Setting Up HP Printers on Fedora Linux HP printers work well on Fedora when you install the right packages and drivers. Here’s what you need to do to get a USB or network-connected HP printer working reliably. Install HPLIP and Related Packages Start by installing the HP Linux Imaging and Printing (HPLIP) suite: sudo dnf…
PDF Annotation Tools on Linux Several native options now exist for annotating PDFs directly on Linux, though each has trade-offs between features and ease of use. Native Linux Tools Okular is the most straightforward choice for basic annotations. It’s lightweight, fast, and saves markups directly into the PDF: sudo apt install okular okular document.pdf Okular…
Online Image Editors as Photoshop Alternatives If you need basic image editing without installing software or paying Photoshop’s subscription, several solid online options exist. Here’s what works well in 2026. Pixlr Pixlr remains a solid choice for straightforward editing. The web-based editor handles layers, filters, and common adjustments without much friction. Free tier covers most…
Fontconfig Warnings Breaking gnuplot and ps2epsi If gnuplot or ps2epsi fails to run or produces excessive warnings on modern Fedora systems, you’re likely hitting a fontconfig deprecation issue. The symptom is repeated warnings like: Fontconfig warning: “/etc/fonts/conf.d/50-user.conf”, line 14: reading configurations from ~/.fonts.conf is deprecated. This happens because /etc/fonts/conf.d/50-user.conf still includes a deprecated reference to…
Trapping Ctrl-C in Bash Scripts Handling Ctrl-C gracefully in a Bash script is essential when you need to perform cleanup operations, save state, or notify users before exiting. The trap builtin makes this straightforward. Basic Trap Setup The fundamental approach uses the trap command to catch the INT signal (which Ctrl-C generates): trap ctrl_c INT…
Configuring Hadoop Mappers and Reducers for Optimal Performance Choosing the right number of mappers and reducers directly impacts Hadoop job performance. This isn’t a set-and-forget configuration—it depends on your cluster characteristics, data size, and task complexity. Mapper Configuration The number of mappers is primarily determined by the number of HDFS blocks in your input files….
Background processes in Bash Spawning background processes in Bash is straightforward with the & operator, but there are several nuances depending on your use case. Basic approach The simplest method is appending & to your command: for i in $(cat ./all-hosts); do ssh “$i” “ifconfig | grep Link” & done Each & launches the process…
Force Linux to reboot When standard reboot commands fail to work, the Magic SysRq key provides a kernel-level mechanism to force a reboot or shutdown. This works even when the system is mostly unresponsive. Prerequisites Magic SysRq must be enabled at runtime or in the kernel configuration. Most modern distributions enable it by default, but…
Excluding repositories in dnf/yum You’ll sometimes need to exclude specific repositories from package operations—typically when multiple repos provide the same package, mirror connectivity is unreliable, or you want to force installation from a trusted source. The –disablerepo flag lets you skip repos on a per-command basis. Basic syntax dnf –disablerepo=repoid1 –disablerepo=repoid2 install package-name Add –disablerepo…
Customizing Question2Answer RSS feeds to show excerpts Question2Answer’s RSS feed configuration includes a toggle for “Include full text in feeds” but offers no built-in option to display excerpts instead of full content. If you need excerpt functionality, you’ll need to modify the feed generation code. This approach works with Question2Answer 1.5.4+. The method involves creating…
Understanding the Content-Type Issue When you pipe a plain text file to mailx, it analyzes the content to determine the MIME type. If it detects non-standard characters (anything other than newlines and horizontal tabs), it defaults to application/octet-stream and base64-encodes the message. Most email clients then treat this as an attachment rather than inline content….
Storage of routing table entries Linux routing tables exist in kernel memory during runtime. To persist routes across reboots, you need to store them on disk and have them reloaded during system startup. The mechanism varies depending on your network management setup. systemd-networkd and netplan (modern systems) On contemporary distributions using systemd-networkd or netplan, define…
MySQL Table Corruption: Detection and Repair A MySQL table marked as crashed typically occurs after unclean shutdowns, power failures, or server crashes. Error 145 indicates the table structure is corrupted and needs repair before queries can proceed. Checking Table Status Before attempting repair, check the table status: CHECK TABLE mybb_sessions; This returns detailed information about…
Saving Word Documents as PDF Converting Word documents to PDF is a fundamental task in most workflows. Modern versions of Office have native PDF export built in, but understanding your options and potential gotchas will save you time. Native PDF Export (Modern Office) If you’re using Office 2010 or later, PDF export is built into…
Using OCaml as a Scripting Language You can run OCaml scripts directly from the command line with a shebang, similar to bash or Python. This requires making the file executable and using the proper interpreter directive. Basic Script Setup Create a file with a .ml extension and add a shebang at the top: #!/usr/bin/env ocaml…
Adjusting Y-Axis Label Position in Gnuplot Y-axis labels in Gnuplot can end up positioned awkwardly depending on your terminal, font, and tick label width. The most straightforward solution is using the offset option in the set ylabel command. Basic Offset Syntax The offset takes three parameters: horizontal, vertical, and depth (for 3D plots): set ylabel…
iTunes Backup Locations iTunes backups are stored in device-specific directories. The location depends on your operating system: macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ Windows: %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\ On Windows, the easiest way to navigate there is to press Win + R, type %appdata% and hit Enter, then navigate to Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\. Understanding iTunes Backup Files iTunes stores backups as…
Printing Web Pages Effectively Copying webpage content directly into a document often produces poor formatting, missing images, or broken layouts. Here are several practical approaches to get clean, readable output. Browser Print Dialog (Native) Most modern browsers have built-in print functionality that’s worth trying first: Open the page in your browser Press Ctrl+P (Linux/Windows) or…
Booting Fedora with an older kernel in GRUB2 Modern Fedora systems keep multiple kernel versions available, but older kernels are tucked in a submenu rather than appearing as top-level GRUB2 entries. This requires a slightly different approach when setting them as your default boot option. Understanding the GRUB2 submenu structure When you run: grep menuentry…
Setting Chrome proxy settings from the command line on Linux Chrome supports proxy configuration via command-line flags, which is useful for scripting, automation, or testing without touching the GUI settings. This works across all major Linux distributions. Basic proxy configuration Use the –proxy-server flag when launching Chrome: google-chrome –proxy-server=”socks://localhost:8080″ Proxy scheme formats The proxy specification…