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Slackware 10.2 Tips and Tricks

Want to Install the 2.6.13 Kernel is Slack but don’t know how? Ask and ye shall receive!

First, mount the CDROM…in my case, it is /dev/hdb

mount -t auto /dev/hdb /mnt/cdrom

mount -t auto /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

Next, let’s install that Kernel! Insert Slackware Disc 2…then issue the commands below.

installpkg /mnt/cdrom/linux-2.6.13/kernel-source-2.6.13-noarch-1.tgz

installpkg /mnt/cdrom/linux-2.6.13/kernel-modules-2.6.13-i486-1.tgz

installpkg /mnt/cdrom/linux-2.6.13/kernel-headers-2.6.13-i386-1.tgz

installpkg /mnt/cdrom/linux-2.6.13/kernel-generic-2.6.13-i486-1.tgz

installpkg /mnt/cdrom/linux-2.6.13/alsa-driver-1.0.9b_2.6.13-i486.1.tgz

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KDE Shortcut Keys

Most people know shortcuts in Windows but neglect to find out shortcuts in KDE when they make the switch to Linux. So, if you have a shortcut in KDE that isn’t covered here…please comment it so that others can benefit from your knowledge! PS: Some of these might not work with your version of KDE…just test them out and see if they do!

Alt-F2
Brings up a “Run Command” prompt

Alt-Print and Cntrl-Print
Take a screenshot. You have to paste it from your clipboard

Alt-Esc or Control-Esc
Shows the KDE session manager, from which you can switch to a specific application or log out of KDE.

Ctrl-F[1..8]
Switch to a specific desktop.

Alt-Tab or Alt-Shift-Tab
Cycle through your windows.

Ctrl-Tab or Ctrl-Shift-Tab
Cycle through your desktops.

Alt-F4
Close the current active window.

Ctrl-Alt-Esc
Window destroyer (every window you click on will be destroyed).

Alt-F3
For your Window Menu

Ctrl-Alt-Backspace
This exits KDE but doesn’t save your settings or work.

Ctrl-Alt-Numpad +
Cycles to the next screen resolution available.

Ctrl-Alt-Numpad –
Cycles to the previous screen resolution available.

Hope these help you out…please post any you might have that are helpful and I’ll add them to the list with credits. Thanks again for reading.

The 10 Minute Linux Firewall

If you’re like me…you still have to run some form of Windows for daily operations at your house or office. While most of the time there are helpful hardware additions at work such as a firewall/avtivirus…at home, you’ll find a more simple router/firewall and antivirus solution that doesn’t protect as well. While this is better than nothing, it also doesn’t have the power that a Linux firewall does…nor does it have the ability to patch itself when a vulnerability is discovered.

Did you know that most router/firewalls that you can buy at the store come with a set of default passwords that work on ALL MODELS? Yours could be open to hacking right now. To lock down your network, you can take an old computer, install Linux, and use it as a firewall with your own custom rules and regulations…plus it’s great to show off to the ladies Wink 😉 lol.

I wrote a tutorial on how to do this at http://daniweb.com. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in (very easy to follow directions) then check out this link: http://daniweb.com/tutorials/tutorial14094.html.

Or continue reading the article in full below…

The 10 Minute Linux Firewall

At the forefront of almost every single System Administrators mind is security. Redmond has been catching a lot of flack lately about not being as secure as they could be. As some of you have noticed, there has been a market swing in the use of Mozilla and Firefox as webbrowsers, creating a small nick into the 90% marketshare that Redmond owns with IE. Some IT Specialists are also seeing the same swing in the Server market.

So what does this have to do with Firewalls? Well, just like switching webrowsers or servers away from M$, a Linux firewall means added security AND possibly even increased browsing speed. Today, I’ll discuss the easiest way to get up and running with the 5 minute Linux firewall.

First things first. I’m not going to go into detail on many distros…I’m going with one that I know work…and that I know work FAST…and that would be something a ‘Windows’ person could install and configure in a matter of minutes. In my mind, the easiest distro is Smoothwall.

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Slackware 10.2 + 350Mhz PII = Bliss

Slackware 10.2 came out a few days ago and I’ve recently decided to dust off a Pentium II 350 with 524MB PC100 RAM to see how things work with it. All I can say is WOW! I have resurrected this old computer to a new life. Slackware was where I started and I can assure you it will be a staple of my Linux diet for years to come. Despite the age of the computer and the slower processor, things are blindingly fast. I’m going to slim it down a bit more and tweak the boot process to speed it up even more.

Slackware 10.2 more than stacks up to my expectations…having not installed slackware since version 9, I was very impressed. XFCE 4.2.2 and KDE 3.4 are just a few of the nice things that come with Slack. My XFCE desktop was decidedly fast…much faster than any other distro that has run on my ancient PII desktop. That in itself is amazing. So amazing in fact that I immediately set out to document as many tips and tricks as I can for all of us slackers 😛

So, I’ve written a nice How-To for installing the 2.6.13 kernel that didn’t come installed by default with 10.2 (Patrick instead opting for the proven 2.4 tree with 2.4.31). I dropped the how-to into the forum in case anyone had questions…since the forum would provide for a much more organized and dynamic way for people to pose questions. You must be registered to post questions (see links at top of the blog). So, if you’re interested in having Slackware 10.2 with a 2.6 branch kernel ( 2.6.13 ) then check it out!

Thanks for reading

BASH Prompt Fun

The Bourne Again Shell aka BASH has been around for a while. For those of us that also have been around for a while…this shell possibly could be the one you choose to use for your Linux distro. I first started using BASH when I was in college. We had Solaris 2.0 Servers that allowed me to mess around quite a bit back then.

But most new users fear the shell (or as windows likes to call it, command line) and venture there as little as possible. The prompt that greets most users that open a Linux shell is static and unyielding; yet, there are small adjustments that can make your Linux shell bend to the will of your force. Today, I’ll be going over some simple and fun ways to alter your .bashrc file, which is where your BASH “profile” is kept and read each time you login. Changes to this file can make your Linux shell a little bit friendly and less frightning.

Most shell’s look similar to this by default:

[devnet@lostgate root]$

This doesn’t do much for you other than tell you who you are, what your hostname is, and what directory you are in. If you are like me, you want some useful information to be there so that what is above, becomes what is below:

(devnet@lostgate:/var/www/html)#

Why is this so different? For starters, after seeing how to add color to your prompt you’ll be able to add your own color scheme to things. You’ll also be able to check out various ways to display information you want such as dates, times, whether you have mail, and your directory path you are in. Do you need l33t programming skills to accomplish this? Not at all! If you’re ready, let’s give this thing a try…

Continue reading “BASH Prompt Fun”

Making sendmail a better place

Recently, I’ve had a rash of both [SPAM] and hacking attempts at the site. With this being the case, my intrusion detection system has been working overtime. Something I forgot to do though was to forward all system mail to my main email and user account. So I had to read 5 different email accounts in order to get ‘the whole picture’ To combat this, a very nice little trick with sendmail/procmail can come into play and allow forwarding of all email to the correct box. Very handy…especially if you have rootkit detection software installed such as rootkithunter which is a handy program to alert you to hacker attempts. So this entry will be dedicated to some handy sendmail tips. Most of these tips will apply at a server level…but some can be adapted to desktop. To see the full list of tips, hop into the forum and check them out. Registration isn’t required but would be nice 🙂 (check out the navigation pane at the top of this blog for registration/login links). If you have any of your own tips, go ahead and post them in the forum while you’re there!

Sendmail tips and tricks