What is this tool?

If we refer to the Exa website, we have the following definition:

exa is a modern replacement for the command-line program ls that ships with Unix and Linux operating systems. This command is used by terminal users, administrators, and developers hundreds of times daily, as well as being useful when writing automated scripts.

In other words, this command, written in Rust, improves the way files are displayed in Linux. Of course, exa is a different tool, but one that is used by many professionals to quickly display content on Linux.

The tool is built in Rust, so it consumes virtually no unnecessary resources. This means that we can use it on as many computers as we can.

Some of the features of Exa are:

• Supports color scheme to improve the visualization of each of the files.
• Exa provides different views such as Grid, long, and tree. Each of them, to better display the attributes and files.
• It is integrated with Git especially useful for developers because, with Exa, you can see the Git status of files when you’re inside a repository.

Besides this, it is free and does not replace ls so we can use both.

Install Exa the best alternative to the ls command on Linux

Exa is supported by many distributions. If you want to use it on Debian 10, run

sudo apt install exa

For Fedora 34

sudo dnf install exa

But for the rest of the distributions, you may want to do the manual installation which is quite easy.

First, make sure you have the necessary packages installed.

sudo apt install wget unzip

Now download the binary provided by the developers:

wget -c https://github.com/ogham/exa/releases/download/v0.10.0/exa-linux-x86_64-v0.10.0.zip
--2021-07-15 17:33:37--  https://github.com/ogham/exa/releases/download/v0.10.0/exa-linux-x86_64-v0.10.0.zip
Resolving github.com (github.com)... 140.82.121.3
Connecting to github.com (github.com)|140.82.121.3|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found
Location: https://github-releases.githubusercontent.com/20060596/64406f00-9587-11eb-80ae-0a8f59c6468a?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWNJYAX4CSVEH53A%2F20210715%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20210715T153337Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=422091b2ecf1c031214a026401a9d6546580a6996847c667c0b487b54ed4599a&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&actor_id=0&key_id=0&repo_id=20060596&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3Dexa-linux-x86_64-v0.10.0.zip&response-content-type=application%2Foctet-stream [following]
--2021-07-15 17:33:37--  https://github-releases.githubusercontent.com/20060596/64406f00-9587-11eb-80ae-0a8f59c6468a?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWNJYAX4CSVEH53A%2F20210715%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20210715T153337Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=422091b2ecf1c031214a026401a9d6546580a6996847c667c0b487b54ed4599a&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&actor_id=0&key_id=0&repo_id=20060596&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3Dexa-linux-x86_64-v0.10.0.zip&response-content-type=application%2Foctet-stream
Resolving github-releases.githubusercontent.com (github-releases.githubusercontent.com)... 185.199.109.154, 185.199.110.154, 185.199.111.154, ...
Connecting to github-releases.githubusercontent.com (github-releases.githubusercontent.com)|185.199.109.154|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 717968 (701K) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘exa-linux-x86_64-v0.10.0.zip’

exa-linux-x86_64-v0.10.0.zip              100%[=====================================================================================>] 701.14K  --.-KB/s    in 0.1s

2021-07-15 17:33:37 (5.75 MB/s) - ‘exa-linux-x86_64-v0.10.0.zip’ saved [717968/717968]

Unzip it

unzip exa-linux-x86_64-v0.10.0.zip

When finished, we have to access the bin folder where the binary is located

cd bin/

Now copy it to any directory that is in the $PATH such as /usr/local/bin.

sudo cp exa /usr/local/bin/

Now you can use it without any problems.

Using Exa the ls command alternative

With exa in the system we just need to invoke it to run

exa

there it will display your files as in the ls command.

One of the most interesting options is --tree which displays a tree view.

exa --tree

Also, we can limit the level of parsing, e.g.

exa --tree --level=2

This way we can control the scanning.

If we add --long to this option we can get more information about the files.

exa --tree --long

Finally, exa can recurse into a directory and list the contents of every subdirectory beneath it.

exa --recurse

For symbolic links, exa handles them very well

exa -l /etc/localtime /etc/resolv.conf

So, enjoy it

Conclusion

Exa is a tool that increases our productivity on the terminal. It is not surprising that more and more people use it in their daily work. Now that you know it, tell us about it.

The post Exa is the best alternative to the ls command appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

Why would it be useful for me to know how to open files from the terminal?

Generally, most Linux users use the graphical interface more than the terminal. But others prefer to do many tasks from the terminal because it is faster and more efficient.

On the other hand, if you are a developer, you probably need to use some system features. Some command or some process revision may become useful in the development of this application.

So, one of them can be to open a file directly from our application or script, then you have to use the command that actually executes our option. Even shortcuts can be configured so the possibilities are many.

So, let’s start

Open files using the terminal

To open a file from the terminal you can invoke the application command with the file path. For example, if I want to open an image with the program okular then you have to run

okular [file_path]

This will open the file with the okular program. Although this method is effective, because you only have to remember the program command in question, it has two drawbacks. The first is that we have to remember the command that executes the application; secondly, it will open a permanent process in the terminal that will terminate when the program is closed.

The second one can be solved in the following way:

okular [file_path] &> /dev/null &

Remember that I am using okular as an example, but it could be firefox or vlc.

There is another method that I think is even more efficient. I am talking about the xdg-open command.

What this command does is runs the default program to open the file that we pass as an argument. For example, if the file is MP3 then it will open the default program to open that type of file. With this, we don’t need to worry about knowing the name of the applications.

xdg-open [file_path]

In this way, the file will be opened with the ideal program for it. The best thing is that an independent process will be created and the terminal will be free.

So, enjoy it

Conclusion

Now you know how to get more out of the terminal and open files from the terminal which can be useful in application development or scripting.

The post Open files using the terminal appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

Shutting down and restarting a computer is a simple and routine task that is also important for the operating system. That is why we all do it.

Things can get complicated when we need to do it using the terminal because it is not a normal process. This may be needed when creating bash scripts or if some of our applications require it.

So for this, we have several commands and situations. Let’s go for it.

How to Shutdown Linux

To shutdown the computer immediately, you just have to run the following command

shutdown -h now

Note: this command has to be executed with root permissions or using the sudo command.

This way, the system will immediately start the shutdown process.

Another way to do this is with the poweroff command.

poweroff

Also, this command requires root privileges.

shutdown Linux after a specified time

Imagine you are downloading a file and you know approximately how much time is left. But you have to leave or do other things, you can “schedule” a system shutdown.

To do this, you can use the following syntax.

shutdown -h +[time]

For example, if you want the system to shut down in 20 minutes, just run:

shutdown -h +20

Also, you have to run the command with sudo or be root user.

Shutdown Linux at a specific time

On the other hand, if you know at what time you want to shut down the system, then you can also do it this way:

shutdown -h [time]

Replace [time] with the exact time in 24H format. For example, if we want the system to shut down at 20:30 hrs.

shutdown -h 20:30

Reboot Linux

The command to reboot the system is shutdown but adding the -r option

shutdown -r now

Or you can schedule it for a specific time:

shutdown -r 20:30

In the same way as with shutting down the system

Conclusion

It is always useful to know how to use the terminal and the utilities that we can take advantage of it. That’s why in this post, you learned how to do it hoping that it can always be useful to you.

More info: Shutdown page

The post How to Shutdown Linux using the terminal? appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

eSpeak to convert text to speech

In general, we can say that eSpeak is an application written in open-source C that allows transforming the text into a voice file. In short, it works as a synthesizer.

The application can be installed in multiple operating systems such as Windows, Linux and macOS. However, in Linux there is a fork called eSpeak NG that was born with the aim of facilitating the compilation for unix systems.

eSpeak is quite a wonder. In the first place, because it supports many languages including the most spoken as English, Cantonese, Japanese and others. Also because the audio quality is quite good and is very reliable in its target.

One aspect to keep in mind the application is that it is a tool purely used in the terminal. So you have to get to work on it. But do not worry the community has developed a graphical interface for the program called gespeaker.

So, let us install it.

Install eSpeak on Ubuntu 20.04 / 18.04 / Linux Mint 19/20

A great advantage is that eSpeak is an application that is available in the official repositories of Ubuntu- So to install it, just use the following command:

:~$ sudo apt install espeak

Once installed, it will be ready for action. If you don’t want to use eSpeak from the temrinal, you can install gespeaker which is a graphical interface for the application.

:~$ sudo apt install gespeaker

And now you can use the application.

Install eSpeak on CentOS 7 / CentOS 8

In the case of CentOS 7 and 8, they are also available in the official repositories. So as a root user you run some of these commands depending on which version of CentOS you are running:

For CentOS 7:

:~$ su 
:~# yum install espeak 

But if you use CentOS 8:

:~$ su
:~# dnf install espeak

This way, you will have the application running.

Basic use of eSpeak

The most basic way to use eSpeak through the console is with the following syntax:

:~$ espeak "[text_to_convert]" -w [output_file] -g [x] -p [x] -s [x] -v [language]

I’ll explain briefly. First we invoke the command and pass it the text we want it to “read”. With the -w option we simply point to the path of the output file. The -g option is used to set the pause time between words. -p defines the pitch. To define the reading time we use the option -s and finally we set the language of the reading.

An example would be the following:

:~$ espeak "Hello welcome to osradar" -w /tmp/output.wav -g 10 -p 80 -s 100 -v en-uk

Then, open the file with VLC or another media player.

If you want to use the graphical interface, just install it. This is how it looks.

And enjoy it.

The post How to install eSpeak on CentOS 8 / Ubuntu 20.04 / 18.04? appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

When referring to downloading files, the first thing we can think of is the web browser. This is true up to a point. Because in the terminal we also have many options for downloading.

The Linux Terminal is a powerful tool so much so that it is the main working support for many servers. Therefore, the terminal is fast, secure, and efficient.

So, let’s talk about those tools.

Terminal Tools for Downloading Files

Several tools allow a download without major problems, but we will name the most familiar and easy to use.

1.- The great wget

GNU wget is a CLI (command-line interface) utility that allows you to download files from the internet if you know its link. It is very efficient in the management of computer resources because it is practically unnoticeable its use. In addition, this allows you to rename the downloaded files quickly.

On the other hand, although it is a program that is used in the terminal, it is quite complete. Here is a list of the main features of the application:

• Wget supports downloads through proxies
• IPv6 is fully supported by wget.
• It allows limiting the bandwidth used for downloads.
• Wget works with SSL/TSL to secure downloads.

But Wget has many configurations and work options. So many that we made a post about it:

The Wget Command

There you can learn even more about Wget and above all how to use it.

2.- cURL

Another veteran of our site is cURL.

CURL is a command line tool and library for transferring data with URLs. Many download scripts or file transfers use CURL as a means to achieve this. In addition, CURL supports FTP, FTPS, Gopher, HTTP, HTTPS, IMAP, IMAPS, LDAP and many other protocols quite popular on networks.

On the other hand, the use of CURL is not limited exclusively to computers but to other devices that use UNIX such as cell phones, cars and is the transfer backend of many of the most popular applications in the world.

Say that cURL is even more advanced than Wget but you also have other additional features.

So, if you want to learn more about it, check our post:

How to use CURL command on Linux?

3.- Terminal Tools for Downloading Files used on Scripts

It is also possible to find other tools that are in the main repositories of most Linux distributions. We are talking about tools like rsync or scp.

Rsync, remote synchronize is known as a remote synchronization function of the software, it synchronizes files at the same time, can maintain the original file permissions, time, hard and soft links and other additional information. it is a “sync algorithm” that provides a quick way to synchronize files between clients and remote file servers, and can also be transferred via SSH, which is also very confidential, supports breakpoint continuation, data can be pushed or pulled, and is free of chargeS.

Rsync advantages：

• Ability to update entire directories and trees and file systems;
• Selectively maintain symbolic links, hard links, file ownership, permissions, devices, and time for folders and files;
• For installation, there are no special permission requirements;
• For multiple files, the internal pipeline reduces the file wait delay;
• Can use RSH, SSH or direct port as the transfer port;
• Support anonymous Rsync synchronization files are the ideal mirror tool;

You can read:

Synchronous data Using rsync Command in Linux

Although it is true that with Rsync we do not make a download itself, it can help us to copy and synchronize files from a server. What in practice can be considered a download.

On the other hand, scp is a variation of the cp command that allows you to copy files over a network. As with Rsync it is not a download but in practice it allows us to do it. Especially when we have access to certain files from a given server.

Conclusion

The terminal is a marvel in Linux and so much so that you can download files from the internet or a network using commands. This is useful on servers or computers with ssh connections.

The post Terminal Tools for Downloading Files appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

What is HTMLDoc?

HTMLDOC is a program that reads HTML and Markdown source files or web pages and generates corresponding EPUB, HTML, PostScript, or PDF files with an optional table of contents.

One of the best things about this program is that it is released under GPL v2. That is, we will have no problem using it. If you are a developer, it is also a great advantage because we can include or use them in our project without problems.

How to install and use it?

The program is available for Linux through the official repositories of each distribution. This at least, in Debian and derivative. However, you can download the source code from GitHub. It is not very large.

In Debian and derivatives, just open a terminal and run the following:

:~$ sudo apt install htmldoc

Once the installation is complete, we are ready to begin.

First of all, I recommend you to check the help page of the command. To do this, type:

:~$ htmldoc --help

As we can see there are many options that alter the operation of the command. One thing to keep in mind is that HTMLDoc does not support CSS or Emojis correctly. So be careful. To get it up and running, just use this command:

:~$htmldoc --webpage -f [output_file].pdf [input_file]

However, you can use a webpage on the [input_file] field.

If we want to modify the margins, we can do it with these options:

• –top
• –bottom
• –left
• –right

Another quality of HTMLDoc is to allow not to compress anything of the resulting file so as not to lose quality. For this use the --no-compression option.

As you can see, it’s easy to use.

Tell us, have you used it? do you like it? have you integrated it into your projects? Let us know in the comments

Please share this post with your friends.

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1.- Windows 7 is obsolete but Linux is not

There are a lot of Linux distributions that are still updated. This means that they receive official support from the developers of the distribution. In addition, many of them are guaranteed to be supported until 2023 or later. Which makes them ideal for you.

On the other hand, Linux updates are not as aggressive as in Windows, although they are more frequent. This speaks to the fact that under Linux becoming obsolete is quite difficult.

2.- Linux is free

It is true that in some countries there is a stable situation that makes this not an acute problem, but it is always good to save money. On the other hand, many of the Linux distributions can be downloaded from the same web site of the same.

Besides this, Linux doesn’t have complicated software licenses that tie us to a company. The main advantage of this is that you can use it from educational projects to your home without contracts and free of charge.

3.- In the variety is the strength of Linux

Let’s be honest, there are a lot of Windows 7 users. But there are also many computers running this operating system. There are modern computers but there are also those with few resources. In both cases, there are Linux distributions that fit each of them.

While in Microsoft we only have a few versions of Windows, in Linux there are many different distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, OpenSUSE, Linux Mint. Each one of them has its own personality and being free you can try them all without any compromise.

4.- Windows 7 is obsolete as well as the myth that using Linux is for geniuses

Maybe at first, it was like that, but nowadays the use of the terminal is quite optional. All the routine work of a normal user can be done without even looking at the terminal.

Operations such as installing, uninstalling or reinstalling programs can be done in a few clicks through the software stores or by simply downloading the packages from the web.

Even tasks like installing drivers, languages or managing services and repositories can be done with a few clicks.

On the other hand, almost all popular applications have versions for Linux for example, Firefox, Google Chrome, Vivaldi, VLC, Steam, Spotify or applications that do the job like LibreOffice, GIMP, Inkscape or Blender.

For developing Linux applications it is ideal because almost all tools for Windows are for Linux.

So, anyone can use Linux. That’s all in the past with Linux.

5.- Linux is a very secure system

Linux is used by a lot of web servers worldwide. That is, you are seeing this publication thanks to a computer that runs Linux and much of what you do on the web is likely thanks to Linux. Do you think many companies that use Linux for their services would do so if it was an insecure system? I don’t think so.

On the other hand, Linux is not invulnerable, it’s true, but the level of attack from viruses is much lower than in Windows 7. And when there is a vulnerability, it is quickly patched without deception and with honesty.

Finally, it must be said that Linux does not allow application installation without user consent. It is also not possible to touch system files just like that. And it won’t track you and send information to third parties either.

So, Windows 7 is obsolete, switch to Linux!!!

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Wavemon is a CLI tool written in C and open source that provides information about our wifi hardware. The interesting thing about the tool is that it gives us detailed information about our hardware as well as the active wireless connection.

On the other hand, Wavemon is compatible with all hardware recognized by the Linux kernel. This means that if your wireless device is recognized and works well, you should have no problems with Wavemon.

Install Wavemon on Linux

Fortunately Wavemon is available on most Linux distributions through the official repositories. So installation should not be a problem.

If you use Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint or any derivative, just use the following command:

:~$ sudo apt install wavemon

On the contrary, if you use Manjaro, Arch Linux or other derivative, you only have to use pacman.

:~$ sudo pacman -S wavemon

If you use CentOS, the EPEL repository must be enabled and then installed.

In the case of fedora, if it is in the repositories and it is installed with the following command

:~$ sudo dnf install wavemon

However if you use another distribution, on the project’s Github site, there are instructions for compiling the program.

Monitoring WiFi with Wavemon is really easy

One of the main advantages of Wavemon is the great ease of use. Everything is visible. There are no tricks but everything is there.

Once you install it, you can run it from the terminal with the following command:

:~$ wavemon

As you can see in the image, there is a lot of useful information, perfectly displayed.

First of all, we have the interface information. There we will find the SSID of the active wifi connection.

We can also see the signal strength and quality. In my case, I am close to the wifi device so the quality is high.

Then, we will see a statistics section where we will see the sent and received packages.

In info we will obtain many more data like the time of connection, the frequency and the channel.

Finally, we will be able to see the mac address of our device as well as the public IP address.

As you can see, all easy and fast.

At the bottom we can access the other screens. If you press F2 or l you will see the following screen:

There you will see a histogram showing the signal level and strength of the network.

But Wavemon is flexible and has a preference screen:

And that’s how easy it is to use Wavemon.

If you want more information, you can check the wavemon man page in the terminal:

:~$ man wavemon

So, enjoy it.

The post Monitoring WiFi with Wavemon appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

Overwrite is an application written in the C language that simply overwrites with 1, 0 or random data the empty space of a disk. This helps prevent other programs from recovering information from that empty space. This puts your privacy at risk.

Similarly, Overwrite is an open-source application, released under the GPL license. Therefore there will be no problems with the use and dissemination of the application. On the other hand, it is multiplatform and in a single download, we will have all the binaries available with versions for Linux or Windows.

Also, the application has some options to customize its use, such as the amount of data and files to overwrite.

So, let us install it and use it.

Install Overwrite on any Linux distribution

The application comes with compiled binaries so we can work as soon as we download it. However, make sure you have the wget and unzip packages installed.

For Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint and derivatives:

:~$ sudo apt install wget unzip

In the case of Fedora, CentOS 8, RHEL 8, Oracle Linux 8 and derivatives:

:~$ sudo dnf install wget unzip

Finally, in the case of OpenSUSE, it would be enough to use the following command:

:~$ sudo zypper in wget unzip

Once they are installed, we can start downloading overwrite from github:

:~$ wget -c https://github.com/ivoprogram/overwrite/releases/download/ver1.1-2019-10-06/overwrite-bin-ver1.1-2019-10-06.zip

Once the download has finished, we will have to decompress it using unzip. To do this, use the following command:

:~$ unzip overwrite-bin-ver1.1-2019-10-06.zip

Remember, be aware of the downloaded version.

To make the job easier, I will rename the uncompressed folder by a name easier to remember.

:~$ mv [overwrite_folder_name] overwrite

Also, you can check the contents of the folder with the command ls.

:~$ cd overwrite
:~$ ls

As you can see, all 32-bit and 64-bit Linux binaries and Windows binaries are available. However, you have to choose the corresponding binary according to your system and make it executable. In my case, my system is 64 bits.

:~$ chmod +x overwrite-linux-x86-64

And we will be able to use it.

First, it is a good idea to start with the program help.

:~$ ./overwrite-linux-x86-64 -h

I added a new hard drive and mounted it on /media and used this example command.

:~$ sudo ./overwrite-linux-x86-64 -rand -block:512 -files:10 -data:10mb -path:/media

In this case, the command is executed as the root user. It uses 10mb random data and overwrites 10 files in blocks of 512. Finally, the path where the file system is mounted is specified.

Finally, if you want to use overwrite comfortably, rename the binary and move it to /usr/bin.

Conclusion

Overwrite is a very lightweight program that can help us protect our data even more from third parties. Its installation and use is within reach of many people for its ease and quality of work. Best of all we can install it on all Linux distributions without problems.

The post Overwrite: an application to prevent recovering information from a hard disk appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

A look at this great file manager for Linux

There are too many tools to make the most of the terminal. Nnn is one of them because it is a file manager that runs on the terminal.

The application is quite fast and light, thanks to the fact that it is made in C Language. That is to say, thanks to nnn we will be able to “write less and do more“. Besides, it is open source which guarantees that the source code is auditable in search of bugs.

On the other hand, the application has a very useful default configuration, that is to say, that once it is installed it is ready to start working.

The nnn features

Although it is an application made for the terminal is very complete. With nnn we will have two display modes available, one detailed and one lighter.

Also, the application allows us to have a very useful disk analyzer. In addition, the classic thing that we can expect in a manager of files as they are the markers, filters of searches and extraction of compressed files.

On the other hand, nnn is easy to navigate thanks to the keyboard arrows, but also for its wide keyboard shortcuts that allows you to open a file, create new ones and delete them. That’s its main strength.

Just type ? to display all the shortcuts.

How to install this file manager on Linux?

The Linux file manager nnn has installers for many distributions. So installing it is quite simple. Open a terminal and run the command according to the distribution you use.

• For Debian, Ubuntu and Linux Mint:

:~$ sudo apt install nnn

• If you are using Arch Linux or derivates:

:~$ sudo pacman -S nnn

• For OpenSuse Leap:

:~$ sudo zypper in nnn

Finally, if you are using Fedora:

:~$ sudo dnf install nnn

Next, run it from the terminal by typing:

:~$ nnn

So, enjoy it.

Conclusion

Productivity is something you can’t buy. Then it is a good idea to have tools that help you save time. Nnn is a file manager for the Linux terminal that helps to be more productive in the terminal. Especially for sysadmin and server administrators who spend a lot of time in the terminal. It has many useful features, just need to take a look.

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