Remapping Caps Lock to Control is a worthwhile investment if you spend significant time in Emacs or vim. Your pinky will benefit from years of reduced strain. Desktop Environment Settings (Easiest) Most modern desktop environments include a built-in option for this remapping. GNOME (40+): Open Settings → Keyboard → Special Character Options Toggle “Make Caps…
If you’re running a dual-boot system with Windows, you’ll need to configure which operating system loads by default. The method depends on your Windows version and whether you’re using legacy BIOS or UEFI firmware. Windows 7 and Vista: System Properties Method For Windows 7 systems using the traditional boot manager: Open Control Panel and navigate…
dd is a powerful utility for reading and writing raw data to block devices. While it’s a Linux standard, you have several options for using it on Windows systems. WSL2: The Modern Approach For Windows 10 (21H2+) and Windows 11, Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) is the best choice. It provides a full Linux…
When gthumb hangs during startup after connecting an iPhone, external drive, or other USB device, the issue typically stems from gthumb attempting to enumerate mounted storage devices during initialization. Certain filesystem states, permissions misconfigurations, or slow I/O can cause the process to block indefinitely. Quick fix: unmount the device The most straightforward solution is to…
If you want Emacs to run in the terminal without opening an X window, you have several practical options depending on your setup and workflow. Option 1: Install emacs-nox (Recommended for servers) The cleanest approach is installing the no-X variant of Emacs, which is built without X11 support. This reduces memory overhead and startup time…
The most reliable one-liner to count files in the current directory is: find . -maxdepth 1 -type f | wc -l This counts only regular files (not directories or symlinks) and handles edge cases that trip up simpler approaches. Why Not Use ls | wc -l? The common ls | wc -l command has several…
When your HP printer runs out of paper mid-job on Linux, the print queue pauses and won’t resume automatically once you reload paper. You need to either clear the error state physically or use CUPS commands to resume printing. Physical Reset Method The quickest approach for most HP printers is to trigger the paper-detect sensor:…
Bash doesn’t have a goto statement, and that’s intentional. The language is designed to encourage cleaner control flow patterns that are easier to debug and maintain. When you feel the urge to jump around in your script, there’s almost always a better approach. Functions and Early Return The cleanest pattern is extracting logic into functions…
Backing up a complete IMAP account with thousands of messages across nested folders requires automation to preserve folder structure and avoid manual errors. This guide covers three modern tools and provides detailed setup for the most flexible option. Choosing your backup tool offlineimap — Most flexible for complex folder structures and label handling. Active maintenance…
Emacs startup time matters when you’re opening files frequently from the command line or in scripts. A few targeted optimizations can reduce perceived startup overhead from seconds to near-instant. Run Emacs as a daemon with emacsclient The most effective optimization is the server/client architecture. Start Emacs once as a daemon, then reuse that instance for…
You have internal hosts on a private network (like 10.0.3.0/24) that aren’t directly accessible from your workstation. They sit behind a gateway (bastion host) like gateway.example.org. You need seamless SSH access to these internal IPs without manually hopping through the gateway each time. Using SSH ProxyJump The modern, straightforward approach is SSH’s built-in ProxyJump feature….
When the Scala compiler emits warnings like deprecation notices, you need to pass compiler flags to see the details. The solution is to configure scalacOptions in your sbt build. Session-Only Configuration During an interactive sbt session, add options temporarily: set scalacOptions += “-deprecation” This applies only to the current session and is lost after reload…
Sharing a router with roommates means dealing with bandwidth conflicts. When someone’s running torrent clients, streaming, or other bandwidth-intensive applications without limits, everyone else suffers. Here’s how to handle it systematically. Start with conversation Before implementing technical controls, talk to your roommates. Most P2P and download applications have built-in rate limiting. Asking someone to cap…
When a disk fills up or you’re doing a cleanup pass, finding the biggest files quickly saves a lot of time. Here are the practical approaches on Linux. Top 10 largest files in the current directory du -ah –max-depth=1 | sort -rh | head -n 10 Breaking this down: du -ah shows sizes for all…
Broken symbolic links accumulate over time and can cause confusion or errors when scripts rely on their targets. Identifying and cleaning them up is a regular maintenance task. Basic approach Use find with the -xtype l test to locate broken symlinks: find /path/to/directory -xtype l The -xtype l flag specifically matches symbolic links that point…
Domain registration pricing has commoditized significantly over the past few years. Most registrars cluster around similar price points, and permanent discounts are increasingly rare. Rather than chasing one-off coupons that expire or have restrictive terms, understanding how registrars price domains and what you actually need will serve you better. Current Market Rates As of 2026,…
Writing effective paper reviews is essential work in academic fields like information retrieval, machine learning, systems research, and most technical disciplines. Whether you’re reviewing for a conference, journal, or internal research group, the goal is the same: provide constructive, specific feedback that helps authors improve their work and helps decision-makers assess contribution. What Makes a…
Running your own Python installation on Dreamhost (or similar shared hosting) gives you control over the version, packages, and dependencies without relying on system-wide Python. This is especially useful when you need specific Python versions or packages the hosting provider doesn’t support. Why Use a Custom Python Installation Shared hosting environments typically ship with outdated…
Over time, internal and external links on your site inevitably break — pages get deleted, domains expire, content moves. Finding and fixing these broken links improves user experience and helps with SEO, since search engines penalize sites with dead links. Automated Checking Tools Several web-based tools can scan your site and report broken links: https://www.brokenlinkcheck.com/…
sbt (Scala Build Tool) isn’t available in the default Fedora repositories, though Scala itself is. Here’s how to install it properly. Using the Official Repository The most reliable approach is to add sbt’s official repository to your system. This gives you automatic updates and avoids manual RPM downloads. Create the repository configuration file: sudo tee…