Best Linux Distributions

What is the best linux distribution for you ?

There are various approaches to answering this question. The broad answer is: "any of them," but that's not very helpful if you're just looking for a place to start.

The problem is, there never can be one best Linux distribution for everyone, because the needs of each user tend to be unique. Telling someone who's looking for a good introductory distribution to try Gentoo, for instance, would be a mistake because for all its positive qualities, Gentoo is decidedly not a beginner's distro.

All too often, Linux aficionados will tend to list the distributions they like as the best, which is fair, but if they are not aware of their audience, they could suggest something that does not meet that person's needs. Finding a good Linux distribution is like finding a good match in an online dating service: good looks aren't the only quality upon which to judge a Linux distro.

To help users discover the Linux distribution that's best for them, this resource will definitively list the best candidates for the various types of Linux users to try. The use-case categories will be:

• Best Desktop Distribution
• Best Laptop Distribution
• Best Enterprise Desktop
• Best Enterprise Server
• Best LiveCD
• Best Security-Enhanced Distribution
• Best Multimedia Distribution

Best Linux Desktop Distribution

There are a lot of Linux distributions that have the primary focus of becoming the next best desktop replacement for Windows or OS X. Of all the categories in this list, this is the most sought-after, and contentious, group of distros.

While it would be ideal to include many distributions on this list, the reality is that there really needs to be just one "best" Linux distribution. For early 2010, that distro has to be Canonical's Ubuntu.

Ubuntu edges out its closest contenders, Fedora and openSUSE, because its development team is constantly focused on the end-user experience. Canonical and the Ubuntu community have spent a lot of time and resources on bringing ease-of-use tools to this distribution, particularly in the area of installing Ubuntu and installing applications within Ubuntu.

In addition, Ubuntu's level of support for its desktop products is highly superior, which is important in this class of distributions since it is the most likely to contain users new to Linux. Both the official and unofficial Ubuntu documentation is robust and searchable, a big plus.

Best Linux Laptop Distribution

Laptop distributions almost fall into the same category as desktop users, but there are a number of key differences that make the criteria for evaluating a good laptop distribution important. Power management, docking tools, and wireless ease-of-use are critical to users on the go, as is having a distro that meets those needs.

Right now, the best laptop distribution is openSUSE, one of the lead contenders for the desktop honors. On the laptop, openSUSE shines with great connectivity tools, such as an easy-to-use networking toolset that not only handles WiFi connectivity, but also CDMA/cellular modem connections.

openSUSE also deals with docking stations for laptops very well, including dual-monitor management on the fly. Power management is very granular, which is great for detailing various power needs you might find yourself needing.

Best Linux Enterprise Desktop

This category is replete with great contenders as well, and it's difficult to highlight just one. At the end of the day, though, the nod must be given to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED).

The reason is simple: while SLED and its primary competitor Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop are nearly identical in features and support performance, SLED has the advantage of the openSUSE Build Service, a free and open service that lets applications be built and delivered to SUSE Linux and openSUSE products (as well as Red Hat and CentOS).

This is a very important differentiator in enterprise desktop development, as it means that SLED has the current advantage of application building and deployment in the enterprise arena.

Best Linux Enterprise Server

Again, in this category it really comes down to two main contenders: Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES). Given the pick for the Enterprise Desktop category, you might expect SLES to get the "best of" label here.

But, when all factors for the enterprise server are weighed, RHEL is still the king of this particular hill.

Red Hat edges out Novell with its server product, because RHEL users get a deeply mature distribution, and Red Hat's support structure is second to none in the enterprise channels.

Best Linux LiveCD

As Linux technology improves, users can easily choose the LiveCD version of practically any of the Linux distros listed here to get the best LiveCD experience for their needs.

There is a specialized class of LiveCDs, however, that offers users utilities and tools for the specific purpose of repairing existing Linux and Windows installations. These distros are very useful to have regardless of what primary Linux distribution you like to use, because in a crisis they are invaluable to own.

In this class of distribution, KNOPPIX is hands-down the most complete and useful distro. Loaded on a CD or USB storage device, KNOPPIX will let you recover from nearly any rare Linux system crash as well as the much-less-rare Windows breakdowns.

Best Linux Security-Enhanced Distribution

Linux is inherently very secure compared to other operating systems, but there's always room for improvement.

One of the challenges for locking down Linux is if you are not careful, you can take away too much functionality. Another challenge is that the best security-oriented Linux distro, SELinux, is historically known to be difficult to configure correctly. Still, if security out of the box is your priority, this is the best place to begin.

Another approach is the white hat method: using security and forensic tools to examine your existing installation, determine the holes, then lock your system down based on what gaps you find. If you have the time and inclination, this is a great way to do it, because this will get any existing system more secure right away.

For the white hat approach, the best distribution is BackTrack Linux, a dedicated penetration testing distro that will enable you to safely try to crack any system you are caretaking. Its toolset and strong community give it the advantage in this category.

Best Linux Multimedia Distribution

General Linux distributions have come a long way in terms of multimedia performance. Rare is the audio or video file that can't be played on Linux. Music services such as Rhapsody and video sites like YouTube and Hulu are also standards-compliant and accessible to Linux users.

Still, for those users who are multimedia creators as well as consumers, there are Linux distributions that contain powerful tools for audio and video editing.

The best in this class is currently Ubuntu Studio. For audio, video, and graphic production, it contains a very complete set of tools, as well as format and codec support for a huge range of multimedia formats.

The applications contained in Ubuntu Studio are the same or similar to those used by major studios to create cutting edge work, so users are getting the best apps, coupled with the strong support ethos already found in the Ubuntu community.

In Linux there are as many opinions as there are lines of code. This represents one view of the best in Linux. Select yours.

How To Mount A Hard Drive Automatically During Start up In Ubuntu

I do not know how many times I will ever receive requests such as “ Hello, how can I automatically mount a hard disk boot Ubuntu? ”. Finally I managed to find some ‘time to write this article I will show you the steps necessary to ensure that, in a completely automatic, power up your Ubuntu are also mounted hard drive or hard drive you need . Let’s start with a first method , longer and more cumbersome, but you will have full control of what you are doing. Open the terminal and type:

sudo mkdir / media / namepersonaldetails

Of course replace “ namepersonaldetails ” with a name to your liking. With this command we are not doing is create a directory under / media where we will mount our hard drive.Now comes the slightly more difficult to know the name of your HD (/ dev/sda2 / dev/sda3, etc.). You can do this from a terminal type the command:

sudo fdisk-l

or the command:

df-h

Now we have to edit the fstab file is a configuration file used to indicate which and how many drives loaded at boot time, with their options. Enter, therefore, the following command:

sudo nano / etc / fstab

and, at the end of the file, add:

/ Dev/sda3 / media / namepersonaldetails ntfs auto, rw, exec, users, dmask = 000, fmask = 111, nls = utf8 0 0

As you can see it, in this case, a HD with NTFS file system. To check that the HD is really mounted, type:

sudo mount-a

Another effective method , and very fast, is to create a small startup script. Type:

gedit ~ / mount.sh

and paste the following code:

# / Bin / sh 
gvfs-mount-d / dev / sdaX

Where, of course, instead of sdaX you need to put the id of your HD. Now granted execute permissions to this script:

chmod + x ~ / mount.sh

And add it to “ boot applications ”in Ubuntu. All very simple, do not you think?

How to install Perl Module using CPAN

At times, we need to install Perl modules that are not found in the official repository of a distribution. In that case, we have to revert to using cpan. CPAN stands for Comprehensive Perl Archive Network. It is an archive of over 16,000 modules of software written in Perl, as well as documentation for it. This tutorial will show you how to install a module using CPAN.

First we need to launch cpan. Type cpan in a terminal. If it is not already configured, then it will start to ask a series of questions. Just press Enter all the way until it asks for your location. Specify the location by entering the number for that location in the list shown. Then it will ask about your country, go ahead and type the number appropriate for your country. At the end you will see the cpan prompt like so


cpan>

To install a module, for example, Cache::Static, type the following at cpan prompt

cpan>install Cache::Static

It will ask you some questions, just press Enter to accept the defaults which almost always work. The module with all its dependencies will be downloaded, compiled and installed.

When you get back the cpan prompt, the module is installed.
Type quit to get out of cpan

cpan>quit

To confirm that the module is installed successfully, run this command

perl -e "use Cache::Static"

If you get no output, it means the module is installed successfully.

If you see the error “/bin/sh: cc: command not found”, then gcc is not installed. Install it like this on Debian, Ubuntu

aptitude install gcc

On Red Hat, Centos, Fedore, the following will work

yum install gcc

Finding MAC addresses of all devices in LAN

As simple my last creation How to share a directory using nfs my todays creation How to find MAC addresses of all devices in LAN is also very usefull and simple. Actually its just a sharing ;)

Recently I had to find mac addresses of all servers in the local area network (LAN) for preseeding Debian installations using PXE (I will soon write about it). Finding them is easy with nmap

I used the following command and I had the mac addresses along with their associated IPs of all devices in the LAN. To find mac addresses, nmap must be run as root

nmap -sP 192.168.2.*
Starting Nmap 4.11 ( http://www.insecure.org/nmap/ ) at 2010-03-31 12:39 EDT
Host 192.168.2.1 appears to be up.
MAC Address: 00:02:B3:40:E0:AA (Intel)
Host 192.168.2.2 appears to be up.
MAC Address: 00:02:B3:40:E0:A5 (Intel)
Host 192.168.2.3 appears to be up.
MAC Address: 00:02:B3:40:E0:A5 (Intel)
Host 192.168.2.11 appears to be up.
MAC Address: 00:1B:2F:6B:B7:AC (Unknown)
Host 192.168.2.34 appears to be up.
MAC Address: 00:1F:C6:C9:A7:54 (Unknown)
Host 192.168.2.39 appears to be up.
MAC Address: 00:17:A4:93:59:EF (Global Data Services)
Host 192.168.2.50 appears to be up.
MAC Address: 00:1E:8C:04:A5:1F (Unknown)
Host 192.168.2.57 appears to be up.
MAC Address: 00:05:5D:E0:32:DF (D-Link Systems)
Host 192.168.2.71 appears to be up.
MAC Address: 00:03:47:A9:F3:D1 (Intel)
Host 192.168.2.79 appears to be up.
MAC Address: 00:1C:C0:9D:7F:9D (Unknown)
Host 192.168.2.80 appears to be up.
MAC Address: 00:1C:C0:9D:7D:51 (Unknown)
Host 192.168.2.82 appears to be up.
MAC Address: 00:15:58:32:5C:F4 (Foxconn)
…..

How to share a directory using nfs

This creation will walk you through exporting a directory so that we can read from or write to it. I will make it really simple so that in emergency situations, you are good to go within a few minutes

First install nfs server (I am on Debian 5.0, other distributions would have a the nfs package name similar to that)

aptitude install aptitude install nfs-kernel-server

After we have the nfs server installed, you need to export the directory by using the /etc/exports file. The format of the file is:

dir_to_be_exported allowed_hosts(options)

I am just about to export my home dir and allowing only 192.168.2.10 to mount it, so in /etc/exports, I would the following:

/home/linuxgravity 192.168.2.10(rw,sync,no_subtree_check)

That’s it. That was so easy, isn’t it.

Restart nfs server:

/etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server restart

Now it is time for us to mount the shared (exported) directory to mount it on an empty directory. So while in the 192.168.2.10, first we would create a directory

mkdir /home/remote_home

Now just mount it with the following magically command:

mount 192.168.2.2:/home/linuxgravity /home/remote_home

As you have already figured out, the format is mount nfs_server_ip:exported_dir mount_point

And now you can just read from/write to /home/remote_home easily.

The whole process takes only less than two minutes ;)

ssh passwordless authentication without keys

Imagine ever wanted to avoid the hassle of typing in the password while connecting to servers using ssh? Here is a really simply neat trick that will demonstrate how easy it is to accomplish it so it does not ask for password. And as a bonus, you will notice that the connection is surprisingly much faster than you originally thought. No, it is not about ssh keys.

Suppose you could control the master which would permit you to enter the door without a key and the path it takes is always the right hand path. While you are thinking about it and saying to yourself what it has to do with ssh, allow me to tell you that you will realize once you have read the whole article how it is going to help you a lot in understanding passwordless authentication using this method.

The first thing we need is simply two lines in .ssh/config inside your home directory. If the file is not there, just create it. So the two magic lines are:

ControlMaster auto
ControlPath ~/.ssh/master-%r@%h:%p

Now connect to any host and it will ask for password. What the heck? It still asks for password, I heard you saying. That’s alright. Just put in the correct password and leave that terminal open. Open another terminal and try to connect to the same host again as in the first terminal and voila the magic…

While you are thinking about how just two key words ControlMaster and ControlPath allowed you to connect to a host without password and also much faster, let me throw in another neat trick.

If you ever wanted not to have to open another terminal, simply connect as shown below and the ssh will go into background

ssh -N -f host


Enjoy Vivek Creations :)

How to Send mails from command line

Often times, we want to send log files or other emails from command line or want to script them. In this tutorial, I will show you how to do that using two mail clients mail and mutt.

Sending mails using mail:

mail (mailx is the newer version) is a fantastic program that can be used for sending email from command line or from within scripts.


The following example will send an email to admin@example.com, with subject “Apache is down” and text “Please check Apache at host name of the server”

echo “Please check Apache at `hostname`” | mail -s “Apache is down” admin@example.com



We can cat the contents of any text file, for example, log file and it will be sent to the recipient specified

cat “/var/log/apache2/error.log” | mail -s “Apache is down” admin@example.com

To attach a file, other than a text one, we need to uuencode (unix to unix encode) it before sending

uuencode banner.jpg banner_out.jpg | mail webmaster@example.com

The banner.jpg is the name of input file and banner_out.jpg is the output uuencoded file that we will be sent by mail.

To have text sent alogwith the attachment, we can cat or echo that text too

(cat /var/log/apache2/error.log;uuencode banner.jpg banner.jpg) | mail -s pic webmaster@example.com



Sending mails from using mutt:

With mutt, its same as using mail.

echo “Please check Apache at `hostname`” | mutt -s “Apache is down” admin@example.com

or we can cat the contents of a text file to show as body text

cat /var/log/apache2/error.log | mutt -s “Apache is down” admin@example.com

OR

mutt -s “Apache is down” admin@example.com

To send an empty body mail, use an empty line as the mail body:

echo | mutt -s “Software upgrades for `hostname`” admin@example.com

To attach a binary file, its even easier with mutt, just use the -a option

echo | mutt -s “New logo for the company” -a logo.gif webmaster@example.com

Hope you this creation added to your knowledge.