After reading the post, I can reveal it took more than a couple of minutes to digest what I had just read. CentOS is, and has been for a long time, one of the most stable server operating systems among the Linux ecosystem. So stable in fact, that it often goes unappreciated for its stability and reliability. 

Only now, post announcement the development focus of CentOS is to be uprooted within the Red Hat development platform, that so many CentOS users and many within the tight-knit Linux community feel the need to express their displeasure that CentOS stable releases will be discontinued in favor of shifting the development focus to CentOS Stream. 

What will change, precisely? Well, that question can be answered two ways. Not much, and a lot. Confused? Well, allow me to explain. 

It’s important to understand development of the CentOS project is not ceasing. It will continue, as before. I believe the shift in development focus doesn’t have to be painted in such a negative light, as so many in the Linux community have chosen to do. We need to take a look at some fine print, because it’s really important to understand what precisely is happening. 

CentOS 7 will continue to be supported for the duration of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7 support lifecycle. This means it will continue to be patched until 2024. No changes here. The changes specifically affect CentOS 8, which has had its support lifecycle massacred and will now end in 2021 instead of the originally planned 2029. From December 31, 2021 onwards, CentOS 8 will be transitioned to CentOS Stream. There will be no CentOS 9. 

CentOS Stream is traditionally an upstream version of CentOS stable. The new sole focus on CentOS Stream effectively repositions the entire CentOS project in the development platform for Red Hat. CentOS and RHEL will reverse roles and will see CentOS Stream become the development platform for which RHEL will be based. Regular CentOS stable builds will cease and all development focus will shift to CentOS Stream as it becomes the upstream version of RHEL. Make sense? Good. 

It has ignited the argument that the repositioning of the CentOS project in Red Hat’s development platform has made CentOS Stream unsuitable for mission critical deployment in production environments. While I personally don’t subscribe to that argument, I admit it is a perfectly justified argument. 

Red Hat’s development platform has become complex and confusing. There is a lot of variables that affect the outcomes of what packages appear where and how they are distributed. The announcement to shift all focus to CentOS Stream has only added further confusion. 

To simplify things, let us assume the traditional development platform for Red Hat has looked a little something like this: 

Fedora Rawhide > Fedora > RHEL > CentOS 

After the changes come into effect, a revised development platform will look something like this: 

Fedora Rawhide > Fedora > CentOS Stream > RHEL 

Like I said, there are a lot of variables to consider. But generally, I think it is a really good move and it makes perfect sense from a development perspective. 

While the motivation behind development of CentOS Stream may not have any specific focus on attracting a bigger chunk of the desktop user-base – such as that enjoyed by Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE and perhaps even Manjaro Linux – it would be silly to rule out the possibility of external pressure from IBM, parent company of Red Hat, to reposition CentOS Stream to increase brand attraction. 

With CentOS stable traditionally being positioned at the end of the development platform chain, based on RHEL, it has continued to produce a tried and tested operating system. In real world deployment this translates into system stability. By being uprooted and placed in front of RHEL (upstream), CentOS Stream will now become somewhat of a testing ground for RHEL. It is the threat of upsetting a proven development model which has so many angry. 

What options do CentOS users have? Well, it’s important to remember change is not occurring overnight. There is still plenty time to consider your options. Some may choose to transition their CentOS 8 servers to CentOS Stream and adapt. Some may choose to migrate off CentOS altogether. If the latter occurs, there can be little doubt Debian and Ubuntu Server deployments will see an increase. Both of which are viable alternatives, I might add. 

Some independent developers have declared war on CentOS and in retaliation claim they will fork the distribution. How many of these independent projects come to fruition and become stable projects, and how many are just rhetoric remains unclear at this point. 

One notable declaration which grabbed my attention was that of one of the original CentOS co-founders, Gregory Kurtzer. Within two days of the CentOS Stream announcement, Kurtzer had declared the establishment of a new project called “Rocky Linux”. He says it aims to become 100% compatible with RHEL. The project’s name pays homage to fellow CentOS co-founder, Rocky McGaugh. Kurtzer says, “He [Rocky McGaugh] is no longer with us” and he “never got to see the success that CentOS came to be”. 

Rocky Linux is still new and in a state of planning and development, so it may be some time before a production ready version goes gold. The project’s GitHub page currently states, “There is not currently an ETA for release.”. Still, it is most definitely a project to watch and one that has very real potential to attract a lot of attention from unhappy CentOS users. 

Of course, we can’t ignore Oracle. The company has nabbed the opportunity to remind the Linux community their own offering of RHEL compatible distribution, Oracle Linux, is ready for immediate deployment. For some users it may very well fill the void they feel will be left, with the shift in development focus to CentOS Stream. 

I close by reminding you, dear reader, CentOS 8 is still supported until December 31, 2021. My advice – take some time and consider your options. There is no need to rush into making a decision to migrate to another distribution without careful consideration of whether it’s the right choice for you and your clients.

Co-published with Tecseek Technology. 

The post Opinion: Development Focus Changes for CentOS appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

I have been a loyal user of Ubuntu Linux for a long time. There is one element of the distribution which continues to irk me – its default color scheme. But it hasn’t always been that way.

My introduction to the Ubuntu distribution falls back to version 5.10, the Breezy Badger. In its introductory years, Ubuntu performed well and had good aesthetics to boot.

Fast forward to 2020, and I think Ubuntu has come a long way with performance improvements. Yet it is disappointing to admit that it somewhat lags on the aesthetics front. The current color scheme which gets shipped is rather tired and uninspiring.

Developers continue to tweak limited elements to keep it polished, but it’s not enough. For Ubuntu to be taken serious and for the user to really appreciate the underlying grunt it holds, it needs a much more aggressive approach to be taken with the eye candy.

That’s what we are going to do today. It’s time to have some fun. Best of all, as we show you it can be done in just 10 easy steps. Ladies, gentleman and all Ubuntu geeks alike, read on.

Step 1

The first thing we are going to do is change the default window theme from the default Standard theme to the Dark theme.

Head to Settings > Appearance and change the window theme to Dark.

Step 2

Next, we are going to reclaim some useful screen real estate and move the Dock to the bottom of the screen. Having the Dock reside on the side of the screen is not only annoying, but it defies the natural formula of eye and mouse movement coordination.

Head to Settings > Appearance and at the bottom of the screen change the position of the Dock from Left to Bottom.

Now we reduce the size of the Dock to something a little less chunky and which will also allow us to reclaim some valuable screen real estate.

Change the Icon size to 32. There’s no set rule. You could keep it higher or go smaller still. But we feel 32 is a good comfortable middle value.

Step 3

For the next few tweaks which will include some improvements to the GNOME Top Bar, Windows and Desktop, we need to install the GNOME Tweak Tool.

Once installation is complete you will find the Tweak Took in the Applications menu.

Open it and head to Top Bar. As default, the Top Bar only displays minimal information. Let’s enable a few extras like Battery Percentage, Weekday and Seconds.

Step 4

Next, we are going to switch the Window control buttons back to what we still believe is the more natural position of the Left.

Open the Tweak Tool and head to Window Titlebars > Titlebar Buttons > Placement and change from Right to Left.

Step 5

Desktop icons are ugly and they are the first sign of a cluttered or disorganized operating system. They are also the quickest way to distract the eye from otherwise good aesthetics. Let’s get rid of those desktop icons.

In the Applications menu you will find the Extensions tool.

In the Extensions tool you will see the option to disable Desktop Icons.

Step 6

The default Ubuntu wallpaper is quite boring and just as uninspiring as the default color scheme. To make a real impact we need something with a bit more kick and get your system noticed.

Right-click on the desktop and select Change Background.

Click on Add Picture and select the picture you want to use as your alternate background.

Step 7

As nice as our new desktop background is, it is easily ruined if we don’t make the appropriate changes to the terminal console.

To blend the terminal console, it’s preferable to select a color scheme to match the alternate background. In our demonstration, we’ve gone with a terminal console color scheme consisting of a black background and text color of #DF4A16, or orange variant.

Finish off the terminal console customization by enabling 50% transparency.

Step 8

Sticking with terminal console tweaks, we now need to install the neofetch package.

Now, open the ~/.bashrc configuration file in nano.

Head to the very bottom of the configuration code and enter the following text to the file:

neofetch --ascii_distro Linux

Alternatively, you can also just enter the following command to get the same result:

$ echo neofetch --ascii_distro Linux >> ~/.bashrc

Save and exit nano.

Now when the terminal console is launched we get something that looks extremely cool, yet still remains very functional with minimal distraction.

Step 9

We now need to install the tmux package.

Once installation is complete, maximize the terminal window and run tmux.

To enhance your terminal console productivity using tmux, you can split the session vertically and then split the left-side pane horizontally. This will give you 3 working panes inside a single session.

In the left-side pane you can the powerful combination of htop and nload. htop will allow you to monitor your system CPU usage, memory, SWAP, load averages and system processes. Below that, nload will allow you to monitor the network bandwidth, up/down net speeds.

The right-side pane you can use as your regular terminal console. This, combined with the natural terminal Tab function of GNOME Terminal, will allow for plenty of flexibility.

Step 10

Before we finish up, let’s make one final tweak.

Head to Settings > Users. Click on the profile picture next to your Username > Select a File. Change the profile picture to something cool.

Now when the operating system boots you will be presented with the login screen with your new cool profile picture loaded.

Conclusion

Now our system is complete.

Results?

You have seriously improved the aesthetics of the Ubuntu 20.04 system. People will now take your system seriously!

The post How to Improve the Appearance of Ubuntu 20.04 in Just 10 Easy Steps appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

One of the many benefits of using Squid, in addition to the obvious security benefits, is content caching. The cache increases network performance for fetching clients and lowers internet bandwidth.

Firefox web browser also includes its own built-in cache. Two of them, actually! It has a memory cache and a disk cache. You can view the contents of the cache by entering the following into your navigation bar:

about:cache

From here you can also update the cache or view the details of a specific cached item.

The Firefox web browser cache is designed to increase performance. However, when you have caching being performed by Squid, then using the web browser cache is effectively a duplication of services. When the Firefox disk cache and Squid are both actively caching I often found that connections would hang, become unstable or even become non-responsive. This was the result of the Firefox disk cache conflicting with the Squid cache – two caches trying to do the same task.

While choosing one cache over another might not technically be a ‘better’ option, I have found it’s better to leave the task of caching to Squid as it is a dedicated server designated for one specific role. This frees up Firefox resources to concentrate on rendering content rather than juggling finite resources for multiple tasks inside the browser.

There is also an added security benefit to disabling the Firefox disk cache. When enabled, malicious web content can reside inside the cache. Where memory cache is non-persistent and cleared on Firefox close, the disk cache is persistent and if there is malicious content present, it will get reloaded every time Firefox is booted or until you clear the cache entirely.

It’s best to leave the Firefox memory cache enabled to maintain Firefox web browser performance, as the memory cache poses less threat of cache conflict with Squid to that of the disk cache. To disable the disk cache enter the following into your navigation bar:

about:config

Press ENTER to confirm the warning dialog. Now, search for the configuration string:

browser.cache.disk.enable

Set the value to “false“.

Your disk cache is now disabled. We can verify the change by revisiting the about:cache page.

Most of the caching is now be performed by the Squid proxy server, complemented by the Firefox memory cache.

The post Disable Firefox Web Browser Disk Cache When Using Squid Proxy Server appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

When you spend so many hours sitting at your desk staring at your web browser as websites render on a constant basis, it all appears so flawless and streamlined. It is so easy to just ignore and forget that all of that information and data is delivered by a server, located somewhere in some country. So irrespective of just how hard you try to stay anonymous and obfuscate your internet activity, web history and connection identity, you will always leave a trace on a server, somewhere.

We should also clarify that your desire to achieve anonymity does not imply that you are doing anything illegal. It’s about taking control of your data and identity, and exerting your natural human right to privacy. Anonymity is too often associated with illegal activity, when it’s absolutely false. Illegal activity occurs on anonymous networks, sure. But it also occurs on non-anonymous networks too. Therefore, it’s completely unfair to associate your desire for privacy with doing anything illegal.

There are some very good methods you can employ to attempt to stay anonymous on the internet. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular methods.

Tor Browser

The first method we take a look at is Tor Browser.

Tor Browser is developed by the Tor Project and is based on Firefox web browser. It has many underlying changes so it connects and functions on the anonymous encrypted network called the onion router. This involves encrypting all traffic three times by relaying the data through a complex series of connected Tor servers, called relays. The process has some network performance overhead, however this has improved drastically from the early days of Tor when volunteer operated relays were few. As Tor Browser has become more popular, so has the desire for the security community to step up and commit to operating relays. The more relays that connect to the onion router, the more secure and efficient the network becomes.

Accessing Tor Browser is simple and free. Just download the package from the website, extract the archive and launch the startup script.

IBM Terminal Prompt >wget https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/9.0.1/tor-browser-linux64-9.0.1_en-US.tar.xz

IBM Terminal Prompt >tar -xvf tor-browser-linux64-9.0.1_en-US.tar.xz

IBM Terminal Prompt >cd tor-browser_en-US/

IBM Terminal Prompt >./start-tor-browser.desktop

The Tor connection tool will launch, automatically connect you to the onion router network and launch Tor Browser. You are now anonymous on the internet when using Tor Browser.

Whonix

The second method we take a look at is Whonix.

Whonix is an extension of the Tor Browser project, albeit a completely separate project with no collaboration between the two. Where Tor Browser is simply a modified web browser which connects to the onion router to attain anonymity, Whonix employs a different method. Whonix consists of two components – Gateway and Workstation. Whonix requires you to have Oracle VM VirtualBox installed. Once you have it installed, you simple download and import the Whonix OVA appliances into VirtualBox. The Gateway component runs a local Tor relay which is used to provide onion router access to the Workstation component. Whonix operates on modified Debian Linux operating systems and the connectivity is all streamlined once both virtual appliances are installed and running.

Install Oracle VM VirtualBox first, then download the Whonix OVA appliances. Import the OVA into VirtualBox. Once the import has completed, you are now ready to start Whonix.

IBM Terminal Prompt >wget https://download.whonix.org/ova/15.0.0.4.9/Whonix-XFCE-15.0.0.4.9.ova

You can start the Whonix Gateway and Workstation at the same time, but it’s a good idea to start the Gateway first and wait a couple of minutes for it to connect to the onion router and the encryption to complete negotiation. Then when you start the Workstation, it will automatically connect to the Gateway and you are now anonymous on the internet when using any software on the Whonix Workstation.

Tails

The third method we take a look at is Tails Linux operating system.

Tails is a Linux distribution focused on anonymity and amnesia. By amnesia we mean that it leaves no trace on the computer where it is run. Being a fairly secure distribution, it has some particularities. The most important of them is that it is not installed on a hard disk but runs from LIVE. On the other hand, because it is very secure and its communications are encrypted, we will notice that it is something slower than the rest, but that is something worthwhile if you value security and privacy. It has an excellent website with the information and instructions for download and installation of Tails being first class.

We found the best way to download Tails is by using the torrent file provided. Then you simply copy the downloaded IMG file onto a USB memory drive, then reboot your system using the Tails operating system.

IBM Terminal Prompt >wget https://tails.boum.org/torrents/files/tails-amd64-4.0.img.torrent

IBM Terminal Prompt >qbittorrent tails-amd64-4.0.img.torrent &>/dev/null

IBM Terminal Prompt >sudo dd if=/home/user/tails-amd64-4.0-img/tails-amd64-4.0.img of=/dev/sdX

When you reboot your computer from the USB memory drive it will boot into Tails operating system. You are now anonymous on the internet when using any software on the Tails.

Private Networks

If you are running your own website or network, then our last example is one that is increasingly tempting to consider with the constant expansion of global internet mass-surveillance by government and intelligence snoops. The intelligence agencies like to refer to private networks as the dark web because they are inaccessible by using a traditional web browser and a regular internet connection, instead remaining accessible only by using Tor Browser and a unique onion URL. Some private networks are off the internet grid and run off a dedicated server or network accessible by exclusive network access, provided by either subscription or invite access only.

Private networks do suffer from lack of public web traffic, but usually private networks are set up for a specific purpose without public access being required. Again, it’s true that illegal activity occurs on some of these networks, but not all of them. Some black-hat hackers use private networks to share information, stolen databases and other illegal data. White-hat hackers use these networks for legitimate purposes and choose to remain off the internet grid usually because of a personal belief and deep commitment to the philosophy of the right to privacy.

Proxy Servers and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)

There is a lot of misinformation surrounding the use of proxy servers and virtual private networks, or VPNs as they are commonly known. Some people believe that routing their web browser traffic through a proxy server will hide their activity. This is not correct. Proxy servers are good at obscuring your actual IP address, instead exposing the IP address of the proxy server to the web server you’re connecting to. This is a basic level of security and should never be considered as a method to achieve anonymity.

Many people put much faith in virtual private networks, or VPNs. I have used VPN services in the past. The experience has been mixed. Sometimes they can be useful for accessing web servers in a specific locale which may be restricted in the locale you reside. Sometimes they can be useful for downloading files off torrent and other peer-to-peer networks, as some internet service providers still frown upon these networks because they are usually always associated with illegal file sharing activities. There are many legitimate purposes for using peer-to-peer networks. So again, the presumption these networks are operating simply to allow illegal activity is incorrect. Be cautious using VPN services. It’s common to place too much confidence in their services. Many of them claim to not log traffic but have been exposed for keeping logs on some of their servers. Sometimes deliberately and sometimes as a result of careless system administration. But the paying customer is the one who suffers. VPN services are a constant magnetic target for the world’s law enforcement agencies, so you always risk becoming an unintended subject of investigation if your IP address gets scooped up by an investigation that is completely unrelated to you or anything you have done – something you definitely want to avoid.

The post Anonymity on the Internet appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

Once Firefox has loaded all the aforementioned background stuff, it will then connect to your pre-configured home page and render the page for you. Having your favorite search engine configured as your home page might be convenient, but unfortunately it also slows down Firefox even more. Thankfully there is a small tweak you can make to your Firefox home page to significantly reduce its startup time.

The small tweak involves simply replacing the Firefox home page from an internet website to a local image file on your hard drive.

Currently, we have our favorite search engine set as the default home page in Firefox.

For our example, we have created a simple placeholder image that we have saved to our hard drive and will use as our new home page.

First, open the image in Firefox by pressing “CTRL+O” and copy the local URL.

Now we simply need to delve into the Firefox configuration options. In the navigation menu simply enter “about:config” and confirm the warning message.

Once in the configuration options, simply search for the term “home”.

Now we simply paste in the local URL we copied earlier into the configuration option for “browser.startup.homepage”.

Now exit the configuration options and press on the “Home” button in Firefox. You will now see your new image file.

To really see the full benefits of this small yet effective Firefox tweak exit the browser completely and then restart Firefox. You will now see the full benefits of using an image as your Home page in Firefox, as it really makes Firefox startup much quicker.

The post A Quick Tweak to Reduce Firefox Startup Time appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

DNS is the acronym for “Domain Name System”. Britannica Encyclopedia describes DNS as a:

“network service that converts between World Wide Web ‘name’ addresses and numeric internet addresses”.

The concept for DNS came to fruition in the 1970s with ARPANET, with the original design being limited to a HOSTS.TXT file. The file was basically a universal list which comprised of server names and their associated numerical address.

While today’s DNS servers do not implement such a simple mechanism that relies solely on a simple configuration file that resides on the server ripe for hacking, the basic principles of function and purpose of DNS remain almost untouched for probably 40-50 years.

The most common DNS implementation is in the form of a resolver. DNS makes the internet more easily accessible for everyone. While remembering IP addresses of different servers might be an easy task for your home network, it is unfeasible and unrealistic to expect anyone to remember the IP addresses of every server you visit on the internet, hence DNS.

It is often unappreciated just what an important role DNS plays to make the internet so easily accessible. DNS effectively translates the domain name you enter into your web browser to the server IP address of where you are connecting – just like the HOSTS.TXT file of ARPANET – the browser performing the entire process almost completely transparently.

Now that you understand a bit more about DNS and the important role that it plays to keep the world wide web connected, I will show you how to configure Zeroshell as a DNS forwarder for our own network.

The first thing you need to do is open your web browser and navigate to your Zeroshell server IP address and enter your login credentials.

Once logged into the Zeroshell web interface, on the left pane under “NETWORK” you will see the “DNS” menu. Click on it and it will take you to the DNS configuration of Zeroshell.

Now in the top pane click on “Forwarders”. This should present you with an external window which contains the configuration options for Zeroshell DNS forwarding.

The configuration is very simple and only requires two entries. In the “Domain” section simply enter “ANY”. This is telling Zeroshell to forward DNS requests it receives from any local IP address.

In the “Server” section simply enter the IP address of the DNS server that you want to forward the local DNS requests to. This can be your ISPs DNS servers, OpenDNS or any other DNS server you prefer to use.

There are many public DNS servers available to use. CloudFlare and Google operate public DNS servers for everyone to use which remain quite popular and are considered secure. I have configured Zeroshell to forward DNS requests to CloudFlare’s primary public DNS server.

CloudFlare public DNS is at 1.1.1.1
Google public DNS is at 8.8.8.8

You can either use a single IP address or alternatively you can use multiple IP addresses, which must be separated using a comma.

Save your configuration and you can now exit Zeroshell.

Now change the DNS settings in your operating system’s network settings to the IP address of Zeroshell. Remember to change any other computers or cell phone devices too, so that all devices on your network use Zeroshell for DNS requests.

Once you’ve changed your settings, now all DNS requests on your network will be forwarded by Zeroshell to the DNS server you configured in Zeroshell. In my case, CloudFlare @ 1.1.1.1.

The post Setup Your Own DNS Forwarder With Zeroshell appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

youtube-dl allows a user to download video and audio (or split the audio/video into separate files) from YouTube links by simply pasting the shared URL into the terminal console following the youtube-dl syntax. That’s the easy part. But what do you do if you have more than one or two links?

Sometimes when I am browsing YouTube I collect a bunch of links which I want to download. Sometimes this can be 3-5 links, or sometimes I can end up with an extensive list of 10 or more which I had not originally intended. It can be time consuming manually pasting in links then waiting for each download to complete before pasting in the next link and repeating the process. Thankfully, there is an easier way to do it by writing a neat little Bash script.

Let’s get started.

For example purposes, we will use the following fake randomly generated links to download:

https://youtu.be/ACcLsrbigWu
https://youtu.be/BAbg6BnkB3F
https://youtu.be/l0eRloaKxVS

So let’s write ourselves a neat little Bash script to deal with these links, using a combination of Bash and youtube-dl.

I use Emacs for this kind of short-style scripting, but feel free to use whatever code editor you prefer. Let’s just call our script something easy, like “yt-queue.sh”:

> emacs yt-queue.sh

Then in your code editor, enter the following syntax:

#!/bin/bash
#

#start
#links
#end

This provides a basic and sensible script layout for your youtube-dl queue.

Where we have “#links”, press “ENTER” at the end of the line so we get a new blank line. Now we need to paste in the links to download. But remember to write “youtube-dl” before each link. This is effectively telling the Bash script to use youtube-dl to download the link that follows. Once one link has completed downloading, the script then passes onto the next line in the queue, and then the next and so forth. Stupidly simple, yet effective.

After pasting in the links, the script should look something like this:

#!/bin/bash
#

#start
#links
youtube-dl https://youtu.be/ACcLsrbigWu
youtube-dl https://youtu.be/BAbg6BnkB3F
youtube-dl https://youtu.be/l0eRloaKxVS
#end

The script is finished. Now we need to just execute it when we are ready to start it.

This process is particularly useful for downloading extensive lists which can be done overnight – write your script before you go to bed, execute the script and by the morning your files will be completed.

Execute the script by simply running the following:

> bash yt-queue.sh

You have now learned how to write a simple Bash script to queue links for youtube-dl.

The post Write a Bash Script to Queue Links for youtube-dl appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

So very rarely used are application menus, many users are actually removing them from their desktop environment, completely, and devising much more productive ways to get things done without dribbling around in infinite menus. Removing the application menu doesn’t remove access to your applications as they are still all installed on your system. It just means that you’re not wasting valuable desktop real estate on a tool that serves minimal, or no, purpose to you.

Today, I show you how to remove your application menu and replace it with something which is much faster, much more useful and which stays out of the way until its triggered by its associated hotkey – Albert.

Removing your application menu

Before I proceed to install Albert, I will remove the application menu. I am using Arch Linux and the MATE desktop environment.

Removing the MATE application menu is as simple as right-clicking on the menu attached to the MATE panel and selecting “Remove from panel”.

The application menu has now been removed.

Installing Albert

Now, I need to install Albert. To do this in Arch Linux, simply enter the following command into the terminal console:

> sudo pacman -S albert

Albert will now proceed to install.

Post-installation clean-up

Once Albert has been installed, there are a couple of quick tasks that need to be completed to polish off the installation and ensure Albert starts at system boot.

First, I need to initiate Albert and set a hotkey.

Launch Albert using the application launcher by using the key combination of “ALT+F2”. Now, enter “albert” then click “Run” to launch Albert.

I need to read and confirm all of the contents presented in the initial dialog boxes until I reach the main program window.

Under the “General” tab, I will set the preferred hotkey which will be used to launch Albert.

It is preferred to set a hotkey that is not used often for any other purposes. Personally, I find the tilde “~” key pretty useless most of the time, therefore I choose it to set as my hotkey to launch Albert.

You can set your preferences to your own liking, but I recommend enabling “Show tray icon” so you know Albert is actually running in the background.

Under the “Extensions” tab, enable “Applications”.

As you can see from the list of extensions Albert has the potential to be so much more than just an application launcher. But I prefer to keep things simple and limit its usage to a launcher only. But once you’re familiar with how Albert functions, feel free to experiment with other extensions. Get creative!

The final step in the post-installation clean-up is to add Albert to the system startup configuration. In fact, to get to that I can now test out Albert!

I simply hit the hotkey and Albert should be triggered.

Enter the term “startup”. Press “ENTER” on “Startup Applications”. Now click the “Add” button and I can now add a new item into the auto-start configuration using the following credentials:

Name: albert launcher
Command: albert
Comment: albert

I will save the changes by closing the Startup Applications window. Now when anyone logs into the Linux desktop Albert will automatically load into the background and will be ready to be launched when the preset hotkey is pressed.

You might have previously noticed there is an option to select auto-start at system startup in Albert’s own program options. I have previously tested this and found its behavior to be erratic and very unreliable. Therefore, the best workaround is to add your own auto-start entry into the desktop environment’s own auto-start configuration, which has proven to be much more reliable.

I have successfully replaced the application menu with Albert application launcher, leaving the system with much better aesthetics and a much faster and more powerful tool to launch applications.

The post Ditch Your Application Menu and Meet Albert appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

What if there was a better solution to that of your hardware modem? What if there was a software solution which could act as your router and give you the real power and control you seek for your network? Well, there is. Using a software-based router offers you much better network performance, flexibility and offers an extra layer of security that hardware modems simply cannot provide.

There are many Linux-based router and firewall distributions. I have been a long time user of a niche distribution called Zeroshell. Zeroshell is often overlooked and it still surprises me today when people tell me they’ve never heard of it. I plan to write more tutorials in the coming months on how to do various tasks using Zeroshell, but first I want to show you how to install it and get a basic software router running. The whole process is quick and takes no longer than 15 minutes.

You could build a dedicated box out of old hardware you have lying around your garage to run Zeroshell, but it’s simply not required. For a simple router configuration using Zeroshell you can get away with as little as 256MB RAM. This makes Oracle VM VirtualBox the perfect platform for installing Zeroshell.

Installation

I will assume you have Oracle VM VirtualBox already installed. Create a new virtual machine. Give your new virtual machine a name, I have used simply “zeroshell”. Select “Linux” as the Type and select “Other Linux 64-bit” for the Version.

Allocate the virtual machine 256MB of shared memory and 8GB hard disk space. That is all that is required. Once you have created the virtual machine, head into its settings and change the Network adapter settings to “Bridged Adapter”.

Then, head into the Storage settings and attach the Zeroshell installation ISO to the virtual CD-ROM drive.

You are now ready to boot and install Zeroshell. Click “Start” to boot the virtual machine.

Once the boot process has completed you will be presented with the Zeroshell console where you can choose to install it to the hard disk, along with a host of other changes that can be done through the console.

To install Zeroshell, press “A” on your keyboard.

Press “1” to select the hard disk for installation and it will ask you for confirmation.

Confirm the installation to the hard disk by typing “yes”.

The next two settings are irrelevant to achieving a basic Zeroshell configuration so you can simply press “ENTER” to use the default settings and then the installation will commence.

Once the installation to the hard disk is complete, press “ENTER” to confirm the creation of a profile and use the default name for the profile.

Change the hostname to something that suits your network configuration and one that will uniquely identify Zeroshell. If unsure, you can just use “zeroshell” as the hostname.

Enter an administrative password. Remember this password as it will be used to log into the Zeroshell web interface.

The next two settings can be ignored. Press “ENTER” to proceed until you reach the network interface configuration.

You must now assign an IP address to the network interface. This will be used to identify Zeroshell on your network, like any other connected computers. It will also be used to access the web interface through your web browser. I am using the IP address of “192.168.1.88”, but please just use whatever suits your own network identification preferences.

Press “ENTER” to use 255.255.255.0 for the subnet. Then enter the IP address for the gateway, which will be the source of your internet connection and the IP address of the modem. This will be different for everyone, but my own gateway is “192.168.1.1”. This is quite a common IP address used by modems.

The Zeroshell installation will now be complete.

Press “ENTER” to return to the Zeroshell console and then press “H” to shutdown the system. To confirm shutdown, press “y”.

Once the system is shutdown you need to head back into the virtual machine settings and detach the Zeroshell installation ISO.

You are now ready to start using Zeroshell.

Once you have rebooted Zeroshell and the console has loaded, you can now log into the web interface. So open your web browser and navigate to the IP address of Zeroshell. Mine is “192.168.1.88”, so I would use “http://192.168.1.88”.

Enter the username “admin” and your password to login.

The first thing I always recommend with Zeroshell is to set the correct timezone as it defaults to Europe/Rome. So click on the “Time” tab at the top. Now select your correct timezone and sync the time with the NTP server.

Zeroshell now takes on the role of your router, for your network. Now you simply need to change the gateway IP address in your operating system’s network settings to the IP address of Zeroshell.

If you are unfamiliar with the interface of Zeroshell, it can appear quite intimidating at first. But over the next couple of weeks and months I will go through various tasks using Zeroshell and show you how to setup a DNS forwarder, a transparent proxy server, and show you how to use advanced features like Quality of Service (QoS) and Net Balancer.

Zeroshell is a fantastic package which you will find is extremely rewarding if you are patient enough to become familiar with its interface and learn its powerful configuration options. It’s flexible and can be whatever you want it to be.

Leave Zeroshell running on your system in the background full-time. You still need your hardware modem to access the internet, but all future router tasks that you may have traditionally relied on your modem for are now all handled by Zeroshell.

The post How to Install Zeroshell appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

It is well known that some of the world’s best hackers and most influential computer scientists are or have been victim to various forms of mental health issues. Sometimes this can be a genetic problem which has been present since birth, or it could simply be that life has taken its toll on a person and they’ve mentally struggled to deal with their problems appropriately. The moral is we are all open to the possibility of falling victim to a lapse in our own mental health. But rather than wait until you do become a victim of your own negative thoughts and behavior, you should take control of your mental health and well-being. Preventing mental health issues is always much easier and safer than trying to deal with them when they take over your life. This can not only affect yourself and lead you on a path you do not want to go down, but it can also affect the loved ones around you and your friends that care for you most.

I’m not ashamed to admit I have previously fallen victim to my own negative thoughts and have allowed my own mental health and well-being to fail in the past. I sought help from various avenues and learned from my experience. I never resorted to alcohol or drugs, as neither of those are a solution to any of your problems. Most of the time, alcohol and drugs will create more problems for you.

I am in such a positive mental space now that late last year I took it upon myself to become an advocate for two of the most important organizations that helped me. I am now an advocate for Beyond Blue and Headspace. Both organizations go to great lengths to generate awareness of depression, anxiety and a whole range of issues related to mental health and general well-being. Beyond Blue primarily focuses on adults and Headspace primarily focuses on youth and young adults. However, it’s important to remember both organizations are open to helping anyone in need of support.

If you’re finding yourself feeling down and need some help with your own mental health, you can contact the organizations on their respective websites.

Beyond Blue: www.beyondblue.org.au

Headspace: www.headspace.org.au

What can you do right now to help your own mental health and well-being? Well, you’re probably walking around with a smartphone in your pocket right now. The best thing about smartphones is the benefits they offer to become a vital tool to help you through each day. You can log your thoughts and actions through various useful apps. Let’s take a look at just a few of the most useful apps.

I have a daily routine I go through using a set suite of different apps to manage my day. I have apps to remind me to drink water throughout the day, help me with my breathing when stressful events and remind me to meditate each night at sets times. The selected apps I’m sharing in this article are not necessarily the exact apps I use, but they are my recommendations. But there are many others available in your app store. So if you find this selection of apps does not suit your needs, then be sure to browse your app store and see what other options might be more suited for you.

Daybook

If you just want to log your thoughts and daily events, then Daybook is the perfect app which is like a traditional journal where you simply write stuff down. Even sharing your thoughts in a diary that nobody else reads is a great way to get stuff off your mind. Freeing up your mind of stress and negative thoughts is the first step to improving your mental health and well-being.

Daylio

This is a brilliant little app which enables you to log your life by adding the stuff you do throughout the day and attaching a mood to each entry. You can also add notes to entries so you can use it like a traditional diary. Daylio tracks your mood and activity entries and presents you with mood charts, activity counts, goals and achievements. It’s quite flexible and you can post entries as often as you like. But for best results, it’s always a good idea to make it a daily habit to track your moods. That way, you can work out what’s making you happy and what is making you stressed or depressed.

Stop, Breath & Think

Stop, Breath & Think has a good reputation as one of the best apps for taking care of your mental health and well-being. It is a flexible app which allows you to interact with it in whatever way you want. It has programs available which guide you through the entire way. Or, you can simply use it to help you through daily meditation or to improve your breathing techniques to help you deal with stressful moments. Whether you’re dealing with depression, anxiety or just want to freshen your mind through daily meditation, Stop, Breath & Think is definitely one of the best apps you will find.

Beyond Blue

Beyond Blue has a brilliant community forum, free to use. You can sign up, share your thoughts and speak with other people who may be experiencing the same issues as you, or different issues that they wish to share with others. It’s all completely anonymous and the community is extremely friendly. Posts rarely go without replies from someone who expresses empathy for your situation and attempts will always be made to steer you in the right direction. Alternatively, if you’re feeling great and want to help, you can join the forum and communicate with others that simply want someone to talk to and to listen. Sometimes someone to listen is all that is needed.

Headspace

Headspace have a brilliant app. It is similar to Stop, Breath & Think. It’s best to go through the guided programs. Make it a daily habit to check in with Headspace. The programs are brilliant and they have a whole range of programs available which can help you with a whole range of different issues you may be experiencing.

Conclusion

Beyond Blue and Headspace are Australian-based organizations. However, their websites and apps can be accessed and used by anyone. All of the apps recommended in this article are free to download and use. There is limited free programs available, with more extensive programs requiring a subscription. If you require more support, then often the paid programs are worth the small fee for a subscription.

If you find yourself in a very serious situation or have serious mental health problems then please seek professional medical help and advice. Apps are great to keep balanced, but there will always be cases that are more serious than others that will require professional medical intervention.

As geeks, we enjoy tinkering with computers, installing Linux and writing code, but we still need to take care of our own mental health and well-being.

OSRadar.com is giving away free wristbands for Beyond Blue and Headspace. If you’d like one sent to you free, please contact me on the following email address chrisjones.unixmen@gmail.com and put “Wristband” in the subject field and your address as the body text. We will ship anywhere in the world for free!

The post Even Geeks Must Look After Their Mental Health and Well-Being! appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.