Greenshot

A while back, I wrote about Shutter: Linux's answer to SnagIt.  Well, I didn't want to leave out our Windows friends.  If you're looking for a quality screenshot tool for Windows, look no further than Greenshot.

Firefox 4 on Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10

As you may know, Mozilla recently released Firefox 4 a week or so ago.  Upgrading on my Windows computer was fairly straight forward, you click "Check for Updates" and voila 3 minutes later you were enjoying all the new goodies Firefox 4 had to offer.

Upgrading my Ubuntu desktops wasn't quite as simple.  The packages aren't in the main Ubuntu repositories for Ubuntu 10.04 and Ubuntu 10.10.  However, this wasn't a difficult task as the Mozilla team has a PPA for just this task.  If you're not familiar with PPA, you can check out this link for more information.  You simply add the PPA and perform your typical upgrade and you're done. So if you're anxious to upgrade try this from your favorite command-prompt:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Enjoy!

Rove Mobile SSH

I know it has been a while since my last post, but this Blog really isn't meant to be a regular thing.  I plan on updating it when I've got some spare time and something really cool to share that a quick tweet won't do.  Today, let me tell you about Rove Mobile SSH.  We recently upgraded our mobile devices at work to new Blackberry Torch 9800s.  With the increased screen real estate I was looking for increased capabilities to remotely manage our devices without my laptop.  First things first, I thought a telnet/ssh client would be perfect for my network devices (and Linux servers).

Review: Shutter - Screenshot tool and Linux's answer to Snagit

It can be a daunting task if you are a Windows user looking to make the big switch to Linux.  Often, you'll have a favorite tool or utility that you're comfortable with, it "fits you like a glove" so to speak.  Linux has all the major applications covered, Evolution for Outlook, Pidgin for Instant Messaging Clients, OpenOffice for Microsoft Office and etc.  Often I find where Linux apps are missing is those more fringe applications, the "one-offs".  One of my co-workers uses a program called Snagit, its an advanced Screenshot program which gives you more features than the standard "Print Screen" type capture.  He couldn't believe that there was a comparable Linux program.  Introducing, Shutter.

Magic SysRq Key

I'll be honest, I've been a Linux user for almost 10 years now and when someone asked me about the "Magic SysRq Key" (ALT+SYSRQ+<another key>) I was stumped.  In all my years as an Enterprise Linux Support, I'd never come across it before.

How to find out which process is listening on a port when netstat fails you

Sometimes I just bang my head on the wall.  While trying to install Webmin, my favorite web-based interface for system administration for Linux, I recently ran into a conflict.

Windows Command-Prompt Dates

I'm sure some people will say, "Why don't you use Powershell?" or something similar, but the plain fact is I'm not a Windows user anymore.  I've been using Linux as my primary desktop for the past 8 years or so, and I'm just versed in Powershell yet.