile that you want.
The kill command has many useful options, and is your ticket to get out of trouble without rebooting. Juliet Kemp shows some useful ways to use 'kill' to get a handle on runaway processes.
Juliet Kemp introduces DBAN (Darik's Boot And Nuke), a self-contained boot disk (floppy, CD, USB) that securely wipes hard disks. It is operating system independent and meets a number of government security standards; read on to learn more.
It doesn't pay to pinch pennies on computer power supplies, because inferior power supplies cause slowdowns, lockups, crashes and worse. Here are some tips for how to pick quality power supplies.
The sysrq key sits quietly at the top of your keyboard, usually sharing space with PrntScrn. sysrq is a direct hotline to the kernel and gets you out of trouble when your system is getting tangled up in itself; Juliet Kemp shows how.
cURL is just what the guru ordered when you want an all-purpose downloader that supports practically every file-transfer protocol there is, and it's invaluable for getting behind pretty but uninformative GUIs when you need to see what's really going on. This tip shows you three useful ways to use it, and how to find out more.
In the beginning was ASCII. Computers only spoke ASCII, and life was simple and good. Except for all the peoples of the world who did not use the English alphabet. Along came Unicode and life became even better, though somewhat more complicated. Carla Schroder introduces us to GNU Recode and convmv, two great little utilities for converting character sets.
OpenSSH is still the primo tool for fast, secure remote administration. Carla Schroder shares some tips to make it even faster and more convenient: fast safe key transfers and management, and accessing remote filesystems in a fast, convenient way.
Discover how to start developing for the Android platform with this extensive guide, which provides a reference to the Android platform as well as a look at developing your first Android application. You'll explore the top 10 features for developers as well as learn design and development tips that go beyond the phone and target tablet development as well.