DoIT - Denny on IT

gigya toolbar, a wibiya toolbar alternative

2009-10-29T17:17:00.000+07:00

just add this into your web/blog html, optionally get your own partner id and you got yourself a gigya toolbar:

or if you're using blogspot, just click on 'Add to blogger' icon:

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

the perfect mysql backup

2009-10-10T09:58:00.005+07:00

this is the perfect mysql backup tool for me.

how to use it:

create LocalUserWithMinimalReadOnlyRight on mysql with your favourite tool. i only give it SELECT, RELOAD, LOCK TABLES privileges.
download backup-mysql.logrotate, edit the file, change the username and password
put the files in /etc/logrotate.d/
run this for the very first time:

for i in `mysql --batch -e 'show databases' | tail -n +2`; do
if [ ! -e /bak/mysql/$i ]; then mkdir -m 700 /bak/mysql/$i; fi
mysqldump --opt -u LocalUserWithMinimalReadOnlyRight $i | gzip -c > /bak/mysql/$i/$i.sql.gz
done

that's it. i will creates 5 daily backup, 4 weekly backup and 3 monthly backup.
for best result, make sure you put your backup on separate drive or even on a separate network/country/planet...

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

Google Chrome native builds for mac and linux

2009-10-09T04:13:00.001+07:00

so you've been trying all possible ways to get google chrome installed in your mac and linux?

now you can get the native builds from google early access release. it's unreleased, beta and developer channel.

google chrome for mac
debian package for linux

and if you install the debian package on debian/ubuntu, it will also install google chrome repo to make sure you always get updated version of google chrome.

and if you want better privacy and using ubuntu, you can use chromium daily builds.
add this to your /etc/apt/source.list

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu hardy main
# replace hardy with jaunty or whatever your ubuntu version is

personally, i hate 'daily' stuffs that i feel the need to update everyday...

after you get google chrome installed, check out some cool and hot themes to dress-up your browser.
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

srware iron for linux is here

2009-09-23T05:08:00.001+07:00

srware iron is a browser built from chromium source. some people might consider google chrome as spyware. so if you want a clean browser with chrome power, then use chromium or iron.

download for linux is here. and for mac is here.
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

Embed Addictives Flash Games on Your Web / Blogs, easily.

2009-09-01T19:47:00.002+07:00

how would you like your visitors stays on your web/blogs for hours and keep coming back...
free addictive online games is a great way to attract more traffic to your website and make your visitors stays for hours and hours playing their favorite games on your web/blogs.

this is one of my free widgets to do just that. just click on the 'get widget' button and with few clicks it would be on your web/blogs.

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

search any words. in any languages. introducing the ultimate word search!

2009-07-30T16:02:00.001+07:00

Search dozens of dictionaries, thesaurus, idioms, encyclopedia and more! Search any words in any languages with ease!
Add the Ultimate Word Search Engine to your web/blog!

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

ubuntu restricted shell with lshell

2009-07-30T14:34:00.000+07:00

lshell is a restricted shell, similar to rssh or ironbars, which you can use to restrict users shell. but rssh only allow scp/sftp and does not allow login to shell. lshell allow login, but restrict user to only few commands.
i tested this with my ubuntu perfect webserver setup. but i believe it's same steps to install on any linux.

wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/lshell/lshell/0.9.5/lshell-0.9.5.tar.gz
tar xvfz lshell-0.9.5.tar.gz
sudo python setup.py install
chsh -s /usr/bin/lshell RESTRICTEDUSERNAME

o, btw. it python script. so make sure python is installed.
that's it.
simple, fast, easy.

after that, edit /etc/lshell.conf to configure lshell to suite your need.
the most important (for me) is the allowed and forbidden list of commands.

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

openSuse + Koffice2 + OOo3 + Kontact PIM = Office Konnect Linux

2009-07-23T09:25:00.001+07:00

looking for the perfect linux desktop for office use?
so did i.

lucky me, i have access to susestudio. that allow me easily customize openSuse as i like it.

so far, i built openSuse lxde livecd, which is the linux minimal desktop that only have lxde and firefox. this one i use for most every computer i can put it on. then, add up apps that i need.
then from this, i made up kidSuse. the linux for kids. this is the one my kids (from 2yrs to 6yrs) are playing and learning with, everyday.

but i still missing something...
for office use, i can start with minimal desktop. but there's too much to add and when the internet slowing down, it could takes hours downloading all the packages...

so here's the Office Konnect distro for my own use. or if it suite you, it's free to take.

what's inside? the latest (preferred, stable) version of these apps:

OpenOffice.org
Koffice
Kontact (KDE PIM) and all its components
konqueror, kopete, okular, k3b, kde-utils, etc
wine

well, because there're so many kde apps, i just use the kde desktop instead of other lightweight options.

that's all i can think of for my office use.
anything missing? critics, comments, suggestions are all welcome.
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

chromium on linux, mac and xp

2009-07-12T18:34:00.000+07:00

this might be a late news.
but because people still gets here for this install google chrome on linux guide, so this short note only to tell you that you can now have chromium (which is the base for google chrome builds) on linux, mac and xp:

just download the latest snapshot, unzip and run.
simple as that.

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

always up-to-date pidgin and yahoo messenger connection problem solved

2009-06-27T13:28:00.000+07:00

yahoo, msn, aim, icq, etc... always changing their protocol and always causing connection problem for third party messenger apps like pidgin.

while linux distro always stick to one apps version at their release and do not upgrade to latest release.

then, recently yahoo change their protocol again.
all these causing all ubuntu users cant connect to yahoo messenger.
you can use getdeb and install the current version. but then you need to manually update pidgin everytime new version released. or everytime you encounter another connection problem.

the only good solution is to keep your pidgin always update to the latest release version. the instruction on pidgin site also not very up-to-date and will not install gpg key for the repo.

this will keep your pidgin always up-to-date:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys A1F196A8
echo deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu \     `lsb_release --short --codename` main | \
    sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pidgin-ppa.list
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude upgrade

that's it.
everytime you do 'sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude upgrade' you will get the latest release version.

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

12+ linux docking launch bar

2009-06-24T14:48:00.002+07:00

it seem like a docking launch bar that really catchy for everyone started by apple osx.
since then, everybody want it...

there're lots of launch bar for linux. not only 5 or even 10.
1. Avant Window Navigator

2. ksmoothdock

3. cairo dock

4. kooldock

5. kiba dock

6. engage

7. menu bar

8. xqde

9. tuxbar

10. simdock; it's fast & simple. doesnt require xgl

11. wbar; another fast & simple dock.

12? kxdocker; discontinued. replaced by xqde.

13? gnome-dock; another dead one.

14. fbpanel; not purely launchbar, but can be configured to look like osx

too bad, none that i know of have menu launcher and easy gui configuration.

which one you use?

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

hardware virtualization cpu check

2009-06-23T17:32:00.000+07:00

tools to check if your cpu support hardware virtualization:

or, in linux use this oneliner:

egrep ‘(vmx|svm)’ /proc/cpuinfo

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

automount samba - windows network neighborhood

2009-06-23T06:55:00.000+07:00

how to automatically mount windows/linux samba shares? that is the question...

currently, there're two apps that i know can do this. use only one of them. or if you use both, make sure you use it on different folders.

1. fusesmb quick start:

sudo aptitude install fusesmb
sudo mkdir /mnt/Neighborhood
sudo chown yourusername:fuse /mnt/Neighborhood
fusesmb /mnt/Neighborhood -o allow_other

2. smbnetfs quick start:

sudo aptitude install smbnetfs
sudo mkdir /mnt/Neighborhood
sudo chown yourusername:fuse /mnt/Neighborhood
smbnetfs /mnt/Neighborhood

that is it.
to make it the apps run at startup, you can put it either in your .bashrc or your session manager autostart.

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

what you use for twitter image signature

2009-06-18T13:59:00.002+07:00

many ways you can show your twitter as image signature on email or forums:

which one you use?

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

non javascript frame buster

2009-06-16T10:04:00.000+07:00

there're so many javascript you can use to break out of frame.
but javascript will not work if your visitor have javascript turned off.

just add this in your html head section:

< base target="_top" / >

and all clicks on your site will gets your visitor out of any frame.
works on all browser i know and works without javascript.
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

opensuse lxde minimal desktop livecd

2009-06-13T18:54:00.000+07:00

now that tested and runs correctly, i dare myself to announce this public beta release of my opensuse minimal desktop livecd.

features:

openSUSE 11.1
LXDE with all its components
Firefox 3.0.10 + Flash Player 10

huge thanks to all testers for the feedback.

download here.

all comments, complaints and critics are welcome.
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

cpanel addon domains - better way?

2009-05-12T05:52:00.000+07:00

usualy, cpanel automatically add addon domains to /public_html folder. say i want to add dennyhalim.com as addon domain, cpanel will put it into /home/username/public_html/dennyhalim.com

this way might give few problems.

first, if search engine find it, it will hurt your SEO. because you have duplicated content and your domain could be marked as spam. so, if you do this, dont let search engine knows it.

second, management problem. if you add few dozens domain, now you public_html folder will be messed up with dozens of folders not related to your main domain. very inconvenient.

maybe you can point out more problem you encounter with this?

for me...
i simply remove the public_html and put the addon domains directly at my home folder. so if i add dennyhalim.com i will put it at /home/username/dennyhalim.com

this solved all my problems.
what do you think...
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

install grub4dos, make usb bootable from windows

2009-02-14T18:10:00.003+07:00

actually this already posted a lot and easily found if you google.
yet, it seem not so obvious that everyone keep asking about this...

so, i try to give extreme short guide to make usb bootable by installing grub4dos from windows (NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista). i just assume those who use linux already knows about grub and grub4dos or at least they can google...

make sure you login as administrator and you only have ONE single usb flashdrive plugged in to avoid any possible mistake. make sure you have backup of any valuable data on another computer
download latest grub4dos here: http://download.gna.org/grub4dos/ and extract to your usb flashdrive
copy the extracted grldr and menu.lst to your usb flashdrive
download grubutil for windows then extract all and run grubinst_gui.exe
Select from the menu 'Disk' and click 'Disk Refresh' then choose your usb device.
Select 'Part List Refresh' and choose 'Whole Disk (MBR)'
Click 'Install'
Done.

grub4dos is now installed on your usb and your flashdrive is now bootable. close all apps and reboot to test your now bootable usb flashdisk.

in case any problem, here's troubleshooting:

make sure your pc and bios support booting from usb
some bios let you choose where to boot from by pressing F12
or enter your bios option and make usb-hdd as first boot option
make sure you setup the menu.lst accordingly to boot any os you want.

refs:

update: fixed, c:\ should be your usb flashdrive
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

postfix + postgrey + clamsmtp + sanesecurity = easy, clean & light email server

2009-02-11T18:08:00.005+07:00

what's wrong with spamassassin? everybody else are using spamassassin for their mail server spam protection.
nothing wrong with it. it just use up too much resources. that's all.

what if we can built lighter system on lower resources system (think vps) with as good spam protection as spamassassin can provide..?

here's my attempt...

first thing first. install all at once.

sudo aptitude install postfix postgrey clamsmtp wget curl rsync gzip

then, configure postfix to use postgrey and clamsmtp.

add this to /etc/postfix/main.cf

smtpd_recipient_restrictions = permit_sasl_authenticated,
           permit_mynetworks,
           reject_unauth_destination,
           check_policy_service inet:127.0.0.1:60000

content_filter = scan:[127.0.0.1]:10026

add this to /etc/postfix/master.cf

# ClamSMTP anti virus scan filter (used by content_filter)
 scan      unix  -       -       n       -       16      smtp
   -o smtp_send_xforward_command=yes
   -o smtp_enforce_tls=no
 # For injecting mail back into postfix from the filter
 127.0.0.1:10025 inet  n -       n       -       16      smtpd
   -o content_filter=
   -o receive_override_options=no_unknown_recipient_checks,no_header_body_checks
   -o smtpd_helo_restrictions=
   -o smtpd_client_restrictions=
   -o smtpd_sender_restrictions=
   -o smtpd_recipient_restrictions=permit_mynetworks,reject
   -o mynetworks_style=host
   -o smtpd_authorized_xforward_hosts=127.0.0.0/8

restart postfix

sudo /etc/init.d/postfix restart

now, get scam and phishing signature for clamav from sanesecurity, msrbl, securiteinfo, and malwarepatrol.

$ wget ftp://seibercom.net/pub/scamp.tar.gz
$ tar zxvf scamp.tar.gz
$ vi scam.sh
# uncomment this:
# SIG_DB="/var/lib/clamav"
# IF your clamav version < 0.94 then uncomment this too:
# NO_LDB=1
# that's it. save. exit.
$ sudo cp scamp.sh /etc/cron.daily/
# run it once, the first time:
sudo /etc/cron.daily/scamp.sh

done.
you now got a lighter email server with great spam and virus protection.
enjoy less spam!

refs: http://wiki.dennyhalim.com/postfix

-- tips & tricks on computers and gadgets denny on IT ; let's doIT documenting the brain

make sure syslog rotating your system log files

2009-02-09T16:14:00.010+07:00

just check a computer i got and see huge system log files at /var/log.
it was last rotated september last year. it's running everyday between 8am to 8pm.

so why suddently (after sept 2008) it's stop rotating the log files?

first, see when syslog run. syslog should be executed by cron.daily
so, when this cron.daily runs?

$ cat /etc/crontab
# /etc/crontab: system-wide crontab
# Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the `crontab'
# command to install the new version when you edit this file
# and files in /etc/cron.d. These files also have username fields,
# that none of the other crontabs do.

SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

# m h dom mon dow user  command
17 *    * * *   root    cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly
25 6    * * *   root    test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily )
47 6    * * 7   root    test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly )
52 6    1 * *   root    test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.monthly )
#

see... by default, all daily, weekly and montly cron runs at about 6 something in the morning. my pc has not wake at that time. that's why all the cron never executed. that's why my log grows so huge.

now, replace all 6 with 9 to make sure my pc is already awake and all cron can be executed.

how about yours? have you ever turn on your linux at 6am? if not, better go check your log files Now!

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

boot .iso image file on usb / hdd with grub4dos

2009-01-29T19:56:00.037+07:00

nowadays, there're too much livecd you can choose from. everyone have their own favorite livecd. mine, was puppy, now grml.

the easiest way to use livecd is to burn it and reboot your computer with it.
or, you can also run it on emulator like qemu, virtualbox, vmware, etc...
then, you can also do 'frugal install' by copying the .iso file content to usb/hdd and boot it from there. this works best with linux livecd.

now... this is another way to boot your .iso livecd. especially works best with non-linux livecd. use grub4dos to boot directly from the .iso file without burn any cd. works with bartpe .iso too.

here's the steps:

install grub4dos to usb/hdd
copy the .iso image file to usb/hdd
add to menu.lst as follow:

# replace title, folder and filename with your own
title windowspe livecd
map (hd0,0)/windowspe/bartpe.iso (hd33)
map --hook
chainloader (hd33)

that's it. reboot your usb/hdd and you can now boot your livecd from it.
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

localepurge to Automagically remove unnecessary locale data

2009-01-23T17:39:00.000+07:00

this very easy and simple trick can save you few hundreds megs of spaces.

if you like me, still make use of old legacy computers hardware, like the old 4gigs harddrives with debian or ubuntu minimal desktop, few hundreds megs spaces is very precious.

each and every apps/packages that you installed on your system do have lots of unused locales that is not the language you understand or use daily. these locales data is installed by default and can takes up to few hundreds megs of spaces, depends on what/which apps/packages you installed.

so why would we let these useless data in our system? we do not need them. let's just purge them:

sudo aptitude install localepurge

that's it. one single line to install localepurge. nothing you need to do. just let it be and it will 'Automagically remove unnecessary locale data' whenever you install new apps/packages without your intervention.
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

antivirus for grml / debian / ubuntu linux / LiveCD

2009-01-19T20:24:00.012+07:00

yeah i never use antivirus for my linux desktop.

but i always carry grml in my usb flash to clean up friends/family's dusty, infected windows. i used to use puppy linux with antivirus for this. but i'm tired keep downloading and reinstalling stuffs. with grml, all i need is aptitude upgrade to get the latest updated version.

there are many good antivirus for linux. the ones i choose are f-prot and avast. the main reason i choose these are for their size. others antivirus usually at least twice as large.

for f-prot, i also use xfprot for the gui.

xfprot + fprot installation:

#get .deb packages from http://web.tiscali.it/sharp/xfprot/
sudo gdebi xfprot_2.0-1_lenny_hardy_i386.deb
wget http://files.f-prot.com/files/unix-trial/fp-Linux-i686-ws.tar.gz
sudo tar zxvf fp-Linux-i686-ws.tar.gz -C /opt
cd /opt/f-prot
sudo ./install-f-prot.pl
#accept all defaults and installed
#done.

avast installation even easier:

wget  http://files.avast.com/files/linux/avast4workstation_1.3.0-2_i386.deb
sudo gdebi  avast4workstation_1.3.0-2_i386.deb
#done.

that's all i need and enough for me.
in case it's not enough for you, there are many other options:

clamav + gui

sudo aptitude install clamtk

avg

# download latest from http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afl
wget http://www.avg.com/filedir/inst/avg75fld-r51-a1243.i386.deb
sudo gdebi avg75fld-r51-a1243.i386.deb

bitdefender

avira see http://www.free-av.com/en/download/download_servers.php

panda antivirus, see http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/linux/descarga.asp

i put them on grml usb installation.
but... if you want instant solution, you can download, burn and use antivirus livecd from these vendors:

Kaspersky Anti Virus Rescue Disk
bitdefender.com antivirus rescue livecd
f-secure antivirus live rescue cd
avira antivirus rescue cd
Dr.Web LiveCD
purchase AVG rescue cd ... yeah right...
more antivirus rescue livecd

oot. windows based:

so... it's all up to you.
download and burn another cd everytime you need them?
or install it to usb flash drive and update them when needed....

which path you take...???

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

install latest cherokee webserver without compiling

2008-12-30T16:15:00.001+07:00

one thing i hate when i need the latest version apps and it's not in official repo is compiling.
actually, it's ok doing compilation on your desktop pc. you can have all the build-essential installed and have all your cpu, ram and perhaps time to compile everything and all will run just fine.

but...
if you're on a budget vps with very limited ram and cpu, you need every single bit of them to serve what your vps was supposed to serve. though installing build-essential wont waste any ram/cpu when it's not compiling, but every security expert will tell you not to install these on production server.

off course...
we can install it, do the compilation and then remove it.

or...
compile on your desktop. (possibly packages them as .deb) then upload to your vps.

yet...
i'm lazy.

so...
here's how i do it on my debian lenny...

i get all the fastest free web server packages from debian sid. which is the latest released version of cherokee webserver. and that's including libpcre3 and all needed dependencies (libcherokee-*) that's not in lenny yet.

then, install each and every .deb dependencies packages that i download from pool.

and, finally...
to make thing easier, i do:

sudo gdebi cherokee_0.11.6-1_amd64.deb

so that all other dependencies can be easily satisfied from lenny.

that's it.
i got cherokee installed. no compiling required.

btw. did you know that cherokee got a pretty neat ajax gui for simple server management?

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

install ubuntu apps on debian

2008-11-12T09:31:00.002+07:00

there are some apps available on ubuntu repo but not in debian repo.
but ubuntu is based on debian. so i think.... i can just download the packages from ubuntu and install it on debian.
here's how i do it...

first, install gdebi for easier .deb packages installation:

sudo aptitude install gdebi

then, search the packages you want. example, i want to install pyneighborhood, so i open this link:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/intrepid/pyneighborhood

make sure your debian have correct dependencies. example, pyneighborhood from intrepid depends on smbclient >= 3.0.22. let's check smbclient on debian:

http://packages.debian.org/lenny/smbclient

so, it's 3.2.4 which is >= 3.0.22. that's mean we have all required dependencies.
now, let's download the packages from the nearest mirror:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/intrepid/all/pyneighborhood/download

or you can also swim in to the pool:

http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/p/pyneighborhood/

after it's download, just open a terminal to install it:

sudo gdebi pyneighborhood_0.4-0ubuntu5_all.deb

this will also download all its dependencies if it's not yet installed.

that's it. the ubuntu package is now installed in debian.

now, i like to know what ubuntu apps that you missed the most and not yet available on debian? post your voice!
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain