Tag Archives: tutorials

Installing Tor in Ubuntu Hardy

before i show you how to install tor in ubuntu hardy, i am going to explain a little bit what exactly tor is.

Tor is a software project that helps you defend against traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security. Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location. Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the TCP protocol.

Retrieved from torproject.org

So if you want more information go and visit torproject.org and you will be able to answer all your questions.  so now lets go and install tor in ubuntu.

Steps:

  1. Open your “Terminal” and type “sudo apt-get install tor”
  2. after tor is installed now you will need to install privoxy.  for that you will need to go to this page and download you system architecture version (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=35042&release_id=627607).  in my case is privoxy_3.0.10-1_i386.deb.after having both programs install now is all about configuration of just one of them ;).
  3. now, on your “Terminal” make a copy of the configuration file from privoxy folder. in my case would be “sudo cp /etc/privoxy/config /etc/privoxy/config-backup”
  4. make a new file with “sudo nano /etc/privoxy/config”
  5. paste the following information:

    # Generally, this file goes in /etc/privoxy/config
    #
    # Tor listens as a SOCKS4a proxy here:
    forward-socks4a / 127.0.0.1:9050 .
    confdir /etc/privoxy
    logdir /var/log/privoxy
    actionsfile standard # Internal purpose, recommended
    actionsfile default # Main actions file
    actionsfile user # User customizations
    filterfile default.filter

    # Don’t log interesting things, only startup messages, warnings and errors
    #logfile logfile
    #jarfile jarfile
    #debug 0 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
    debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings
    debug 8192 # Errors – *we highly recommended enabling this*

    user-manual /usr/share/doc/privoxy/user-manual
    listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118
    toggle 1
    enable-remote-toggle 0
    enable-edit-actions 0
    enable-remote-http-toggle 0
    buffer-limit 4096

    Retrieve from https://wiki.torproject.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/PrivoxyConfig

  6. exit out from the program (nano NOT terminal) and save it.
  7. go to this site to install the tor plug in for firefox.  Tor Plug in.
  8. after firefox is restarted click on the “Tor Disabled” button in the bottom to enable it, and to check that it works properly go to check tor installation.

if it works, congrats.  if it doesn’t sorry.  go back and check this tutorial or go to tor website to get support.

Fix NTFS Hard Drive

so the other day my friend lend me his external hard drive so i could import some big files that he had on it.  apparently he didn’t click on safe remove drive under windows and he disconnected the hard drive just like that.  i say this because when ever i was trying to open the hard drive windows was saying that the drive still being used by another application.  i couldn’t started in windows for nothing.

so i decided to move do the same thing in linux (ubuntu).  apparently i was receiving the same error.  after 30 minutes of trying i was getting tired and i was about to return his drive back and make him eject safely his hard drive.  well… before doing that i thought… mmmnnn i wonde if there any free app that i could use in linux in order to fix this problem.  guess what? YES, there is.

this app is called ntfs fix, and what it does is, fixes your ntfs drive.  i installed in ubuntu using the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install ntfsfix

then after installing this app all i had to do was running the following commands:
$ sudo ntfsfix /dev/sdc1
$ sudo ntfs /dev/sdc1

where sdc1 is the external hard drive.  then i mounted the drive and it load like a baby.  well, i hope that this helps 😉

How to Reset your Blackberry Pearl

the other day i was having problems with my blackberry pearl 8130 so i decided to wipe every off and start from scratch.  first thing that i did was download all the apps that i had installed.  i really do not remember names well enough so i wrote them all down on a piece of paper.  then i backed up my contacts and calendar appointments using “Desktop Manager” and then NEW BB boy.  then if you are sure 😉 follow the following steps:

  1. Backup your bb using “Desktop Manager”
    Disconnect the device from your computer and do the following..
  2. Goto “Options”
  3. then “Security Options”
  4. then “General Settings”
  5. then hit menu key
  6. then “Wipe Handheld”
  7. now you will be prompt to type the word “blackberry”
  8. confirm, and you are done

now all you have to do is to wait until the blackberry restart it self and now you will have a blackberry like the first time you got it. good luck.

Upgrading Fedora 8 to Fedora 9

Last night I just got finish upgrading my Fedora box from Fedora 8 to Fedora 9. It took me about 1 hour the whole process of downloading the packages and installing them. I did it though the terminal because I don’t have a DVD ROM on that machine and I though that was the best way. I mean I could just format the whole drive but I would need to setup my configurations again and I didn’t wanted to do that. So this tutorial will illustrate how to upgrade your Fedora box from 8 to 9 using the terminal.

Steps:

  1. Go to the “Terminal
  2. Type “su” to become a super user
  3. Now do a “yum update” to install all the packages needed
  4. Now do a “yum clean all” to clean all packages no needed
  5. Now do steps 3 and 4 again. Just to make sure that we have the latest packages
  6. Run the following command on your box “rpm -Uhv http://mirror.liberty.edu/pub/fedora/linux/releases/9/Fedora/i386/os/Packages/fedora-release-9-2.noarch.rpm http://mirror.liberty.edu/pub/fedora/linux/releases/9/Fedora/i386/os/Packages/fedora-release-notes-9.0.0-1.noarch.rpm
  7. Next do a “yum clean all
  8. Now do “yum -y update“. This will actually install all the packages needed in order to have your box upgraded from Fedora 8 to Fedora 9.

I had some problems with with my XAMPP when it was going to load.

root@localhost]# /opt/lampp/lampp start
cat: error while loading shared libraries: libc.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/bin/sh: error while loading shared libraries: libdl.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Starting XAMPP for Linux ...
/bin/bash: error while loading shared libraries: libdl.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/bin/bash: error while loading shared libraries: libdl.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/bin/bash: error while loading shared libraries: libdl.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/bin/bash: error while loading shared libraries: libdl.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/bin/bash: error while loading shared libraries: libdl.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
XAMPP for Linux started.

I resolved this error by doing this…

  1. Go to your XAMPP root folder
  2. Type “cp lampp bk-lampp
  3. Type “cat lampp.bak | sed "s/export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL/#xport LD_ASSUME_KERNEL/" > lampp
  4. Type “./lampp start
  5. Then if you get the following error
    ./lampp: line 94: syntax error near unexpected token `fi'
    ./lampp: line 94: `fi'
  6. Type “gedit lampp
  7. Before line 93 insert “echo "XAMPP is working"
  8. Now run “./lampp start

That should take care of that problem and everything should work perfectly.

XAMPP

XAMPP is an application that it would help you to facilitate the hassle of installing Apache web server, MySQL, Perl and PHP individually. This tutorial will show you step by step on how to install XAMPP in Lunix and have it auto started with your computer. This tutorial was tested on Ubunut and Fedora. Replace x.x.x for the XAMPP version.

Steps:

  1. Go to http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-linux.html and download “XAMPP Linux x.x.x”
  2. Open up the “Termial
  3. Become a root user bu typing “su
  4. Type the administrator password
  5. Go to where the file “xampp-linux-x.x.x.tar.gz” is downloaded
  6. Extract the files by typing this “tar xvfz xampp-linux-1.6.7.tar.gz -C /opt

Now XAMPP will be under “/opt/lampp” folder. In order to run XAMPP you will need to run this… “/opt/lampp/lampp start” as a root. If you want to stop it just replace start for stop.

To test whether your server is up go and open your web browser and type “http://localhost“. If it works you are now good to go to the next step.

This step is setting up XAMPP security. In order to do that being the root type “/opt/lampp/lampp security“.

To remove XAMPP from your system type “rm -rf /opt/lampp

If you want to have XAMPP starting with your machine when it turns on follow this steps.

  1. Find out your default runlevel type “egrep :initdefault: /etc/inittab
    You should no see a line containing a number between two colons. In most cases 3 or 5 (2 if you’re using Debian).
  2. Go into the directory which configures this runlevel. If for example your runlevel is 3, then you have to change directory into the “/etc/rc.d/rc3.d” directory.If your system didn’t provide /etc/rc.d/rc3.d please try also /etc/init.d/rc3.d and /etc/rc3.d.
  3. Now setup XAMPP to start when your computer turns on type”ln -s /opt/lampp/lampp S99lampp
    ln -s /opt/lampp/lampp K01lampp

    Now XAMPP should start and stop automatically if you boot or shutdown your machine.

And that’s it.  Hopefully you had success like I did 😛

Restore Grub

This tutorial will illustrate how to restore grub old settings just in case that you have messed up your linux box trying to install another OS as a dual-os.

Steps:

  1. Open “Terminal
  2. type “sudo grub
  3. type “find /boot/grub/stage1
  4. a list of hard drives will appear, now pick the one that is going to provide the grub files.  In my case i am going to pick “hd0” because that is my hard drive.  in this tutorial please replace the 0 for the number of your hard drive given.
  5. type “root (hd0,0)
  6. type “setup (hd0)
  7. lastly “quit

this should take care of grub to be store in the mbr.

Show your Trash Can in Linux

this tutorial will illustrate how to have the icons in your desktop like windows instead of creating folders to show them icons in GNOME
Steps:

  1. Open your “Terminal
  2. type “gconf-editor
  3. Then Goto “apps->nautilus->desktop
  4. Click the box beside computer_icon_visible, home_icon_visible, and trash_icon_visible
  5. Close the window and you should be set

Show desktop icon

This easy tutorial for XP  will show you how to have your “Show Desktop” icon on any where in your computer.  Also you could download the file by clicking download.

Steps:

  1. Open “Notepad
  2. type:
    [Shell]
    Command=2
    IconFile=explorer.exe,3
    [Taskbar]
    Command=ToggleDesktop
  3. Now, “Save As...
  4. File name “Show Desktop.scf
  5. Place your show desktop as desired

Upgrading Ubuntu

I am not responsible for any damages, data loss or any other strange computer behaviors.

  1. Ubuntu 7.10 must be installed in your computer
  2. Open your “Terminal”
  3. Type sudo do-release-upgrade –devel-release
  4. Wait until the new system is downloaded and installed
  5. Be patient now… it is almost done
  6. Now is going to ask you if you want to remove the packages that were installed in your computer type y
  7. Now reboot your system
  8. Congratulations, you are finish. Now will have the final version prerelease of Ubuntu 8.04

If you want to install Ubuntu 8.04 through “Update Manager” click on this link for the tutorial.

Infanview Thumbnails Tutorial

This tutorial will show you and teach you how to make thumbnails using a freebie called Infranview Thumbnails.

Steps to make an image to a thumbnail

  1. I downloaded this image form this website http://www.ikp.unibe.ch/lab2/ppnew/pp5/inborn_files/slide0021_image034.gif
  2. Open InfranView Thumbnail
  3. Find where your image(s) is place AND select image (s)

Before we continue, please go to Options > Set Thumbnail Options … I have my setting setup like this

When you are done just click OK

  1. Now, go to File > Select single thumbs as single images…
  2. Go to your folder using windows explorer and you should have a new file created with “filename_t.jpg” in the end. Here is an example.

You are done. Now you have your old image and with the new thumbnail.

If you are having any difficulties with this tutorial, please contact me.