Dealing with multiple users on a single box can be frustrating at first. Especially when they edit the same files. I wanted to create a sort of hierarchy of users with my root and personal accounts at the top, and a pool of sub-accounts below. Here’s how I solved this problem in Ubuntu:
First, create a common group:
Next, make sure all of the sub-accounts use the new group as its default account.
For new users:
useradd -G <group-name> <username>
For existing users:
usermod -a -G <group-name> <username>
When a user creates a file or directory, they normally would use their own group. What we want is that any account in the common group to use the new group as its default:
usermod -g <group-name> <username>
Last, change the sub-users’ default umask settings so that it treats its own settings exactly the same as the group settings. Make sure to only run this command as one of the sub-accounts:
Now you have a list of accounts with limited permissions that your main account will always have access to. Now this is not an optimal, and probably secure solution, but since this only for my development environment, its good enough.
linux, programming
bash, groupadd, linux, tutorial, ubuntu, useradd, usermod
Whenever I wanted to rip DVD’s for longterm storage, I’ve always used Wine + DVDShrink. I just now discovered a pure linux program, Handbrake, for ripping DVD’s and so far, it has worked out really well This article does a really good job explaining it. Merry Ripping!
linux
dvd, linux, rip, ripping, tutorial, ubuntu
Trackerd is probably the least useful tool that comes with Ubuntu. While indexing, it maxes out cpu and memory. Of course it allows you to search, but the search never finds what I’m looking. In my experience, i’ve found that find and grep are much more useful, especially if its only within a subdirectory.
Trying to remove trackerd is much harder than one would think. Using apt/aptitude proved fruitless since trying to remove/purge trackerd or tracker-utils does absolutely nothing. From Travis, I use these two scripts to basically prevent trackerd from running:
killall trackerd
mv /usr/bin/trackerd /usr/bin/trackerd-old
You might want to use ‘whereis trackerd’ to find out where your trackerd binary is actually located before using the move command.
linux
find, grep, linux, linux search, search, tracker-utils, trackerd, ubuntu, ubuntu search
For the longest time, I’ve had terrible luck with sound and video problems with Ubuntu on a Dell Dimension E521 with nVidia sound and video cards. I thought it was terrible support by nVidia. Everytime I would update my computer, it would totally trash my video settings and sometimes, my sound settings.
Today after doing a bunch of updates, both my video and sound went to crap. With the help of my favorite Linux hacker, Travis, we figured out that I was actually running the server version of the Linux kernel. Next, I uninstalled all instances of the server kernels, uninstalled all nvidia drivers and modules, and rebooted. From there, I followed the basic steps to install nVidia drivers, configured my screen settings and now I am able to run all of the fancy Compiz visuals and my Ubuntu install has never been better.
linux
compiz, dell, kernel, linux, linux kernel, nvidia, sound, ubuntu, ubuntu dell, ubuntu sound, ubuntu video, video
Firefox is the best browser out there. That’s one argument nobody will ever convince me otherwise. Sure Opera uses less memory, Safari renders pages faster and IE isn’t even in the conversation. In the end, Firefox provides the best experience for the less technically inclined to the most advanced users.
Being a web developer, Firefox has some of the best tools out there for testing forms, debugging Javascript and interactive HTML/CSS editing. If you are a web developer and haven’t heard of Firebug, then you really aren’t a web developer. Other great tools include the Web Developer’s Toolbox and FasterFox.
Recently, Jay mentioned Firefox 3 Beta 4’s release and I really wanted to try it out. I had to keep Firefox 2 for testing purposes so I did a google search and discovered this post showing how to run both versions without them clashing (they can’t run at the same time) on linux. Now I’m running a much improved Firefox with better memory management (not THAT much better), faster page rendering and the best developer plugins possible. Talk about having your cake and eating it too (that saying makes no sense).
internet, technology
best browser, browser, developer, firebug, firefox, firefox beta, opera, safari, ubuntu, web, web developer, web developers