XPS files is a format from MS on Windows. Evince can view some XPS files, but fails to view some. To view XPS files generated on Windows on a Linux system, we can use mupdf. It works very well. I like it much especially in the situation that Evince fails to open the XPS file….
`diff` and `patch` are tools to create patches and apply patches to source code, which is widely used in the open-source world, such as Linux kernel and application. patch: applying patches To apply a patch to a single file: $ patch < foo.patch If the foo.patch does not identify the file the patch should be...
QT and GTK applications use different settings for cursor styles. This makes the mouse cursor styles for QT applications in the GNOME / MATE desktop environment or GTK applications in the KDE desktop environment look different with other programs. In the post [[configuring-mouse-cursor-style-for-gtk-applications-in-kde-desktop]], we talked about how to configure the mouse cursor style for GTK…
I ever discussed Starting KDE from Command Line by startx for KDE and GNOME. Recently, I installed MATE desktop on Fedora 41 and am very happy with it—dear, Gnome 2 is back. However, I checked the /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients script which is called by ‘startx’ and it only includes ‘startkde’ and ‘gnome-session’ without support to MATE. But…
Fedora Linux starts to use systemd to manage system service. The /etc/inittab is no longer used by systemd. The old method of editing /etc/inittab to change system runlevel does not work anymore. This post introduces a “manual” way to change the boot levels. For the general method, please check https://www.systutorials.com/change-systemd-boot-target-linux/. systemd uses ‘targets’ instead of…
iptables is a mechanism in Linux kernel for port forwarding, NAT, firewalls etc. In Linux distros, such as Fedora, the iptables is configured to be as a “strict” firewall that opens a limited know ports, such as 22 for SSH. However, in some network environment, such as a private cluster, the nodes are trusted and…
An introduction to the general method of installing Domain-U on Xen is introduced here: Setting Up Stable Xen DomU with Fedora: Unmodified Fedora 41 on top of Xenified Fedora 41 Dom0 with Xen (this is a general introduction, some details are changed, such as ‘xl’ replacing ‘xm’, LVM backing the disk for higher performance. But…
Linux booting is usually controlled by Grub or the new Grub2. Setting the default booting entry is a frequent operations. Here, we introduce how to set the default entry in Grub2 and Grub. Setting the default booting entry in grub2 Note1: With some version of grub2, the grub2-set-default method and the script below may not…
The new development of Xen and Linux kernel make it easy to install Xen on Fedora as the Domain-0 now. This post uses Fedora 41 as an example platform to introduce how to set up Domain-0 on Fedora Linux. Compared to our old method (https://www.systutorials.com/setting-up-stable-xen-dom0-with-fedora-xen-3-4-3-with-xenified-linux-kernel-2-6-32-13-in-fedora-12/) which requires manually compiled Xen and patched kernel, the current…
Copying some text to a new file is a common operation on Linux. I usually do this by opening the file with ‘vim’, pasting the text in ‘vim’, and then saving the file. I learned a more efficient and quicker way from my advisor during one discussion with him when I show him some results….
I experienced very slow WiFi network on Linux, while my iPhone seems surf the Internet quit fast. I pinged a site and the RTT is more than 1000ms! There must be something wrong with my Linux configuration. I tried to change the MTU from “Automatic” to “1400” on my Linux box. Surprisingly, it fix the…
As a Linux user, I must keep a copy of Windows. One reason is that I should edit MS Office files, such as .doc, .ppt, .xls and .xml (office 2003 xml format) required by, created by or for other using Windows. Wine worked for me with Office 2003 ever but has this or that problem….
This post introduces how to erase / blank / format a DVM+RW media on Linux in the command line. First, you need to find out the device of the DVD/CD+RW drive on your Linux box. For example, on my box with Linux 3.3.4 kernel, my DVD/CD+RW drive is /dev/sr0. You can also see what the…
Finding the Number of Files (Inodes) in a Directory on Linux On Linux, every file uses an inode. If you run out of inodes, you can’t create new files even if you have disk space left. The Command To count the files in a directory: find /path/to/dir -type f | wc -l To check your…
We may drop the file system caches on Linux to free up memory for applications. Kernels 2.6.16 and newer provide a mechanism via the /proc/ to make the kernel drop the page cache and/or inode and dentry caches on command. We can use this mechanism to free up the memory. However, this is a non-destructive…
IPv6 is enabled by default on most Linux distros. However, IPv6 is not used for some situations for most of time and it may cause troubles and requires effort to protect the network and ensure the security. This post introduces how to disable IPv6 support on Linux (newer modern Kernel versions). First, add these lines…
I get wireless, 3G and 2G network connection via my iPhone. I tested the network speed of a wireless, 3G and 2G network possible from my iPhone using the App from OFCA. Wifi of sMobileNet network in HKUST: 25604 kbps: 3G network from a carrier in Hong Kong: 2776 kbps: 2G network from a carrier…
Setting Touchpad Settings in KDE KDE Plasma offers extensive customization for touchpads, allowing you to adjust tapping, scrolling, and sensitivity. The Settings Go to System Settings -> Input Devices -> Touchpad. Here you can enable “Tap to Click” and configure multi-finger gestures. KDE in 2026 In 2026, KDE Plasma 6 is the standard, offering a…
MPlayer is a universal (nearly) movie/music player on Linux and many more systems. It’s also my favourite player and MPlayer plays movie or music files in any format that I drop to it. Now, let’s take a look at how to use MPlayer play DVD. MPlayer plays “DVD” in many formats: DVD disks, ISO files,…
Vim is my favourite text editor and I also prefer to use Vim to compose Email. I ever used Vim as Thunderbird’s External editor with the help of plugin. I started to use KMail as my email client on KDE and I find it is not hard to configure KMail to use Vim as email…