Need a strong, but easy to remember password? No need to remember, generate it! Up to 48 chars, works on any unix-like system:


read -s pass; echo $pass | md5sum | base64 | cut -c -16


Joe -

========================================

MD5SUM creates a 128 bit hash.

Base64 turns a binary number into ASCII

cut – simply removes sections for each line.

Output looks like:

n@H:~$ read -s pass; echo $pass | md5sum | base64 | cut -c -16
(I entered: abcdefg)
MDIwODYxYzhjM2Zl

Video Chat Cameras are nice. But they don’t always play nicely with the Linux version of Skype.

1. Here’s the camera I have: (here’s now to find out what you have.)


lsusb


and the output will look like:

Bus 005 Device 004: ID 046d:092e Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Chat

2. First step first. Let’s see if the camera works with Linux Cheese.

If not already installed, install cheese:


sudo apt-get install cheese


Cheese is a local loopback programme. It takes the output from the camera (/dev/video0) and loops it right back for you to view.

If successful, this will tell us, that Linux recognizes the camera, and that it works. The light may/may NOT be on.

3. Let’s try the next step: Installing Skype.

Lets get the latest version of Skype from the website.

The latest Linux version (as of this writing) is: 2.2.0.35. (YES, that is far far behind the Windows Version) — Since Microsoft owns Skype, the future of the Linux version is an unknown at this point.

4. Once the download is finished, install Skype:


sudo dpkg -i skype-ubuntu_2.2.0.35-1_i386.deb


They have a version for Debian, and 32 and 64 bits. The example shown above is for the 32 bit Ubuntu version. So make sure you get the right version, and make sure you get the right architecture: 32 or 64 bit.

NOTE: IF YOU ARE ON A 64 BIT DEBIAN SYSTEM, AND PLAN ON USING THE 64 BIT SKYPE, YOU MUST INSTALL THE 32 BIT LIBRARY:

TO GET SKYPE TO WORK ON A 64 BIT DEBIAN SYSTEM. Yeah makes no sense, but you need this if you are running 64 bit DEBIAN Skype.

5. If you do not already have a Skype account, sign up for one. Just follow the prompts. Test the audio by using the Skype Test Call.

6. Let’s try the video. RIGHT click on the green skype logo in your task bar, then LEFT click on Options/Video Devices.

Now hit the test button. You should hopefully see an image. If you do not, don’t panic!

This article gave me the information I needed to get it working. But of course, I found a much simpler method then what was given.

7. If you have no video, and this was especially true with the some of the Web Chat Cameras, all you may need to do is to pre-load the needed libraries.

Using your favourite editor (I’ll use nano in this case) create a file called skype.sh in your home directory (cd ~ )


nano skype.sh


enter the following in the file:


#!/bin/bash
#
# script preloads the video for linux (v4l) libs needed by skype
#
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype


control-o (control plus the “oh” key) to save, and control-x (control plus the “x” key to exit)

note that the library path name /usr/lib/libv4l/ may be different on your machine. This happens the be the correct path for 32 bit Ubuntu 10.04. The LD_Preload loads the Video for Linux Libraries, which Skype needs, but doesn’t get.

Now change the icon executable location to the script we just created:

Repeat step 6, and the video should now work!

Wayno

This is actually fairly easy, but there are a couple of tricks!

1. What is the IP address of that printer?

The easy way is to scan for it!

If you have not done so, install the arp-scan programme. Arp (Address Resolution Protocol) This will allow us to scan the network for all devices on the network.


sudo apt-get install arp-scan


2. Run arp-scan to see what’s on your network:


sudo arp-scan --interface=eth0 --localnet


arp-scan MUST be run as root, so that’s why we do the sudo.
We are limiting the search for anything we can reach, via our local ethernet connection.

You will get output that looks like:

$ sudo arp-scan –interface=eth0 –localnet
Interface: eth0, datalink type: EN10MB (Ethernet)
Starting arp-scan 1.6 with 256 hosts (http://www.nta-monitor.com/tools/arp-scan/)
192.168.1.1 00:12:34:56:78:81 (Unknown)
192.168.1.100 00:34:56:78:9a:5d Hewlett Packard
192.168.1.104 00:46:cd:ef:49:b1 (Unknown)
192.168.1.105 00:aa:bd:cb:d7:aa Roku, LLC

4 packets received by filter, 0 packets dropped by kernel
Ending arp-scan 1.6: 256 hosts scanned in 1.421 seconds (180.15 hosts/sec). 4 responded
$

Hmm. There’s something that says Hewlett Packard. Yup that’s my printer at address: 192.168.1.100

5. Go into: System/Administration/Printing and add your printer, if it is NOT already present. And follow the prompts for adding a printer. Almost done, couple of other chores.

6. Now click on Server and then Settings, and your screen should look like:

7. One last step. Enable the printer, and enable it for sharing. Also you may/may not want to set it as the default printer. Single right click on the printer icon, and select/check Enabled/Sharing:

8. Repeat these steps on each computer that you want to add this network printer too.

Wayno

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Won’t Fit On a CD

Thanks guys! NOT!

Alternatives? Plenty.

1. Linux Mint (good for n00bs)

2. Debian (for experienced users)

Wayno

Noob thing.

Might be interesting to find out if your password is on the list.

The top 25 worst passwords.

How do you change your password?


:~$ passwd


You will get output that looks like:

Changing password for (youruserid)
(current) UNIX password:
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
:~$

Wayno

The information on how to label an ms-dos formatted drive seems scattered across the internet, and might seem overwhelming at first. But it’s not too hard. Here’s my recipe!

1. If not already installed, install the mtools package. This is an open source package for manipulating ms-dos file systems, under Linux.

to do that simply install the package:


sudo apt-get install mtools


We’re half way there!

2. Let’s insert that flash drive, thumb drive, micro sd card or whatever it’s called.

3. Most systems should auto-mount the drive. If not, view this article, on how to mount a usb or micro-sd card.

4. We’ll use


sudo blkid


to get the device id!

$ sudo blkid
[sudo] password for :

/dev/sde1: LABEL=”" UUID=”1B44-206B” TYPE=”vfat”

That’s the guy I want! sde1! Your device WILL probably have a different device name.

5. Let’s fix /etc/mtools.conf first.

using your favourite editor (nano in my case) let’s change mtools.

as always the # (octothorpe) is a comment and need NOT be coded.


cd /etc # change to the /etc directory
sudo cp mtools.conf mtools.conf.org # make a backup of the current file
sudo nano mtools.conf # edit the mtools.conf file


add a line at the bottom which reads:


drive p: file="/dev/sde1"


control+O (OH) to write, and then control x to exit. Again, your device name, might be different.

do a

cd ~ # change back to my home directory


to get back to your home directory, after editing /etc/mtools.conf.

6. So now I try to label the drive, p: but I get:

nwayno@Homer:~$ sudo mlabel p:WAYNOFLSH
Total number of sectors (1957888) not a multiple of sectors per track (62)!
Add mtools_skip_check=1 to your .mtoolsrc file to skip this test

Oh-oh! It turns out the it tells you how to fix the problem right there, but it may not be obvious. (All this to label an ms-dos drive under Linux? YES, unfortunately!)

Using your favourite editor, create .mtoolsrc (yes the period at the beginning is important!)
and add the line:

mtools_skip_check=1

to the file. Save and exit. Again, all this is not hard, it’s just a pain.

7. Let’s try again!

$ sudo mlabel p:WAYNOBKFLSH
$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/sde1 955M 203M 752M 22% /media/WAYNOBKFLSH

8. Flush the buffers with sync


sync


Mission accomplished!

Look Ma, I didn’t have to use Windows, after all!

Wayno

This is a very relevant article to the Ubuntu and Unity debate, vs other Linux distributions, especially, Linux Mint.

Linux Mint: The new Ubuntu?

Personally, I am on Debian Squeeze. Very solid, but NOT for n00bs. Tad difficult to configure.

Wayno

A lot of times, I want to see what the task number is of a running task. I might want to see if there are multiple occurrences of a task, or a zombie task (defunct).

Easy way is to:

ps -ef | grep taskname

ps says give me a snapsnot of all the running tasks. The -ef says give me all the tasks, and give me a full listing. That is then piped (that is the output of ps, becomes the input to grep and we are searching for some task name.

But that get’s tiresome.

Easier way? Sure!

Add an alias to .bash_aliases!


alias thog='ps -ef | grep $1'


So use your favourite editor, add the line above, then exit.

NOTE: IN ORDER FOR CHANGES TO BE READ, YOU MUST LOGOUT/BACK IN.

So we created a command called “thog” (could be anything as long as it doesn’t conflict with any installed programme) — and I pass the command line argument $1 to it. (The first command line argument)

So the output would look like this:

nwayno@Homer:~$ thog java
root 2031 1 0 Oct28 ? 00:13:16 java -Xmx100m -Dsubsonic.home=/var/subsonic -Dsubsonic.host=0.0.0.0 -Dsubsonic.port=4040 -Dsubsonic.httpsPort=0 -Dsubsonic.contextPath=/ -Dsubsonic.defaultMusicFolder=/var/music -Dsubsonic.defaultPodcastFolder=/var/music/Podcast -Dsubsonic.defaultPlaylistFolder=/var/playlists -Djava.awt.headless=true -verbose:gc -jar subsonic-booter-jar-with-dependencies.jar
nwayno 28470 28430 0 21:07 pts/0 00:00:00 grep java
That shows me the java (or whatever) task number. Might be useful if you want to kill a task.

Want to see all the Zombie tasks? (tasks that have no parent task)

nwayno@Homer:~$ thog defunct
root 28843 2067 1 21:11 ? 00:00:00 [miniserv.pl]
nwayno 28852 28430 0 21:11 pts/0 00:00:00 grep defunct

So now you know.

By the way, I corrected the spelling of Adventures in the title. Taking it a bit easy this week, still healing.

enjoy,

Wayno

Okay so I am new to the Android platform (as of this week). But for the life of me could NOT figure out why my wifi connection to my home network wouldn’t work.

I checked all the usual things. Signal strength, another network (thanks Jason whoever you are, for having an open unsecured network I could connect too), etc.

My friend Matt suggested this Android Application:

Wife Analyzer

Which is pretty handy for finding those other networks, channels, etc.

What I discovered however, was that I was 1 character off in my password. That’s why it would authenticate, connect, and then drop!

So having a password like: K00lJerkBe1b3r is different from:
K00lJerkBe1B3r

(It’s a song I don’t like, plus an artist I don’t like – make great passwords — please don’t use this one, even if you don’t like Justim Beiber too!

But anyway, that turned out to be my issue.

After getting the password fixed, I was then able to complete a 3.5 minute Skype call to my bud Tony in Pahonics

Thanks Matt, Tony, and Loni!

Wayno

Several people have asked: Where’s Wayno?

I had a bit of day surgery this week, and I am still recovering from that. Hopefully I will be back up to par in a couple of weeks.

Wayno