Linux SemiHidden Tips

[phaed]

This is probably the most useful thread on Ubuntu Forums that I've read that had nothing to do with a specific problem I was having.

"Selecting any text automatically adds it to a clipboard. MiddleClicking in a text field/place will paste this text."

You just made my life a lot easier.

[yabbadabbadont]

Wrong!!
Its RSEIUB.
Raising Skinny Elephants Is Utterly Borning.

According to the wikipedia entry, both are correct, but there is debate about whether to sync early or late in the sequence. The one originally posted is the one listed at wikipedia.

Personally, I sync in both places, just to be safe.

I.E. Raising Skinny Elephants Is So Utterly Boring

[vambo]

This is probably the most useful thread on Ubuntu Forums that I've read that had nothing to do with a specific problem I was having.

"Selecting any text automatically adds it to a clipboard. MiddleClicking in a text field/place will paste this text."

You just made my life a lot easier.

As an adendum
<Shift> <Insert> will also do the pasting

[Islington]

Pressing CTRL + C in terminal will terminate any current process running. For example, if you're doing a disk check in terminal, CTRL + C will terminate it.

excellent! Is there anyway to move it to the background? so that it no longer has to use the terminal?

[init1]

lsof

lists all open files.

[sisco311]

excellent! Is there anyway to move it to the background? so that it no longer has to use the terminal?

yes, press Ctrl+Z to stop the process, then

you can use the bg command to continue it in the background and

fg to continue it in the foreground.

you can list the jobs with the jobs -l command.

for more info read the man page.

man bash

press / to search the page, type bg(or any other search term) and hit Enter.

for the next match just hit / and Enter. press q to quit.

[MaxIBoy]

So there are a lot of things that experienced users, like yourself know about that make life much easier for users. Perhaps you are a new user, who has discovered something. Please Contribute to this thread and make those little things known!

Here are the ones that I know and use:

None of these have anything to do with Linux. They are all based around either GNOME or Compiz, both of which run on operating systems other than Linux. (Although a lot of these actions are conventional behaviors that appear in other desktop environments/window managers, in a similar way to how F11 often means "fullscreen.")

Likewise, tab completion is one of the features of BASH, the standard command line interpreter (CLI) for UNIX. BASH runs on an enormous number of operating systems, including Windows (Cygwin.) However, tab completion is also an expected feature, going back to 1964 with the Berkley Timesharing System (it's true, I just looked it up.) It's a feature of almost every CLI in existence, including DOS.




Also, here are some of my tips.

#built into BASH, may or may not work on other CLIs
history #built-in program that prints out your recent command history; more useful when piped through to grep
cd #defaults to "cd ~"
cd - #takes you to the previous directory

#networking stuff. These are programs that will run if you have them installed, doesn't matter what CLI you use to call them. Almost all Linux distros include these by default.
ifup eth0 #automatically configure ethernet connection; short for "ifconfig eth0 up"
ifdown eth0 #short for "ifconfig eth0 down"
iwconfig wlan0 essid any #for a wireless card named wlan0, automatically join the network with the strongest signal
iwconfig wlan0 essid Max_network #try to join a wifi network with the name "Max_network"
iwlist wlan0 scan #scan for networks and display stats about the results

[Sealbhach]

Stick a bunch of terminal commands into a text file, preceded by #!/bin/bash

Save the file. Make it executable, by right-clicking on it and going to the permissions tab. Double click on the file, select Run in Terminal.

Example here:

#!/bin/bash
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-get --fix-missing install
sudo apt-get clean all
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get clean all
sudo apt-get autoremove

This keeps the package manager clean and oiled. But you can have any set of commands.


.

[MaxIBoy]

Stick a bunch of terminal commands into a text file, preceded by #!/bin/bash

Save the file. Make it executable, by right-clicking on it and going to the permissions tab. Double click on the file, select Run in Terminal.

Example here:

#!/bin/bash
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-get --fix-missing install
sudo apt-get clean all
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get clean all
sudo apt-get autoremove

This keeps the package manager clean and oiled. But you can have any set of commands.


.

EEK! Be careful where you aim those dist-upgrades!

[smartboyathome]

Neither works for me, because the sysRq key doesn't seem to trigger anything.

If you're on a laptop, then you should do this:

Hold Alt, then hold fn down and perss your sysrq key and then let go of the fn key, then use your boring elephants to kill your computer.