This page is the start point for tips and HOWTOs on Linux. Please try to start page links with a slash, e.g. /KeepingTrack as this makes the page a subsection of the LinuxHints page. Also, please refer to the StyleGuide! You can find notes from the talks given at meetings on the TechTalks page.
You can get alternative categorisations of these articles on the Nav page.
Replacing Another OS
SoftwareReviews – Recommendations for software by category.
/DesktopAdaptedDad (DAD) – Suggestions and ideas for deploying a desktop for users new to computing, and with minor disabilities.
/MacMini – Installing Linux and OSX on a Mac Mini
/LinuxAdvocacy – Why use Linux, what's so great about it, and can it do what I want?
Microsoft – Explanation of the anti-Microsoft sentiment sometimes found in Linux User Groups.
/GNUandLinux – Why is it supposed to be GNU/Linux?
/QemuEmulation – An Opensource alternative to VMWare
/JustEdit – "Just edit this file..." – editor recommendations for beginners.
/LinuxNtlFAQ – A lot of Linux/*BSD and other-Unix people use NTL as their ISP in Hampshire. Some questions keep coming up.
/InstallFedoraCore – Beginners guide to installing Fedora Core 6.
/VMware xorg.conf – how to auto-release the mouse when it hits the edge of a VMware window
Boot management
/LostLILO – "I've lost my LILO!" - How to restore LILO on your MBR.
/UpdatingGrub – What to add in grub.conf to be able to boot your new kernel.
/SerialConsole – How to manage and boot your machine over a serial line.
/RunLevels – Explanation of what happens when init is invoked at boot time.
NetworkBooting – How to set up a server to boot a remote client.
/BootSplash – Boring boot up? Liven up this rare event by adding a boot-time splash screen to your system.
/BootLog – Debian can log the output of its initscripts.
/BootCD – Booting from CD using grub when the BIOS doesn't support it
Audio & Video
- Hardware setup
/SoundProblems – Common troubles with sound.
/AlsaConfig – Configuring ALSA to keep its config.
/RegionFreeDVD – Explanation of how to use a Computer DVD drive for Region Free DVD playback
/NvidiaOnUbuntu – Some pointers to setting up Nvidia drivers on Ubuntu 6.06
- Serving
DVB – Recording and editing Digital Video Broadcast
/StreamWebcam – how to stream your webcam from your website, without opening up ports etc.
/BBC Radio And RealPlayer]] – How to get BBC Radio4 realplayer streams working in Linux.
/RecordingVNC – How to record a demonstration video on Linux using VNC.
/CompilingMp3splt – Brief HOWTO on compiling this useful command line utility.
/PhotoStitchers – How to get Panorama Tools, Hugin and Enblend running on Debian.
/DVBAverMedia – Setting up an AverMedia AverTV DVB-T 771 card on Debian
/LIRCandXine – Setting up an infra-red receiver and making it work with Xine.
/SVCD Authoring – How to produce an SVCD using cinelerra, mencoder and k3b.
/DVD Authoring – Making DVD's from Topfield PVR DVB files
- Video's for Mobile Phones (3gp)
/Ffmpeg – Compile ffmpeg for 3gp on Ubuntu.
/MpegTo3GP – Convert Mpeg file to 3GP
- Servers
/Clamassassin – Clamassassin for antivirus the easy way.
/EximVirtualDomains – Configuring Exim for virtual domains
/EximSMTPAuth – Configuring Exim for SMTP AUTH
/ConvertFromMboxToMaildir – Notes from when I converted my server from mbox to Maildirs.
/FightingSpam – SpamAssassin and other applications to help reduce spam.
/Mailserver – Using Fetchmail, Postfix, Dovecot, Roundcube webmail.
- Clients
Kmail – Mail import howto for kmail
Spamassassin & Kmail – Howto add spamassassin to your KMail client.
/FightingSpam – SpamAssassin and other applications to help reduce spam.
System management
- Installing and managing distributions' packages
/SquidProxyingPackageManager - How to reduce your bandwidth usage and speed up update downloads if you have more than one machine to update.
ManagingPackages/Apt – The Debian way.
ManagingPackages/PortableAptRepository – Debian archive, to go.
ManagingPackages/Rpm – The Red Hat/SuSE way
ManagingPackages/Emerge – The Gentoo way.
ManagingPackages/Yum – Some simplifying Tricks.
/DebianReleaseProcess – How Debian's release system works
/KeepingTrack – Advice on using GNU-stow to manage compiled applications.
/NonRootBuildEnvironment – How to set up /usr/local/src so that you can build packages from source as an ordinary user.
/UpdateAlternatives - Debian's answer to "groups" of similar programs.
/CompileFromSource – Some caveats and suggestions about how to compile applications from source.
/CompilationBasics – A much more in-depth description of how the pieces that are used to build from source fit together.
/DebsFromSource – How to create .deb files from source packages, not in the Debian repository.
Security – General security issues and how to make your system a bit more secure.
Security/Hacked – What to do if you have been hacked (and how to try and avoid it)
Security/LockDownTmp – Locking down /tmp to protect against automated and "script kiddie" exploits.
Security/FirewallBuilding – How to build a firewall to protect your system quickly and easily.
Security/HidingFiles – How files can be "hidden" on a system.
/LockedDownGnome – Configuring Gnome to be user-proof (incomplete, and likely to stay that way...)
/ScpWithoutLogin – How to set up a machine to give scp access to users without permitting shell access.
/PseudoRoot – How to do things that root does, without actually being the 'root' user.
- Kernel Management
/KernelBuilding – Compiling kernels: the basic guide.
/KernelCompiling – Compiling your kernel the Debian Way.
/KernelAlsa – Compiling your kernel with ALSA support.
/RedHat 2.4 To 2.6 Kernel Upgrade – 'Other' things to do after migration.
- Login Management
/PAMAndLDAP – Configuring your system to look up users and logins via LDAP.
/SambaAuth – How to setup Linux (Debian specifically) to authenticate against Samba and/or a Windows PDC. Also covers pam_mount etc.
/BashStartup – How bash goes through its init sequence.
- Disk Management
WhydfAndduDontMatch – Why you should not expect df and du to give identical figures.
LogicalVolumeManagement – Some documentation about getting LVM2 up and running on Debian and Fedora.
/OneDiskToAnother – How to copy one partition (or disk) to another safely.
/ResizingPartitions – How to resize partitions.
/USBMountPoints – How to mount USB devices with correct permissions.
/MountingUSBDevices – A nice script to ensure your mp3 player, digital camera, memory stick etc all appear under consistent mount points irrespective of the order of insertion.
/InstallWoodyOnRAID1 – How to install Debian Woody on a RAID-1 (mirrored disks) system
/DebianTips – Tips for Debian users.
/CDWritingAnd2.6.8 – Explanation of the CD-writing problems in kernel 2.6.8 and 2.6.8.1.
/PerformanceTuning – Simple tips for finding performance bottlenecks on Linux machines.
Other Servers
/OpenLDAP – Configuring and managing an OpenLDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) server.
/Xen – How to configure and run multiple virtual servers on one physical server.
/XenOnEtch – Running Xen on Debian Etch
/UserModeLinux – Extra Linux systems without the extra hardware.
/SmallHosting – Members' comments on hosting facilities.
/DebianOnRaQ4 – Installing Debian Sarge on a Cobalt RaQ 3/4/XTR/550 Qube 3
Mail Server [[HowTo]] – How to set up a Debian mail server that checks for spam & viruses. Note this deals with Exim3, not Exim4
Networking
/LinuxFriendlyISPs – Members' comments and experiences of various UK ISPs
/NetworkDiagnostics – a "diagnostic path" for checking you have configured your NIC correctly
- Wireless
/WLAN – Wireless networking at up to 54Mbit (compiling and using drivers, configuring the interfaces etc.)
/DLink650WirelessCard – Setting up and using a D-Link 650+ PCMCIA Wireless network card with Linux.
/Ndiswrapper And Debian – Using unsupported wireless cards with Ndiswrapper.
/InstallingWifiRadar – Wifi-Radar manages wireless networks and settings.
- VPN and (in?)secure links
/PPTP-VPN – Setting up a LAN-to-LAN and Client-to-LAN virtual private network using Microsoft's PPTP protocol.
PPTP-VPN – Setting up a Linux box as a VPN server, with Windows and Linux clients.
/OpenVPN – Setting up a Debian based OpenVPN server for multiple clients
/SSHwithoutPasswords – Configuring SSH to authenticate without passwords is useful when writing scripts!
- Filesharing
/CIFS – Mounting shares on a Windows 2000/XP/2003 server with the CIFS protocol.
/InterMezzo – Setting up and using the distributed file system.
/AptProxy – Save bandwidth by using apt-proxy instead of downloading the same packages over and over again.
/Printing – Printing from linux to a networked printer on a W2k system
- DNS
/WhatIsDNS – a beginner's guide to DNS, why you need it, and how you'd go about implementing it
/DHCPandDNS – Suggested configuration for DHCP and DNS on a private network.
/DynamicDNS – Some suggestions for Dynamic DNS and DHCP with ISC BIND9 and DHCP Server 3.
/DHCPandADSLRouters – solving a problem regarding resolv.conf
NetworkBooting – How to set up a server to boot a remote client.
/PcmciaAndDHCP – Getting your PCMCIA network card to collect an IP address from a DHCP server
/MultipleNetworks – How to connect your system to multiple networks using different interfaces and settings.
WhatIsSPF – Protecting your domain against spoofing
/SettingUpWebDAV – FTP-like data transfer over HTTP and HTTPS
/RedundantNetworks – How to setup a host with two ethernet interfaces on the same subnet providing redundancy.
Web sites
/ApacheSSL – How to generate and sign a certificate and then configure Apache.
/WebDesign – links to web resources and hints and tips
/SettingUpWiki – how to set up a wiki of your own
/BlockingAdverts – Suggestions on how to avoid adverts and other malware while browsing
/XSLT – introduction to one of the coolest new W3 technologies.
/CMS - content management systems
/SEODatabaseWebsite – creating search engine optimisted database websites with mod_rewrite
Web Browsers
/MozillaFirefoxJava – Getting Java working in Mozilla Firefox web browser
/FirefoxExtensions – Our favourite extensions to Mozilla Firefox.
/Flash And Java – Installing Flash & Java browser plugins (based on a Debian install).
Desktop
/DebianDesktop – How to configure Debian as a desktop machine.
/StartX – Just how do you configure X to load with appropriate WMs?
/InstallingX-Org – How I installed X-Org on my Debian (Unstable) box.
/MultipleX – Running two (or more) X desktops at once with different configurations.
/SoftwareSuspend – How to get Suspend2 and ACPI working.
/KeyboardHotkeys – How to get "hot keys" on multimedia keyboards working.
/UsingX2vnc – Using x2vnc to use two screens on two different computers as if they were connected to the same computer.
/CupsInstall – Installing Cups for printing (based on a Debian install).
/SimplyMepis - Have a completely setup Debian-based Linux desktop in minutes with this cool little distro.
/KnoppixDebian – Migrating from a Debian-based distro, to Debian.
/GnomeDesktop – Quick HOWTO on removing those undeletable icons from the desktop.
/ForeignCharacters – Setting up UTF-8 and suitable keyboard maps for X.
/KnoppixUnionFS – A HOWTO on unlocking Knoppix's new Persistent Disk Image capabilities using UNIONFS.
/WMTipsAndTricks – Tips and tricks for Window Managers (Specific WMs or all of them).
/CustomisingFluxbox – Customising (and using) fluxbox.
/VoiceRecognition – Some info on the topic of voice recognition for Linux.
Hardware
/BudgetLaserPrinter – recommendations for a cheap laser printer for Linux home use
/MP3Players – Devices designed to playback MP3/other encoded music.
/LspciOutput – What the output of lspci -n means.
/NvidiaDrivers – Installing NVIDIA's proprietary graphics drivers, and removing the annoying splash screen
Programming
Python - Resources for learning and improving your Python.
/PHP – Tips for people learning PHP.
/Perl – To learn about the Pathological Eclectic Rubbish Lister.
/SimpleCPlusPlusProject – Create a simple skeleton C++ project using the GNU autoconf tools.
/UsefulOneLiners – One line shell commands to do useful things!
/BashTricks – Ideas bigger than one line for the Bash programer
/UsingStrace – Debugging that troublesome application.
/RegularExpression – Writing and using regular expressions.
/VirtualMemory – How modern computers and OSes deal with memory.
/PrinterDialogs – Printer dialogs in Windows that can be used by Linux programmers.
Training and Certification
/LPIC – Linux Professional Institute, vendor neutral certification.
Misc
KeySigning – How to sign a PGP key securely.
/Screen – Using 'screen' to manipulate terminal sessions.
/LinuxShops – Sites selling Free Software and other merchandise.
/TravellingWithLinux – List the things you think should be in that laptop bag when you travel.
/CrontabFormat – How to make crontabs work
BookReviews – Various book reviews by LUG members on Linux and related topics
Useful Links
TheDebianUniverse – A link to an online book about Debian
TheDebianSystem – A link to the home page for Martin Krafft's book
Distrowatch – A link to a site to keep up together with all Linux flavours.
Security Focus – Everything security related to computing.
Linux Security – Linux security.
Firewall logs – FAQ: Firewall Forensics (What am I seeing?)