Linux Weekly NewsBytes : 1437

Here is a list of the latest, most happening events and news items from the Linux World. Keep reading to find out what's making the most noise around Linux this week.

Useful CLI Tools For Linux Sys Admins

• [ http://xmodulo.com/2014/08/useful-cli-tools-linux-system-admins.html ]
• Very interesting list of commands. Make sure you bookmark this webpage

A Complete Beginner's Guide to Linux

• [ http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/784060-the-complete-beginners-guide-to-linux ]
• A very nice collection of Linux jargons explained using layman terms

Choosing a Linux Desktop

• [ http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/783109-how-to-choose-the-best-linux-desktop-for-you ]
• Choosing a Linux Desktop is always driven by the user's need for wanting to use a desktop. This article gives very neat use cases that will help you to select a Linux Desktop without the pain of trying them all before finalising on one

Elementary OS's Pantheon Desktop Review

• [ http://www.networkworld.com/article/2599415/opensource-subnet/the-linux-desktop-a-week-review-elementary-oss-pantheon.html ]
• From the moment I have seen this desktop, I have been very fascinated by its simplistic design and approach to things. Make sure you read this review before deciding which OS/Desktop you want to use for yourself. Pantheon is certainly a strong contender and I see it only gaining more ground as time progresses

Krita Photo Editor

• [ http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/786040-photo-editing-on-linux-with-krita ]
• Sounds to be a bit easier to use than GIMP. Worth trying it out

Network Admin's master tool : netstat

• [ http://www.maketecheasier.com/mastering-netstat-command/ ]
• Linux Network Administrator's most favourite tool : netstat. Learn its various uses through this article.

systemd 261 released

• [ http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/systemd-devel/2014-August/022295.html ]
• Amid all the controversy surfacing around the inclusion of systemd, Lennart Poettering released the next major version of systemd, version 216. 
• If you have been asleep while this controversy has been raging, then read about some of it in this article : http://www.infoworld.com/d/data-center/choose-your-side-the-linux-divide-248950

[Solved] Linux Commands Challenge : 007

Fancy your Linux Administration skills ? Take this challenge and answer these simple 5 questions related to everyday tasks of Linux Administration.

Winner : Congratulations to Sankar P for getting the highest number [ 2 ] of correct solutions.

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1. How do you restore GRUB bootloader to MBR of your primary hard disk ?
• • grub-install /dev/sda


2. What does initrd contain ?
• • It contains the initial RAM disk, i.e., the initial root file system that is mounted prior to locating the real root file system


3. How do you unpack the contents of an RPM without installing it ?
• • rpm2cpio | copi -id


4. What is the maximum number of primary partitions you can have on a hard disk ?
• • 4


5. How to boot into single user mode using the GRUB boot loader ?
• • After selecting the kernel you are interested to boot into, edit the kernel command line and add “S” to the end of the kernel command

[Solved] Linux Commands Challenge : 006

Fancy your Linux skills ? Take this challenge and answer these simple 5 questions on Linux Abbreviations

Update : Added solutions

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1. What does the shell environment variable IFS stand for ?
• • Internal Field Separator


2. What does APT in apt-get command stand for ?
• • Advanced Packaging Tool


3. Often Linux distributions are accompanied with a EULA. What does EULA stand for ?
• • End User License Agreement


4. What does CUPS stand for in Linux ?
• • Common Unix Printing System


5. What does DMZ in context with Linux Security stand for ?
• • DeMilitarised Zone

Linux Weekly NewsBytes : 1427

Here is a list of the latest, most happening events and news items from the Linux World. Keep reading to find out what's making the most noise around Linux this week

Impact of Secure Boot on Linux

• [ http://blog.canonical.com/2011/10/28/white-paper-secure-boot-impact-on-linux/ ] Is UEFI a step in the right direction ? Many are supporting it now. Then, what's the fuss all about ? What problems does it create for Linux ? This article [ pretty old, but relevant ] and this one [ http://www.linuxfoundation.org/publications/making-uefi-secure-boot-work-with-open-platforms ] gives you a look into behind the doors of the Corporates who are supporting this and their reasons for doing so.

Plain English Terminal Commands for Linux

• [ http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/plain-english-terminal-commands-betty/ ] Quite an interesting piece of software. Still in the development phase. But, I see this having a lot of potential to become the backend for a great voice recognition tool for Linux. You will then no longer need to remember Linux commands to execute on the shell. Just say it and it gets done for you :-) .. and probably, taking it a bit more further, you just think and it gets done for you :-)

What is Docker ?

• [ http://www.eweek.com/cloud/slideshows/10-quick-facts-about-docker-container-virtualization.html ] A simple list of basic facts about Docker, the new Virtualisation technology that is being embraced by a very wide variety of Enterprise users. RedHat has already released this in its latest RHEL 7.0 version [ For more information : http://software-dev-tips.blogspot.in/2014/06/linux-weekly-newsbytes-1426.html ]

Kerala Government to move to OpenSource Software

• [ http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2014/06/kerala-and-leipzig-move-to-free-software-on-the-desktop/index.htm ] Some fantastic news here for the FOSS enthusiasts. Indian government is definitely one of the largest consumers of software in India. And with Kerala leading the way, and Tamil Nadu following suite, this signals good news for FOSS efforts in India. Looks like Windows XP [ or should I say Windows 8 ? ] was a blessing in disguise :)

Getting your hands dirty with Git

• [ http://www.sitepoint.com/10-tips-git-next-level/ ] Gone, are the days of cvs and svn. Git is the in thing now. Read through this [ http://www.sitepoint.com/git-for-beginners/ ] post to understand the very basics of using Git. The main purpose of having Git to help with distributed code. To make yourself comfortable with that read this post [ http://www.sitepoint.com/getting-started-git-team-environment/ ]. You can then come back to this week's post [ http://www.sitepoint.com/10-tips-git-next-level/ ] to learn some book keeping tasks.

Upcoming MOOC Sessions

•  [ http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/185-jennifer-cloer/777474-best-technology-moocs-for-summer-and-fall ] MOOC is an acronym for "Massive Open Online Courses" There are a bunch [ actually plenty ] of these online courses being launched [ or already available ] for you. This link mentions courses on Enterprise Computing, Computer Architecture, IT Security, Parallel Programming and many more. All that is needed, is for you to spare some time daily and be steadfast :-)

[Solved] Linux Commands Challenge : 005

Fancy your Linux skills ? Take this challenge and answer these simple 5 questions on Linux commands.

Update : Added Solutions

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1. What does the command units do ?
• • It is a program to convert quantities expressed in one scale to another. Ex : meters to miles


2. What happens if I apply the sticky bit to a directory ?
• • You make the files in that directory “sticky”. In the sense, users cannot delete the files in that directory. Only the root user can delete the files. Ex : /tmp directory


3. How do you print the reverse of your username on Linux ?
• • whoami | rev


4. How do you find out the most commonly used command by a given user ?
• • hash | sort -r | head


5. What is the difference in the output of these two commands : echo * and ls -R ?
• • echo * : Lists all the files in the current directory and all its sub directories ls -R : Lists all the files and folders in the current directory and all its sub directories

[Solved] Linux Commands Challenge : 004

Fancy your Linux skills ? Take this challenge and answer what these 5 commonly used abbreviations of Linux stand for

Winner : Congratulations to Sankar P for getting the highest number [ 4 ] of correct solutions.

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1. What does the Linux command TAR stand for ?
• • Tape ARchive


2. What does the Linux command GREP stand for ?
• • Global ( search for ) Regular Expressions and Print


3. What does the Linux command CHMOD stand for ?
• • CHange MODe


4. What does the Linux command BC stand for ?
• • Basic Calculator


5. What does the Linux command AWK stand for ?
• • Aho, Weinberger and Kernighan. It is named after the names of its authors : Al Aho, Peter Weinberger and Brian Kernighan

[Solved] Linux Commands Challenge : 003

Fancy your Linux skills ? Take this challenge and answer these simple 5 questions on Linux Shell Scripting.

Update : Added solutions

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1. What command(s) would you use to extract the 3 words in the string “The boy laughed” ?
• • There are many variants for this. One of the solutions is as follows :
  • echo $string | cut -d” “ -f1 ; echo $string | cut -d” “ -f2 ; echo $string | cut -d” “ -f3
  • Do let me know about other possible ways to solve this through your comments to this post


2. What command(s) would you use to fetch only the 6th and 7th lines of a text file : poem.txt
• • This also has many variants. One of the solutions is as follows :
  • head -n 7 poem.txt | tail -2
  • Do let me know about other possible ways to solve this through your comments to this post


3. What command(s) would you use to delete all empty/blank lines in a file : data.txt
• • grep -v ‘^$’ data.txt


4. What does the following sed command do ? : sed -n ‘/[0-9]/p’ data.txt
• • Prints only those lines that have a numerical in them.


5. What command(s) would you use to count the number of files ending with .log in /var/log directory and also have the word “error” in their contents ?
• • grep -l error /var/log/*.log

[Solved] Linux Commands Challenge : 002

Fancy your Linux skills ? Take this challenge and answer these simple 5 questions on Linux Environment variables.

Update : Added Solutions

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1. How can variables defined in one Bash Shell script be made visible in its child Bash Shell script ?
• • You need to export the variable in the parent Bash Shell Script, for the variables to be visible in its child Bash Shell script.


2. How can one find out the type of the Shell he/she is using ?
• • echo $SHELL


3. Name the C function call that can be used in a C program to fetch the value of a Shell Environment variable
• • getenv()


4. One can use "printenv" command to list all the Global Environment variables, but what command can we use to list the Local Environment Variables ?
• • You can use "set". But, it list all the environment variables, global and local. You will have to write a Shell Script to prune out Global environment variables from the output of "set" to derive the final list of Local Environment variables. Local environment variables are the variables that are local to the current shell.


5. How can you find out the current Bash Shell's parent process id ?
• • echo $PPID

[Solved] Linux Commands Challenge : 001

Fancy your Linux skills ? Take this challenge and answer these simple 5 questions on Linux Commands.

Update : Added Solutions

Winner : Congratulations to Laxmeesha TV for getting the highest number [ 3 ] of correct solutions.

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1. Which Linux command would you use to replace all the occurrences of "Computer Science" in the file "subjects.list" with “CS”. Make sure you create a backup of the original file as well.
• • sed -i “.bkp” s/“Computer Science”/CS/g subjects.list


2. What is the command to list all the hidden files of the present working directory ?
• • ls -la


3. What is the command to list only the first two lines of subjects.list file ?
• • head -2 subjects.list


4. Print the contents of subjects.list file in reverse order. [ Hint : Cats have tails ]
• • cat subjects.list | tail -r


5. Which Bash command would you issue on a Linux machine to create a coredump of a running program. [ Hint : The flight was aborted due to bad weather ]
• • kill -6