Okay, this is just too darn funny. I don’t know when it happened – I imagine some time back already – but it’s too awesome not to share.
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(Side note: This is based loosely on a previous tutorial about getting PCLinuxOS, which was lacking some important detail and needed to be adapted to more general purposes. This is the improved result.)
One very common operation in the GNU/Linux world is downloading of the ISO (CD or DVD image) for a given GNU/Linux distribution. Typically, this is around 650 or 700 MB – a sizable download. One of the biggest wastes of bandwidth – not to mention your time and patience – happens when an ISO download (or any other large download, for that matter) is interrupted or mysteriously quits… especially if it occurs when your download was almost complete. If you’re not using a download manager, you’re stuck downloading it all over again from the beginning.
There are a number of graphical download managers available at no cost. Ease of use varies, and importantly, so does freedom of use. That is, some of them are free/libre (also known as open source) software and some are not. The free/libre applications are safer security-wise to use on your system, since their source code is available for the public to scrutinize and ensure that they don’t do anything they shouldn’t be (such as collecting your information and sending it to someone without your knowledge or permission.) But the simplest one of all, in my opinion, is wget from the GNU Project, a well-trusted organization dedicated to producing and promoting free/libre software. It is safe and also very simple to use, even for those who are scared of the command prompt. There are no unnecessary frills, nag screens, advertisements, registration forms, restrictions, or user agreements in legalese. It comes with your GNU/Linux distribution and is almost always installed by default. That makes it very convenient to use.
One excellent feature of the XSane scanning application is that it can save your scanned documents to Adobe Acrobat PDF format, merely by saving them with a .pdf extension, as in examplefile.pdf . But one not-so-nice feature is the fact that there’s really no expedient way to save multiple scans into a single PDF file. If you do 3 scans, you have 3 PDF files. What now? You need something that can merge (also called “join”) these files into one big beautiful file.
Enter pdftk, or PDF Tool Kit. This is a comprehensive set of tools that can – among other things – merge, split up, encrypt/decrypt, password protect, rotate, and repair PDF files.
If you have a laptop and run GNU/Linux, you’ll frequently find that certain settings are enabled by default for your built-in touchpad… ones that will either strike you as a wonderful convenience, or drive you up the wall.
“Tapping,” if you’re not familiar with the term, means the computer registers a click on the left mouse button if you tap the touchpad with your finger. Unfortunately, this touchpad is almost always far too sensitive, which translates into many accidental “clicks” if you don’t move your finger with a feather touch. (In case you can’t tell by now, I wish they’d disable tapping by default.)
“Scrolling” encompasses 3 types of scrolling:
- Vertical scrolling means a strip along the right side of the touchpad is used as if it was a scroll wheel. If there is room to scroll in the existing window, you move your finger up and down along the right-side edge of the pad and the window will scroll up or down accordingly. This is enabled by default.
- Horizontal scrolling means a strip along the bottom edge of the touchpad is used like a horizontal scroll wheel. Again, if there’s room to scroll side to side in the existing window, you move your finger left and right along the bottom edge of the pad and the window will scroll left and right. This is enabled by default.
- Circular scrolling will be familiar to many users of mp3 players. Making a circular motion acts as a scroll wheel. Clockwise scrolls down, counterclockwise scrolls up. This must be manually enabled.
Again, these are all features I’d rather disable. The areas of the touchpad for vertical and horizontal scrolling are designated by invisible lines (whose location can be adjusted), and if you accidentally cross them you’ll be doing a lot of accidental scrolling.
One of the things I find most fulfilling about learning technology is the ability to pass along what I’ve learned. I can also help loved ones migrate from Windows and other proprietary software, to free/libre software like GNU/Linux, and learn how to use their improved system. This can take the form of looking over their shoulder and showing them how to do things, or temporarily unseating them while I work on things too advanced for their current skill level. But what if I’m far away? My father lives on the other side of the continent, but he is very much a computer novice. When he gets stuck, or needs some administration done, it’s much easier to show him or do it for him than it is to put him through trying to describe what he’s seeing and then attempting to understand my instructions over the phone.
VNC is an excellent solution to this problem. In combination with a phone call or VOIP call, it’s the next best thing to being there. It allows me to see his screen, take control of his mouse and keyboard, and show him – “See this? <wiggling mouse> Click here.” It also allows me to zip through administrative tasks myself, and once I’m connected, he doesn’t even have to be home. I can do what needs to be done and then shut down his computer for him.
But VNC is not a complete solution. It is, unfortunately, inherently insecure. A cracker (notice I did not misuse the word “hacker” as the mass media so often does – because an ethical hacker would never do this) could use VNC password cracking software to get your password(s) and then wreak havoc on your computers, or steal personal data from them. So we need something more secure than VNC so we can use strong encryption, greatly reducing the likelihood of getting victimized by the bad guys/gals.
Enter SSH, or Secure SHell. We can create an SSH connection between the two computers and then tunnel the VNC data through that connection. In this way we have a fully encrypted connection with all the advantages of VNC.
