August 31, 2009
Let’s say you’re logged into your Ubuntu machine as an unprivileged user, meaning that you don’t have permission to use the sudo command on the command line. As such, you cannot update the system, install a program, or perform other tasks in the terminal that require the sudo command without logging out and then back in as the administrative user, or using the User Switcher. This annoys me. So, how do I execute commands in the terminal that require the sudo command while still logged in as the unprivileged user??
First off, you’ll need ssh. To make sure you have this installed, login to your administrative account (a step that will soon become unnecessary), open a terminal, and enter…
sudo apt-get install openssh-server openssh-client
After this install is finished you can logout, and back in as the unprivileged user.Now you can open a terminal and enter…
ssh [administrative username]@127.0.0.1
You’ll be asked for your password, this is the administrative account’s password, enter it and press enter. Now, you’ll have a command line prompt for the administrative user, as if you had logged in as that user and opened a terminal. You can now update the system, or make whatever change you need to make that requires you to enter your sudo password.
A nice time saving trick.
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Command Line, Security | Tagged: root, sudo, user, user switcher | 
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Posted by eli
August 26, 2009
Have you ever asked yourself, “How do I find out exactly which version, or release, of Ubunut I have?” There are a few ways of doing this.
The easiest, and most basic, is to open the System Monitor.You do this by going to System > Administration > System Monitor. You then click on the System tab. There you’ll see which version of Ubuntu you’re using, along with your linux kernel, and which version of gnome you have. However, this information can be incomplete. For example, if I do this, I’m told that I have Ubuntu 8.04. Well, I do, but there’s more to it than that.
See, Ubuntu has what’s called point releases for the long term support versions of Ubuntu, which 8.04 is. Check their website here, for an explanation. So, knowing that I have Ubuntu 8.04 does not tell me which point release I have. What can I do if I want that information?? Well, that’s pretty easy too.
I have to open up a terminal. To do that I go into the Accessories menu, and choose Terminal. Then I enter this…
cat /etc/issue.net
And when I do that, I’m told that I have Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS. This let’s me know that I am using the third point release. This is what I wanted to find out.
Any other ways of doing this that you prefer???
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Command Line, Ubuntu, Utility | Tagged: lts, release, version | 
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Posted by eli
January 23, 2009
You’ve heard of Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 7. Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu, shared his thoughts on the new version of Windows with the UK’s Register.
Here’s an excerpt…
“I’ve kicked the tires on the [Windows 7] beta for a few hours and it was good,” Shuttleworth said. “They’ve put concerted attention on the user experience with the shell.
Read the whole story here.
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News, Ubuntu | Tagged: shuttleworth, windows 7 | 
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Posted by eli
December 17, 2008
A new version of Ubuntu is released every 6 months, and it’s very easy to upgrade. All you have to do is click a button or two in your update manager and there you have it. You’ve just gone from Ubuntu 8.04 to Ubuntu 8.10! Is this something that you should be doing?? You could upgrade every six months, or you could upgrade every 2 years. Which would you prefer?? I’ve chosen to upgrade every 2 years. Here’s why…
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2 Comments | Ubuntu | Tagged: lts, release, upgrade | Permalink
Posted by eli
December 11, 2008
This could be very useful to you if you’re working in the terminal and need to step away for a moment. You can achieve a locked screen, just like when you do it the graphical way, with this command entered at the command line, or cli…
gnome-screensaver-command –lock
NOTE –In this command, where you see “–lock”, it is really 2 hyphens with no spaces in between, followed by “lock” … - – lock. WordPress renders two hyphens put together as… –
This will instantly launch your screensaver, and lock your computer’s screen. Your password will be required to gain access to your system once this is activated.
That command is pretty long, and typing it out would probably get on my nerves. You can use an alias to effectively shorten it. Here’s how we’ll do that, also at the command line…
Let’s say we want to be able to type in lock, to lock the screen. If I just type in lock, I get nothing. So I need to create an alias for this command. An alias is just like what it sounds like. It’s assigning another name to a certain command. At the command line enter…
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15 Comments | Command Line, Security | Tagged: alias, gnome, how to, screensaver | Permalink
Posted by eli
December 7, 2008
In Ubuntu you can have the appointments in your calender appear in your desktop calender/clock. If you’ve just come over from years of Microsoft Windows use, Evolution is the linux equivalent of Outlook. Ubuntu works with the Evolution mail client to give you quick access to your appointments and tasks right on the desktop, without having to open your email program. Here’s how it works…
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1 Comment | Email | Tagged: calender, evolution, how to | Permalink
Posted by eli
December 6, 2008
Some HP printers can use one of the drivers already installed by default in Ubuntu. In those cases, all you usually need to do is plug your printer into your computer, and Ubuntu will recognize it and prompt you to set it up. It’s super quick & easy. The HP Laserjet P1005 that I purchased needed something more. This is a good quality, small, quiet, and cheap ($75 shipped from Newegg) monochrome laser printer. It comes with drivers, Windows drivers of course, which do you no good with Ubuntu. I read that I needed hplip. Turns out that I already had hplip installed on my system by default (which will work for many HP printers), but it didn’t do me any good. I needed to download & install the newest version. Here’s how I did it…
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2 Comments | Hardware, Printing, Software | Tagged: how to, hplip, sourceforge | Permalink
Posted by eli
December 3, 2008
APTonCD is a very cool application that will backup the packages (software) on your system to a CD or DVD. This will not backup any personal, user created files. This is very handy for example, if you’re re-installing Ubuntu for whatever reason, but you don’t want to have to re-install every single peice of software that you’ve accumulated over time. All you do is back them up with APTonCD, and then re-install them onto your new system. This could also be useful with setting up new machines, they can benefit from all the cool software that you’ve scoured the web to find. To install APTonCD you can…go to the Add/Remove menu, or you can go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager, or you can install from the command line by opening a terminal and entering…
sudo apt-get install aptoncd
Now that you have it installed you can find it in System > Administration > APTonCD.
Upon opening it up you’re greeted with 2 options. To make a backup of your programs, click Create.
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5 Comments | Utility | Tagged: backup, how to | Permalink
Posted by eli
November 26, 2008
Let’s say you want to block certain websites. Maybe to keep your kids off of myspace, for security reasons, or to block advertising from being loaded. You can do this by means of your hosts file. By modifying that little file, you can keep certain websites from being accessed from your computer. Here’s how to do it…
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Leave a Comment » | Security | Tagged: how to, internet | Permalink
Posted by eli
November 20, 2008
Locking your screen when you’re away from your computer is very important when there are other people around. You don’t want anyone messing around on your computer. In Ubuntu you can lock your screen very easily. Once your screen is locked, it will immediately start the screensaver. When someone tries to use the mouse or keyboard they are prompted for a password. If they don’t have the password, they can’t access your machine. This password is the same one you use to login with. Here’s how to lock your screen…
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1 Comment | Security | Tagged: how to, screensaver | Permalink
Posted by eli
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