Thursday, May 15, 2008

Fedora 9 Released



Been waiting for this for weeks. Am glad to announced that Fedora community had recently released its Fedora 9 OS.

Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that showcases the latest in free and open source software. Fedora is always free for anyone to use, modify, and distribute. It is built by people across the globe who work together as a community: the Fedora Project. The Fedora Project is open and anyone is welcome to join.

The Fedora Project is out front for you, leading the advancement of free, open software and content.

What's new with F9 can be viewed here. Get your hot Fedora now.

Enjoy.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

HowTo: Install YouTube Video Download in Fedora

This quick post should have been here since but I keep on forgetting about this quick howto.

Download Videos from Youtube from Fedora box

Tired of watching and browsing the same old video files from Youtube? Do you wish to collect Youtube video clips of your favorite video files from youtube? Now, you can do it inside your Fedora box. If you wish to download video clip files from YouTube.com into your desktop, read on.

Youtube Download Installation

Simply install youtube video downloader called Youtube-dl. Youtube downloader is a command line-driven linux tool designed to download youtube videos into your desktop, you got it right. Download youtube videos from youtube into your Fedora box.

Simply folow this yum installation

# yum -y install youtube-dl

Youtube-Dl Usage

The video clip shown below is one of the fastest one-handed rubix cube solver that solves rubix cube in less than 18 seconds as you can see.



Now, if you with to download the above video using youtube video downloader, simply

# youtube-dl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnRJROskpp4

File output would be saved as vnRJROskpp4.flv file format.

Play Youtube Video from your Desktop

To play video file from youtube, simply follow the vlc install procedures from here.
# youtube-dl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BA9om9iy0c

Alternatively, you can use a browser to download youtube videos from here.

Enjoy viewing youtube video from your desktop!

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Monday, May 05, 2008

HowTo: Install FFMpeg on Fedora Linux

FFMpeg is a complete and free Internet live audio and video broadcasting solution for Linux/Unix. It also includes a digital VCR. FFMpeg can encode in real time in many formats including MPEG1 audio and video, MPEG4, h263, ac3, asf, avi, real, mjpeg, and flash.

FFmpeg can generate a lot of different types of multimedia files with a variety of audio and video codecs inside. Sometimes these formats do not adhere to "accepted" specifications. Many open source multimedia playback applications have been specifically tuned to play all manner of multimedia files, no matter how incomplete or broken. However, certain widespread, proprietary multimedia applications, such as Microsoft Windows Media Player and Apple's QuickTime Player, are a little more rigid in the types of files they will accept.

FFMPEG Fedora Installation

Fedora repo supports FFMpeg. To install, simply issue

# yum -y install ffmpeg

FFMPeg Usage

# ffmpeg -i inputfile.ext outfile.mov
# ffmpeg -i inputfile.ext outfile.mp4
# ffmpeg -i inputfile.ext outfile.mpg

To convert a movie file into a playable AVI file
# ffmpeg -i inputfile.ext -vcodec msmpeg4 -vtag MP43 -acodec mp3 outfile.avi

To use Microsoft MPEG-4v2 video
# ffmpeg -i inputfile.ext -vcodec msmpeg4v2 -acodec mp3 outfile.avi

To create MPEG file with MPEG-1 video and MP2 audio.
# ffmpeg -i inputfile.ext outfile.mpg

To convert FLV to MPG using ffmpeg
# ffmpeg -i inputfile.flv -ab 56 -ar 22050 -b 500 -s 320x240 outputfile.mpg

Yes, you can use MPEG to convert video files from one format to another format, with a different video quality and pass. File output from FFMpeg was also tested to work with Windows Media player, Apple Video Player, Quick Time players and more.

That is all folks.

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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

HowTo: Powerful Metric and Units Linux Conversion Tool

Does a scientific calculator scares you or your visitor aways from your seat? An online metric conversion site is miles away from your linux desktop internet connection? Worry not, here's a quick tip on how to have an offline metric conversion linux tool that could help most metric and scientific calculations that you might have. Read on.

Linux Metric Conversion Tool
On Fedora, there exist a linux application that can accomplish any metric conversion or most scientific calculations. This metric conversion linux tool can do a wide variety of mathematical conversion and calculations covering areas such as length, size, weight, time, linear, non-linear, speed, pressure, volume, temperature and more known mathematical unit conversions.

More specifically, this linux conversion tool can do 2439 units, 71 prefixes, 33 nonlinear units mathematical conversions in a flash!

What is Units

Units converts an amount from one unit to another, or tells you what mathematical operation you need to perform to convert from one unit to another. The units program can handle multiplicative scale changes as well as conversions such as Fahrenheit to Celsius.

Units Installation on Fedora
As small as 127K of bytes is needed to install units rpm on Fedora. Simply

# yum -y install units

If you want to the list of units this tool is capable of conversion, view /usr/share/units.dat.

Some sample usage:

# units 1hr+1minute seconds
result:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* 3660
/ 0.00027322404
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The above basically means that 1 hour and 1 minute have 3660 seconds.

# units 3ft m
result:
* 0.9144
/ 1.0936133

More unit samples:

# units $5/yard cents/inch
# units 2btu+450ft lbf
# units 1/2kg kg/meter

Execute units without any parameters would give you interactive inputs and results like so
# units
You have: sqrt(acre)
You want:
Definition: 63.615034 m

Linux makes desktop operations complete. Enjoy!

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Linux - Draw that thing from your Mind
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

HowTo: Prevent Non-Root From Rebooting/Shutting Down The System

Have you experienced a scenario where your users make use of reboot or halt command? Did somebody user just reboot your own server? Do you want to prevent your users from shutting down your linux box or even rebooting it?

Here's a quick entry on how to prevent users from rebooting or shutting down your fedora linux box.

Prevent Non-Root From Using Reboot/Shutdown Commands

In order to avoid non-scheduled downtime of your linux box via reboot/halt/shutdown command usage by non-root users, carefully follow the below three steps

1. Edit /etc/inittab file, find the below line that says

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and edit the line to look like

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ca::ctrlaltdel:ech0 Reboot/Shutdown is not possible at this time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2. Additionally, you can delete,rename, or move the files reboot, poweroff, and halt binary files from /etc/security/console.apps/ directory folder to another binary file names or to a different folder location.

3. Additionally, you can also remove, rename, or change file permissions to these files
/usr/bin/poweroff
/sbin/shutdown
/usr/bin/halt
/usr/bin/reboot

You can also apply these changes to folders where these binary resides, but be careful as some needed binaries are not suid-enabled and cannot be executed specially during boot time that might cause a problem to your setup. Alternatively, the renamed or moved binaries, or aliases can also be set to be immutable at your own discretion.

Take note that when renaming or moving binary files, make sure you remember their new names or command aliases. There are other patch up scenario to avoid users from executing them, but most likely the approach could be the same.

The above scenario are taken without any consideration to selinux settings, sudoers file or jailed ssh user environment or any X-based applications calling those mentioned root binaries.

Goodluck.

HowTo: UDP Connectivity Host Test

Are you wondering how would you be able to test and probe a port that listens for UDP connections? Or how would you test a listening UDP port?

How to test a listening UDP port

If you have managed to create a daemonized service that opens port for UDP connections, here's how to test that listening UDP port for UDP connections. Read on.

To test a listening UDP port, simply use nmap.

# nmap -p [port] -sU -P0 [host name | ip address]
# nmap -p 123 -sU -P0 example.com
# nmap -p 123 -sU -P0 123.123.123.123

From the command shown above, I am assuming that the host example.com is currently serving NTP service on UDP port 123.

Sample opened UDP port output:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Starting Nmap 4.52 ( http://insecure.org ) at 2008-04-29 10:56 WAT
Interesting ports on host.example.com (123.123.123.123):
PORT STATE SERVICE
123/udp open|filtered ntp
MAC Address: 00:02:A5:EC:00:8C (Compaq Computer)

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 1.043 seconds
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not only you get to test and scan the UDP port, you also get the host's current MAC address.

If you have a closed UDP port, you should be seeing similar lines as shown
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Interesting ports on localhost (127.0.0.1):
PORT STATE SERVICE
123/udp closed ntp
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Goodluck.

Similar Posts:
Nmap Port Scanning
Install NMap GUI FrontEnd
List Out Opened Linux Ports
MAC Address Network Scan

HowTo: Secure SSH by Disabling Root Logins

Securing SSH is one major thing on server boxes regardless of server location. Here's one quick tip of adding security to your SSH connection by disabling any root logins.

How to secure SSH by disabling root logins?

To disable direct root logins, edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config file and replace this line

#PermitRootLogin yes

with the below line

PermitRootLogin no

Remember to remove the # comment character. Then restart SSH service

# service sshd restart

Quick tip, enjoy.

HowTo: Retrieve Current Latitude and Longtitude from Linux

Do you know your exact zone longitude and latitude coordinates? Knowing your current zone coordinates won't hurt a bit. Here's how to retrieve latitude and longitude coordinates inside your linux box via terminal.

To pinpoint your latitude and longitude of your current location from your Fedora box, follow the following command sample

How to Retrieve Latitude/Longitude Coordinates from Linux box

# grep -i manila /usr/share/zoneinfo/zone.tab
result:
PH +1435+12100 Asia/Manila

Legend:
First Column : Country Code
Second Column: Latitude and Longitude Coordinates
Third Column: Time Zone (usually following the continent/city format)

Let's try another one.

# grep -i singapore /usr/share/zoneinfo/zone.tab
# grep -i new_york /usr/share/zoneinfo/zone.tab

result:
SG +0117+10351 Asia/Singapore

That's it.

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