Find Artifacts
If you are anything like me, you probably think your home town is the most boring place on the planet Earth, especially if
it is a small town. But it is still probably boring if you live in a big city because there is a limit on what you can do as
a child growing up.
However, there is a way for kids to find something fun to do with their friends that does not involve getting into trouble
with the law or drugs. This game is sort of like a scavenger hunt and will appeal to all of the aspiring Indiana Jones
wannabes of the world. This game does not really have a name, but entails finding artifacts all over your home town or
neighborhood. Now, these do not really have to be artifacts, but can be anything you consider old and worthy of mention
as a unique item.
To play, approach it like a scavenger hunt. Have you child get a group of friends together and decide on the rules. For
instance, each child must find an interesting old rock, a piece of petrified wood and some really old pop bottles or cans.
The options are limitless because it depends on what you, your child and his group of friends deems to be worthy of the term
artifacts. Also, your child might consider something to be an artifact that is really only a couple of years old. But to him,
it is ancient.
Your child and his friends can then use their imaginations and create their very own treasure hunt and archeological
expedition with just a few things. It is the best way to get your kids and their friends outside to enjoy the weather and
truly be a kid. The kids get to flex their creativity and you get to rest easy knowing they are participating in a wholesome
activity that helps them think strategically and quickly.
Once your child and his group of friends have gathered their artifacts, have them meet to show off their wares. You never
know, one of the children may have found something that will spark off a conversation about the history of your home town,
history of the United States, the history of anything.
The game of finding artifacts is also one that can be played by adults as a twist on the traditional notion of scavenger
hunting. There are only so many restaurant straws and ketchup packets you can collect in these sorts of games. This gives
you an opportunity to go back to your childhood and find the joy in finding “artifacts.”
So, let your kids be kids and let them scavenge for artifacts. Then you can also be a kid again with your very own version
of the game. It is fun, it is free and it can turn out to be a great educational opportunity for your child. No video game
or sophisticated computer toy or cell phone can boast the same educational benefits that this game can have.
Astronomer
Your Young Astronomer Will Love A Kids Telescope
If your youngster is showing interest in stargazing and astronomy, a kids telescope can get them started with their new hobby without a large investment. Realize that a kids telescope is not a toy, but a fully functioning beginner telescope without all the advanced features.
Giving your youngster a kids telescope will let them know that you support their interest in astronomy and see it as a worthwhile endeavor. A real telescope, even without all the features, can giv...
If your youngster is showing interest in stargazing and astronomy, a kids telescope can get them started with their new hobby without a large investment. Realize that a kids telescope is not a toy, but a fully functioning beginner telescope without all the advanced features.
Giving your youngster a kids telescope will let them know that you support their interest in astronomy and see it as a worthwhile endeavor. A real telescope, even without all the features, can give your child or grandchild a head start in learning about the universe and star systems.
Investing in a Kids Telescope
While you can purchase a child telescope for under $25, these are really more of a toy than a functioning astronomy telescope. A real basic beginner telescope can be purchased for around $100 and can provide the young astronomer with a gateway to the heavens. If you wish to invest a little more, a good starter telescope with some of the more advanced features, will cost anywhere from $200 to $300. This will provide your youngster with a quality piece of stargazing equipment.
As the child’s interest grows, an investment in a more sophisticated telescope model might be appropriate. For instance, many young astronomers enjoy having the capability to photograph certain star formations or passing comets.
Tips for Buying the Right Child Telescope
Many astronomers and educators recommend a telescope with a longer focal length and separate viewer. This allows the child to find objects much easier and reduces the frustration that can result for the novice astronomer.
There are many cheaper models that offer a focal length of only 30mm or 50mm and will provide a more generalized view of the night sky. However, if you want a telescope that will provide a more detailed picture of the planets, moon and constellations, a 70mm or higher focal length is strongly recommended.
Kids telescopes are available from a number of top-rate optics companies like Meade, Celestron, Bushnell, Orion and many others. Even the Discovery Channel offers an affordable 70mm lens kids telescope with easy set-up and easy-to-use features.
Meade provides some of the best telescopes on the market today and caters to the amateur astronomer – from beginner to expert levels. For example, a 1000mm focal length telescope with photographic capabilities can be purchased for about $150. This is an excellent choice for the new astronomer because it provides a very good view of the heavens and shows details of the planets and moon that are generally not found with a telescope in this price range. An added bonus is that a 35mm camera can be attached to this telescope that allows your child to preserve those special night sky views on film.
How to Use a Kids Telescope
Reading the instructions for your child’s new telescope can’t be stressed enough. Even the basic kids’ telescopes can be confusing to use the first few times. It is advisable for the parent to read through the instruction manual and help the child astronomer learn the basics of the telescope’s operating features.
A great way to enhance your child’s interest in astronomy is to view the night skies together. There is no better way to bond with your child than by enjoying the same hobbies and actively pursuing them together.
A kids telescope can open up a whole new exciting world to your youngster. It can broaden their understanding of the universe and allow them to be a part of the cosmos beyond just this planet. Why not invest in your child by getting them a kids telescope for fun, education, and a true bonding experience.
Internet Marketing Techniques
Seems like every time you turn around someone is hawking the latest and greatest new internet marketing ebook that is sure to make you rich. If you're an internet marketer chances are really good that you've been burned at least once by an ebook that was all fluff and absolutely useful information. Or worse yet, the author, deliberately or not,leaves out a step that leaves you scratching your head over how to execute what you did learn. It's enough to make you scream if you're really serious about learning how to build an online business.
By now you've heard the Who Loves Money buzz. It's the new ebook from Kyle & Carson, Wealthy Affiliate founders, that are claiming they can teach you how to make money online with zero investment internet marketing techniques. It claims to blow the lid off the current internet marketing theories that have been around for decades. The start up costs are supposed to be minimal and there are some techniques which require no money at all.
Most folks are thinking that it's just another internet marketing ebook. That's a true enough statement. However, the Who Loves Money buzz claims are that it's different in the fact that although the techniques presented are not necessarily brand new, these zero investment internet marketing techniques are said to be explored in depth and then explained in a way that is supposed to be easy to understand as well as easy to apply.
If you're new to internet marketing, then you should know that a number of standard website promotion techniques can get very expensive. If you aren't sure what you're doing, you could end up costing yourself money rather than making any. Here are some examples of what can be considered zero investment marketing techniques.
Niche Hunting - Deciding what topic to base your website on can be difficult. Building a site about a topic you enjoy doesn't necessarily mean that you can make a profit. You must learn how to choose a niche that has good profit potential.
Selection of Niche Keywords - You may have picked out a profitable niche, but if you target the wrong keywords for your webpages, you have just shot yourself in the foot. There is an art to selecting the keywords that will turn visitors into customers.
Affiliate Product Selection - You need to be able to review and select an appropriate product to promote on your site. A great website and a lousy affiliate product equals not many sales or lots of refunds. Refunds equal revoked commissions and that's something you don't want to happen.
Article Marketing - Writing topic based articles, usually 300-700 words, and submitting them to article directories. While this seems very easy, there is most definitely a specific technique to making it effective and productive.
Zero investment internet marketing techniques are not the hot new thing. They've been around for quite a while now, but are currently getting lots of attention. The Who Loves Money buzz is definitely building, but whether or not this ebook lives up to its claims still remains to be seen.
Auto Parts Stores
If you have ever wanted to start your own business, have you ever thought about starting an auto parts stores. Even though you may never have considered it before, there are actually very few chain auto parts retail stores on the market that would be competing with you. But why not start your own auto parts store? In fact, starting up one of these types of businesses is just like any other retail store that could be set up. But the number one reason why a person should choose to setup an auto parts store of their own is because they will never go out of businesses. There are several reasons for that, too, and here are some things to consider:
People & Automobiles Will Never Change
The best reason to set up an auto parts store is that there will always be plenty of people who are dependent on automobiles to get to work, school, and use as transportation throughout the day. Automobiles seems like they aren't going anywhere, which is why auto parts will always be needed. People will always need to buy first-hand, after-market auto parts in order to fix their cars. The retail stores that are set up to do this, like AutoZone or NAPA; do have a good business for themselves in the foreseeable future in order to take care of cars and people.
Less Competition
Another reason that you may have to set up your auto parts store is that there is generally less competition in the auto parts industry. Consider: how many auto parts stores do you know of that are set up in your city or town? Chances are that there aren't much more than the amount of fingers that you have on one hand. This ultimately means that there is still a market for an auto parts store where you live. One shouldn't underestimate the power of not having very much competition. All one has to do is set up an auto parts store, along with something different that not another one is offering, and customers will automatically be attracted to you.
More Expertise
Auto parts stores are stores that can be set up whether you have any expertise in the business or not. However, many customers go walk into auto parts stores generally have questions about their automobiles and auto parts that they believe the clerk at the desk will know how to answer. If you would like to set up your own auto parts stores then the best idea would be to have some expertise in the business before you even start. This may take reading lots of automobile magazines and research materials, but you will be a lot better off for it in the long run when helping customers.
All in all, auto parts stores are some of the best stores that one could ever set up. There is generally less competition among the chain retail stores in the industry and everyone knows that humans will need auto parts well into the future of humanity. There is no better time to set up an auto parts store, but all it takes is a little knowledge and determination to do so!
Auto Racing
If you are a big fan of auto racing then chances are that you have had your share of auto races in the past as well. Even so, many young adults throughout America and the world continue to engage in the favorite pastime of auto racing every day simply because it brings a rush like no other event in their lives. This is one of the major reasons for engaging in auto racing, but there are also some other important reasons that many people continue to auto race at local and national events throughout the United States, even though these events may not be near as huge as the famous NASCAR event that's held every year in search of a new top dog. Nevertheless, though, here are some reasons why auto racing has been very popular in recent years and will continue to be popular.
Young People Can Break the Law!
Even though young adults are not the only individuals who certainly compete in auto racing throughout the country, they do comprise a large majority of the individuals who are fascinated with the sport for some reason or another. Furthermore, even though auto racing is legal in most states when it's done in a legal area, many young adults feel as though they are actually breaking the law by going well over the speed limits. For example, auto racing events that are held in parking lots encourage the drivers of the automobiles to go close to 100 miles per hour. Doing any sort of speed limit over 30 miles per hour will aim to give anyone an adrenaline rush in a parking lot, but 100 miles per hour is considered to be fascinating with a variety of people when auto racing.
Provides an Outlet
Perhaps another reason why young adults and other are so enthralled with auto racing events that take place in their cities and towns throughout the year is that it provides an outlet from something in one way or another. For example, the young adult who is swamped with raising a family or getting through college will naturally want an outlet so that they can channel some of the emotions that they are feeling into the auto racing.
Room for Improvement
There is always more room for improvement when it comes to auto racing, and perhaps another reason why so many people love the events is because they can try to find all they can to modify their automobiles and engines so that they'll be able to win the auto race the next time around. Auto racing is excellent for improving auto racing skills and it provides determination to those who are involved with it.
All in all, auto racing is a very important sport and pastime to those who love to race. Auto racing is done by a whole variety of individuals over all ages and gender. The fact of the matter is, though, is that auto racing is downright popular and makes sense for many people to get involved!
Event Planning
There are many things in life that are very important to our self esteem and whether you actually know it or not there are actually plenty of characteristics that go along with owning an event planning business that may also be useful in real life as well. If you are not one of the professional event planners in the event planning industry then chances are that you don't know about all the specifics that goes on within an event planner's life and daily routine. However, there are many aspects of the event planning professional's personality that could benefit someone in their life apart from their event planning duties. Indeed, event planning skills are very important and here are some areas where the daily routine of an event planner may coincide with that of a regular individual.
Organization: many event planning professionals have some of the best organizational skills out of everyone in the business world and it seems as though their profession would even call for it. Just as an event planner has to stay organized in order to know which of their scheduled events is the next day and which is the next week, so too are there plenty of opportunities and room for improvement in many other people's life when it comes to organization. In fact, organization is one area in which many people struggle throughout their life. An event planning professional is a highly organized person and it is an important quality to emulate!
People Skills: Many people may turn down the job of an event planner simply because they realize that it requires a great deal of people skills in order to succeed. However, the outgoing nature of someone who own an event planning business is very key to thriving in the industry in the first place. One needs to have the self-esteem in order to contact individuals about large events that need to be planned, and they also need the confidence with which to do their job. On the other hand there are plenty of individuals who go throughout life with very low self-esteem, a low profile of self-worth and self-image, but these are areas that an event planner actually excels at!
Discipline and Control: These two qualities are very important of anyone who owns and controls an event planning business. There are many different scenarios where an event planner may have to display their discipline and control, but these two characteristics of their personality should actually show through throughout their whole career. On the flip side, many non-event planners could take a lesson from the event planners in the industry simply because many people lack the discipline in order to get the things done that they need to have accomplished. Fostering that discipline within yourself, though, is one key to being a happier person altogether!
After everything is said and done, though, one can easily see where event planning skills are very crucial in everyday life for most people. Even though it's unrealistic to think that most everyone should become an event planner just to be able to have these skills, as human beings we definitely should take a lesson from them!
Franchises are Good Investments
There are many different types of business individuals throughout the world, but one type of person that would take up a franchise as their own and succeed at it
someone who has an entrepreneurial type of attitude. There are many reasons for investing in a franchise, but an individual who is a real go-getter and is able to get things done will realize the true value of owning a franchise. Many people throughout the world have realized that franchises are good investments to take advantage of and if you have never considered it until now then perhaps it is time to put your business thinking cap on. Here are some reasons why so many people consider franchises good investments:
Just Plug It In!
Essentially, all you have to do to a franchise is just plug it in. In other words, though, the old phrase of "if you build it then they will come," is certainly true in the view of the franchise-owning individual. Since the name of the franchise is a store that is usually pretty much known throughout the nation, chances are that people will be instantly attracted to the business. For example, if you build a franchise of Starbuck's next to an apartment complex and it is closer to them than any other Starbucks around then chances are that you'll be in luck and have chosen a good spot for the franchise.
Copyright Ownership
Another great thing about owning a franchise is that you have the ability to use the copyright of the original company. Of course franchise owners won't want to do anything to damage the reputation of course, especially since the franchise is trying to succeed, but being able to advertise that you own a part of the company is a great accomplishment for many people! Franchise owners have the ability to advertise coupons in the company's name, give out discounts, as well as many other benefits that come along with owning a franchise package! Furthermore, many of the customers won’t even know that you’re a franchise of the company but will treat your store as if it was the company store itself!
Possibility of Profit in the First Year
The franchise that you build will most definitely make some sort of profit in it's life, but a franchise usually has the possibility of producing a profit or profit margin within the first year! The reason for this is mainly that it usually doesn't cost as much to start a franchise as it does to build a business or company from scratch. Those who are starting a franchise, though, will be able to realize profit a lot sooner than they thought!
All of these ideas are the exact reasons why franchises are a good investment! Of course, there are plenty of other reasons why it’s a good investment to get started with a franchise but there are too many to name here. If you have ever thought of owning a franchise then hopefully the information presented here provided the nudge you need to get started!
Gift Basket
The perfect gift for anyone is always a hard thing to do. Many people are afraid that they'll give their friends or close family members the wrong thing for Christmas, their Birthday, or another holiday, yet they want to buy them something very special that says they care about them! If you have never thought about this before, but might want to try it, one suggestion for the next occasion that comes up is to buy gift baskets for the person in your life. In addition, if the gift goes over well then you may just need to start a tradition of buying gift baskets regularly for the special people in your life. However, if you're not totally convinced that someone would love a gift baskets, here are a few reasons that it may just be the perfect gift:
You Have Choices
One good thing about trying to find gift baskets is that you typically always have choices when buying them. If you're buying a pre-made gift basket, one that was put together and wrapped beforehand, you will still have the option of buying another small gift and including that in the gift basket as well! Furthermore, many businesses that sell gift baskets usually create a variety of packages so that their are choices for everyone. For example, one company may have multiple selections of women's gift baskets, while another one only has limited varieties. Examining all of them, though, is a good idea to selecting the perfect one for your family or special friend.
They Offer Variety
Another reason why you may want to invest in a gift basket is because gift baskets usually offer variety that you can't find anywhere else. There are so many items that may come in a gift basket that are just perfect for the person on your list. In addition, women and girl-friends typically love these types of gifts, so if you're a guy trying to figure out what to get your sweetheart or your mother then you should just consider a gift basket.
Gift baskets are also creative if they're given to the right person and for the right reasons. One option that you'll always have is to actually create your own gift basket. During Christmas time one avenue that you may want to take up is actually making your own Christmas gift baskets. For example, you could fill a basket with different loaves of bread, like banana, pumpkin, or apple spice, along with including several other small types of gifts that are perfect for Christmas. Of course, pre-filled gift baskets are also usually readily available around this part of the year and holiday season, but choosing to be creative and making your own Christmas gift basket is something that many people choose to do.
As you can see, gift baskets are a great way to show the people in your life that you care and a great way to offer a variety of gifts instead of a single one. Gift baskets are usually always well received by their recipients as well, which is another reason why it makes them an awesome gift for any occasion!
Las Vegas
There is literally a laundry list of reasons that one should refer to when talking about why Las Vegas is so much better than New York City, but the fact of the matter remains that Las Vegas has plenty of opportunities that New York City simply doesn't. For starters, there is very little gambling that takes place within New York City compared to Las Vegas, so naturally the opportunities that one has to win are so much greater in Las Vegas! In addition, the whole set up of Las Vegas is so much better than when compared with the Broadway of New York City. Broadway may have a few upscale hotels and famous shows on the area, but the Las Vegas Strip has many more world-renowned hotels, casinos, along with many more shows that people are able to attend. Here are some more reasons, though, that Las Vegas is better than New York City:
More Attractions and Better Transportation
Even though there are plenty of attractions within Manhattan and New York City, more often than not it usually takes a very long cab ride to get around, or at least it takes someone who is skilled in the travels of New York City. On the other hand, there are literally hundreds of attractions, shows, rides, and shopping malls within walking distance if you are spending the day on the Las Vegas Strip. In addition, cab rides and public transportation do not cost an arm and a leg like they do in New York City. A simple bus fare only costs $5 per day in the Las Vegas Strip, while a cabbie in New York City and Manhattan may cost upwards of $15 just for a one-way ride!
Better Hotels and Restaurants
It is an undisputable fact that there are plenty of professional and upscale restaurants located throughout the heart of Manhattan. However, there are plenty more places throughout all of Las Vegas that contain the best of the best world-class restaurants one could ever eat in. For example, a few of the upscale restaurants located in the world-renowned Bellagio Hotel and Casino, as well as other places throughout Las Vegas, are the Prime, Shintaro, Rosemary's (started by Emeril Lagasse), as well as Sensi and Jasmine.
The hotels are another matter to debate, though. Even though New York City may have places like The Crowne Plaza Hotel, Las Vegas has plenty of other resorts and hotels that are not only geared toward everyone visiting Las Vegas, but also contain many themes as well. A couple of the better-themed hotels in the Las Vegas Strip include the Circus Circus, as well as the Treasure Island Resort!
As you can see, then, there is plenty more to be thankful for when one visits Las Vegas than New York City. But on the erring side and benefit of New York City, the whole area of Manhattan is quite a different place than Las Vegas. Nevertheless, though, Las Vegas contains some of the most famous hotels, casinos, and shows throughout the whole world!
Espresso
If you are a coffee drinker then chances are that you have some sort of an opinion about espresso. Many caffeine drinkers love espresso, but then there are some other folks who can't stand the taste of it. All in all, though, there are probably more espresso drinkers in the world today than there are regular coffee drinkers. In fact, however, espresso is actually the main coffee drink in many parts throughout Europe today! There are plenty of reasons why there are so many espresso drinkers throughout the world. Here are just some of the many favorite reasons that a lot of people cite when discussing why they love espresso:
It's Tasteful!
Many people simply love espresso because it has been known to have more of a flavor than regular coffee or cappuccino. There are many reasons for this, too, but one of the main reasons that espresso is more tasteful than regular coffee is because it's thicker and it usually contains a lot more flavor as well as well as a high content of other ingredients like caffeine! In addition, many people like to sip the foam, or crema, that sits right on top of the coffee drink, oftentimes sprinkled with a little bit of cinnamon or other sweet herb on top of the espresso drink!
All the Variations!
Perhaps another reason why many people love espresso throughout the world is that it has so many variations, thus is more appealing to a wide variety of people. For example, did you know that some of the variations of espresso include Alexandrino, Affogato, Americano, Cafe Bonbon, and Breve? In fact, there are actually well over 20 different kinds and variations of espresso to choose from depending on what part of the world you live in, but these are some of the more popular ones. Affogato is an espresso drink that is typically served over a type of gelato, like vanilla, and Alexandrino is one of the variations of espresso that includes a layer of condensed milk, and this type of drink is actually served with a fresh cinnamon stick to add more flavor to the drink!
Espresso Shots!
One serving of espresso is called an espresso shot. This shot, though, packs a wallop, especially if you're the one drinking it! The Shot of espresso is actually about a 1-ounce size drink. Many people say once they've had 2 or 3 espresso shots then they are all ready for the day to start! Unlike regular coffee, espresso actually has a lot more caffeine per ounce, which makes the shots a perfect start for your morning or a perfect end to your evening!
These are only just some of the reasons why, of course, people love to drink espresso all over the world. The reasons vary from person to person about why they love espresso, but you can definitely be sure that espresso has been popular and loved for many centuries and will continue its popularity throughout the years.
Acupuncture Therapy
If you have ever thought about the medicine techniques that are currently being used by doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals throughout the United States then you may have come to the conclusion that the medical field in the United States is the best in the world. On the other hand, you may have come to the conclusion that the United States is lacking something in its medical field that other societies are starting to embrace: acupuncture therapy. Acupuncture therapy has real uses in many societies across the world and there are many reasons why the United States also needs to embrace this change for the future.
Better Treatments
One reason that the United States needs to embrace acupuncture therapy is that there could be the possibility of better treatments for many different illnesses. Not only better treatments, though, are possible, but the possibility of enhanced treatments with the use of acupuncture is there. For example, instead of simply treating chronic illnesses, such as arthritis, with medication, using acupuncture in addition to the medication that is given may also be of a great help to the patients who need it. Consider the fact that the Chinese have used acupuncture in their medicine techniques for thousands of years. When one realizes this then he or she should come to the conclusion that there is always the possibility of better and enhanced treatments with acupuncture.
Outside Influence
The United States makes a great big deal over how they are rarely ever influenced, at least culturally, by any other outside groups. On the other hand, having some influence from other outside groups, such as the Chinese wisdom, may be a good thing for America after all. Choosing to embrace acupuncture therapy is something that should not be treated as taboo, but is something that American researchers need to pour more research and money into. After all, if the United States is able to find out exactly why acupuncture works then there is whole new window of opportunity that has opened up for medical professions in the United States.
More Lives are Saved
Taking the Chinese culture and country as an example, there are thousands of people whose lives are saved on a daily basis because of the acupuncture therapy that is allowed to be practiced in the country. This practice of acupuncture is also widespread, and is something that needs to be done in the United States. Considering how many lives could be saved in the United States should enlighten people on the fact that America does need acupuncture therapy.
All in all, acupuncture could be a great revolution to the United States. However, in order for that to occur the whole society in the United States and medical field needs to be open to great change within the country! As already mentioned, there are plenty of benefits that could be experienced by letting other influences in and acupuncture is just one of those benefits!
Linux Commands
| • | apropos whatis | Show commands pertinent to string. See also threadsafe |
| • | man -t ascii | ps2pdf - > ascii.pdf | make a pdf of a manual page |
| which command | Show full path name of command | |
| time command | See how long a command takes | |
| • | time cat | Start stopwatch. Ctrl-d to stop. See also sw |
| dir navigation | ||
| • | cd - | Go to previous directory |
| • | cd | Go to $HOME directory |
| (cd dir && command) | Go to dir, execute command and return to current dir | |
| • | pushd . | Put current dir on stack so you can popd back to it |
| file searching | ||
| • | alias l='ls -l --color=auto' | quick dir listing. See also l |
| • | ls -lrt | List files by date. See also newest and find_mm_yyyy |
| • | ls /usr/bin | pr -T9 -W$COLUMNS | Print in 9 columns to width of terminal |
| find -name '*.[ch]' | xargs grep -E 'expr' | Search 'expr' in this dir and below. See also findrepo | |
| find -type f -print0 | xargs -r0 grep -F 'example' | Search all regular files for 'example' in this dir and below | |
| find -maxdepth 1 -type f | xargs grep -F 'example' | Search all regular files for 'example' in this dir | |
| find -maxdepth 1 -type d | while read dir; do echo $dir; echo cmd2; done | Process each item with multiple commands (in while loop) | |
| • | find -type f ! -perm -444 | Find files not readable by all (useful for web site) |
| • | find -type d ! -perm -111 | Find dirs not accessible by all (useful for web site) |
| • | locate -r 'file[^/]*\.txt' | Search cached index for names. This re is like glob *file*.txt |
| • | look reference | Quickly search (sorted) dictionary for prefix |
| • | grep --color reference /usr/share/dict/words | Highlight occurances of regular expression in dictionary |
| archives and compression | ||
| gpg -c file | Encrypt file | |
| gpg file.gpg | Decrypt file | |
| tar -c dir/ | bzip2 > dir.tar.bz2 | Make compressed archive of dir/ | |
| bzip2 -dc dir.tar.bz2 | tar -x | Extract archive (use gzip instead of bzip2 for tar.gz files) | |
| tar -c dir/ | gzip | gpg -c | ssh user@remote 'dd of=dir.tar.gz.gpg' | Make encrypted archive of dir/ on remote machine | |
| find dir/ -name '*.txt' | tar -c --files-from=- | bzip2 > dir_txt.tar.bz2 | Make archive of subset of dir/ and below | |
| find dir/ -name '*.txt' | xargs cp -a --target-directory=dir_txt/ --parents | Make copy of subset of dir/ and below | |
| ( tar -c /dir/to/copy ) | ( cd /where/to/ && tar -x -p ) | Copy (with permissions) copy/ dir to /where/to/ dir | |
| ( cd /dir/to/copy && tar -c . ) | ( cd /where/to/ && tar -x -p ) | Copy (with permissions) contents of copy/ dir to /where/to/ | |
| ( tar -c /dir/to/copy ) | ssh -C user@remote 'cd /where/to/ && tar -x -p' | Copy (with permissions) copy/ dir to remote:/where/to/ dir | |
| dd bs=1M if=/dev/sda | gzip | ssh user@remote 'dd of=sda.gz' | Backup harddisk to remote machine | |
| rsync (Network efficient file copier: Use the --dry-run option for testing) | ||
| rsync -P rsync://rsync.server.com/path/to/file file | Only get diffs. Do multiple times for troublesome downloads | |
| rsync --bwlimit=1000 fromfile tofile | Locally copy with rate limit. It's like nice for I/O | |
| rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~/public_html/ remote.com:'~/public_html' | Mirror web site (using compression and encryption) | |
| rsync -auz -e ssh remote:/dir/ . && rsync -auz -e ssh . remote:/dir/ | Synchronize current directory with remote one | |
| ssh (Secure SHell) | ||
| ssh $USER@$HOST command | Run command on $HOST as $USER (default command=shell) | |
| • | ssh -f -Y $USER@$HOSTNAME xeyes | Run GUI command on $HOSTNAME as $USER |
| scp -p -r $USER@$HOST: file dir/ | Copy with permissions to $USER's home directory on $HOST | |
| scp -c arcfour $USER@$LANHOST: bigfile | Use faster crypto for local LAN. This might saturate GigE | |
| ssh -g -L 8080:localhost:80 root@$HOST | Forward connections to $HOSTNAME:8080 out to $HOST:80 | |
| ssh -R 1434:imap:143 root@$HOST | Forward connections from $HOST:1434 in to imap:143 | |
| ssh-copy-id $USER@$HOST | Install public key for $USER@$HOST for password-less log in | |
| wget (multi purpose download tool) | ||
| • | (cd dir/ && wget -nd -pHEKk http://www.pixelbeat.org/cmdline.html) | Store local browsable version of a page to the current dir |
| wget -c http://www.example.com/large.file | Continue downloading a partially downloaded file | |
| wget -r -nd -np -l1 -A '*.jpg' http://www.example.com/dir/ | Download a set of files to the current directory | |
| wget ftp://remote/file[1-9].iso/ | FTP supports globbing directly | |
| • | wget -q -O- http://www.pixelbeat.org/timeline.html | grep 'a href' | head | Process output directly |
| echo 'wget url' | at 01:00 | Download url at 1AM to current dir | |
| wget --limit-rate=20k url | Do a low priority download (limit to 20KB/s in this case) | |
| wget -nv --spider --force-html -i bookmarks.html | Check links in a file | |
| wget --mirror http://www.example.com/ | Efficiently update a local copy of a site (handy from cron) | |
| networking (Note ifconfig, route, mii-tool, nslookup commands are obsolete) | ||
| ethtool eth0 | Show status of ethernet interface eth0 | |
| ethtool --change eth0 autoneg off speed 100 duplex full | Manually set ethernet interface speed | |
| iw dev wlan0 link | Show link status of wireless interface wlan0 | |
| iw dev wlan0 set bitrates legacy-2.4 1 | Manually set wireless interface speed | |
| • | iw dev wlan0 scan | List wireless networks in range |
| • | ip link show | List network interfaces |
| ip link set dev eth0 name wan | Rename interface eth0 to wan | |
| ip link set dev eth0 up | Bring interface eth0 up (or down) | |
| • | ip addr show | List addresses for interfaces |
| ip addr add 1.2.3.4/24 brd + dev eth0 | Add (or del) ip and mask (255.255.255.0) | |
| • | ip route show | List routing table |
| ip route add default via 1.2.3.254 | Set default gateway to 1.2.3.254 | |
| • | ss -tupl | List internet services on a system |
| • | ss -tup | List active connections to/from system |
| • | host pixelbeat.org | Lookup DNS ip address for name or vice versa |
| • | hostname -i | Lookup local ip address (equivalent to host `hostname`) |
| • | whois pixelbeat.org | Lookup whois info for hostname or ip address |
| windows networking (Note samba is the package that provides all this windows specific networking support) | ||
| • | smbtree | Find windows machines. See also findsmb |
| nmblookup -A 1.2.3.4 | Find the windows (netbios) name associated with ip address | |
| smbclient -L windows_box | List shares on windows machine or samba server | |
| mount -t smbfs -o fmask=666,guest //windows_box/share /mnt/share | Mount a windows share | |
| echo 'message' | smbclient -M windows_box | Send popup to windows machine (off by default in XP sp2) | |
| text manipulation (Note sed uses stdin and stdout. Newer versions support inplace editing with the -i option) | ||
| sed 's/string1/string2/g' | Replace string1 with string2 | |
| sed 's/\(.*\)1/\12/g' | Modify anystring1 to anystring2 | |
| sed '/^ *#/d; /^ *$/d' | Remove comments and blank lines | |
| sed ':a; /\\$/N; s/\\\n//; ta' | Concatenate lines with trailing \ | |
| sed 's/[ \t]*$//' | Remove trailing spaces from lines | |
| sed 's/\([`"$\]\)/\\\1/g' | Escape shell metacharacters active within double quotes | |
| • | seq 10 | sed "s/^/ /; s/ *\(.\{7,\}\)/\1/" | Right align numbers |
| • | seq 10 | sed p | paste - - | Duplicate a column |
| sed -n '1000{p;q}' | Print 1000th line | |
| sed -n '10,20p;20q' | Print lines 10 to 20 | |
| sed -n 's/.*<title>\(.*\)<\/title>.*/\1/ip;T;q' | Extract title from HTML web page | |
| sed -i 42d ~/.ssh/known_hosts | Delete a particular line | |
| sort -t. -k1,1n -k2,2n -k3,3n -k4,4n | Sort IPV4 ip addresses | |
| • | echo 'Test' | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' | Case conversion |
| • | tr -dc '[:print:]' < /dev/urandom | Filter non printable characters |
| • | tr -s '[:blank:]' '\t' </proc/diskstats | cut -f4 | cut fields separated by blanks |
| • | history | wc -l | Count lines |
| • | seq 10 | paste -s -d ' ' | Concatenate and separate line items to a single line |
| set operations (Note you can export LANG=C for speed. Also these assume no duplicate lines within a file) | ||
| sort file1 file2 | uniq | Union of unsorted files | |
| sort file1 file2 | uniq -d | Intersection of unsorted files | |
| sort file1 file1 file2 | uniq -u | Difference of unsorted files | |
| sort file1 file2 | uniq -u | Symmetric Difference of unsorted files | |
| join -t'\0' -a1 -a2 file1 file2 | Union of sorted files | |
| join -t'\0' file1 file2 | Intersection of sorted files | |
| join -t'\0' -v2 file1 file2 | Difference of sorted files | |
| join -t'\0' -v1 -v2 file1 file2 | Symmetric Difference of sorted files | |
| math | ||
| • | echo '(1 + sqrt(5))/2' | bc -l | Quick math (Calculate φ). See also bc |
| • | seq -f '4/%g' 1 2 99999 | paste -sd-+ | bc -l | Calculate Ï€ the unix way |
| • | echo 'pad=20; min=64; (100*10^6)/((pad+min)*8)' | bc | More complex (int) e.g. This shows max FastE packet rate |
| • | echo 'pad=20; min=64; print (100E6)/((pad+min)*8)' | python | Python handles scientific notation |
| • | echo 'pad=20; plot [64:1518] (100*10**6)/((pad+x)*8)' | gnuplot -persist | Plot FastE packet rate vs packet size |
| • | echo 'obase=16; ibase=10; 64206' | bc | Base conversion (decimal to hexadecimal) |
| • | echo $((0x2dec)) | Base conversion (hex to dec) ((shell arithmetic expansion)) |
| • | units -t '100m/9.58s' 'miles/hour' | Unit conversion (metric to imperial) |
| • | units -t '500GB' 'GiB' | Unit conversion (SI to IEC prefixes) |
| • | units -t '1 googol' | Definition lookup |
| • | seq 100 | paste -s -d+ | bc | Add a column of numbers. See also add and funcpy |
| calendar | ||
| • | cal -3 | Display a calendar |
| • | cal 9 1752 | Display a calendar for a particular month year |
| • | date -d fri | What date is it this friday. See also day |
| • | [ $(date -d '12:00 today +1 day' +%d) = '01' ] || exit | exit a script unless it's the last day of the month |
| • | date --date='25 Dec' +%A | What day does xmas fall on, this year |
| • | date --date='@2147483647' | Convert seconds since the epoch (1970-01-01 UTC) to date |
| • | TZ='America/Los_Angeles' date | What time is it on west coast of US (use tzselect to find TZ) |
| • | date --date='TZ="America/Los_Angeles" 09:00 next Fri' | What's the local time for 9AM next Friday on west coast US |
| locales | ||
| • | printf "%'d\n" 1234 | Print number with thousands grouping appropriate to locale |
| • | BLOCK_SIZE=\'1 ls -l | Use locale thousands grouping in ls. See also l |
| • | echo "I live in `locale territory`" | Extract info from locale database |
| • | LANG=en_IE.utf8 locale int_prefix | Lookup locale info for specific country. See also ccodes |
| • | locale -kc $(locale | sed -n 's/\(LC_.\{4,\}\)=.*/\1/p') | less | List fields available in locale database |
| recode (Obsoletes iconv, dos2unix, unix2dos) | ||
| • | recode -l | less | Show available conversions (aliases on each line) |
| recode windows-1252.. file_to_change.txt | Windows "ansi" to local charset (auto does CRLF conversion) | |
| recode utf-8/CRLF.. file_to_change.txt | Windows utf8 to local charset | |
| recode iso-8859-15..utf8 file_to_change.txt | Latin9 (western europe) to utf8 | |
| recode ../b64 < file.txt > file.b64 | Base64 encode | |
| recode /qp.. < file.qp > file.txt | Quoted printable decode | |
| recode ..HTML < file.txt > file.html | Text to HTML | |
| • | recode -lf windows-1252 | grep euro | Lookup table of characters |
| • | echo -n 0x80 | recode latin-9/x1..dump | Show what a code represents in latin-9 charmap |
| • | echo -n 0x20AC | recode ucs-2/x2..latin-9/x | Show latin-9 encoding |
| • | echo -n 0x20AC | recode ucs-2/x2..utf-8/x | Show utf-8 encoding |
| CDs | ||
| gzip < /dev/cdrom > cdrom.iso.gz | Save copy of data cdrom | |
| mkisofs -V LABEL -r dir | gzip > cdrom.iso.gz | Create cdrom image from contents of dir | |
| mount -o loop cdrom.iso /mnt/dir | Mount the cdrom image at /mnt/dir (read only) | |
| wodim dev=/dev/cdrom blank=fast | Clear a CDRW | |
| gzip -dc cdrom.iso.gz | wodim -tao dev=/dev/cdrom -v -data - | Burn cdrom image (use --prcap to confirm dev) | |
| cdparanoia -B | Rip audio tracks from CD to wav files in current dir | |
| wodim -v dev=/dev/cdrom -audio -pad *.wav | Make audio CD from all wavs in current dir (see also cdrdao) | |
| oggenc --tracknum=$track track.cdda.wav -o track.ogg | Make ogg file from wav file | |
| disk space (See also FSlint) | ||
| • | ls -lSr | Show files by size, biggest last |
| • | du -s * | sort -k1,1rn | head | Show top disk users in current dir. See also dutop |
| • | du -hs /home/* | sort -k1,1h | Sort paths by easy to interpret disk usage |
| • | df -h | Show free space on mounted filesystems |
| • | df -i | Show free inodes on mounted filesystems |
| • | fdisk -l | Show disks partitions sizes and types (run as root) |
| • | rpm -q -a --qf '%10{SIZE}\t%{NAME}\n' | sort -k1,1n | List all packages by installed size (Bytes) on rpm distros |
| • | dpkg-query -W -f='${Installed-Size;10}\t${Package}\n' | sort -k1,1n | List all packages by installed size (KBytes) on deb distros |
| • | dd bs=1 seek=2TB if=/dev/null of=ext3.test | Create a large test file (taking no space). See also truncate |
| • | > file | truncate data of file or create an empty file |
| monitoring/debugging | ||
| • | tail -f /var/log/messages | Monitor messages in a log file |
| • | strace -c ls >/dev/null | Summarise/profile system calls made by command |
| • | strace -f -e open ls >/dev/null | List system calls made by command |
| • | strace -f -e trace=write -e write=1,2 ls >/dev/null | Monitor what's written to stdout and stderr |
| • | ltrace -f -e getenv ls >/dev/null | List library calls made by command |
| • | lsof -p $$ | List paths that process id has open |
| • | lsof ~ | List processes that have specified path open |
| • | tcpdump not port 22 | Show network traffic except ssh. See also tcpdump_not_me |
| • | ps -e -o pid,args --forest | List processes in a hierarchy |
| • | ps -e -o pcpu,cpu,nice,state,cputime,args --sort pcpu | sed '/^ 0.0 /d' | List processes by % cpu usage |
| • | ps -e -orss=,args= | sort -b -k1,1n | pr -TW$COLUMNS | List processes by mem (KB) usage. See also ps_mem.py |
| • | ps -C firefox-bin -L -o pid,tid,pcpu,state | List all threads for a particular process |
| • | ps -p 1,$$ -o etime= | List elapsed wall time for particular process IDs |
| • | watch -n.1 pstree -Uacp $$ | Display a changing process subtree |
| • | last reboot | Show system reboot history |
| • | free -m | Show amount of (remaining) RAM (-m displays in MB) |
| • | watch -n.1 'cat /proc/interrupts' | Watch changeable data continuously |
| • | udevadm monitor | Monitor udev events to help configure rules |
| system information (see also sysinfo) ('#' means root access is required) | ||
| • | uname -a | Show kernel version and system architecture |
| • | head -n1 /etc/issue | Show name and version of distribution |
| • | cat /proc/partitions | Show all partitions registered on the system |
| • | grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo | Show RAM total seen by the system |
| • | grep "model name" /proc/cpuinfo | Show CPU(s) info |
| • | lspci -tv | Show PCI info |
| • | lsusb -tv | Show USB info |
| • | mount | column -t | List mounted filesystems on the system (and align output) |
| • | grep -F capacity: /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info | Show state of cells in laptop battery |
| # | dmidecode -q | less | Display SMBIOS/DMI information |
| # | smartctl -A /dev/sda | grep Power_On_Hours | How long has this disk (system) been powered on in total |
| # | hdparm -i /dev/sda | Show info about disk sda |
| # | hdparm -tT /dev/sda | Do a read speed test on disk sda |
| # | badblocks -s /dev/sda | Test for unreadable blocks on disk sda |
| interactive (see also linux keyboard shortcuts) | ||
| • | readline | Line editor used by bash, python, bc, gnuplot, ... |
| • | screen | Virtual terminals with detach capability, ... |
| • | mc | Powerful file manager that can browse rpm, tar, ftp, ssh, ... |
| • | gnuplot | Interactive/scriptable graphing |
| • | links | Web browser |
| • | xdg-open . | open a file or url with the registered desktop application |
PHP - Functions
You already have seen many functions like fopen() and fread() etc. They are built-in functions but PHP gives you option to create your own functions as well.
There are two parts which should be clear to you −
- Creating a PHP Function
- Calling a PHP Function
Please refer to PHP Function Reference for a complete set of useful functions.
Creating PHP Function
Its very easy to create your own PHP function. Suppose you want to create a PHP function which will simply write a simple message on your browser when you will call it. Following example creates a function called writeMessage() and then calls it just after creating it.Note that while creating a function its name should start with keyword function and all the PHP code should be put inside { and } braces as shown in the following example below −
<html> <head> <title>Writing PHP Function</title> </head> <body> <?php /* Defining a PHP Function */ function writeMessage() { echo "You are really a nice person, Have a nice time!"; } /* Calling a PHP Function */ writeMessage(); ?> </body> </html>This will display following result −
You are really a nice person, Have a nice time!
PHP Functions with Parameters
PHP gives you option to pass your parameters inside a function. You can pass as many as parameters your like. These parameters work like variables inside your function. Following example takes two integer parameters and add them together and then print them.<html> <head> <title>Writing PHP Function with Parameters</title> </head> <body> <?php function addFunction($num1, $num2) { $sum = $num1 + $num2; echo "Sum of the two numbers is : $sum"; } addFunction(10, 20); ?> </body> </html>This will display following result −
Sum of the two numbers is : 30
Passing Arguments by Reference
It is possible to pass arguments to functions by reference. This means that a reference to the variable is manipulated by the function rather than a copy of the variable's value.Any changes made to an argument in these cases will change the value of the original variable. You can pass an argument by reference by adding an ampersand to the variable name in either the function call or the function definition.
Following example depicts both the cases.
<html> <head> <title>Passing Argument by Reference</title> </head> <body> <?php function addFive($num) { $num += 5; } function addSix(&$num) { $num += 6; } $orignum = 10; addFive( $orignum ); echo "Original Value is $orignum<br />"; addSix( $orignum ); echo "Original Value is $orignum<br />"; ?> </body> </html>This will display following result −
Original Value is 10 Original Value is 16
PHP Functions returning value
A function can return a value using the return statement in conjunction with a value or object. return stops the execution of the function and sends the value back to the calling code.You can return more than one value from a function using return array(1,2,3,4).
Following example takes two integer parameters and add them together and then returns their sum to the calling program. Note that return keyword is used to return a value from a function.
<html> <head> <title>Writing PHP Function which returns value</title> </head> <body> <?php function addFunction($num1, $num2) { $sum = $num1 + $num2; return $sum; } $return_value = addFunction(10, 20); echo "Returned value from the function : $return_value"; ?> </body> </html>This will display following result −
Returned value from the function : 30
Setting Default Values for Function Parameters
You can set a parameter to have a default value if the function's caller doesn't pass it.Following function prints NULL in case use does not pass any value to this function.
<html> <head> <title>Writing PHP Function which returns value</title> </head> <body> <?php function printMe($param = NULL) { print $param; } printMe("This is test"); printMe(); ?> </body> </html>This will produce following result −
This is test
Dynamic Function Calls
It is possible to assign function names as strings to variables and then treat these variables exactly as you would the function name itself. Following example depicts this behaviour.<html> <head> <title>Dynamic Function Calls</title> </head> <body> <?php function sayHello() { echo "Hello<br />"; } $function_holder = "sayHello"; $function_holder(); ?> </body> </html>This will display following result −
Hello
PHP 5 Installation
To start using PHP, you can:
Find a web host with PHP and MySQL support
Install a web server on your own PC, and then install PHP and MySQL
Use a Web Host With PHP Support
If your server has activated support for PHP you do not need to do anything.
Just create some .php files, place them in your web directory, and the server will automatically parse them for you.
You do not need to compile anything or install any extra tools.
Because PHP is free, most web hosts offer PHP support.
Set Up PHP on Your Own PC
However, if your server does not support PHP, you must:
install a web server
install PHP
install a database, such as MySQL
The official PHP website (PHP.net) has installation instructions for PHP: http://php.net/manual/en/install.php
What is PHP?
PHP is an acronym for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor"
PHP is a widely-used, open source scripting language
PHP scripts are executed on the server
PHP is free to download and use
PHP is an amazing and popular language!
It is powerful enough to be at the core of the biggest blogging system on the web (WordPress)!
It is deep enough to run the largest social network (Facebook)!
It is also easy enough to be a beginner's first server side language!
What is a PHP File?
PHP files can contain text, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP code
PHP code are executed on the server, and the result is returned to the browser as plain HTML
PHP files have extension ".php"
What Can PHP Do?
PHP can generate dynamic page content
PHP can create, open, read, write, delete, and close files on the server
PHP can collect form data
PHP can send and receive cookies
PHP can add, delete, modify data in your database
PHP can be used to control user-access
PHP can encrypt data
With PHP you are not limited to output HTML. You can output images, PDF files, and even Flash movies. You can also output any text, such as XHTML and XML.
Why PHP?
PHP runs on various platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, etc.)
PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today (Apache, IIS, etc.)
PHP supports a wide range of databases
PHP is free. Download it from the official PHP resource: www.php.net
PHP is easy to learn and runs efficiently on the server side
Way to Install Ubuntu - from within Windows
A full installation of the Ubuntu Linux system into your computer requires selecting or re-formatting a partition with the ext4 or other file system. This procedure might look complicated to newbies.
For average Windows users who just want to try out Ubuntu without this complication, wouldn't it be easier to install Ubuntu Linux just like any other Windows application?
Wubi, which is Windows-based Ubuntu Installer, is a good solution. It provides the easiest way to install Ubuntu for Windows users, without the need to mess around with the existing partitions in the hard disk.
When you run Wubi in Windows, it adds an entry to the boot menu and install Ubuntu within a file in the existing Windows file system. This file is seen by Ubuntu as a loop-mounted virtual partition so that it can run from there like a real system and not just a virtual machine.
Easy Way to Install/Uninstall Ubuntu from Windows Using Wubi
These are basically two options for running Wubi from Windows to easily install Ubuntu Linux into your computer:
Easy Installation -Option A: Use Ubuntu CD Image
The Ubuntu CD Image (about 706MB, ISO file) is freely available for download and can be burnt into a CD ("LiveCD") using burning software. The CD Image officially includes the installer wubi.exe.
You might want to refer to following steps for installation of Ubuntu after placing the LiveCD into a CD/DVD drive (or mounting the ISO file on a virtual drive using emulation software).
In Windows, run wubi.exe from the drive to bring up an Ubuntu menu.
Ubuntu menu
Select "Install inside Windows", an Ubuntu Installer window will open up.
Ubuntu Installer
Enter password (and change the username, installation drive or other options if necessary)
Click the "Install" button, Wubi will then install the image from the cd/dvd drive to the hard disk.
Re-boot the computer when prompted.
Select "Ubuntu" from the boot menu to complete the installation.
After installation, the system reboots.
Choose an option from the boot menu to run the Ubuntu system, or the Windows system.
Easy Installation -Option B: Download Wubi Installer
This option is to let Wubi Installer download the Ubuntu CD Image during installation. To start with, you would just need to download the installer file wubi.exe (1.4MB) from here. After download, double-click the installer file from Windows and it will show up an Ubuntu Installer window same as after Step 2 above.
The rest of the steps for installation are basically similar, except that at Step 4, the installer will download the Ubuntu CD Image from the server to the hard disk, instead of getting it from the cd/dvd drive. The download of the CD Image can take some time during the installation depending on your bandwidth.
Un-install Ubuntu from Windows
If you like to uninstall Ubuntu, open the Control Center in Windows, choose "Ubuntu" to uninstall, just like any other Windows applications.
Limitations
Wubi requires existing Windows 98, 2000, XP, Vista or 7 to install Ubuntu Linux into the existing file system. While Wubi makes installation and un-installation of Ubuntu easier from Windows, it comes with some limitations -- the hibernation is not enabled in this mode and the disk performance might be relatively reduced, but I don't see these limitations are strong enough for not trying out installation of Ubuntu from Windows.
Tips and Tricks for Ubuntu-Ubuntu 14.04 - 15.04
Ubuntu DesktopUbuntu includes a launcher on the left of your screen. If it appears that the size of the icons on the launcher is either too small or too big, you can adjust it to the size you like.
Click the Control Gear and select "System Settings".
Click "Appearance" under "Personal".
Under the Look tab, drag the slider of "Launcher Icon Size" to the left for a smaller size, or right for a bigger size.
Auto Hide the Launcher
Depending on the version of Ubuntu you use, the Launcher is set to always either appear or hide on the screen by default. You can change this default setting easily.
Click the Control Gear and select "System Settings".
Click "Appearance" under "Personal".
Under the "Behavior" tab, switch on or off the button of "Auto-hide the Launcher".
To reveal the Launcher temporarily, just press and hold the Super (aka Windows) key, or move your mouse cursor to the far left of the screen. You can adjust the reveal sensitivity with the slider under the "Behavior" tab mentioned above. If it still doesn't work very well, you can adjust the amount of mouse pressure in the following tip.
Make Revealing the Launcher Easier
After auto hiding the Launcher, you can reveal it by moving the mouse cursor to the left edge of the screen. But when you feel that you have to actually knock the mouse cursor against the screen edge hard enough to get the Launcher revealed, then it's better that you adjust the 'mouse pressure' using CompizConfig Settings Manager.
Install CompizConfig Settings Manager from the Ubuntu Apps Directory if the application is not available in your system.
Press Alt-F2 and type ccsm into the box, press Enter to run this program.
Select "Desktop" from the left panel.
Click "Ubuntu Unity Plugin".
Under the "Launcher" tab, adjust the preset value of "Launcher Reveal Pressure" or "Launcher Reveal Edge Responsiveness" where applicable, to lower to make the launcher easier to reveal, or higher to do otherwise, click "Back" and "Close".
Try the Launcher again and enjoy.
Disable Shopping Suggestions
When you do a search from the Dash in Ubuntu, it offers additional search results including shopping suggestions, a feature known as "Shopping Lens" or "Unity Smart Scopes", underneath the local search results by default. If you don't like these suggestions, you can turn them off or back on.
Click the Dash Home icon on the Launcher and click "Filter results" next to the search box.
Deselect the categories or sources that you want to exclude from the search results.
To turn the online search results permanently, follow these simple steps:
Click the Control Gear and select "System Settings".
Under Personal, select "Security & Privacy".
Under the Search tab, turn off "When searching in the Dash: Include online search results".
Disable or Enable the Global Menu
Move buttons to rightUbuntu system places the application menu (File/Edit/View) (also known as AppMenu or Global Menu) on the top bar by default, but it also allows for a locally integrated menu (LIM). If you want to opt for an LIM which moves the menu back to the application's window, follow these steps:
Click the Control Gear and select "System Settings".
Click "Appearance" under "Personal".
Under the Behavior tab, check "In the window's title bar" to show the menus for a window.
The menu appears when you mouse over the window's title bar. To enable the global menu, re-check "In the menu bar" to show the menus for a window.
Open Up a Window in Center
When you run an application without maximized, you may see that the system always puts it in the left-top corner of the desktop, but you are allowed to set a program window to open up in the center of the desktop area.
CompizConfig Settings ManagerInstall CompizConfig Settings Manager from the Ubuntu Apps Directory if the application is not in your system.
Press Alt-F2 and type ccsm into the box, press Enter to run this program. (You may receive a warning to use this advanced tool with care.)
Select "Window Management" from the left panel.
Click "Place Windows".
Change Placement Mode from "Smart" or other modes to "Centered", click "Back" and "Close".
Ideally, the window manager in Ubuntu should restore the last known position of an application window, but it does not do that unless an application remembers its own window position. (See reported bugs)
Customize the Theme
Themes in Ubuntu can be customized to suit your needs. The default theme "Ambiance" has the menu (File, Edit, View, etc) printed in white on a dark background, but you can easily switch to another theme such as "Radiance" to have the menu printed in black on a light background. These are easy steps to customize a theme.
Click the Control Gear and select "System Settings".
Click "Appearance" under "Personal".
Under the Look tab, select a theme from the drop-down menu.
Disable Overlay Scrollbar
In new versions of Ubuntu, the scrollbar button is hidden until you mouse over it. You can revert it to the normal scrollbar by changing the settings.
Either enter this command in the Terminal: gsettings set com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode normal
Or edit the value using "dconf Editor", which, if not available, can be installed via the Ubuntu Software Center.
Press Alt-F2, type dconf Editor into the box, and press Enter to run it.
Browse to com > canonical > desktop > interface, look for "scrollbar-mode" on the right panel and change the value from overlay-auto to normal.
Change Wallpapers Automatically
You can right click your desktop, select "Change Desktop Background" and choose any one of the wallpapers pre-installed, but you need to do it each time you want to change a wallpaper. What about changing a wallpaper automatically within a certain time interval? Try to install the wallpaper changer Variety.
Press Ctrl-Alt-T to run Terminal.
Enter sudo add-apt-repository ppa:peterlevi/ppa
Enter sudo apt-get update
Enter sudo apt-get install variety
With this wallpaper changer, you can change wallpapers in a fixed time interval from the sources you set and run it with several other settings such as randomly applying filter effects, color and size, customizing the indicator icon and so on.
Set a Default View in Files Manager
Windows Explorer allows for users to set a default view to all folders. In almost the same way, Ubuntu's Files Manager allows for these settings:
Set File BrowserClick the Files icon on the Launcher.
From the menu, click "Edit" then "Preferences".
Under Default View, change "Icon View" to "List View", to see more details in columns.
Tick "Show hidden and backup files" if that's your choice.
Other various settings, such as single or double click to open items, icon captions, list columns and preview files can be done in the same Files Preferences window as well.
Preview in Files Manager
Sushi is a quick previewer of files in Files Manager. You can download the previewer from here if it's not in your Ubuntu system. With this handy tool installed, you can preview text, PDF, audio and video files, and other supported documents in a single step when using the Files Manager.
Select a file, press Spacebar to preview.
Press Spacebar again or Escape to close a preview.
Change a Folder Icon
When running the default Files Manager, you will see that the folder icons are predetermined by the theme you set. If you wish to change a folder icon to another for it to stand out from the system-wide icons, follow these steps:
In the Files Manager, right click a folder icon, select Properties.
Under the Basic tab, click the icon image to open up the "Select Custom Icon" window.
In the Location field, type /usr/share/icons, press Enter. (Reveal the Location field by clicking the Edit button on the top-left of the window, or in the new version, by selecting "Enter Location" on the left panel.)
Browse and select an icon you want.
Click the Open button on the bottom-right of the window to confirm.
Note: You can change your custom folder icon back to the default by clicking the "Revert" button in the "Select Custom Icon" window at Step 2 above.
Create an Advanced Files Manager
In the Ubuntu file system, you can use "Files" Manager to browse most files but can only write files in your home folder /home/your_name and its sub-folders such as Desktop and Documents. If you have to rename a folder or write files outside of your home folder using the Files Manager, you won't be able to but you can create a shortcut to run an advanced Files Manager for this purpose.
Click the Dash Home icon on the Launcher (or tap Super), then type keyboard into the Search box and press Enter.
Under the "Shortcuts" tab, select Custom Shortcuts, then click the "+" sign to create a custom shortcut.
Enter a name such as Advanced Files Manager in the "Name" box.
Enter gksu nautilus in the "Command" box, then click the Apply button. (See note below)
Click on Disabled at the Advanced Files Manager row in the Keyboard Shortcuts window (Disabled is then changed to New accelerator...).
Press a new key combination, e.g. Ctrl+Alt+N (New accelerator... is then changed to Ctrl+Alt+N).
Now you can easily access the Advanced Files Manager by pressing the shortcut key you assigned. But be careful since you can use it to delete or change any files on your system.
Note: For Ubuntu 14.04 to 15.04, "gksu" is not available by default. You'll need to enter sudo apt-get install gksu in the Terminal for it to work. If you're using the 64-bit version of Ubuntu, enter gksu-properties in the Terminal after installing gksu and set the authentication mode to sudo.
Add or Change Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are preset in the system, but you can add new ones or change them easily. For instance, you can add a keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+C to run Calculator conveniently in a few steps below:
Keyboard ShortcutsClick the Dash Home icon (or tap Super), type keyboard and press Enter.
Under the "Shortcuts" tab, select "Launchers" on the left panel
Click "Launch calculator", and it shows "New accelerator..."
Press Ctrl+Alt+C keys simultaneously, and it shows Ctrl+Alt+C
Close the window and try the new shortcut.
To disable a shortcut, press Backspace when it shows "New accelerator..." after the step 3 above.
Keyboard shortcuts can also be set by changing keybinding values with dconf Editor, which can be installed from the Ubuntu Software Center. In Ubuntu, press Alt+F2 and enter dconf Editor, then navigate to org > gnome > desktop > wm > keybindings.
Terminate Unresponsive Programs
Xkill is part of the X11 utilities pre-installed in Ubuntu and a tool for terminating misbehaving X clients or unresponsive programs. You can easily add a shortcut key to launch xkill with the steps below.
xkillClick the Dash Home icon on the Launcher (or tap Super), then type keyboard into the Search box and press Enter.
Under the "Shortcuts" tab, select Custom Shortcuts, then click the "+" sign to create a custom shortcut.
Enter xkill to both the Name and Command boxes and click the Apply button.
Click on Disabled at the xkill row in the Keyboard Shortcuts window (Disabled is then changed to New accelerator...).
Press a new key combination, e.g. Ctrl+Alt+X (New accelerator... is then changed to Ctrl+Alt+X).
Xkill is ready for use. Press the above key combination to turn the cursor to an X-sign, move the X-sign and drop it into a program interface to terminate the unresponsive program, or cancel the X-sign with a right-click.
Enable Media Playback
Ubuntu only includes completely free software by default and does not configure proprietary media formats such as mp3 and mp4 'out of the box'. The required codecs however can be easily installed for the default player to playback these files following a few simple steps below.
Double click an mp3 file in a folder.
Click the "Install" button to download and install the recommended codecs. (See Note below)
Restart the player after the codecs are installed.
You might need to do the same for other restricted media formats such as mp4 too.
Note: As an alternative, you can also download and install Ubuntu restricted extras from Ubuntu Apps Directory right away for media players to playback some restricted formats.
Install Screenlets
Screenlets are small applications to represent things such as sticky notes, clocks, calendars around on your desktop. You can launch a pre-installed screenlet from Screenlets manager, or install a new one into the manager for launching it. Here are the steps for installing and launching a screenlet, for example, WaterMark System Information.
WaterMark ScreenletInstall Screenlets manager if it has not been added from the Ubuntu Apps Directory.
Download the screenlet "WaterMark System Information" to a folder.
Press Alt-F2, type Screenlets into the box and press Enter to run the manager.
Click Install, select Install Screenlet and click OK.
Browse to the folder, select the file downloaded and click "Open" to install the screenlet into the Screenlets manager.
Select the screenlet "WaterMark" and click "Launch/Add". (Tips: you can add more than one WaterMark screenlet and set it to display other system information.)
Install Oracle Java Packages
Other than using OpenJDK, some web services may need the Oracle Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to be installed in the system for running the services properly. If you would like to get the proprietary Oracle Java packages for your system, you can download and install them following these steps:
Press Ctrl-Alt-T to run Terminal.
Enter sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java to add the partner repository.
Enter sudo apt-get update to update the source list.
Enter sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer to download and install the Oracle Java packages.
Enter sudo java -version to check the version of the Java used in the system.
Enter sudo update-alternatives --config java to choose the default Java for use in the system when necessary.
Note: The new version of Oracle Java may not allow you to run applications or services that are unsigned or self-signed. If you trust the services that you're using, you may configure the security level of JRE or add the services to the Exception Site List using the Java Control Panel. To run it, enter /usr/bin/jcontrol in the Terminal, or press Alt-F2, type jcontrol then run the Oracle Java 8 Plugin Control Panel.
Auto Mount Drives at System Startup
Ubuntu is capable of reading and writing files stored on Windows formatted partitions using NTFS file system, but partitions must be 'mounted' before they can be accessed. With these steps, you can auto mount the drives or partitions without the need to manually mount them for access each time you start up the system. Below is a way of doing it by adding an entry in the fstab file.
In the Terminal, enter sudo blkid to get the UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) of the partition you want to mount.
Enter sudo mkdir /media/ntfs to create a mount point
Enter gksu gedit /etc/fstab and add the following line in the fstab file: (see Note below about gksu)
UUID=1234567890123456 /media/ntfs ntfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other 0 0
Replace the above 16-digit number with the UUID you've got from step 1, then click 'Save'.
Restart the system and check if the partition is mounted.
To identify disk partitions by label, either use sudo blkid or ls /dev/disk/by-label -g in the Terminal. The "Disks" utility mentioned in "Name or Label a Partition" also gives you a glance of device numbers, partition types, sizes and labels.
Note: If "gksu" is not available, enter sudo apt-get install gksu in the Terminal to install it. If you're using the 64-bit version of Ubuntu, enter gksu-properties in the Terminal after installing gksu and set the authentication mode to sudo.
Manually Mount a USB Drive
A USB storage device plugged into the system usually mounts automatically, but if for some reasons it doesn't automount, it's possible to manually mount it with these steps.
Press Ctrl-Alt-T to run Terminal.
Enter sudo mkdir /media/usb to create a mount point called usb.
Enter sudo fdisk -l to look for the USB drive already plugged in, let's say the drive you want to mount is /dev/sdb1.
Enter sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /media/usb -o uid=1000,gid=100,utf8,dmask=027,fmask=137 to mount a USB drive formatted with FAT16 or FAT32 system. OR:
Enter sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/usb to mount a USB drive formatted with NTFS system.
To unmount it, just enter sudo umount /media/usb in the Terminal.
Name or Label a Partition
Auto Start Up ApplicationsThe Files Manager shows the root directory as Computer for your Ubuntu system partition. If you have other partitions (or volumes), it shows them as xx GB Volume if they’re not named or labelled.
Using Disks utility is one of the effective ways to name a partition easily:
Click the Dash Home button (or tap Super), type Disks to search for the utility and run it.
Select the item Hard Disk.
In the Volumes section, click a partition you want to label.
Click the 'More actions' button below the Volumes section then select "Edit Filesystem..."
In the Label box, enter a name, e.g. Data-Disk, and click Change.
The Files Manager should now show the partition label, such as Data-Disk, instead of xx GB Volume. This tip is for naming a partition using the utility; use other advanced features such as format, edit or delete partition with caution as they can delete data on your disk.
Auto Start Up an Application
In Windows, you can place a program shortcut in a startup folder for running a program automatically when the system starts. In Ubuntu, you can do the same in this way:
Auto Start Up ApplicationsClick the Dash Home icon (or tap Super), type 'Startup Applications' to search for the application and run it.
Click the "Add" button.
Name a program.
Click the "Browse" button and navigate to "Computer" > usr > bin, where programs are usually installed.
Select a program, click the "Open" button followed by the "Add" button.
The above program will then be listed in additional startup programs. Check if the program runs automatically by logging out and back to the system.
Clean Up Old Crash Reports
System program problem detectedIf your Ubuntu system always pops up a dialog saying "System program problem detected" each time you log in even though you've already reported the problem, you might need to clean up all old crash reports by entering a command line below in the Terminal.
Press Ctrl-Alt-T to run Terminal.
Copy and paste sudo rm /var/crash/* in the Terminal and press Enter.
Log out and log back in the system, check if the dialog still appears.
Enable Log-in Sound
Ubuntu doesn't have a log in sound that it used to have? If so, you can enable it easily:
Click the Dash Home button and type "Startup Applications" to search for the application and run it.
Click the "Add" button.
In the Name field, type "Login Sound" (no quotes) or any other name you like.
In the Command field, copy and paste this line: /usr/bin/canberra-gtk-play --id="desktop-login" --description="GNOME Login"
Give a comment you like, such as "Plays a sound when I log in".
Click the 'Add' button.
Log out and log back in to check whether the log-in sound works.
Change Default Boot Options
After full installation, Ubuntu is set to be the default operating system to boot up if no key is pressed within a few seconds on a multi-boot system. You might want to set your preferred operating system to boot up by default. This can be done easily with Grub Customizer.
Press Ctrl-Alt-T to call up Terminal, copy following codes and paste (Ctrl-Shift-V) them inside Terminal to install Grub Customizer.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer
After installation, run Grub Customizer to set the default boot options with the following steps.
Press Alt-F2, type Grub Customizer into the box and press Enter to run it.
Under the "General Settings" tab, select the default entry you like to boot up from the drop-down menu.
Adjust the timeout value if needed, then press the Close button and the Save button.
Avoid changing timeout to 0 seconds if you need to select a system to boot up from a multi-boot menu.
Clean Up the Boot Menu
Each time when Ubuntu updates to a new Linux kernel, the old one is left behind and the boot menu gets complicated. If your new Linux kernel works well, it's safe to clean up the boot menu. Do take these steps carefully as incorrectly hiding the items can make your system unbootable. You can check the Linux kernel version you're running by entering this command line uname -r into the Terminal.
To clean up the boot menu, it's pretty straightforward with Grub Customizer used in the tip above.
Press Alt-F2, type Grub Customizer into the box and press Enter to run it.
Remove the entries you want to hide from the boot menu.
Click the Save button.
Auto Shutdown the System
A simple command can be entered in the Terminal to schedule a time for the system to shut down.
Press Ctrl-Alt-T to run Terminal.
Enter sudo shutdown -h +m (replace m with the number of minutes, e.g. +60).
OR: enter sudo shutdown -h hh:mm (replace hh:mm with the time on the 24hr clock, e.g. 23:15).
Enter password and minimize the Terminal window.
The system will then shut down within the minutes or at the time specified. To cancel a scheduled time, enter sudo shutdown -c in the Terminal.
Alternatively, you might want to download and install GShutdown, which is a GUI program for scheduling a time to shutdown the system.
Ubuntu and Unity Tweak Tools
With Ubuntu Tweak, you can configure Ubuntu system and change its settings much easier. Download this useful application from here and save it to a folder, then double click the downloaded .deb file. This will bring up the Ubuntu Software Center for you to install the application.
Ubuntu Tweak includes the settings for the appearance, startup login settings, desktop and system, plus these useful tools:
QuickLists Editor to re-order shortcut items on the Launcher.
Janitor to clear cache.
Besides Ubuntu Tweak, try also Unity Tweak Tool available here. It's designed to adjust the settings specifically for the Unity desktop with a simple and easy-to-use interface. With this tool, you are able to fine tune the Launcher, Search, Panel, Switcher and more.
Add More Useful Software
Ubuntu Software Center lets you search and get more software. You can either click the Ubuntu Software Center icon from the Launcher to search for applications, or go to Ubuntu Apps Directory to find the software products you need. If you like a product on the Directory, just click the orange download button and it opens up in your Ubuntu Software Center app for you to confirm the install.
Besides this, you can get the latest freeware applications by clicking the Install this now button from the GetDeb Repository after the getdeb package is installed with the instructions given.
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