Android USB Tethering in Ubuntu.

Android phones provide a  fast and simple method for connecting your pc to internet, called as tethering. In Windows and Linux Mint, the system gets automatically connected to internet, when you enable tethering in your phone.
In case of Ubuntu, it doesn't happen automatically. Just follow these steps for configuring your Ubuntu box for usb tethering :-

Linking/Chaining Commands in Linux

To add to your productivity and save time, chaining and linking linux commands is a fine way to go.
There are various chaining and linking commands present in Linux, but many Linux users are not aware of it.

• To send a process to the background, append your command with '&' at the end. 

Eg. -
$ping -c1 yahoo.com &
$ping -c1 yahoo.com & rm -f  *.flv &   

Fixing 'initramfs error' boot Problem in Linux.

Yesterday, I faced initramfs boot error on my Linux Mint 9 box. I don't know what went wrong, but I remember that I forced restart my system, as it was not responding. It hung up in a command line terminal. I changed the terminal (ctrl+alt+[f1-f6]), and then unable to get back to the GUI (ctrl+alt+f7). The screen was showing some weird software error.

Code:

No init found. Try passing init= boot arg
BusyBox v1.10.2 (Ubuntu 1:1.10.2.2ubuntu7) built-in shell (ash)
(initramfs)

Conky Script to display Weather Forcast on your desktop.

First get the basics of the post from here. Here is a simple script to display weather forecast on your desktop. I'm using yahoo weather to get the xml feed of forecast because it requires no login/registration and can be just use it directly.

Conky : Ultimate System Monitoring Tool

Conky is the lightweight, super-configurable application, which sits on your desktop or terminal. It is a fork of Torsmo and licensed under the GPL 3.0.
It can also be customized to gather and display almost any type of information on the user's desktop or terminal.

VIM Cheatsheet!

Vim users must use this cheatsheet. It's very informative & gives complete information about vim.

DoudouLinux : Linux for kids.

DoudouLinux is a Linux distro meant for kids . It provides tons of applications that suit children from 2 to 12 years old with an environment as easy to use as a gaming console.  The project's version 1.0, code name "Gondwana", is now released.
Standard DoudouLinux is delivered with about fifty applications that have been specially chosen to be accessible for children from 2 years old. These applications cover the following topics:
Education - teach children while having fun.
Fun - have fun with games, easy to access but not necessarily simplistic
Work - write texts, calculate, communicate, etc.
Multimedia - listen to music, watch videos, play or create music, or create animation movies

Run vlc media player as root.

There's an issue in vlc player that it won't run when you are logged in as root. I don't know the reasons, may be its developers have some security concerns.
Anyways, you can make it run as root by following a simple series of steps, assuming that you have already installed it & it's running in case of other users.
Follow these steps:

• Login as root.
• Install ghex/khex (Hex editor for Gnome/KDE environment). 

Understanding VIM : [Tabs] Tutorial-5

It's quite possible that you may be working on several projects at once, having tabs set up can be a cool way to multi-task without having to see all of your files at once.
If you want to start Vim with more than one file, run vim -p filename1 filename2. This will open each file in its own tab.
Already in a Vim session? You can open a new tab with :tabnew filename to open (or create) a file.
To switch to the next (right) tab use gt in command mode. To switch to the previous (left) tab, use gT.
To close a tab you can use :q. If you're editing one file in a tab and use :wq Or you can use :tabc to save & close it.

blueproximity : Lock/unlock Desktop using Bluetooth.

This software helps you add a little more security to your desktop by detecting one of your bluetooth devices, most likely your mobile phone and locks the desktop if the mobile is not in the vicinity. If you move away from your computer and the distance is above a certain level for a given time, it automatically locks your desktop or starts any other shell command that you want.
Once away your computer awaits till you are back with your mobile. If you are nearer than a given level for a set time your computer unlocks magically without any interaction (or starts any other shell command you want).

Understanding VIM : [Viewpoints] Tutorial-4

Using viewpoints & tabs (introduced in vim 7), we can edit more than one file at a time. This is useful when you are connected with a remote machine & you prefer to open only one session. It's also useful when we want to edit a long file at different lines.
Viewpoints breaks the vim editor into two or more segments, either vertically or horizontally. Open a vi editor & then go to last line command, enter :split. You can now see two views of the same file.

Extremely Lightweight Linux : AntiX

AntiX is a fast, lightweight and easy to install linux live CD distribution which provides suitable information for old computers. It is based on Debian Testing and MEPIS for Intel-AMD x86 compatible systems. It should run on most computers, ranging from 64MB old PII 266 systems with pre-configured 128MB swap to the latest powerful boxes. 128MB RAM is recommended minimum for antiX. The installer needs minimum 2.2GB hard disk size. antiX can also be used as a fast-booting rescue cd. 128 MB RAM is the recommended minimum for antiX while the installer needs a minimum of 1.2 GB hard disk space. antiX can also be used as a fast-booting rescue CD.

Toorox Review

Toorox is a Linux Live-DVD based on Gentoo which uses KNOPPIX technology in booting. While booting, all necessary drivers will be included automatically (lshwd). It comes with lots of useful applications including system configuration tools, easy package management, and proprietary code installers. It compiles and install software from Gentoo sources. Toorox installation on your computer begin as a binary installation with all its advantages, such as fast, easy, and ready at boot, but subsequent package installation compiles source packages.

MoonOS - A feel of Mac OS X in Linux

MoonOS is a lightweight Linux distribution which uses the Enlightenment window manager and is based on Ubuntu/Debian, having a touch of the Mac's OS X.
According to MoonOS' official website, the focus of Moon is speed, low memory use, and attractive looks:
MoonOS' download is sizable, weighing in at 832MB, but the system requirements are very basic:

Understanding VIM : Beginner's Tutorial-3

In the previous tut.,  we have learned copying/pasting/searching within the file. Now, we are going to take a step further in the direction of Vim editor mastery.
While editing a file, we may need to number the lines with in the file, most probably in case of a program, may be a C program. We can achieve this by this command. (Note that we are in last line mode.)

:set number 

or its abbreviation:

:set nu 

Install & create QR code.

QR code stands for Quick Response code which is a 2D bar code, readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background.
The information encoded can be text, URL or other data. Read more here.

QR codes can be created in Linux using Qrencode.

Scientific Linux 6.0 - A treat to scientific community.

Scientific Linux (SL) 6.0 produced by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). It is the latest release of a Red Hat-based distribution specifically developed to meet the needs of the scientific computing community. This release is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.0 like CentOS, compiled from source.

REMnux : Distro for Malware Analyst

REMnux is another pentesting OS that you would like to have in your arsenal. Basically, it aids investigating malwares, so it's a very handy OS for malware analysts for reverse engineering malicious piece of software. The distribution is based on Ubuntu. Along with analysing malwares, it can also assist analyzing IRC bots, network monitoring, javascript deobfuscation, analyzing shellcode, memory forensics etc.

Understanding VIM : Beginner's Tutorial-2

Cont. from previous post.
Here we are going to know about copying/pasting & searching in vim editor. Let's open a file, created previously.
Now, we want to search 'gofer'. If you are not inside command mode, type [esc]. Now, type /gofer & enter. If you want to highlight next appearance of gofer, hit n. If you want to highlight previous appearance of gofer, hit N.

Understanding VIM : Beginner's Tutorial-1

Vim editor takes some time to settle within the working arena  of professionals. It's a cake walk when people use it for atleast a week.
There are three modes in vim - insert mode, command mode, and last-line mode.
Insert mode is meant for inserting text, press i for start mode. Command mode is used for executing formating texts. Last-line mode is used for executing extended commands for text formating.
Start Vim by typing vim /vi .