Education:
- Marble at http://edu.kde.org/marble/
- Celestia
- KStars
- Stellarium
- openuniverse a 3D Universe Simulator
- vigor (software assistant like MS paper clip)
- kworldclock, timezones in
"/usr/share/apps/kworldclock/zone.tab"
File text Tools:
For a better recoll install:
antiword (version 0.37-6) will be installed
catdoc (version 0.94.2-1) will be installed
unrtf (version 0.19.3-1.1) will be installed
libchm1 (version 2:0.40-2) will be installed
libimage-base-bundle-perl (version 1.0.7-3) will be installed
libimage-exiftool-perl (version 7.89-1) will be installed
libimage-info-perl (version 1.28-1) will be installed
pstotext (version 1.9-4) will be installed
python-chm (version 0.8.4-1) will be installed
- MPlayerThumbs is a thumbnail generator for video files on
Konqueror. Unlike the original konqueror plugin
(libarts1-xine), it depends on neither xine nor arts, instead it
uses only
mplayer. You can take advantage of this on x86_64 systems,
where you can use a 32bit mplayer to load win32codecs.
- meld It's a GUI diff utility. at /usr/bin/meld
- KFind at /usr/bin/kfind
- kdiff3
- krename
- pyrenamer
,mass file renamer written in PyGTK. Fine for Gnome.
Emulators:
- VirtualBox at '/usr/bin/VirtualBox'
Office:
- abiword
- J-Pilot Desktop organizer application for the Palm Pilot
Screenwriting:
- http://www.celtx.com/
Celtx is the world's first all-in-one media pre-production
software. It has everything you need to take your story from
concept to production. Celtx replaces 'paper, pen & binder'
pre-production with a digital approach that's more complete,
simpler to work with, and easier to share.
Games:
-OpenTTD is a reimplementation of the Microprose game
"Transport
Tycoon Deluxe" with lots of new features and enhancements.
-openbve
:realistic 3D train/railway simulator (game engine)
-asciijump
:Small and funny ASCII-art game about ski jumping
-Ri-Li: is a game in which you drive a toy wood engine across
many levels. A toy train simulation game.
and collect all the coaches to win.
- ninvaders
, A space invaders-like game using ncurses
- open-invaders
, Space Invaders clone
- KBreakout
- ManiaDrive (complex1 is awesome jumps)
- Taxi game?
- dosbox
--->with Destruction Derby, Winter Challenge
- Neverball
- X-Moto or xmoto
- Virus Killer , command name is viruskiller
- xbill
Get rid of those Wingdows Viruses!
Ever get the feeling that nothing is going right? You're a
sysadmin, and someone's trying to destroy your computers.
The little people running around the screen are trying to infect
your computers with Wingdows [TM], a virus cleverly
designed to resemble a popular operating system. Your
objective is to click the mouse on them, ending their potential
threat. If one of the people reaches a computer, it will attempt
to replace your operating system with the virus it carries. It
will then attempt to run off
- kdirstat
- filelight
- GNOME desktop utilities
This package contains the following utilities for the GNOME
desktop such as:
- baobab, a disk usage analyser
. - gnome-search-tool, with which one can find files by name
or content
the screen with your vital software.
- gnome-system-log, a log viewing application
- PlayOnLinux http://www.playonlinux.com
- gnome-screenshot, a tool to take desktop screenshots and - cappuccino, an utility to let your boss think that you're
save them into
working hard
a file
- FSlint File System Lint , Command is kdesu fslint-gui
SUCKS! Don't know how to quit the program!
- fdupes
e.g. fdupes -r /home/brian/torrs/ >
- GMAMEUI is a front-end program that helps you run
/home/brian/brianduplicate.txt
MAME on non-Windows platforms, allowing you to run your
- emelFM2 a filemanager
arcade games quickly and easily.
- TrueCrypt
- .chm Viewers
I ran into a number of .chm viewers for Linux, all available
within the Ubuntu repositories.
GMAMEUI is a fork of the defunct GXMame project.
I had to build it for Fedora 10
I put the ROMs in, /usr/share/mame/roms
If you are a Gnome user you may like gnochm:
sudo aptitude install gnochm
If you are a KDE user you may prefer kchmviewer:
sudo aptitude install kchmviewer
- Another Front End to MAME is GNOME Video Arcade
Manual:
Question about MAME in Linux 5.1.2.
Can MAME find the installed ROM images?
There are also some conversion tools, which I’ve had varying GNOME Video Arcade relies on
success with:
MAME to find installed ROM images.
sudo aptitude install chm2pdf
To test where MAME is configured to
- grsync (front end rsync)
look for ROM images, type the following command on a
- Unison is a file-synchronization tool for Unix and Windows command
- Glipper is a simple Clipboardmanager for the GNOME
Desktop Environment
line, then press Return:
gnome-video-arcade --inspect rompath
- beagle
The command should print a directory name such as
to see if it's running do,
/usr/share/mame/roms.
$ beagle-ping
Move ROM images to this directory and restart
Daemon version: 0.3.8
GNOME Video Arcade.
If the command does not print a directory name, it
may mean
Stopping the Daemon
that MAME is not properly configured
You have to type:
on your system. If you obtained MAME
$ beagle-shutdown
from a GNU/Linux distribution, please
contact the maintainers of that distribution for
beagle Tools
further
instructions.
MAME on Fedora 10 here's my output where it looks for
Beagle includes a few command-line tools that allow ROMs:
you to see the current status of
your indexes.
The beagle-index-info tool shows you how many
documents have been indexed.
$ gnome-video-arcade --inspect rompath
/usr/share/mame/roms;/usr/share/mame/chds
The beagle-status tool shows you the current work
the daemon is doing, on an ongoing
- /usr/bin/trackerd Tracker, a Desktop Search Tool... add
/usr/bin/trackerd to autostart when login.
- penguin-command - A Clone of the Classic Missile
Command Game
- TuxPuck
- PDFedit Editor for manipulating PDF documents
- openoffice.org-pdfimport
This package contains an extension to open PDF documents
with
OpenOffice.org Draw.
- Thunar
- Krusader
-sopwith
port of the 1980's side-scrolling WWI dogfighting game
- searchandrescue
fly aircraft to search (for) and rescue people in distress
- crrcsim - A Model-Airplane Flight Simulation Program
Crrcsim is a model-airplane flight simulation program. Using
it, you can learn how to fly model aircraft, test new aircraft
designs, and improve your skills by practicing on your
computer.
Graphics:
- Gwenview
- Inkscape
- digiKam
- Scrot for screenshots
- Istanbul Desktop Session Recorder
- ksnapshot -caption
- Album Shaper
It rules! The flight model is very realistic. The flight model
parameters are calculated based on a 3D representation of the
aircraft. Stalls are properly modelled as well. Model control is
possible with your own rc transmitter, or any input device
such as joystick, mouse, keyboard ...
Internet:
- Epiphany is the web browser for the GNOME desktop.
-streamtuner2 - internet radio browser at
http://milki.erphesfurt.de/streamtuner2/
- filezilla
- Frostwire
- liferea - Linux Feed Reader
- Google Earth
-/opt/kde/bin/picwiz
-Shutter (might need to install libxul-common for taking
- http://www.claws-mail.org. Claws Mail. Creates the
following two directories:
screenshots of web pages)
/home/brian/sylpheedMail
/home/brian/.claws-mail
- /usr/bin/vncviewer
- /usr/bin/xtightvncviewer
- Vinagre is a VNC client integrated into the GNOME
Desktop.
- Xtraceroute, /usr/bin/xtraceroute
- whois
- XChat IRC
- BitTornado
- KTorrent
- Prism, previously called WebRunner, is a simple
XULRunner based browser that hosts web applications
without the normal web browser user interface. It is based on a
concept called Site Specific Browsers (SSB).
Look and Feel
- simple-ccsm for Ubuntu Simple Compizconfig settings
manager (...might have to search for: Compiz configuration
settings manager)
- Wallpaper Tray is a GNOME applet used for changing your
wallpaper. Don't like as much as Wallpapoz.
Multimedia:
- openshot
- guvcview guvcview is a simple GTK+ interface for
capturing and viewing video from
devices supported by the Linux UVC driver. (might need to
install 'luvcview')
- Wallpapoz 0.4.1 , This tool enables your Gnome desktop to
have different wallpapers for different workspaces or virtual - Exaile is a music manager and player for GTK+ written in
desktops.
Python.
- adesklets
- /usr/bin/asciiquarium
- kcometen3_1.1-1_i386.deb, another screensaver
- Really Slick Screensavers GLX Port
rss-glx is a GLX port of the Really Slick Screensavers
collection by
- SWFTools, SWF Tools is a collection of SWF (Flash)
manipulation and creation utilities.
This package includes: pdf2swf, jpeg2swf, png2swf,
gif2swf, font2swf,
wav2swf, swfcombine, swfextract, swfdump, swfstrings,
swfbbox and swfc.
- /usr/bin/xvidcap Record your desktop tool.
- recordMyDesktop is a simple, friendly movie recording
software, which allows you to easily create high-quality,
impressive animations of your desktop.
Terry Welsh (http://www.reallyslick.com/). Also included are - Wink is a tutorial and presentation creation software. It
several
allows you to capture screenshots of the actions you take on
the desktop, wrap them into an animation and export them as
other OpenGL screensavers ported from other platforms.
beautiful, classy Flash, PDF or even executable packages.
- DivFix++ AVI Fix and Previewer utility.
The screensavers can either be run as stand-alone applications - Kdenlive is a non-linear video editing suite
or get
- lastfm - Last.fm web radio player
integrated into XScreenSaver's list of active screensavers.
More
- SMPlayer - A great MPlayer front-end
information about using these with xscreensaver can be found - XMMS2 console client which aims to be as feature-full and
in
easy-to-use as possible
/usr/share/doc/rss-glx.
--Esperanza is a client written with C++ / Qt4 and aims to be
cross-platform
goodness for everyone.
Screensavers included in this package are: Biof, Busy
Spheres,
or for GNOME,
Colorfire, Cyclone, Euphoria, Fieldlines, Flocks, Flux,
Helios, Hufo's
--gxmms2 is a GTK2 based XMMS2 client, written in C. Its
main window is small
Smoke, Hufo's Tunnel, Lattice, MatrixView, Plasma,
Skyrocket,
and simple.
Solarwinds, SpirographX, and Sundancer2.
More information about this project can be found at
<http://rss-glx.sourceforge.net>.
- DeVeDe is a program that can create video DVDs and CDs
(VCD, sVCD or CVD), suitable for home players, from any
number of video files, in any of the formats supported by
MPlayer.
- w32codecs or w64codecs
- Miro
- DVDRipOMatic, this should install transcode.
- xscreensaver-data-extra
data files to be shared among screensaver frontends
XScreenSaver is a modular screen saver and locker for X11,
containing more than 200 screen savers.
- dvd::rip
- Rhythmbox Music Player
- AcidRip is an automated front end for MPlayer/Mencoder
written in Perl, using Gtk::Perl for a graphical interface.
Makes encoding a DVD just one button click. "Fedora" has a
repo for AcidRip to add at, http://atrpms.net/. Stick it in,
/etc/yum.repos.d/ and make sure it contains:
This package contains the rest of the 2D screen saver modules # cat atrpms.repo
from the xscreensaver collection. This package is used by
both
[atrpms]
name=Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch - ATrpms
xscreensaver and gnome-screensaver.
baseurl=http://dl.atrpms.net/f$releasever-$basearch/atrpms/sta
ble
This is the set of non-GL screensavers not shipped by default: gpgkey=http://ATrpms.net/RPM-GPG-KEY.atrpms
ant, anemone, anemotaxis, apollonian, apple2, attraction,
barcode, blaster, blitspin, bouboule, boxfit, braid, bsod,
gpgcheck=1
bubbles, bumps, ccurve, celtic, cloudlife, compass, coral,
critical, crystal, cynosure, decayscreen, deluxe, demon,
- Hydrogen is a sample based drum machine
discrete, drift, epicycle, eruption, euler2d, fadeplot,
fireworkx, flag, flame, flow, fluidballs, fontglide, forest,
- Tuxguitar. Ubuntu use "Real Time Sequencer" and MIDI
goop, grav, greynetic, halftone, halo, helix, hopalong,
Port "Gervill". You'll need to install ALL tuxguitar plugin
hyperball, hypercube, ifs, imsmap, interaggregate,
options including fluidsynth, jsa, oss, alsa. In some cases
interference, intermomentary, jigsqw, juggle, julia,
you'll need to start with, "aoss tuxguitar" to install aoss so that
memscroller, mismunch, moire, moire2, mountain, munch, I can play sound from Tuxguitar, sudo apt-get install alsa-oss
nerverot, noseguy, pacman, pedal, penetrate, petry, phosphor,
piecewise, polyominoes, pong, pyro, qiz, rd-bomb, rocks,
May need to install ALSA wrapper for OSS applications
rorschach, rotor, rotzoomer, sierpinski, slip, speedmine,
sphere, spiral, spotlight, squiral, starfish,
::ALSA wrapper for OSS applications. This package contains
strange, substrate, t3d, thornbird, triangle, truchet, twang,
vermiculate, vidwhacker, vines, wander, webcollage,
whirlwindwarp, whirlygig, worm, wormhole, xanalogtv,
xflame, xjack, xmatrix, xrayswarm, xspirograph, zoom.
WARNING: This package includes the 'webcollage' screen
saver, which displays images that are the result of random
web searches. The Internet being what it is, absolutely
anything might show up in the collage of search results
including -- quite possibly -- pornography, or even nudity.
Please act accordingly.
More display modes can be found in the xscreensaver-data,
xscreensaver-gl
and xscreensaver-gl-extra packages.
Canonical does not provide updates for
xscreensaver-data-extra. Some updates may be provided by
the Ubuntu community.
a program loader, aoss, which wraps
applications written for OSS in a compatibility library,thus
allowing them to work with ALSA.
For Ubuntu 9.10 install timidity, run it and then start tuxguitar
and select MIDI Port “TiMidity port 0 [128:0]. :
$ timidity -iA -Os &
Then kill timidity with htop. Or Modify the command to
startup TuxGuitar to run timidity first, and shut it down when
finished:
Go to System -> Preferences -> Main Menu, Sound & Video
section, select TuxGuitar, click Properties. Change the startup
line to:
Code:
sh -c "timidity -iA -Os & tuxguitar %F && killall timidity"
note that you'll still have to select the correct MIDI Port.
- View The Matrix in a Window Maker dock application
- k9copy
wmMatrix displays The Matrix (from the film of the same
name) in
a Window Maker dock application. Based on the
xscreensaver module
created by Jamie Zawinski.
- SoundConverter
is a simple sound converter application for the GNOME
environment. It reads sound files in any format supported by
GStreamer
Although it works best with Window Maker, wmMatrix also
and outputs them in Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, or WAV format, or
works fine
MP3 format if
with other window managers.
you have the GStreamer LAME plugin.
Homepage: http://dockapps.org/file.php/id/10
(*May Need To Install:
dir2ogg converts MP3, M4A, WMA, FLAC, WAV files and
Audio CDs to the
open-source OGG format.
or... install,
Audacious supports MP3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC and AAC+,
FLAC, Windows Media (WMA), and others.)
- Avidemux A free video editor
- Dvdshrink DVD ripping GUI
- cinelerra
- xine
- gnome-alsamixer
- libdvdcss - a simple library designed for accessing DVDs
like a block device without having to bother about the
decryption.
- Kino Video Editor Edit DV video
Window Managers:
- wmii (window manager notes ruby at
http://eigenclass.org/hiki/ruby-wmii-for-wmii-3.6 )
- EvilWM (window manager http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_EvilWM )
- Xfce - sudo aptitude install xubuntu-desktop
- Fluxbox - sudo aptitude install fluxbox
- Enlightenment - sudo aptitude install enlightenment
- Blackbox - sudo aptitude install blackbox
- Openbox - sudo aptitude install openbox
- Afterstep - sudo aptitude install afterstep
- FVWM - sudo aptitude install fvwm
- EasyTAG is an utility for viewing, editing and writing the
ID3 tags of different audio files, using a GTK+ interface.
Programming:
- Kompozer
- Quanta Plus (or just, Quanta)
-python machine at http://pythonmachine.sourceforge.net/
- Qt Creator 1.0.0
Based on Qt 4.5.0
or look for,
- qt-creator
IDE for Development with Qt
- qt4-designer
graphical designer for Qt 4 applications
- WindowMaker - sudo aptitude install wmaker
- python-idle - An Integrated Development Environment for
- "KDE" remove: Strigi. Command is strigiapplet
Python
$ whereis strigi
strigiapplet: /usr/bin/strigiapplet
IDLE is a Tkinter based integrated development environment
for Python. It features a multi-window text editor with
multiple undo, Python colorizing, and many other things, as
well as a Python shell window and a debugger. ..
OR look
for,
- idle-python2.5
- KDE, Needs the system config software,
->NOTE: for Fedora install:
systemsettings -caption "%c" %i
python-tools :which is the Python package includes several
development tools that are used to build python programs.
strigi: /usr/lib/strigi /usr/lib64/strigi /usr/share/strigi
brian@kub:~$ whereis strigiapplet
or try
systemsettings
z. Administration:
- Keep is an automatic backup program that allows users to set the parameters of
the backup, including the frequency and the number of backups.
-Déjà Dup is a simple backup program. It hides the complexity of
doing backups the 'right way' (encrypted, off-site, and regular)
and uses duplicity as the backend.
-luckyBackup is an application that backs-up and/or synchronizes any
directories with the power of rsync.
Its main features are: backup, safety, synchronization, exclude/only include
options, allows custom rsync options, remote connections, restore and dry-run
operations, scheduling, profiles and command line mode.
It is simple to use, fast (transfers over only changes made and not all data),
safe (keeps your data safe by checking all declared directories before
proceeding in any data manipulation ), reliable and fully customizable.
- psad
The Port Scan Attack Detector. PSAD is a collection of four lightweight system daemons written in
Perl and in C that is designed to work with Linux firewalling code
(iptables in the 2.4.x kernels, and ipchains in the 2.2.x kernels)
to detect port scans. It features a set of highly configurable danger
thresholds (with sensible defaults provided), verbose alert messages
that include the source, destination, scanned port range, begin and
end times, tcp flags and corresponding nmap options (Linux 2.4.x
kernels only), reverse DNS info, email alerting, and automatic
blocking of offending ip addresses via dynamic configuration of
ipchains/iptables firewall rulesets.
In addition, for the 2.4.x kernels psad incorporates many
of the tcp signatures included in Snort to detect highly suspect scans
for:
* various backdoor programs (e.g. EvilFTP, GirlFriend, SubSeven)
* DDoS tools (mstream, shaft)
* advanced port scans (syn, fin, xmas) such as those made with nmap
Canonical does not provide updates for psad. Some updates may be provided by the Ubuntu community.
Usage psad -Status as root
- Terminator is a little project to produce an efficient way of
filling a large area of screen space with terminals.
- openssh-server for UBUNTU, This package provides the sshd server.
- HardInfo
- dmidecode: Finding Out Hardware Details Without Opening The Computer Case.
http://www.nongnu.org/dmidecode/
At howtoforge, http://tinyurl.com/6nzfto
- Ubuntu $ sudo lshw -html > /home/brian/Documents/hw.html
(an alternative is the gui version of Hardware Lister (lshw).
Ubuntu: lshw-gtk
it's graphical information about hardware configuration
-DenyHosts
is a Python based security tool for SSH servers. It is intended to prevent brute force attacks
on SSH servers by monitoring invalid login attempts in the authentication log and blocking the
originating IP addresses.
- root-tail (http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=49297)
- multitail lets you view one or multiple files like the original tail program.
The difference is that this program creates multiple windows on your console (with ncurses). It can also use colors while
displaying the logfiles for faster recognizing which lines are important and which are not. more examples here:
http://www.howtoforge.com/monitoring-multiple-log-files-at-a-time-with-multitail-on-debian-lenny
http://www.vanheusden.com/multitail/examples.html
- conky
- yakuake
- Guake is a semi-transparent drop-down console that you can use instead of your standard shell programs by having it
always ready at the tip of your fingers. Guake allows you to work faster and with more fun.
- Eterm
- aterm
- ipcalc
- bubblemon
- Pstree
- nautilus plugin
-- nautilus-open-terminal
- dstat, sudo apt-get install dstat
- smartmontools, install on Debian & Ubuntu sudo apt-get install smartmontools,
http://tinyurl.com/5k2f3y
"Ubuntus"
- Zenmap is an Nmap frontend. It is meant to be useful for advanced users
and to make Nmap easy to use by beginners. It was originally derived from Umit, an Nmap GUI created as part of the
Google Summer of Code.
- build-essential
- checkinstall
- cvs
- subversion
For example, to install VMware Server in Ubuntu you'll need,
- sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential xinetd
"Fedora" has:
- sectool is a security tool that can be used both as a security audit and intrusion detection system. It consists of set of tests,
library and command line interface tool. Tests are sorted into groups and security levels. Admins can run certain tests,
groups or whole security levels. The library and the tools are implemented in python and tests are language independent.
"sectool-gui" provides a GTK-based graphical user interface to sectool.
- Palimpsest Disk Utility, command is, palimpsest
Purpose: Manage Drives and Media
- The yum extender (a.k.a. yumex) is a easy to use gui for the yum package manager. With yumex you can install, deinstall
or update packages - it's available in the gnome applications menu.
'top' ten replacements (from Linux Magazine ISSUE 97 DECEMBER 2008, pdf verison of article saved in folder):
>10: Xrestop [1] shows X11 users which X client programs are using the most resources, organizing the results neatly by
pixmap memory usage.
>9: Ntop [3] is a popular instant monitoring tool that gives the admin an overview of the network interface card, its
throughput, and all of its connections. The mass of information that Ntop collects and presents in its neat web interface
guarantees a top 10 spot for the 10-year-old Ntop project.
More Information from openSUSE,:
ntop - Web-Based Network Traffic Monitor
To start ntop, first provide a password for the user admin. You can do this as user root with the command
ntop -A -u wwwrun
By default, you may access ntop only from the local host at port 3000. See also the additional documentation in
/usr/share/doc/packages/ntop/README.SuSE.
>8: ApacheTop [5] is a lean tool that offers information on current Apache web server access, the pages Apache serves up,
the number of hits per second, and many other statistics. The helper application finds the necessary information in Apache’s
access_log files.
>7: Ptop. Two database tools appear in the top 10. At seventh place is Ptop. Any administrator who has worked with
PostgreSQL will be interested in this tool because Ptop provides an overview of all your database processes, at the same
time displaying information such as the SQL statements currently being processed. To launch Ptop, enter pg_top -d
database -U database_user -W password. The command takes the user to an interactive shell, where a number of shortcuts
are available.
>6: Dnstop [8] uses the Pcap library to filter all the DNS queries on a computer’s network interface and list them neatly.
The dnstop network_device -t -s command gives you a list of DNS queries in a Topstyle, configurable view.
>5: iftop. Snapshots and a traffic overview for all active network connections are Iftop’s [9] specialty. Just like Top, it
sorts connections by activity and offers a jampacked action set while doing so.
The comprehensive filtering options are really exciting for network administrators and can be entered either in interactive
mode (after entering iftop -f options) or by pressing the F key. For example, -f icmp displays ICMP packages only. The
familiar Tcpdump style can be inverted by making a selection – for example: not port ssh.
The -F option tells Iftop to automatically filter out individual hosts, or complete networks, leaving only those that match the
selected network mask: iftop -F 192.168.0.0/24 is an example for a local network.
>4: Mytop. The second database tool is Mytop [11], which is written in Perl and displays information from the two
standard MySQL statements SHOW PROCESSLIST and SHOW STATUS at periodic intervals.
>3: PowerTop. Because of the increasing popularity of mobile devices, it comes as no surprise that PowerTop by
Lesswatts [12] is attracting a continually growing community. Although the tool will only run on Intel CPUs and recent
distributions, it is extremely useful if you need to optimize the hardware and software on your laptop for maximum battery
life. The neatest thing about PowerTop is that it not only identifies the power hogs, it also includes a fact-filled database of
known issues and solutions.
>2: Atop and Htop. The number two spot is taken by two top clones, Atop and Htop. Because both are close to their role
model with respect to feature scope and presentation, they share their good ranking. The advantages offered by Atop, and
the Atopsar program that comes with the package, include a detailed view of the monitored processes
In contrast, Htop convinces with its sensible overview and its ability to let administrators influence processes directly. For
example, the software will sort a process list by name or PID with the use of just a couple of shortcuts, and it can assign a
different Nice priority level to all Apache processes (Figure 9).
Another nice thing is that the controls are self-explanatory: Htop’s interface is a mix of Midnight Commander and Top. A
menu with the most important functions is available at the bottom of the screen: F6 is for sorting – the administrator can use
a kind of drop-down menu to select the column – and F7 reduces and F8 increases a program’s Nice priority. Because the
user can press the space bar to make multiple selections, priority changes are easier and faster with Htop than with almost
any other system tool.
The information that Atop provides is more useful to an advanced administrator wanting to investigate minute details of
individual processes.
In the standard view, Atop supplies advanced information on memory usage (M), scheduling (S), and command-line
parameters (C) and various details on processes (V).
A specially patched kernel additionally lets you display disk (D) and network usage (N). Thanks to Atopsar, admins can
even access the Sysstat data of the past few days or weeks, assuming you launch the Sar daemon on your system.
>1: Top.
Despite all the advantages of the programs we just looked at, the Linux Magazine jury’s favorite is the legacy and legendary
Unix tool Top by William LeFebvre and others.
Top is installed everywhere, it is comprehensively documented, and it gives you the more or less identical controls and
behavior on any conceivable Unix and on BSD, Linux, many embedded systems, and Mac OS X. The tool, which has been
an administrative evergreen since 1984, runs on mainframes, workstations, desktops, and clusters.
Version 3.7, or Beta 3.8 of unixtop, is available for download [15]. But who needs to download when your favorite
distribution already includes the tool and even installs it as part of the minimal installation?
Administrators will be familiar with the various switches, options, and parameters. The man page fills several screens –
again thanks to the number of operating systems Top supports.
===
Tools for forensics analysis:
The Sleuth Kit (previously known as TASK) is a collection of UNIX-based
command line file system and media management forensic analysis tools.
The file system tools allow you to examine file systems of a suspect
computer in a non-intrusive fashion. Because the tools do not rely on
the operating system to process the file systems, deleted and hidden
content is shown.
The media management tools allow you to examine the layout of disks and
other media. The Sleuth Kit supports DOS partitions, BSD partitions
(disk labels), Mac partitions, and Sun slices (Volume Table of
Contents). With these tools, you can identify where partitions are
located and extract them so that they can be analyzed with file system
analysis tools.
When performing a complete analysis of a system, we all know that
command line tools can become tedious. The Autopsy Forensic Browser is
a graphical interface to the tools in The Sleuth Kit, which allows you
to more easily conduct an investigation. Autopsy provides case
management, image integrity, keyword searching, and other automated
operations.
The Sleuth Kit's upstream homepage can be found at
http://www.sleuthkit.org/sleuthkit/.
- autopsy
graphical interface to SleuthKit
The Autopsy Forensic Browser is a graphical interface to the command line
digital forensic analysis tools in The Sleuth Kit. Together, The Sleuth Kit
and Autopsy provide many of the same features as commercial digital forensics
tools for the analysis of Windows and UNIX file systems (NTFS, FAT, FFS,
EXT2FS, and EXT3FS).
- chkrootkit is a shell script that can check the system binaries for signs of rootkit modification. It is a useful tool in an
environment that requires lax firewall rules and multiple installations from external sources.
- Like chkrootkit, rkhunter can be used to check system files for unwanted changes. The two tools complement each other
nicely.
-Logwatch is a modular log analyser that runs every night
and mails you the results. It can also be run from command line.
- Wireshark is a powerful packet collection and analysis suite, capable of capturing network data on all levels of the TCP/IP
stack. It can collect data from Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, PPP, and loopback, supports hundreds of protocols, has rich traffic
analysis filters, and can be enhanced with plugins.
To run as root in Ubuntu:
gksu wireshark
- SystemRescueCD
This is a live CD specifically geared toward rescue and recovery. The tools package includes some of the most important
tools available for Linux user, like GParted, PartImage, Grub, Lilo, sfdisk, TestDisk, and more.
- PartImage is a powerful, friendly disk/partition imaging software, allowing you to quickly and easily backup and recover
your entire disks or individual partitions, including the Windows NTFS filesystem.
- CloneZilla is another powerful candidate for disk / partition backup and recovery
- TestDisk. This tool allows to recover lost partitions, make not-bootable disks boot again and restore delete files. It is one
of the more effective and powerful utilities on the market. When everything else fails, TestDisk won't. TestDisk is included
with the SystemRescueCD.
- Super Grub Disk is intended to run from a floppy disk or CD and is used for system rescue. Most importantly, it can be
used to restore boot loaders, including GRUB, LILO and even Windows boot loader.
===
- ntfsprogs
tools for doing neat things in NTFS partitions from Linux
The Linux-NTFS project (http://www.linux-ntfs.org/) aims to bring full
support for the NTFS filesystem to the Linux operating system.
This is a set of tools targeted for people interested in working
with the NTFS support in the Linux kernel and using it. The
following utilities are included:
ntfsfix - Fix common filesystem errors and force Windows to check NTFS.
mkntfs - Format a partition with an NTFS filesystem, optionally bootable.
ntfsinfo - Show some information about an NTFS partition or one of the
files or directories within it.
ntfslabel - Show, or set, an NTFS partition's volume label.
ntfsresize - Resize an NTFS partition without losing data.
ntfsundelete - Recover deleted files from an NTFS partition.
ntfscluster - Locate the owner of any given sector or cluster on an NTFS
partition.
ntfscat - Concatenate files and print them on the standard output
(without mounting the partition).
ntfsls - List directory contents on an NTFS filesystem (without mounting).
ntfscp - Overwrite files on an NTFS partition.
ntfsclone - Efficiently clone an NTFS filesystem or a part of it.
ntfsmount - Mount an NTFS partition from user-space using libntfs and FUSE.
ntfsdecrypt - Decrypt NTFS-encrypted files (NOT INCLUDED).
ntfscmp - Compare two NTFS volumes and tell the differences.
===
- samdump2
Dump Windows 2k/NT/XP password hashes
This tool is designed to dump Windows 2k/NT/XP password hashes from a SAM
file. It requires the syskey key which can be found with tools like bkhive.
Syskey is a Windows feature that adds an additional encryption layer to the
password hashes stored in the SAM database.
===
- bkhive
Dump the syskey bootkey from a Windows NT/2K/XP system hive
===
- ophcrack
Microsoft Windows password cracker using rainbow tables
Ophcrack is a Windows password cracker based on a time-memory trade-off
using rainbow tables. This is a new variant of Hellman's original trade-off,
with better performance. It recovers 99.9% of alphanumeric passwords in
seconds.
It works for Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista.
A Gtk based UI is included.
Homepage: http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/
- Ultimate Boot CD for Windows (http://www.ubcd4win.com/index.htm)
This is one of the most important tools a Windows user can have. It is a complete bootable Windows kernel, packaged with
tens of useful utilities in a range of categories.
Among offered tools are 7-Zip, a43, Ad-Aware SE, Agent Ransack, AVPersonal, BGInfo, CPU Bench, CWShredder,
DeepBurner, Dirms, Disk Copy, Disk Image, Disk Wipe, Eraser, ERUNT, Explore2fs, ExplorerXP, File Recovery,
FileZilla, Firefox, Floppy Repair, Foxit Reader, freeCommander, Free Undelete, HD Cleaner, HDTune, HijackThis, IPScan,
IZArc, MaxBlast, MemTest, MbrFix, MBRWiz, Notepad++, Opera, P95, PasswordPro, PDF Reader, Popcorn, PPPOEXP,
Putty, R-Linux, RecoveryManager, RegCleaner, Scribe, SmallCD, Stinger, SuperAntiSpyware, Sysclean, UltraVNC,
xplorer2, WinDLG, and many more.
GSmartControl is a graphical user interface for smartctl, which is a tool for
querying and controlling SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting
Technology) data on modern hard disk drives. It allows you to inspect the
drive's SMART data to determine its health, as well as run various tests on it.
http://www.infoworld.com/t/enterprise-architecture/six-open-source-projects-you-should-be-using-208
Six open source projects you should be using
By Paul Venezia
Created 2010-08-04 03:00AM
The IT world has overcome much of its skittishness regarding the use of open source projects. It
obviously wasn't always that way, and plenty of IT shops still refuse to consider open source
alternatives to commercial solutions. But most folks have come around to the fact that open source
tools are a great asset to any organization and won't actually set fire to your data center or ransack the
break room, no matter what the sales droids say.
In many cases, the use of open source tools starts in the skunkworks of the IT organization, where a
few individuals leverage open source projects to perform a specific task that is either unfunded or
underfunded. Once the proverbial camel's nose is in the tent, more open source applications and
frameworks find their way into critical IT systems. Yet with little or no advertising, many open source
projects that every shop should be testing, if not implementing, never appear on the radar. Here are a
few of my favorites.
[ InfoWorld's Savio Rodrigues explains when you should open-source your internal apps [1] | Check out
InfoWorld's slideshow of 7 open source projects on the cutting edge [2]. | Keep up with the latest open source
trends and news in InfoWorld's Technology: Open Source newsletter [3]. ]
Nagios: Open source network and system monitoring and notification
I've been a fan of Nagios [4] for a long time. Nagios is a soup-to-nuts network and system monitoring
and notification tool that has an extensive list of plug-ins and a vibrant community. There is a steep
learning curve to set it up, but once that's done, you'll have your finger on the pulse of the entire IT
plant. You can monitor just about everything on everything: temperatures in the datacenter (through the
temperature of each server), latency across WAN circuits, storage capacity, performance, you name it.
Implementing a full Nagios monitoring scheme in a reasonably sized organization isn't a one-day
project, but it will save significant time and headaches later, guaranteed.
Cacti: An open source app for graphing and trending
Cacti [5] is a graphing/trending tool that uses SNMP and is a great complement to Nagios. Whereas
Nagios can tell you when things go wrong, Cacti can tell you all about the trends relating to that
problem. For instance, monitoring storage array capacity with Nagios may tell you that you've eclipsed
a threshold, but Cacti will show you the trends related to that array, allowing you to determine the
utilization rate over the past six months or a year, which will help determine how much storage may be
required in the coming months. This is also true about temperatures, airflow, LAN and WAN links,
number of users on a particular server, license utilization (for applications that use licensing tools like
FLEXlm), and so forth.
The Web interface is easy to use, and most anything that uses SNMP can be monitored. As with
Nagios, there's a large community around Cacti and plenty of plug-ins. The information Cacti provides
is only as useful as the length of time it's been running, so if you're not using it yet, there's no time like
the present to get started.
RANCID: Short on configuration, long on resources
RANCID [6] is one of those tools that you'll set up once, make very minor modifications to over the
years, and praise for saving your bacon in an emergency. RANCID performs a very simple function:
retrieve and organize the configurations of network routers, switches, and firewalls. When set to run
every hour, for example, RANCID will email admins when changes are made to any monitored piece
of gear, and add the configuration to a version control database that you can then run diffs on to see
exactly what changed and when. In the event of a catastrophic failure of a router or switch, you can pull
the configuration back quickly and easily, and be sure that it's the latest possible copy.
There are very few utilities that require so little configuration yet can provide such an immense
resource during outages, but RANCID is certainly one of them.
MediaWiki: Internal documentation made easy
If you don't have an IT wiki running in your organization, you should start one now -- right now.
Internal documentation has never been so easy, and MediaWiki [7] is a fantastic package to drive this
initiative.
MediaWiki is the code behind Wikipedia and millions of other wikis. It's easy to set up and run, and it
can completely transform the documentation tasks of any IT organization. In many cases,
documentation on applications, hardware, and network equipment can not only include information on
the component, but also have direct links to management interfaces, administration panels, and so forth.
Rather than typing a URL into a Word document that's printed out and stored in a three-ring binder
(nobody does this anymore, right? Right?), you can simply embed those links inline in the wiki page for
that element. You can even include photos, diagrams, and more.
CentOS: Red Hat Enterprise Linux, open source style
One common characteristic of all the above projects is that they run on Linux. Some also run on
Windows, but they all are quite at home with Linux. In keeping with the open source flavor, you can
easily run all of them on CentOS [8], which is essentially the open source version of Red Hat
Enterprise Linux.
There's no licensing, no cost, and no support, but for boxes that run these tools, that may not be an
issue. In fact, a single CentOS virtual or physical server can run all the above tools for a sizable IT shop
without breaking a sweat. In environments where mission-critical Linux boxes must run licensed and
supported version of Linux, CentOS can find a home in lab environments or for ancillary tasks. Go
forth and download. Then give something back and donate a few bucks to the project.
FreeNAS: Build your own nearline storage server
Every IT shop needs to provide network storage, and more and more shops are implementing SANs to
achieve this goal. Commercial SANs are fairly expensive, but they also generally provide stability and
support. However, the data stored on those expensive boxes is sometimes better suited to a less
expensive device -- things like system images, IT installation packages, or any number of other items
that makes IT tick, but aren't mission critical. Offloading those things to a cheaper storage solution
buys more space on the expensive gear.
The good news is that you can build a very capable nearline storage server for next to nothing with
FreeNAS [9]. Using a decommissioned server, or even a whitebox with a pile of cheap SATA drives,
you can have FreeNAS up and running in a matter of minutes with the simple installation. You can
access the data via CIFS, NFS, HTTP, FTP, TFTP, iSCSI -- basically every file sharing protocol
available -- and the administration interface is on par with many commercial solutions. For basically
the cost of some 1TB or 2TB hard drives, you can pack a ton of data on a FreeNAS box with minimal
effort.
I can personally attest to each of these tools, as I've been reaping the rewards from their
implementation for years and years and have deployed and configured them in IT organizations of just
about every size. There's no time like the present to make your life easier and your infrastructure more
robust -- and these tools go a long way toward achieving those goals. After all, that's why they exist.
This story, "Six open source projects you should be using [10]," was originally published at InfoWorld.com
[11]. Read more of Paul Venezia's The Deep End blog [12] at InfoWorld.com.

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