Category Archives: linux

Notes On Installing CentOS 7 Server

Posted on May 29, 2018 by levlaz

I’ve been on a fedora kick lately, and naturally for my server needs I am using CentOS 7. I have never really used CentOS in production and there are a couple of gotchas that I ran into while getting everything … Continue reading →

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Installing Sage Math on Fedora 28

Posted on May 27, 2018 by levlaz

Sage Math is a massive collection of open source mathematical tools. I am using it as a part of going through the Free Linear Algebra Book. On a fresh install of Fedora 28, when you run dnf install sagemath you … Continue reading →

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Install Netbeans on Debian Stable

Posted on May 11, 2017 by levlaz

Netbeans is a great open source Java IDE. For some reason it is missing from the current stable repository on debian. In order to get it installed as a regular desktop application in Debian Jessie (using GNOME) you should do the following: … Continue reading →

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Reading gz files with zcat

Posted on May 4, 2017 by levlaz

The Debian Policy Manual dictates that all packages should come with documentation. In order to save space in the debian archive these documents need to be compressed with gzip. There are a ton of these files floating around in the /usr/share/doc directory. Recently I wanted … Continue reading →

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Help Out With Packages You Use in Debian

Posted on May 3, 2017 by levlaz

Many new and existing Debian users want to help make the distribution  better but do not quite know where to begin. Debian comes with a very handy package called how-can-i-help which tells you after each aptinvocation the current bugs that are associated with … Continue reading →

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Change the Default Terminal Editor in Debian

Posted on April 28, 2017 by levlaz

Debian comes with a very handy utility called update-alternatives that helps to set default tools for various tasks. It is possible for several programs fulfilling the same or similar functions to be installed on a single system at the same time. For … Continue reading →

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An Ode to Linux Desktop Users Everywhere

Posted on December 6, 2016 by levlaz

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels. The package makers, the man page writers. The rounded windows in Qt mixed with the less rounded windows of GTK. The ones who literally see things differently because of missing proprietary … Continue reading →

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Whatever hacky script you are writing already exists in GNU Core Utilities

Posted on November 16, 2016 by levlaz

When I think of bash, I think of writing hacky scripts that do random things utilizing “bash commands”. It turns out that the parts of bash that “do stuff” such as echo, cut, cat are part of a larger program … Continue reading →

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Bash on Ubuntu on Windows

Posted on October 27, 2016 by levlaz

I just opened up a command prompt on Windows 10, typed in bash, and watched as Ubuntu was installed on my computer. I never, in 1 million years, thought that I would ever live to see the day that this … Continue reading →

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Alpine Linux, wget, and ca-certificates

Posted on September 14, 2016 by levlaz

I’ve been working with Alpine Linux this week. This tiny Linux distribution is an excellent choice for a base docker image or, in my case, for a low power VPS. I love how easy and fast it is to install and configure … Continue reading →

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