There are a lot of backup tools out there. From the overly simple to the overly complex. Many of those backup tools go unnoticed and unused. Some of them get recognized as the outstanding projects they are. One of those tools is Luckybackup. This tool was awarded Sourceforge’s best new project of 2009. There is [...]

Categories: Linux, Networks, Open Source, Server, Software, Tutorials Basic

If you’ve been following my Nagios articles here on Ghacks (see “Easily extend Nagios’ functionality” and “Quickly install Nagios on Ubuntu” for more information) you are probably impressed with how powerful Nagios is. Well, I can happily say you haven’t seen anything yet. Nagios is amazing in it’s ability to extend and report. Of course, [...]

Categories: Advice, Linux, Networks, Open Source, Security, Server, Software, Tutorials Basic

For most lovers of music on the go, the default seems to be the combination of iTunes and iP* (where * is either hone or od). This is great for Apple and Windows users. But where do Linux users get their new music? Oh sure you can purchase the CD, rip it, and copy it [...]

Categories: Amazon, companies, Entertainment, Linux, Music and Video, Music Industry, Online Services, Software, Tutorials Basic

How many times have you installed Linux, tweaked it to perfection with various applications, only to have something happen and you have to re-install. Or you get that machine up and running with all the goods and then want to re-create the system on another machine. In either of these situations, the last thing you [...]

Categories: Advice, Linux, Open Source, Software, Tutorials Basic

Users who work with newsgroups usually use desktop clients such as Newsbin, Grabit or Microsoft Outlook to do so. Some Usenet providers offer web access to newsgroups with options to download files right from the web interface which can be very comfortable in certain situations but especially when no desktop clients can be installed on [...]

Categories: Linux, Software

One of these glorious days the PC industry will standardize hardware. When that day comes the Linux community will rejoice because there will be no need for the many, varied applications used to configure different systems on Linux. For example: I have two laptops. One one laptop I have to use nm-applet to get wireless [...]

Categories: Advice, Linux, Mobile Computing, Notebooks, Open Source, Security, Software, Tutorials Basic

NTP is the Network Time Protocol. This protocol allows servers (or desktops) to communicate to very reliable sources to keep their time synchronized. There are two reasons why you would want to employ NTP: 1) You’re a geek and you want your time to be perfect. 2) You need your servers all synchronized with the [...]

Categories: Advice, Linux, Open Source, Tutorials Basic

If you use a Debian-based Linux distribution then you probably use Synaptic. And if you use Synaptic enough you may have come across an application that it can not find. When you find that combination you will need to add repositories to Synaptic that will allow the system to find and install the application you [...]

Categories: Advice, Linux, Open Source, Tutorials Basic

Recently I installed the amazing desktop Elive Compiz. After getting it up and running I decided I needed to get some screencasts of the desktop in order to show off what it could do. I thought the task would be simple. It wasn’t. Although there are plenty of applications to handle capturing videos of a [...]

Categories: Advice, Desktop Manager, Linux, Open Source, Tools, Tutorials Basic