Checksum Tool Performance on Linux When verifying file integrity on Linux, you’ll typically reach for one of several checksum utilities. A natural question: which one is fastest? The answer depends heavily on whether I/O or CPU is your bottleneck. Disk I/O Dominates on Most Systems Let’s start with a realistic scenario: verifying a large file…
Monitoring File Changes and Running Commands on Linux Automatically running commands when files or directories change is essential for many workflows: recompiling after source modifications, restarting services when configs update, rebuilding documentation after edits, or triggering tests during development. Linux’s inotify subsystem provides the kernel-level mechanism to watch for these changes. Prerequisites Install inotify-tools on…
Installing HP Scanner Support on Linux Setting up a scanner on an HP all-in-one printer requires the HPLIP package, which provides drivers and utilities for HP printers and scanners on Linux. The key challenge is ensuring both the printer and scanner are properly recognized — incorrect configuration often results in a working printer but non-functional…
RAID Signature Cleanup on Linux When you move disks from one RAID system to another server, Linux often detects the leftover RAID metadata and refuses to reuse the disk. This safety mechanism prevents accidental data loss, but you’ll need to clean these signatures when you’re certain the data is no longer needed. The challenge is…
Regenerating GRUB2 Configuration Files GRUB2 configuration needs to be regenerated when you modify boot parameters, add or remove kernels, or adjust default boot entries. The config file location varies depending on your system’s firmware (BIOS vs UEFI) and Linux distribution, which can make this task confusing. Determining Your System Type Before regenerating the config, identify…
Understanding the Problem MKV files with AC3 or DTS audio codecs often won’t play with sound on iOS and Android devices. These are proprietary formats with licensing restrictions — most mobile players either don’t support them or refuse to decode them by default. You’ll get video but no audio, which is frustrating when the file…
Check Available Filesystem Space on Linux When programs write to disk, checking available space before doing so is essential — especially for systems software and critical applications. The POSIX statvfs() API provides filesystem statistics on all POSIX systems, making it more portable than Linux-specific alternatives. The statvfs() API Include the required header: #include <sys/statvfs.h> The…
Vim is generally fast, but with dozens of plugins installed, slowdowns are common. The core remains single-threaded, so a blocking operation in any loaded plugin will freeze your editor until it completes. Rather than guess which plugin is causing problems, use Vim’s built-in profiling tools to identify the culprit. Profile Vim Startup Time The fastest…
Blocking JavaScript from Specific Sites in Chrome Blocking JavaScript from certain domains is useful when dealing with intrusive scripts, malicious content, or performance issues. This applies a per-site exception rather than disabling JavaScript globally, giving you fine-grained control. Step 1: Access JavaScript Settings Open Chrome’s JavaScript exceptions page by navigating to this URL in your…
Configuring HP Designjet 500 Plotter for Large Format Printing The HP Designjet 500 is a wide-format plotter designed for posters, technical drawings, and large documents. Getting it to print correctly from Linux or Windows applications requires proper configuration—it’s more involved than standard office printers, but straightforward once you know the settings. This guide walks through…
Understanding /etc/fstab The /etc/fstab file controls how filesystems are mounted on Linux systems. Each line represents one filesystem, with fields separated by tabs or spaces. Lines starting with # are comments; blank lines are ignored. Each line contains six fields: Field Name Purpose 1 fs_spec Block device, UUID, or remote filesystem 2 fs_file Mount point…
Changing iPhone Holiday Calendar to Your Local One If you’re using an iPhone set to English but living outside the US, you’ve probably noticed the US holiday calendar appearing by default in your Calendar app. This happens because iOS ties holiday calendars to your region setting — change the region, and the holidays follow. Why…
Play YouTube Videos in the Background on iPhone Playing YouTube audio in the background on iPhone is straightforward once you understand Apple’s restrictions and the workarounds available. The official YouTube app doesn’t support background playback unless you subscribe to YouTube Premium. Here’s how to do it for free using the browser method, plus other legitimate…
What Is the Name of the Linux-based OS: A Survey You’re likely using a Linux-based OS directly or indirectly right now. But what exactly should you call it? The naming question is more nuanced than you might think — different distributions position themselves differently, and there’s historical context worth understanding. How Major Distributions Name Themselves…
Displaying RSS feed items on a webpage is a practical way to aggregate external content. Here’s a production-ready approach using PHP’s SimpleXML to fetch, cache, and render feeds as HTML. Basic Implementation This function handles RSS parsing with built-in caching, error handling, and output escaping: <?php function output_rss_feed($feed_url, $item_count = 10, $show_description = true, $show_pubdate…
SSD storage is standard across modern hosting providers. DreamHost and competitors have shifted entirely to SSD-backed shared hosting. The marketing claim of “200% faster page loads” deserves skepticism, but SSD-backed hosting does deliver measurable I/O improvements for realistic workloads. This post covers practical performance measurement techniques on a shared hosting account where you lack root…
Free VPNs on iOS have legitimate uses—testing geolocation-dependent content, accessing region-locked resources, or bypassing network restrictions. But understand the tradeoffs: free providers often log traffic, inject ads, sell bandwidth, or disappear without notice. Use free VPNs only for non-sensitive browsing. For actual security work or traveling to high-risk regions, a paid provider with a documented…
Sharing internet from a Windows PC to an iPhone via USB is possible but requires careful network configuration. This is less common than tethering the other direction, but useful when you need a stable wired connection without draining your phone’s battery. Prerequisites Windows 10 or Windows 11 iPhone with iOS 12 or later USB-A to…
Force a reboot when SSH fails but sshd is running When a server becomes unresponsive to SSH but the daemon is still running—typically due to resource exhaustion or system load—you can force a reboot using the Linux magic SysRq key interface. First, enable SysRq and trigger a reboot: ssh root@server_home ‘echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq; echo…
Shrinking an Ext4 file system on LVM requires careful planning and execution. Unlike extending, which can often happen on a mounted volume, shrinking demands the filesystem be unmounted and thoroughly tested beforehand. Prerequisites and planning Before you touch anything: Backup your data. Shrinking filesystems carries real risk of data loss. Take a full backup of…