I’m plugged in…maybe too plugged in.  The “mark all items read” button received much use in my RSS reader.  I found myself skipping more than I actually read.  Google reader is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but it is a bit simplistic and plain…which is fine, it does its job well.  I’m informed.  But I often times find myself trying to sift through the cruft that is my various feeds.  I have wordpress design feeds, freelance feeds, Linux feeds, sports feeds, business feeds, inspirational feeds, youtube feeds, feeds about feeds, and feeds feeding those feeds.

Feedly, RSS on Steroids

I wanted to get more from my news/RSS.  Enter Feedly.  Feedly is a way that my feeds become VISUAL.  Instead of line by line by line, I’m given tiles and mosaic patchworks in an easy to read format.  I have variety.  I have images.  I have screenshots.  I have thumbnails.  I can see my feeds.  I can see what they’re describing.  I can see what people are blogging about.  I started using Feedly a mere 4 days ago and I have completely caught up on my reading.  Before I started I had over 3000 articles and was many, many days behind on my reading.  I’m completely caught up now with a manageable 200  articles to read.

Does this mean I’m reading thousands of articles with Feedly?  Not by a long shot.  But I’m finding what is important to me faster and thus being much more efficient.  I’m still skipping many articles…but at least now I know WHAT I’m skipping.  I’m not just marking all read so that I can catch up.  Feedly allows me to peruse my feeds in almost a catalog fashion which speeds up my reading times and focuses my attention on the things that catch my eye.

Feedly is free by the way.  I use it with Chromium/Chrom (works with any web browser though, just head over to their website) and you can too.  Install it as a web application in the Chrome web store.  Once installed, synchronize it with your Google Reader account…things you mark as read in Feedly will be marked read in your Google Reader account and vice versa.  I also use it on my Android tablet.  Make sure to check out the settings page in Feedly to configure the right layout and colors for yourself to make things easier to read and fit your workflow.  I guarantee you will find yourself reading more interesting articles…bookmarking links more…and paying attention to what matters to you.

Feedly, Chromium , and Google Reader originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on January 3, 2012.

Photo by woodleywonderworks

Thank you, dear reader.

Thanks for making Yet Another Linux Blog one of the top Linux Blogs on the planet!  It was an average day over 8 years ago that I began to host my own blog at linuxblog.sytes.net (thanks No-Ip.com!) on a PII that I inherited from one of my friends.  Slackware Linux hosted the project then and I wanted to use my new blog to explore the Linux world posting tips, tricks, and how-to’s on my way.  Millions upon millions of pageviews and 6 hosting changes later, we arrive here…at the end of 2011.

So am I throwing in the towel since I didn’t post regularly in 2011?  Heck no.  I’m going to continue learning and posting, exploring and writing.  In fact, I’ve made it a resolution to do more posting this year than I ever have to develop my writing as I begin to supplement my technical writing portfolio.  Technical Writing would be my profession of choice if this were a perfect world…getting paid to help people is something I find very satisfying.  For now, I freelance and am looking to possibly make freelancing become my full time job.

Once again, thanks for making Yet Another Linux Blog be a stop in your browser…thanks for making it be a blip on your RSS reader….thanks for your support and continued reading

Thank You, Dear Reader originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on December 26, 2011.

Courtesy of evelynishere

Which distribution is the RIGHT distribution?  Is there such a thing?  When you start your journey with Linux you might here something like this:

- Ubuntu is the best distribution for the desktop
- Linux Mint is the best distribution for a home user and the desktop
- Debian is the best way to go because of its stability and solid base
- Mandriva isn’t as good as Mageia
- Mageia isn’t as good as Mandriva
- Red Hat is for servers only
- Distribution X is better than distribution Y!

Here’s the thing…statements like these are all BLATANTLY FALSE.  Why?  Because they’re opinions..everyone has one and they are all just that…opinions.

When you start your journey with Linux, don’t let someone else tell you what you should or shouldn’t use.  Go out and find what fits you like a glove and use that.  It doesn’t matter how large of community the distribution has (unless that is what you’re specifically looking for) or how often it updates or how many hits it has on the Distrowatch tracker.  Use what is best FOR YOU.  Only you can decide what distribution scratches whatever itch you have.

If you choose the right one, chances are you’ll be a part of that distribution for a long time.  But don’t worry, it isn’t like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and if you pick the wrong distribution you won’t turn into a dusty exploding skeleton.  In this situation, the RIGHT distribution of Linux is ANY distribution of Linux.  As long as you’re making a conscious effort to choose free software and use Linux, you win.

I’ve been in, around and even leading Linux communities since the late 1990′s and there is one thing I’ve found it is this:  Every single distribution has a place in this world.  Every single distribution has it’s own niche users.  Every single distribution of Linux is important. I’m sure many of you have heard or have said that Linux just needs to simplify more and have only a handful of distributions so we can concentrate on just that handful and make it be fantastic.  Unfortunately, that wouldn’t work very well and would stifle creativity.  To prove my point…what if we didn’t have small distributions at all?  That wouldn’t have a large effect on Linux as a whole right? Let’s take a look at that hypothesis…

If Small Distributions Never Were…

As an example:  Symphony OS.  It used FVWM and Mezzo for the desktop experience and it REVOLUTIONIZED the way we see and interact with files.  If you use Gnome 3, Ubuntu Unity, or KDE 4.X, you’re using concepts that Symphony OS was the first to put onto a Linux desktop.  Symphony never had a huge user base.  It never shot up the charts at Distrowatch.  It did however, push the envelope of what a desktop distribution can and can’t do.  It did push the boundaries of design.  It did push simplicity and usability to a new level.  It also did web apps before webapps were cool.  Somehow it never caught on…but I it influenced people and challenged people to push the envelope of what was possible and impossible with desktop Linux.

Small, Niche Distributions Perform a Function

Often times I have found Linux users looking for a distribution that fills a specific function.  “I just want a file sharing distribution” they’ll say, or perhaps “I just want a nice and simple desktop”, or maybe even “I just want a tight firewall”.  The beauty of open source software and Linux is that you’ll find small, niche distributions that fit the bill for all of those needs and when you use these distributions, you’ll continue to learn about Linux…and perhaps you’ll push the envelope of what is possible and not possible just like Symphony OS did.

Regardless if you choose small or large distributions, you win.  The fact is you CHOSE and weren’t force fed something by system installers and companies who think they know what is best for you.

We CAN All Get Along

Many times when we pick the flavor of Linux we like, we identify with its goals…the direction its heading…maybe even the direction the community champions.  There isn’t anything wrong with this.  The next time you experience passionate supporters of Linux, keep in mind that neither you nor they are the enemy.  If you both use Linux and open source, you both win.  Small, large,  and niche distributions of Linux operate harmoniously together and build off one another…it’s one of the unseen benefits of Linux and open source.  Beauty and power in simplicity through collaboration.  Congratulate yourself every single day for choosing Linux!

How-To Choose the Right Distribution of Linux originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on November 17, 2011.

To copy, preserving permissions AND structure AND recursively, from a remote system to your local system:

rsync -r -a -v -e ssh server1.address.com:/dir/youwant/to/copy/ /local/location/for/directory/

Please note that the code above assumes that you are using key based authentication and not password.  For password based authentication, it would look more like this:

rsync -r -a -v -e ssh remoteuser@server1.address.com:/dir/youwant/to/copy/ /local/location/for/directory/

To remove all files matching a certain extension (xml in my example) in a directory:

find . -type f -name "*.xml" -exec rm -f {} \;

To go into a location, find all files that match a certain extension (jpg in my example) and move them to a different directory:

find . -name "*.jpg" | xargs -i mv '{}' /location/to/move/them/to/ 

To recursively remove empty directory from the directory you are currently in (your pwd):

find -depth -type d -empty -exec rmdir {} \;

These are a few of the commands that I’ve found useful in the past few weeks.  I hope you find them useful as well.  I’ll be test driving quite a few different distributions and reporting back what I find as well as experimenting with various different commands…I really like find because it is so powerful so look for some more posts with uses of the find command.  Thanks for reading and sorry for my lapse in posting this past month!

Some Random Helpful Hints originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on June 10, 2011.

Radio Tray can be launched from “Sound & Video” menu under “Applications”. It will appear in the system tray area. This is the beauty of this software that as it runs in system tray so it does not consumes much system resources as it does not require any browser window or any other heavy application to function. Radio Tray will launch in system tray and will not automatically play any station. To play the radio station, click on the Radio Tray (tray) icon and select the station from drop down list (you may require extra plugins for proper functioning of the application e.g gstream libraries).

Perhaps the pre-configured radio stations may not interest you. You can not only add your favourite channels but even Remove or Edit any existing channel. To Add/Remove channel(s) in Radio Tray, Right Click on the tray icon and Select “Configure radios…”. A dialogue box will appear. Here you can Add new channels, Remove or Edit existing channels and Move the Channels UP or Down in the list. Lets, now add a radio station to Radio Tray. Go to: http://www.shoutcast.com/ and search for some radio station (say, rock). From the results, just copy the link of any radio station. Now come back to “Configure Radios” and Click on “Add” Button. In the “Radio name” box enter any friendly name (say Soft Rock) of the radio station while in the “URL” paste the link of the radio station.

Your new radio station is now added into the channel lists of Radio Tray and you can listen to it just by selecting it from the drop down list of Radio Tray.

If your favorite station doesn’t have a standard M3U or PLS playlist posted on their web site, you can always find the stream’s URL by other means. Radio Tray isn’t incredibly feature-filled, but on those occasions you just need a simple unitasker, it’s perfect for getting the job done and staying out of your way. Its a perfect substitute for proprietary radio softwares and not only available in .deb format but also in source format.

Radio Tray – A Radio Player That Fits In System Tray originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on April 25, 2011.

With using Debian there comes a feeling of being back to the very basic of Linux distros…much in the same way when you use Arch…it just feels plain, unencumbered, and basic and there is a feeling you get when build something from nothing…you start with a kernel and just enough CLI tools and create your house…then live in it.

It feels good to be stable. It feels good to not have to worry about programs crashing, the net disconnecting, or not being able to install programs.

People like to ride the unstable or testing route with most things out there…as I move forward in my Linux journey, I find myself looking to be less and less cutting edge and more and more stable. Plus, if there is a program out there that needs updating…backports are always a good way to get them.

I’m enjoying my new digs and will look to getting back into the swing of posting enjoyable articles and how-to’s in the upcoming weeks.

Back to the Basics with Debian originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on March 16, 2011.

You may be thinking about some way to avoid typing commands over and over. Enter the ‘alias’.

The ‘alias’ tool is a way to make the complicated things simple (and simple things simpler). You can use ‘alias’ instead of long (or even short) commands.  Now let’s see how the ‘alias’ works.

‘alias’ can make difficult and lengthy commands easy. The general format of ‘alias’ is:

alias Any_Word=”Command”

It means you linked an existing command to a (New) Word. This ‘Any_Word’ may contain anything – any alpha-numeric symbol, ‘Any_Word’ as well as ‘Command’ are interchangeable and can be used for the same purpose.

Simple Commands Made Simpler

As an example, ‘ls -l’  is used for listing directory contents in ‘long listing format’. This ‘ls -l’ can be replaced with a simpler alias. You can set the ‘alias’ for ‘ls –l’ as follows:

alias ll=”ls –l”

Now you just have to type ‘ll’ (without quotes) to get ‘long listing format’.

Or if you frequently misspell ‘ls’ as ‘sl’ and don’t want to install ‘sl’ package, then, you can use the following alias:

alias sl=”ls”

Now, whenever you type ‘sl’ in terminal, it will give you same results as ‘ls’.

Now consider even simpler example. To close a Terminal (or logout), you have to type ‘exit’ in Terminal. This ‘exit’ command can be made even simpler by using the following ‘alias’:

alias x="exit"

Now, you only have to type ‘x’ in Terminal to ‘exit’

Other examples of ‘alias’ are:

alias cp="cp -iv"
#make copy operation interactive and verbose

alias rm="rm -iv"
#make remove operation interactive and verbose

alias mv="mv -iv"
#make move operation interactive and verbose

Make Package Management A Bit Simpler

If you use Debian (or its derivatives) then you will be familiar with APT.  It is an excellent package manager.

In Ubuntu, to install software using APT, you have to use the following command:

sudo apt-get install <sofware_name>

It is a long command and consumes a lot of your time and energy

You can shorten this command by using ‘alias’.  Issue the following command in Terminal:

alias Install=”sudo apt-get install”

You can obviously use your own word instead of ‘Install’.

Now, you just have to type:

Install <software_name>

to install the (same) software. Simple, isn’t it?

You can simplify other aspects of APT. For example, you can use the following ‘alias’:

alias Remove=”sudo apt-get remove”

to uninstall a software.

Some other examples of attaching APT with ‘alias’ are:

alias Update=”sudo apt-get update”

alias Upgrade=”sudo apt-get upgrade”

alias Search=”apt-cache search”

alias Autoremove=”sudo apt-get autoremove”

alias Autoclean=”sudo apt-get autoclean”

alias Purge=”sudo apt-get remove –purge”

and so on…

A Very Interesting ‘alias’ For A Difficult Keyboard Button

On some keyboards, the dot (.) button is at very difficult position and if you have to use it more than once, it becomes even more difficult.  That’s why ‘cd ..’ is the command which I mistype the most.  This complication can be easily removed by using following ‘alias’ (you can use any other word instead of a dot):

alias .=”cd ..”

alias ..=”cd ../..”

alias ...=”cd ../../..”

alias ....=”cd ../../../..”

Using Internet From Terminal

If you regularly use lynx to browse the internet in terminal then you have to type long urls with lynx to visit the web pages.  You can simplify these long urls by using ‘alias’:

alias Google=”lynx http://www.google.com/”

alias Yahoo=”lynx http://www.yahoo.com/”

alias yalb =”lynx http://linux-blog.org/”

and so on…

Now just type Google, Yahoo or yalb to visit the respective web sites.

Simple ‘alias’ For More Complicated Commands

Long commands are not only difficult to remember but also take more time to type; when you have to use them on daily basis, you become frustrated when typing them again and again and again… So, ‘alias’ are more suitable for long and complicated commands.

Let’s consider an example.

To find the top 10 largest files in your system, you can set the following ‘alias’:

alias top10files=”find . -type f -exec ls -sh {} \; | sort -n -r | head -10”

You can even mix different commands with ‘alias’.  For instance, if you regularly use ‘tail’ and direct its output to file to later view that file, you can set a very simple ‘alias’ to do this cumbersome operation in 1 word:

alias Tail=”tail /var/log/messages > hello.txt;cat hello.txt”

Now just enter ‘Tail’ and viola! All is done at once.

You can use any file with tail and direct its output and you can even use ‘nano’ or ‘vi’ to view/edit its output.

Here’s another example… ‘alias’ to connect to a remote server:

alias any_name=”ssh <remote_server_address> -l <username> -p <port>”

You can even create ‘alias’ for your bash scripts, like:

alias clc=”sh /home/user/myscripts/calc.sh”

Now that you have set a few different ‘alias’  you might want to check that which ‘alias’ are set on your system.  To do that, just issue the following command:

alias

and it will list all the set ‘alias’ you have.

To remove an ‘alias’, just issue the ‘unalias’ command, like:

unalias Google

and now typing Google in terminal will do nothing (as it was set with lynx).

To remove all the ‘alias’, issue the following command and all the ‘alias’ are gone:

unalias –a

We have discussed the way of setting the ‘alias’ for different kinds of commands.  But setting ‘alias’ in this way be temporary.  When you reboot you PC, all the ‘alias’ which you have set will be gone.  This does not mean that you have to set all the ‘alias’ every time you boot your PC.  If you have set an ‘alias’ and you liked it so much that you want it to permanently reside in you PC, just add this alias in ‘.bashrc’ file in you home directory. For example, if you want ‘alias’:

Install <software_name>

to permanently reside in your PC then user your favorite text editor and add the following line in your ‘~/.bashrc’ file:

alias Install=”sudo apt-get install”

Now this ‘alias’ will not vanish into thin air when you reboot your PC. Only those ‘alias’  which are listed in ‘~/.bashrc’ file will be permanent.

This guide is just a preview about ‘alias’.  It is just about basic ways of using ‘alias’ to make your life simpler.  ‘GNU alias’ is a tool which can simplify your life immensely.  But unfortunately this tool is not given the attention it deserves.  In short, it is such a powerful tool that if you give it proper time, it can make you forget typing

Using ‘Alias’ in Linux originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on December 23, 2010.

If you take a look at the graphic below, the spike in the middle will probably stick out quite a bit.  Oddly enough, the spike I noticed in CPU percentage used (which is regulated for VPS at Linode) also spiked up disk usage…mainly because I began to swap when cpu/ram use skyrocketed.  All of this happened with Ubuntu 10.04 installed.  CentOS was the first distro I tried but I quickly switched to Ubuntu when I spotted a really nice how-to in the Linode document library.  Oh, and please excuse my horrible gimp skills on the image below…it was a quick and dirty editing of the image:

cpu usage

After switching to Ubuntu, I began receiving alarms for my account due to the high usage of CPU and disk.  I attempted to tweak settings and configuration files for about a week and realized it just wasn’t going to work for me.  I switched to Debian Lenny and the move was a positive as is reflected in these pictures.

disk usage

I was hoping Ubuntu 10.04 would fit for me since it is a long term support (LTS) release.  CentOS is my normal server distribution of choice and I really wanted to branch out and go with something different.  I used a Linode Stackscript for WordPress for CentOS but elected for vanilla installs of Ubuntu and Debian aftwards (I didn’t like NOT knowing what was installed when I first logged in…call me a control freak).

I just found it interesting that Ubuntu 10.04 did so horribly in this instance.  After investigating, I found a couple of likely suspects:

1. Default Apache install in Ubuntu leaves a lot to be desired..even after tweaking both it and PHP for days I couldn’t get them to lay off the resources.  Even switching to mpm_worker and FastCGI did little to settle things down.
2. Ubuntu swappiness is bad…it is set at 60 (I use 10 normally) and it swapped every chance it could get…it’s set by default to swap more than it should.
3. mod_php on Ubuntu is hungry for all your cpu and ram and disk; be warned!

Debian, as the parent distribution of Ubuntu, would most likely suffer from the same problems…except it doesn’t.  Things are working great with it and I’d recommend it for any of your server needs!  Has anyone else seen this oddity with Ubuntu 10.04?  If so, please drop me a comment below.

Interesting Statistics originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on July 13, 2010.

You may have seen a blip swing by in posting on the site with the default WordPress posting “Hello World” displaying as a new post.  This was due to my recent migration from Site5 shared hosting to a Linode VPS.  During the switchover, the database had not been uploaded yet as I was tweaking the webserver…feedburner detected a change in the RSS when DNS switched and BOOM!  The WordPress default post popped up saying hello.  I thought I had everything planned and timed perfectly but it seems I was off because of how fast DNS switched.

I apologize if this littered your inbox or your RSS reader.  I can promise some GREAT posts coming up.  I’ve been working on a file permissions and user groups posting to help new users out.  I’ve also inherited an older laptop with a PIII that I’ll be installing Salix on soon…I’ve decided to go with LXDE version of Salix 13.  Should be quite fun to see how that performs and report about it.  I’m also investigating Linux command line downloaders that can grab files from the web for you.  So lots of stuff on the horizon.  Once again, apologies for anything odd that may have popped up.

If you’d like to know more about the migration or have Site5 shared or Linode VPS questions, please drop me a line in the comments section.

A Blip on My Posts originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on July 8, 2010.

Just look at this medium over the past few decades and you’ll always find a TV series or movie that is a glass reflection of what is happening in the real world.  Movies and TV have the power to elicit strong emotional responses (i.e. The Notebook_or_insert_another_chick_flick_here) , invoke the ire of opposing groups (i.e. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed), and even inspire people to unite under a common goal.  Anything that powerful and influencing with the reach that moves and TV have is a force to be reckoned with.

Stagnant Development and Stagnant Thinking

When development on something stagnates and no further advancement happens, often times that technology is abandoned.  An example of this is how voice-over-IP is changing how we do phones.  With Skype, Vonage, Google Voice, asterisk, and other amazing services the consumer is innovating while phone companies flounder.  Soon in the future we will see phone companies change to become absorbed by ISPs.  The same is true of Television companies.  With the onslaught of new media on the web and the ability to stream video from point A to point B, conventional media producers are being forced to become innovative to stay relevant.  The problem is that they don’t want to innovate.  They’d rather sit back and let the old way they operate things be the ONLY way they operate things.  A prime example is NBC’s fall from grace; from first to worst with no sign of improvement.  Time and time again they prove that they don’t “get it” at all…even up to NBC CEO Jeff Zucker saying that Boxee is stealing content from Hulu when they play videos…using this logic:  Opera, Safari, Firefox, and any web browser is “stealing” content by visiting Hulu.com and playing videos…because Boxee uses Mozilla Firefox to play Hulu’s content.

When big television finally gets this…they’ll get on board and they’ll be seen less negatively and more positively.  The first Television company to  fully partner with Boxee to offer full episodes will win.  What does winning mean?  It means that the PR exposure will be such a huge shot in the arm that the company will benefit across the board.  It also means that they get rich metrics on what people are watching, how often they watch, and when they are watching…all without even needing a Nielson ratings.  The first company to do this, in my opinion, will be the company all other broadcast corporations will chase.

How Boxee Harnesses the Power of Movies and TV

Boxee tames that reality shaping force for you.  Boxee changes the way you are entertained.  By changing how something is used or consumed, you change all those the thing reaches.  Instead of TV being brought into your home…YOU are bringing TV into your home on your terms.  Studios need to know that to gain control over something you sometimes have to give up control.

Boxee crawls the web for you and brings all television it can find (think CBS, ABC, NBC, Hulu, Netflix, clicker.com, tv.com) into a single interface.  You play your show in Boxee and can even rate it and/or share it.  People can subscribe to your boxee feed and know what you rated a movie or television show and perhaps watch it themselves.  However, the real power of boxee is the single interface.  This gives people the ability to launch a single program that can find TV for them.  The entry barrier to watching TV online is thus lowered.  That means that Boxee is a POWERFUL tool for television and movies…one not being utilized by those markets.

Boxee is taking a cross platform approach to things as well…it’s freely available for Linux, Windows, and Mac platforms.  This allows Boxee to be something EVERYONE can experience.

Boxee IS changing the entire world, one television at a time.  If broadcasting corporations don’t recognize this and work with Boxee…I’m afraid they may be left out in the cold during this change.  What do you think?  Does Boxee have the power to change the world?

If you’d like to know more about getting started using Boxee, please visit

http://www.howcast.com/videos/310743-How-To-Get-Started-With-Boxee

Boxee is Changing the World originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on May 25, 2010.