Applications

Work with YAML files using yq, a lightweight and portable command-line YAML processor.

Download releases from GitHub using eget command-line utility.

Open GNU dbm database file.

Perform automated auditing using lighthouse.

Install Forgejo using podman.

Install fd as a simple and user-friendly alternative to find.

Install n³ a tiny and unobtrusive terminal file manager that will accompany you in your daily tasks.

Use Ventoy, an open source tool, to create a bootable USB drive for ISO/IMG/VHD/… files.

Pretty-print text files inside terminal using bat, a cat clone with syntax highlighting and Git integration.

It is the time to look for a fork due to recent changes to the Audacity privacy policy (GitHub issue New privacy policy is completely unacceptable! #1213), Contributor License Agreement, and telemetry implementation.

Install AdGuard Home Network-wide ads & trackers blocking DNS server.

Install Nexus Repository Manager (NXRM) 3.

Perform shell script analysis using shellcheck, a shell script static analysis tool.

Format and beautify Nginx configuration using dedicated utilities like nginx-config-formatter, nginxbeautifier, and crossplane.

Import Restya board into Wekan using Bourne-again shell script to convert the JSON file.

Keep track of network latency using SmokePing on Debian Buster.

SmokePing 2.7.3 needs an update to use the SSH probe on Debian Buster.

Protect Netdata using basic access authentication.

Install netdata on Debian Buster to perform real-time performance monitoring.

Install Restyaboard, an Open Source Kanban board.

Protect the operating system against accidental shutdown or reboot.

Use wcs stream meter created by Arno Wagner to display count and rate statistics for data read on standard input.

Use CutyCapt inside ArchiveBox to capture screenshot of the complete website.

Use nginx and Lua module to remotely archive websites using ArchiveBox.

Install ArchiveBox an open source self-hosted web archive to preserve websites you care about.

Install Prosody, an Open-source and modern XMPP communication server.

Delete Nextcloud bookmarks using API. Notice, data is paginated in this case, so this particular case is more interesting than regular add/remove operations.

I am currently playing with floccus to store bookmarks using Nextcloud, so I have created simple shell scripts to import Nextcloud bookmarks from Firefox using code from my earlier solution to open Firefox bookmarks from the OpenBox menu.

There is a bookmark manager for Nextcloud that can be used with the floccus browser extension to synchronize bookmarks using Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. I will show you how to perform API calls to automate the backup process.

Use the extensive API offered by the Restyaboard to backup and restore created boards.

Install Restyaboard, an Open Source Kanban board. I am using it daily to manage this blog.

Install the UniFi controller to configure a wireless network using Ubiquiti devices.

There are many different ways to verify IPv4 address inside a shell script, but many of these are complicated or incomplete. I will describe a simple and verbose way to check IPv4 address using ipcalc utility.

Display IPv4 network information for given address and netmask. Split networks, calculate subnetworks and supernetworks and convert address range.

Keep track of network latency using SmokePing, uWSGI application server, and Nginx HTTP server. SmokePing supports many configurable probes, alerting, and live charts accessible through a web browser. It was created by Tobi Oetiker, which is known for RRDtool an Open Source data logging and graphing system for time series data.

Install and configure a private instance of the MoinMoin wiki engine, a full-featured and extensible wiki software written in Python that can store personal notes, knowledge base, or simply share interests.

It is really easy to hit 2 TB (using 512-byte sectors) partition size limit when using MBR disk partition table. I just hit this problem myself and solved it using GUID partition table format to create one huge partition for data storage.

HP Command Line Array Configuration Utility hpacucli provides several useful and easily scriptable commands for HP array controllers running Linux operating system.

HP Management Command Line Interface hpasmcli provides several useful and easily scriptable commands for HP ProLiant Servers running Linux operating system.

There is no better utility than wget to recursively download interesting files from the depths of the internet. I will show you why that is the case.

I do not store passwords inside internet browsers as I prefer to use utilities particularly designed for secure personal data management. Firefox password prompt is very annoying, so disable it once for all and use KeePassX or similar software.

I am using Markdown to write and organize notes as this simple format has proved to be an ideal solution for storing technical documentation. I can edit and read documentation on any device or operating system and keep everything in sync using git repository. Then use MDwiki to read and share these notes over network.

It is hard to keep up to date password database when you need to access it on devices made by different manufacturers, so I will show you how to synchronize passwords between the devices we use everyday.

If you have ever wondered how to perform real-time performance monitoring on a number of virtual hosts scattered across multiple locations, then install and use netdata application.

During my quite long and interesting adventure with DokuWiki I have used many great and useful plugins, which I still install and configure on small DokuWiki instances. After using it extensively over a year, I have found only one plugin that can be added to that list. It is a simple, but very useful plugin to rebuild Dokuwiki index.

I enjoy using Newsbeuter RSS reader, so I quickly generated simple theme using my favorite colors. I will share it with you and strongly encourage to create your own theme as the whole process is quite fun and satisfying.

I am using tmux terminal multiplexer daily. It is an irreplaceable utility that eases everyday tasks as it lets you switch between multiple applications in one terminal. I will briefly describe my personal configuration setup.

Dokuwiki is the best Open Source project I have ever used, so I have prepared a simple step-by-step guide to help you get started. It is relatively brief and concise as most of the code was already described in other blog posts found on this website.

It is a very short note as I simply want to share my personal CSS modifications to the FastMail web-interface using Stylish a user styles manager

It was recently pointed out to me by Piotr Gabryjeluk that Iceweasel name was dropped (see Debian Bug report #815006). This caused a major inconsistency in the previous blog post. This is an updated version for Debian Jessie

Since the beginning of this year, I have started using Seafile, and I absolutely love it as it offers simple data organization using libraries and reliable file synchronization between multiple devices with built-in encryption. Check for yourself as it is undoubtedly worth it.

The GNU Privacy Guard is an essential application when you need to ensure the confidentiality and origin of the information, so it helps to protect your privacy and the people you communicate with.

The more hard drives are lying around and the more you use them, then it becomes more important to know how to unambiguously determine file system type without mounting it.

Today, quite by chance I found out that I can read Tiny Tiny RSS news using newsbeuter feed reader for text terminals. It is great news, as I can leave it running inside tmux session to access it remotely.

Some time ago, I have recovered an old hard drive only to learn that it contained encrypted LVM logical volume.

While this is not my primary area of expertise, I have been using John the Ripper more frequently lately, so I began to wonder how to take advantage of the powerful Nvidia GPU…

Do you want to use the latest version of Iceweasel, also known as Firefox? Then add the repository provided by the Debian Mozilla team and choose between release, beta and aurora versions. This blog post is obsolete. Please read How to use a recent version of Firefox in Debian Jessie instead.

Recently described hddtemp application does not contain every possible hard drive in its database. I’ll be honest here, its development stopped many years ago, but it is still very useful, so I will shortly describe how to add new hard drive to the database.

It is often overlooked that hard drives which are available on the market provide temperature measurements. This temperature can be effortlessly monitored using hddtemp application by Emmanuel Varagnat.

I have mentioned youtube-dl several times previously, but never really had the time to explain why I like it so much. Therefore I will describe it now.

I am using Sublime Text to write this blog post. It is a great piece of software. However, it does not contain a desktop file, so you need to create it separately.

For reasons incomprehensible to me, Firefox is using a non-standard jsonlz4 file format to store bookmark backups. You can forget about standard console-based utilities to extract its contents as I have already tried this without any success. It is a huge let down.

Notepad++ is a GPL licensed source code editor for Windows operating system. I use it rarely due to Linux related habits, but my friends are using it all the time, so there must be something about it. Taking this into account, I will briefly describe how to edit files using this editor over SSH File Transfer Protocol.

I am using Dokuwiki almost every day, as I love writing documentation and organizing knowledge. Due to this, I have created a list of plugins I cannot live without.

Windows 7 does not support virtual desktops out of the box. Fortunately, there is a lightweight Desktops application by Mark Russinovich included in Sysinternals utilities.

Sometimes it can be very useful to access Linux Extended File System using Windows to copy important data or just check out its contents. The best way to do this is to use Ext2Fsd an Extended File System driver for Windows.

It is easy to lock the screen when using any of the available desktop environments or even basic X Window utilities. The more interesting thing is to achieve the same functionality on a text-only based system.

A week ago I wrote about a couple of interesting applications that can crack passwords, but they were not as fast as I thought. After investigating this topic further, I ended up using a community-enhanced version of John the Ripper.

I have recovered old backup only to learn that I do not remember password to the found archive. As a result, I checked out two command-line applications to crack passwords used to encrypt zip, 7z or rar archives.

I have been using Tiny Tiny RSS for more than one and a half years. It is a great and pleasant to use web-based application, but currently I am more inclined to use a console-based replacement like Newsbeuter RSS reader.

Tig is an ncurses-based text-mode interface for git that uses Vim keybindings.

The easiest way to sync files with Google Drive is to use insync client which provides seamless user experience, customer support and enhanced functionality.

Do you want to use the latest version of Iceweasel, also known as Firefox? Then add the repository provided by the Debian Mozilla team and choose between release, beta and aurora version.

I was using licensed version of Sublime Text editor to write articles available here, but a couple of days ago I switched to Atom customizable text editor.

Long time ago I have tried to open FreeMind mind map on an Android tablet and failed due to very limited possibilities. Today I tried it again and finally found an ideal application SimpleMind that can import/export mind maps using FreeMind format.

Previous entry was too long to include additional screenshots of the web-interface, so today I will write a couple of words about web-interface and show you several screenshots.

During my recent activity I have noted to check out how to extract an ISO image in a traditional way using only shell utilities. It turned out to be easier than I thought, so I will present you three different solutions.

I am using Jekyll to generate this website for half a year and Gandi for an even longer period of time so at the beginning of this year I revisited How to quickly download or upload directory tree over FTP post and created a simple but useful shell script to automate build and upload process.

I have recently switched to OpenBox, so today, I will use dynamic menus to integrate Firefox bookmarks with an existing OpenBox menu.

A couple of days on the road made me realize that I need a simple desktop utility that will download files when I sleep.

Today I will shortly describe how to set up Raspberry Pi as a tiny NAS server. I am using one at home daily, and it is a handy appliance.

If you ever wanted to create bootable recovery USB Flash Drive then I have good news for you as it can be achieved in several simple steps using Clonezilla Live CD, external USB Hard Drive, and a target USB Flash Drive.

I am currently using a cellular connection most of the time. Thus, it is obvious that I prefer to reduce the amount of data transferred over the network. A significant portion of it is reduced by the apt caching proxy apt-cacher-ng as I use Debian Linux distribution and VirtualBox on a daily basis.

Static key configuration is the easiest and shortest way to set up an OpenVPN tunnel.

Recently, completely by accident I found phpVirtualBox, a web-based VirtualBox front-end written in PHP. From my point of view it is a very useful project as it provides an easy way to manage virtual machines on a headless server or any other spare machine you have access to.

Today I will describe how to use rsync over ssh using four simple examples as it is a very convenient way to perform a secure and automated backup.

At the beginning of the last year, I wrote about VirtualBox image conversion. Today, I will continue this topic further and describe how to control the virtual machine using the command line.

I am using the Firefox web browser most of the time, but you need to know that I have drawn a clear line between daily browsing and strictly private usage by using a browser sandbox. I will shortly describe the whole process so you could also benefit from it.

I am using Tiny Tiny RSS every day to read and organize news feeds as it is my personal favourite, but it does not mean that it is the only available choice, so I will briefly present four different interesting PHP-based Open Source solutions.

Brief description of the Kolab Groupware integration with Dokuwiki.

Brief description of the Kolab Groupware integration with Tiny Tiny RSS.

A quite lengthy but very straightforward description of the Kolab Groupware integration with Piwik Web Analytics. The integration process is simpler than you think as the additional application (Piwik) is hosted externally and doesn’t use a single sign-on.

Almost four months ago I mentioned moving personal data to the private server. Now it is reality as I have already started to move and organize personal data using Kolab groupware server. To check out basic functionality check out my previous blog post because I will only show you additional software I am using.

I hit an intriguing problem as I needed to relay selected mailboxes rather than the whole domain. I assume that you have already noticed that everything needs to happen on the same domain. It is a rare and quite interesting task so I will quickly describe it here using ISPConfig 3 but beware as this is a very specific topic so I strongly suggest investigating it further before applying any changes.

Recently I was searching for a clean and simple web-based administration tool for a couple of small virtual servers so I decided to use Ajenti. It is a simple and easily extendable administration/monitoring utility using the Python language. Installation is very straightforward as there are packages available for the FreeBSD operating system and a couple of Linux distributions.

Recently I discovered console based task manager – devtodo. It is a very useful tool as you can easily use it over an SSH connection, create multiple different lists and combine them together. I will shortly describe devtodo utility available in Debian package repository but you need to know that you can use newer version – devtodo 2.

I was wondering how to easily install Steam on Debian Wheezy and unexpectedly found a solution on GitHub. To download and play Linux games available on Steam without any hassle you need to download and install Steam installer for Wheezy package.

Recently I came across Omeka – an Open Source web-publishing platform designed to share collections or digital archives. I was surprised by the ease of installation, attractive design and flexibility.

Final Version of Kolab Groupware 3.0 was released two weeks ago. It is a complete groupware suite that includes modules such as Mail, Contacts, Calendar and Tasks. Its strong advantage is support for synchronization of mobile devices.

Recently I was wondering if it would be possible to automate mouse and keyboard actions. The answer is obviously yes as you can use xautomation and xdotool tools. I will describe them in a couple of simple examples.

I am not a native English speaker so I often use thesaurus when writing a blog post or just an email message. A long time ago I always used web-based solutions but since I found Artha – The Open Thesaurus I wouldn’t change it for anything else as it has handy and slick user interface, on the fly search, suggestions and hotkey lookup.

Adblock Plus appeared yesterday on Google Play. It’s great news as it means a better browsing experience. Application acts as transparent proxy so you can use Google Chrome without any ads.

Recently I installed OpenWRT on Ubiquiti AirRouter as the original firmware is lacking in a couple of areas. Installation is easy and straightforward as all you need to do at the time of writing this post is to use Attitude Adjustment release.

Recently I needed to replicate data between two Linux servers so I could mitigate potential hardware failure. To achieve this goal I used GlusterFS – an Open Source distributed file system. In this example I will use Debian Wheezy as I want to try more recent version of GlusterFS.

Ubuntu Precise 12.04 currently contains in repository youtube-dl version 2012.02.27-1. Due to recent YouTube changes, this package version is no longer usable but there is an updated version in the Ubuntu Quantal 12.10 repository. To use it you need to perform a couple of steps described below.

Quick Response Codes are appearing everywhere. You can see them in museums, near the tourist attractions or all over the web. There is no doubt that QR Codes are useful as they can contain any information within reasonable limits.

From time to time I play older games on my notebook. I download them from Good Old Games and play on Linux as most of them work and it is easy to check which ones are supported using WineHQ website. Recently I installed PlayOnLinux and I like it because it allows you to keep and manage all Windows applications in one place.

Android FOSS repository client (F-Droid is a robot with a passion for Free and Open Source software) provides easy access to a number of interesting FOSS applications.

From time to time most of us need to feed an application with custom data for testing or presentation purposes. This can be easily achieved by using Data Generator. It is a GPL licensed PHP/MySQL application with a nice web browser interface.

This is a very easy task as you only need a small Linux server and a GSM terminal or any phone supported by Gammu.

Recently I was playing with Growl notifications and I thought it would be a cool idea to see on the desktop notifications sent from my phone.

Signal strength on Mikrotik devices can be monitored by Cacti using SNMP protocol. It is straightforward if you have just a couple of those devices but you can be easily overwhelmed by dozens of data templates because the wireless card’s MAC address is part of the OID.

The easiest way to download YouTube videos is to use youtube-dl.

A couple of days ago I installed Collabtive to manage my small projects in one place.

The fastest way to download or upload directory tree over FTP using just plain console is to execute lftp command.

I recently read an article about Booktype, got interested and tried the software myself.

Read requirements and follow installation instructions to integrate Roundcube with ISPConfig 3. Source code is available at GitHub

If you are looking for search engine software then try Yioop! It is PHP based and Open Source so it is very easy to deploy it on an Intranet or remote dedicated server. You can try it directly at yioop.com

Most hosting providers don’t provide a file manager application but there is an easy solution as you can use AjaXplorer. It is a web-based file management software (PHP based and Open Source application!).

I was searching for an easy cloud service recently. My findings were less than satisfactory – just client applications, no WebDAV support or high prices. Then I found ownCloud.

I tend to forget passwords from time to time so I installed KeePassX today. Now I can store them in one place, organize and perform auto type.

Recently I started using Redshift. It is a small application that changes the color temperature of your screen. It is a really good idea as eyes don’t get tired so quickly at night.

Download and run Universal USB Installer as it offers a wide range of Linux distributions and easy automatic process.

This simple script will create web thumbnail using cutycapt console command.

For the last couple of days, I was searching for self-hosted bookmark management software and found a great solution that is under active development: SemanticScuttle.

It’s easy to miss something when you need to monitor a dozen logs on different servers and some other devices. Fortunately, there is a simple solution as you can use rsyslog with PostgreSQL or MySQL support to store all local and remote events on your network and then visualize results using LogAnalyzer.

If you need to test router configuration, prepare a small lab, or just learn something new then download and use GNS3.

From time to time I need to backup/restore OS on the CF card using Windows machine.

Create new website in ISPConfig and install Roundcube.

A couple of days ago I started using Viridian as the front-end for an Ampache and I am very pleased with it.

I was testing a couple of solutions (as I posted earlier) to find a web-based media manager that suits me best. It took four days but finally, I decided to use one.

Today I was preparing a custom image again as I don’t remember where I put it last time.

I prefer to use a small netbook over a desktop PC for light web browsing at home. It’s very comfortable but I need something to filter out advertisements.

I am searching for a web-based media manager to organize my small music collection so it is the best time to evaluate possible solutions.

Install LibreOffice in Ubuntu.

Two days ago my friend posted about his chosen Linux-like environment for Windows.

Check out HTTPS Everywhere (Firefox and Chrome extension) to automatically rewrite your requests to use HTTPS protocol.