Linux Archives

Over 80% is running on some form of Linux – so does your Mac and you iPhone. Sometimes we have to get our hands dirty on the command line – it makes you feel like a proper hacker.

Here are some pointers I picked up on my journey.

How to mount EXT4 partitions on Android Jelly Bean

I was racking my brains over how to mount an SD card formatted with anything other than FAT32 on my Android device. Jelly Bean and Kit Kat automatically mount FAT32 partitions, but they seem to ignore native Linux file systems – which Android clearly understands. Apparently there’s a $1.54 app on the Play Store that … Read more

The Debian Experience: Cheat Sheet for CentOS and Fedora users

I’ve just installed a LAMP stack on my Nook Tablet using Debian. However I’ve been using CentOS since 2008 and I’m so used to how things are done there that it was a bit of a culture shock doing relatively simple things “on the other side”. It’s like a country whose language you don’t speak … Read more

How to view local websites on your iPad with Squid

I like developing and testing websites on my local network before they go live. On both Mac and PC it’s easy to tweak the /etc/hosts file so that the URL doesn’t point to a numeric IP, but instead to http://yourserver (or something equally catchy). On iOS devices we can’t tweak that file unless we deal … Read more

How to enable automatic logins in CentOS 6 and GNOME

I was researching auto login options for CentOS today. I thought those would come in handy when GNOME is used as a standard desktop, so that the computer starts straight into the desktop environment without the need to provide a password. It’s also a handy feature to have if the machine lives in another room … Read more

How to set firewall rules from a GUI in CentOS

Sick and tired of countless command line statements to set your firewall rules? Me too. No matter what I try, I never get the results quite right. There’s always some switch I forget and ultimately something isn’t working. For years I was thinking, “there has to be an easier way, like there is in Plesk”? … Read more

How to install and secure Dovecot in Plesk 12

I’ve just installed the Dovecot Mail Service on one of my Plesk 12 servers. It’s an alternative to the old favourite Courier IMAP/POP and a new addition in Plesk 12. Dovecot does more or less the same as Courier (i.e. lets you receive mail), but it’s a bit more configurable and debug friendly. It also offers … Read more