Brad Morton

I'm Brad, and I'm nearing 20 years of experience with Linux. I've worked in just about every IT role there is before taking the leap into software development. Currently, I'm building desktop and web-based solutions with NodeJS and PHP hosted on Linux infrastructure. Visit my blog or find me on Twitter to see what I'm up to.

Home » Articles by: Brad Morton

How to Install Pip/Pip3 for Python [Simple Guide]

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How to Install Pip3

This tutorial will teach you how to install pip3, the package manager for Python, on Ubuntu Linux. Pip is a Python Package Manager. It’s currently at version 3 – hence, Pip3. Python is useful on its own, but it’s even more useful when you can start leveraging other people’s pre-written code. The default repository used by Pip is the Python Package Index (PyPI) (https://pypi.org/). PyPI contains a collection of other users’ code for performing a multitude of tasks, from drawing graphs to artificial intelligence. Checking if Pip is Already Installed … Read more

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How to SSH Into Your Raspberry Pi Remotely [Simple Guide]

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How to SSH Into Your Raspberry Pi

Here’s a summary of the options available for connecting to your Raspberry Pi via SSH – from Linux, macOS, and Windows. Networking We’ll assume you have your Pi on your network – wired or wirelessly. Static IP Address vs DHCP Your Raspberry Pi will most likely be configured to receive an IP address via DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), which means your router assigns an available address to your Pi. As it’s assigned automatically, you won’t know what it will be in advance. If you’ve … Read more

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GitLab vs. GitHub: A Simple Comparison

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GitLab vs. GitHub

What is Git? Git is a Version Control system that allows you to track the changes you make to files stored in a repository. Git is most commonly used by programmers to store and track changes to their code, but is also used for tracking changes and progress on other text files or data sets – for example, it has become popular with Ph.D. students use it to store and manage the writing of their thesis’, and with authors writing complex books with many revisions. Terminology Here’s a quick … Read more

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Listing Databases and Tables in MySQL and MariaDB

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mysql mariadb list databases tables

This guide explains how to list databases and tables using MySQL or MariaDB using simple commands. Managing your databases from the Linux shell is quick and efficient compared to some of the bloated database management tools available. Here’s a quick primer on seeing what databases and tables you’ve got set up on your MySQL or MariaDB server. Listing Databases Once you’ve logged in to your database, simply enter the following to list your databases: SHOW DATABASES; You’ll get a list of all of the databases … Read more

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DIY Raspberry Pi Laptop/Palmtop Computer [Kitchen Build]

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DIY Raspberry Pi Palmtop

There was once a PC form factor known as the ‘Palmtop’ and it was good. Then, tablets appeared and pretty much wiped them out completely. I am still a huge fan of palmtops – they’re great for travel or getting some light work done in the park without having to lug about a full laptop, try and type on a tablet screen, or trying to angle those awful tablet keyboard cases on your lap so that they don’t collapse. There are a few modern attempts … Read more

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Making POST Requests with cURL

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post requests curl

cURL is a package that contains various tools for transferring data between remote servers. It supports FTP, Windows Shares, Mail Servers, and of course Web Servers using HTTP. Downloading a file from the Linux shell is usually accomplished using the cURL command like so: curl http://example.org/file.zip –output file.zip This makes the request for the file using the GET method and simply downloads it. This article will detail how to use cURL to make a POST request, including form data. This may be useful if the server requires … Read more

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Boolean Operators: Comparing Values in Python

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Boolean Operators in python

Python is widely used for both scripting and automation on Linux, as well as building web and standalone applications. Python is designed to be easy to learn, easy to write, and easy to read. It’s a great multi-purpose programming language. Boolean Values This article covers how boolean operators work in Python. In programming, a boolean value is either TRUE or FALSE. When comparing values in Python, a boolean value is returned allowing you to store the result of the comparison, or take a certain action … Read more

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PHP in_array Function: Check Array Values Exist

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PHP in_array Function

The PHP in_array() function allows you to check for the presence of a value in an array, and take an option based on this result. Syntax in_array ( $needle , $haystack [, $strict = FALSE ] ) Note That: $needle can be a variable of any type (string, number, date, etc) $haystack should be an array (see here, here, and here for more about arrays) $strict is optional, and will ensure that the type of values is also compared when checking whether $needle is present If $strict is FALSE (the default behavior), the number … Read more

Categories PHP

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Using the PHP Array ‘implode’ Function, with Examples

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php implode function

We’ve previously covered the explode() function in PHP – now it’s time for implode()! This tutorial will teach you how to merge values from an array into a single string using the PHP implode() function. Processing data for presentation to the end-user is one of the common PHP tasks. PHP is frequently used on Linux to display database query results to the user. If some of those values are stored in an array, you may want to merge them into a single string for ease of display or brevity … Read more

Categories PHP

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PHP strpos Function: Check if a String Contains Another String

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php strpos function

The PHP strpos() function checks whether a string is contained within another string – for example checking whether a certain word appears in a sentence, and what position it appears in.  It is a great companion to the PHP substr() and str_replace() functions for processing text data. Syntax strpos ( $haystack , $needle [, $offset = 0 ] ) Note that: $haystack is the string (text or series of characters) we want to search within $needle is the string search term we are looking for $offset Is optional … Read more

Categories PHP