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The Vital Tools Every IT SuperHero Needs in Their Bag

IT Superhero It Contractor Tools

Starting out as an IT contractor can be tough – making a good first impression is key. Here’s a list of the tools you will need while you’re on the road fixing problems. You don’t want to arrive on-site only to find you don’t have the tools to do the job! A Linux Laptop! This is LinuxScrew, of course. Linux has all of the tools you need to fix any IT issue. Tools for diagnosing network and internet issues, tools for scanning and recovering disks, and anti-malware … Read more

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/etc /bin /etc /dev – Linux Filesystem Directories and What’s in Them

/etc /bin /etc /dev - Linux Directories and What's in Them

If you’re new to the Linux operating system, you might be a bit confused about exactly what is stored where on your hard drive.  Directories like /etc and /bin might seem confusing to you if you’re used to Windows‘ directory structure. This article will tell you what everything is. As an end-user, you’ll probably only need to worry about the actual contents of a few of these directories – /home, /etc/, /var, /srv, /media. The contents of the other directories are mostly managed by package managers (for installing software) and system services … Read more

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Kibibytes, Mebibytes, Gibibytes, Tebibytes… What are They?

Kibibytes, Mebibytes, Gibibytes, Tebibytes

This article will explain what the kibibytes, mebibytes, gibibytes, tebibytes storage units are in relation to Kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, and terabytes. … So What are They? Simply, they are a different set of storage units used to express/measure file sizes. They are analogous to kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, and terabytes – and often used interchangeably – but they are not the same. Kilobytes, megabytes, etc., all measure units in thousands – 1000 kilobytes to a megabyte, 1000 megabytes to a gigabyte, and so on. This is the decimal measurement system of … Read more

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Linux for Kids – Distributions, Fun Tools, Games & Learning

Linux for Kids

Want to keep the kids busy over the holidays? Get them interested in computing. It’ll keep them busy for the rest of their lives. Computing is a huge field that covers many different subjects and skills – programming, digital art, music-making, engineering – and understanding computing concepts is increasingly important, and it opens the way for learning about just about anything else one might want to learn. A computer can’t just be a tablet playing youtube videos – kids need to be able to understand … Read more

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Check Disk Health in Linux/Ubuntu [How To / Guide]

Linux Check Disk

Concerned that you have a failing hard drive? Make a backup. Then, use these Linux tools to check your disk/drive. Not concerned that you have a failing drive? Back up anyway. It could be failing, and you don’t know it. Or it could get stolen. Or a meteorite could hit it. Back. Up. Your. Files. What is SMART? S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) is the system most hard disks use to report their health to the installed system. This information can be queried to find out whether a drive is … Read more

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How to Run a Script/Command on Startup on Linux/Ubuntu

How to Run a Script/Command on Startup or Login on Linux/Ubuntu

Want to run a program, command, or script when you start or log into your Linux OS? This article will show you how. Running Scripts on Startup with Crontab The best way to run a command whenever your system starts is using crontab. cron is the job scheduler used by Linux to schedule the execution of tasks. The crontab is the text file where those tasks are defined. There is a system-wide crontab file, and each user also has their own individual crontab file for scheduling their own tasks. Adding a System-Wide Startup … Read more

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How to Run a Program or Command On Login in Linux

How to Run a Program or Command On Login in Linux

This article will show you how to set up a command to run automatically each time you (or any user) log in on the Linux operating system. Several tasks may be useful to run on login – perhaps you want to connect to a network share or mount a USB drive each time you log in. You might even want to write a script that emails someone to let them know you’ve arrived at work safely and have it sent automatically when you log in. … Read more

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Office Software for Linux/Ubuntu – What are the Options?

Office For Linux

This article will cover some options for office productivity software for Linux. Microsoft Office dominates the office productivity space – it’s the industry standard. If you’re in business, other businesses probably expect to be able to send you an Excel or Word file and for you to be able to view or edit it. Microsoft Office, of course, does not run on Linux (unless you want to run an ancient version under emulation). It’s also not open-source or free. Here are some of the best alternatives … Read more

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Bash/Shell Script to Send Email In Linux – Howto, Example

Sending Emails from Bash/Command Line

This article will show you several ways to send an email from the Linux command line/shell – as well as from Bash/Shell scripts. Why would you want to send an email from the command line? Probably not to communicate – most people use an email client with a nice user interface to send messages to each other day to day – but you may want to have your computer send an email notification when a task completes or when an event occurs. Such email alerts … Read more

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How to Format a USB Drive From the Linux Shell

Format USB Drive in Linux

This article will show you how to format a USB stick or external USB hard drive from the Linux command line/shell for FAT, NTFS, and EXT file systems. Plug In the Drive The first step – plug in your USB stick or external hard drive and give it a few moments to be detected. Find the Drive Next, find the drive you just plugged in using the fdisk command to list (-l) the attached storage devices: sudo fdisk -l We’ll be using the sudo command frequently – many of … Read more