LinuxQuestions.org - Little known gems and apps you use

Page 3 of 3

Show 50 post(s) from this thread on one page

- Slackware (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/)

- - Little known gems and apps you use (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/little-known-gems-and-apps-you-use-872378/)

george-lappies

06-13-2011 12:27 AM

Threads like this one should be stickkied ;)

trademark91

06-13-2011 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by george-lappies (Post 4383812)

Threads like this one should be stickkied ;)

I wholeheartedly agree

Hannes Worst

06-13-2011 01:32 AM

Several years I am using Ted as Wordprocessor. Lightweight, and still it does everything I need. It has a lot of features. For chatting I use Gtmess, a console based program that uses the MSN protocol. And as musicplayer I am satisfied with Parole, that integrates very well with XFCE. Small programs, but they do exactly what I need.

And I also agree, this is a great thread!

Martinus2u

06-13-2011 04:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dh2k (Post 4310704)

e.g's:
quick -lite- magnify tool:

Code:

wmagnify -r 1

## "-r 1" provides a fast smooth update, keybinded with <ctrl>+<alt>+m

## keys 1-9 provide quick access to zoom level; 

###where 1 = 1:1, 2 = 1:2 etc ... 

## part of slack default install

nice thread, but the first tool i try (wmagnify) triggers a bug in the intel video driver stack, causing teh xorg server to seg fault. :( ;)

PS: I find myself using mc (midnight commander) quite often, particularly the built-in ftp client when administering machines remotely

sycamorex

06-13-2011 08:26 AM

+1 for mpd (in my case with ncmpcpp)

- if you want to change your DE (or restart X) the music won't stop playing
- you can nicely control it remotely
- it does the job.

gorillus

06-13-2011 11:16 AM

sxiv - an imageviewer which does its job
ranger - the imo the best filemanger
musca - powerful and simple windowmanager
dmenu - I just don't wanna miss it
imlibsetroot - all it does is setting your wallpaper
ncdu - to analyse my disk-usage
laptop-mode - the daemon you shouldn't miss on a laptop
jumanji - my one and only web-browser
slock - simple screenlocker
unclutter - hides the mousepointer if not needed
zathura - pdf-viewer
cclive - for downloading youtube-videos

veeall

06-13-2011 06:24 PM

In my search for an image viewer capable of quickly previewing pics, i today found qvv to come close to what i want:

no gui elements - menubars, toolbars, statusbars, no decorations (okey, thats kwin!)
window is autoresized to an image,
window can be set automatically centered to screen during browsing (i edited qvv_view.cpp for better alignment on my netbook screen, minor edit for y placement offset),
large images are scaled down, small images are displayed as is,
can be launched by clicking on a single image file and continue on browsing through next and previous images in the same directory with spacebar and pageup/pagedown keys,
closes with Esc or Enter keys,
it's fast,
I'm happy so far.

Edit: Point of closing an app by hitting Enter is: that way i can preview thumbs with dolphin, and both launch and close larger preview of a pic using the same keystroke, which in effect eliminates the need for separate image management program. Especially if a previewer-app could nicely handle deleting or passing over a file to an image editor too.

Checking for musca now, thanks for the info, gorillus.
I also like zathura, ncdu is very useful.

Ncurses lightweight programs can be so fun, moc + alsaequal for example.
There're also kde compatible cli trash bin programs available which can be used with moc, i've binded F8 in .moc/config for trash-cli ("trash-put %f").

dwblas

06-13-2011 09:56 PM

Conky may or may not be considered "little known" but is worth a mention.

george-lappies

06-14-2011 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gorillus (Post 4384308)

Thanks for ncdu :)

slac-in-the-box

06-16-2011 02:36 PM

internet clock for parental control with iptables

Well...

Everyone knows about iptables... however, like most command line software, it is so rich in features and options, that understanding all of it is a career in and of itself; therefore, specific examples of how to use such software to accomplish a practical daily task are gems in and of themselves, so here's one for parents: how to use iptables to control RUNESCAPE addiction.

In my /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall script, I inserted the following code in the INPUT chain of the filter table:

Code:

# Inbound Internet Packet Rules

$IPT -A INPUT -p TCP -i $INET_IFACE -m time --timestart 20:00 --timestop 21:00 -s 64.79.147.125 -j ACCEPT

$IPT -A INPUT -p TCP -i $INET_IFACE -m time --timestart 20:00 --timestop 21:00 -s 82.211.114.127 -j ACCEPT

$IPT -A INPUT -p TCP -i $INET_IFACE -m time --timestart 20:00 --timestop 21:00 -s 213.146.191.50 -j ACCEPT

$IPT -A INPUT -p TCP -i $INET_IFACE -m time --timestart 20:00 --timestop 21:00 -s 216.115.77.88 -j ACCEPT

$IPT -A INPUT -p TCP -i $INET_IFACE -m time --timestart 20:00 --timestop 21:00 -s 216.115.77.137 -j ACCEPT



$IPT -A INPUT -p TCP -i $INET_IFACE -s 64.79.147.125 -j DROP

$IPT -A INPUT -p TCP -i $INET_IFACE -s 82.211.114.127 -j DROP

$IPT -A INPUT -p TCP -i $INET_IFACE -s 213.146.191.50 -j DROP

$IPT -A INPUT -p TCP -i $INET_IFACE -s 216.115.77.88 -j DROP

$IPT -A INPUT -p TCP -i $INET_IFACE -s 216.115.77.137 -j DROP

and now my son can only access runescape.com from 8-9 pm. Of course, you can add IP addresses of other sites you want to limit to a time of day... fantastic :)

C-Sniper

06-16-2011 03:42 PM

For running servers, Fail2Ban and DenyHosts have become two gems that I cannot live without

frieza

06-16-2011 04:12 PM

Xephyr/Xnest, nest an X session within an X session
xcplay/ncxmms, ncurses frontends to XMMS
virtxmms (run xmms without a gui)
vtclock/clockywock, ncurses based digital/ncurses based analog clock
xmms-alarm, turn xmms into an alarm clock
mount -o loop (mount an image file using the loopback device)

Gerard Lally

06-16-2011 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gorillus (Post 4384308)

Some really nice ones there!

gorillus

06-17-2011 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gezley (Post 4388021)

Some really nice ones there!

Thanks! :-D

dh2k	06-25-2011 09:24 AM

1 Attachment(s)

fping -
http://slackbuilds.org/result/?search=fping&sv=

Quote:

fping is different from ping in that you can specify any number of hosts on the command line, or specify a file containing the lists of hosts to ping.

A lightening fast way of detected 'alive' hosts/machines on your LAN.
I can see the IP addresses and hostnames of all connected devices on my class-C LAN.

I use/execute this script - from my fluxbox menu:
xterm -e ./path/to/script/network.fping_local_network.sh

Code:



#!/bin/sh

#

# script to ping (fping/fastping) ip-addresses on a 

# class C network 



# create log file for this script, this will create a new log file

# or overwrite any old/undeleted log file /tmp/fping.log



> /tmp/fping.log 



for ((i=1;i<=255;i++))

do

        /usr/sbin/fping -s -c1 -i10 -p20 -t50 192.168.1.$i >> /tmp/fping.log 

        /usr/sbin/fping -s -n -c1 -i10 -p20 -t50 192.168.1.$i >> /tmp/fping.log 

done



# re-write data onto file with just first column (seperated by whitespaces)

sleep 0.0625

cat /tmp/fping.log | awk 'BEGIN { FS = " " } ; { print $1 }' > /tmp/fping.log

echo -e " === ALIVE HOSTS, results ================== "

echo -e " =========================================== " >> /tmp/fping.log



clear



echo -e "\n" >> /tmp/fping.log

echo -e "SHOW AVAILABLE MOUNTPOINTS, example:" >> /tmp/fping.log

echo -e "/usr/sbin/showmount -e 192.168.1.x" >> /tmp/fping.log

echo -e "/usr/sbin/showmount -e natalies-laptop" >> /tmp/fping.log

echo -e "\n" >> /tmp/fping.log

echo -e "MOUNT AVAILABLE SHARES, example:" >> /tmp/fping.log

echo -e "sudo /bin/mount -t nfs 192.168.1.x:/home/ /mnt/network-shares/" >> /tmp/fping.log

echo -e "sudo /bin/mount -t nfs natalies-laptop:/home/ /mnt/network-shares/" >> /tmp/fping.log

echo -e "\n" >> /tmp/fping.log

echo -e "UNMOUNT MOUNTED SHARE, example:" >> /tmp/fping.log

echo -e "sudo /bin/umount -l -t nfs 192.168.1.x:/home/ /mnt/nfs-shares/" >> /tmp/fping.log

echo -e "sudo /bin/umount -l -t nfs natalies-laptop:/home/ /mnt/nfs-shares/" >> /tmp/fping.log

echo -e "\n" >> /tmp/fping.log

#echo -e "other mount options, include '-o rsize=102400,wsize=102400,hard'" >> /tmp/fping.log

#echo -e "\n" >> /tmp/fping.log



clear

echo -e " === ALIVE HOSTS, results ================== "

cat /tmp/fping.log

rm /tmp/fping.log



$@

/bin/sh

Here's the juicy bit from above script:

Code:

for ((i=1;i<=255;i++))

do

        /usr/sbin/fping -s -c1 -i10 -p20 -t50 192.168.1.$i >> /tmp/fping.log 

        /usr/sbin/fping -s -n -c1 -i10 -p20 -t50 192.168.1.$i >> /tmp/fping.log 

done

If anyone knows a faster way to ping a class-C network/LAN and see the visible hosts - please feedback.
TiA.

allend

06-25-2011 10:17 AM

Quote:

If anyone knows a faster way to ping a class-C network/LAN and see the visible hosts - please feedback.

Perhaps 'nmap -v -sn 192.168.1.1/24'?

dh2k	06-29-2011 03:52 AM

The following is a very short and basic script, but a very useful script I use daily:

Code:

#!/bin/sh

$@

/bin/sh

that's it !!!

Now the simplicity of this wonderful script allows me to start any CLI command (with optional switches/options etc) straight from a GUI click, here's an example with the help of above posts:
NOTE "cli4gui" is just the name of the script I create/save in "/usr/bin":

Then in any menu (for your DE/WM) or launcher just use:

Code:

xterm -e cli4gui any_cli_command/instruction

Code:

xterm -e cli4gui /usr/bin/nmap -v -sP 192.168.1.0/24

This script keeps the instance of xterm open after the command/instruction is executed so you may see any verbose info and output from the command executed.

I also use these in the context menu in thunar (dolphin/konqueror etc):

install software package straight from file-manager right click option:

Code:

ktsuss xterm -e cli4gui /sbin/installpkg %F

remove software package straight from file-manager right click option:

Code:

ktsuss xterm -e cli4gui /sbin/removepkg %F

Context menu appearance settings set to only show for file pattern "*.txz;*.tgz" (in thunar)

Context menu appearance settings set to only show for file pattern "*.SlackBuild" (in thunar)

Code:

ktsuss xterm -e cli4gui %F

All this saves me much typing etc. I am sure there are others ways to do the above - but this has been the easiest KISS way for me.

Flexible, simple and easy

saulgoode

06-29-2011 09:22 AM

Traverso

A digital audio workstation (a la Ardour).

veeall

06-30-2011 07:32 AM

Stardict dictionary program is good (to be superseded with Goldendict in my book).

easuter

07-01-2011 04:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gorillus (Post 4384308)

zathura - pdf-viewer

Cool! I've been looking for a lightweight keyborad-driven pdf viewer to go with i3. Thanks!

---
I don't think I've seen this little app mentioned yet, but it's pretty useful:
axel - download a file from a server using multiple connections

dh2k	07-02-2011 04:19 AM

offline dictionary, with speech;

mdic
http://slackbuilds.org/result/?search=mdic&sv=

-- optional dep (I strongly recommend): espeak, speech synth' package:
http://slackbuilds.org/result/?search=espeak&sv=
-- optional dep (I strongly recommend): 'portaudio'
http://slackbuilds.org/result/?search=portaudio&sv=
(otherwise you just get a wav file output and no speech at a click of a button)

Useable offline English dictionary;
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mdi...English.m2.bz2
Unpack anywhere - '/usr/share/dict/' as an example.
(NOTE, I had problems unzipping this .bz2 - probably the ...m2.bz2 extension;
so used 'p7zip'

Code:

7z x Babylon_English.m2.bz2

to successfully unpack).

Other dictionaries:
http://mdic.gnufolks.org/dictionaries.html

NOTE, useful to go to 'configure > general > and check Modifier [Meta (Win Key)]'.
This way if you need a dictionary search result highlight any text selection in your browser or any other program (anything in X) then hold the 'Meta (Win Key)' and result pop-ups. Click pronounce button in mdic to hear it.

mdic also has spellchecker to help find/predict correct words when searching/spelling incorrectly.

+1 for 'wordnet browser'/'wnb' - v fast & lightweight,

dh2k	07-08-2011 01:49 AM

Optical Character Recognisation (OCR)
(convert scanned documents or images to text)

2 programs I use for this:

1st/

gocr
http://slackbuilds.org/result/?search=gocr&sv=

Pros: easy to use, handles common image files (e.g. jpg), maintained on slackbuilds
Cons: ocrad (described below) renders the output text a touch better (paragraph spacing etc) than gocr (this is bordering neglible though), IMHO.

Usage:

Code:

gocr -i image.jpg -o image.txt

2nd/

ocrad
http://repository.slacky.eu/slackwar...graphic/ocrad/ (for slack'13.0) (I'm sure this will work on mostly any modern slack-release)

for other slack-versions - browse under 'slack-version >> graphics' - if your a fundamentalist package-admin.
http://repository.slacky.eu/

Pros: seems to render text a touch better than gocr (marginally)
Cons: you have to 'convert' jpg to ppm first, then use 'ocrad', no slackbuild (project for me? maybe ;-P)

Usage:

Code:

# first convert into a compatible file-format (.jpg to .ppm)

convert image.jpg image.ppm

ocrad image.ppm -o image.txt

H_TeXMeX_H

07-08-2011 04:44 AM

Tesseract is probably the best FLOSS OCR available.
http://code.google.com/p/tesseract-ocr/

http://www.splitbrain.org/blog/2010-...are_comparison

trademark91

07-10-2011 11:58 AM

I just stumbled upon the midori browser. I love it, and highly recommend checking out to anyone who does web browsing! (which should be all of you)

its a lot lighter than chrome, and its interface is very much like that of pcmanfm. heres a picture of it browsing this webpage, right before i made this post: http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/791...1107101656.png

theres a slackbuild for it, and heres its wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midori_(web_browser)

linuxs64

07-12-2011 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverBack (Post 4363937)

@linuxs64 well downloaded the latest version... did not run on wine1.2.3. Read somewhere that you need to run it in a dosbox so will try and install dosbox and see how it goes.
Also read in a couple of blogs that the newer versions are not at parvwith the older versions. Seems like the best version was 1.70 but could not find _any_ older versions on the net.
Any pointers would be appericiated. Afterall if someone says there is something better than freemind I _have_ to look at it atleast :).

The best version is DOS version of MaxThink, I'm using MAX96. I'd forget about the shareware Windows version, it's just not as intuitive as the DOS version.

In slackware, use DosEMU, plus terminus fonts to get the best resolution. DosEMU works with dvorak keyboard layout too.

What you need is:

- The latest DOS version of Maxthink, *plus* the tutorial files
- The printed manual, very important to understand and learn the software using the tutorials

I enclose a portion of the printed manual here, could get a screenshot if you are interested. Note that the functions mentioned below are built-in the software, accessible via menu.

Quote:

Here are the six high-level skills you've learned so far:

1st level: ANALYSIS (chapter 6)
Using the COPY, MOVE, UNDO and DELETE commands to break information into component parts to better understand the purposes and use of each part. That's building conventional outlines using top-down thinking.

2nd level: EVALUATION (chapter 7)
Using the PRIORITIZE command to organize information by values not contained in the information, but contained in the mind of the thinker. Evaluative thinking on the sequence of information which is list manipulation.

3rd level: SYNTHESIS (chapter 8)
Using the BINSORT command to organize new patterns in information. BINSORT uses a systematic bottom-up form of thinking to convert unordered lists into outlines.

4th level: EXPERIMENTAL (chapters 9, 10, 13)
Using the RANDOMIZE and LOCK commands to trigger unexpected associations within familiar information as a means to produce new ideas (chapters 9 and 10).

The GET, PUT, and GATHER commands (chapter 10) which expand the ways to rearrange information also belong in this same category. Finally, I'd include the DIVIDE and JOIN command (chapter 13) as textual ways to rearrange information into convenient idea "frames".

5th level: PERCEPTUAL (chapter 12)
Using the LEVELIZE, CATEGORIZE, TAG, UNTAG, and FENCE commands to shift the structure or format of information. Such changes support a variety of thinking skills which I've put under headings of Aristotelian, boundary, focused, structural, and linguistic approaches.

6th level: MANAGERIAL
Many of MaxThink's commands and function keys manage details such as the display (F2/F3 and Z), dates (ALT-Z), files (ALT-I and TREEDIR), lists (SORT), relationships (ALT-* cloning), presentations (CTRL-P, SHOW, SLIDE, WALL), and format (PRINT, OPTIONS, WRITE).

While these and other such commands are individually spread throughout the manual, together they provide the housekeeping support that makes other forms of thinking possible with MaxThink.

Keith Hedger

07-31-2011 12:38 PM

Slim
A lightweight themeable graphical login screen very easy to customize ( took half an hour to make a theme to display a random login picture ), available on slackbuilds

hasienda

08-16-2011 02:41 PM

+1 for slim, it's on my sub-notebook, clean, just like it, even without special customizations.

hasienda

08-16-2011 02:53 PM

dd_rescue - copies data from one file (or block device) to another (play safer than dd, and see progress)
clive - command line video extraction utility (save YouTube & Co.)
extundelete [1] - recover deleted files from an ext3 or ext4 partition (saved my day more than one time)

[1] [URL="http://extundelete.sourceforge.net/index.html"]

kikinovak

08-16-2011 04:32 PM

Two nifty tools

1) Ghost4Linux, an OS-agnostic Ghost image backup tool. Simple and efficient.
2) Gtkcdlabel, a graphical frontend for cdlabelgen, great to make CD and DVD covers.

kikinovak

08-16-2011 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dh2k (Post 4395448)

If anyone knows a faster way to ping a class-C network/LAN and see the visible hosts - please feedback.
TiA.

Right, here goes:

Code:

[root@alphamule:~] # nmap -sP 192.168.2.*



Starting Nmap 5.51 ( http://nmap.org ) at 2011-08-16 23:41 CEST

Nmap scan report for nestor.presbytere.montpezat (192.168.2.1)

Host is up (0.00042s latency).

MAC Address: 00:22:64:8A:4C:C2 (Hewlett Packard)

Nmap scan report for alphamule.presbytere.montpezat (192.168.2.2)

Host is up.

Nmap scan report for bernadette.presbytere.montpezat (192.168.2.4)

Host is up (0.00012s latency).

MAC Address: 00:0D:61:A6:E7:1E (Giga-Byte Technology Co.)

Nmap scan report for raymonde.presbytere.montpezat (192.168.2.5)

Host is up (0.00013s latency).

MAC Address: 00:20:ED:B8:E8:EC (Giga-byte Technology CO.)

Nmap scan report for jukebox.presbytere.montpezat (192.168.2.7)

Host is up (0.0021s latency).

MAC Address: 00:30:1B:AF:43:D3 (Shuttle)

Nmap scan report for 192.168.2.139

Host is up (0.017s latency).

MAC Address: 00:24:D2:D0:3B:F3 (Askey Computer)

Nmap scan report for 192.168.2.254

Host is up (0.0043s latency).

MAC Address: 00:12:0E:29:93:1A (AboCom)

Nmap done: 256 IP addresses (7 hosts up) scanned in 2.11 seconds

Hendronicus

08-16-2011 10:53 PM

I like Nedit for my minimal-type desktop programmer's editor needs. Also, if you use mc then you can just "tap" on an iso and mc will go inside it. I think you can even edit the iso file with it, but I'm not sure.

slac-in-the-box

09-06-2011 02:54 PM

socat is a well known gem that I just discovered!

Finally found a way to do port forwarding with UDP: I just discovered socat... I used UDP4-LISTEN to forward udp port 53 to an appropriate nameserver... easiest port forwarding command ever!

frankbell

09-06-2011 09:46 PM

Podracer.

Set it up, configure the subscriptions file, create a cron job, and collect your favorite podcasts. No annoying GUI, just downloads nice quite downloads. Been using it for four years without a single hiccup.

ReaperX7

09-06-2011 10:24 PM

I use the emulator BSNES.

Code:

http://www.byuu.org

Probably one of the more intricate emulators out there actually trying (and for the most part succeeding) to have perfect emulation of hardware.

H_TeXMeX_H

09-10-2011 03:28 PM

zbar bar code reader:
http://zbar.sourceforge.net/index.html

useful in rare cases or just for fun.

tuubaaku

10-29-2011 12:58 PM

I'm wondering if there's a small, light-weight GUI utility for changing the system time outside of KDE or Gnome. I know about the date and ntpdate commands, but was looking for a GUI/curses interface to do the same thing, but without loading a KDE or Gnome control center.

rokytnji

10-29-2011 01:22 PM

Neonview image viewer

youtube-dl command line tool like cclive for downloading youtube videos in terminal.

jostber

10-29-2011 02:08 PM

cboard is a ncurses frontend to gnuchess:

http://benkibbey.wordpress.com/cboard/

H_TeXMeX_H

10-30-2011 09:08 AM

Not really an app, but very useful for GIMP:

Gimp paint studio:
http://code.google.com/p/gps-gimp-paint-studio/

Keith Hedger

10-30-2011 10:10 AM

Also not really an app but I've got this in my bashrc so I can easily chroot into any mounted partition

Code:

CHROOTDIR=/media/Rescue

enterchroot ()

{

        if [ X"$1" != "X" ];then

                CHROOTDIR="$1"

        fi



        if mountpoint "$CHROOTDIR" &>/dev/null;then

                echo "Chrooting to ${CHROOTDIR}..."

        else

                echo "$CHROOTDIR is not mounted"

                return

        fi



        sudo mount -o bind /proc ${CHROOTDIR}/proc

        sudo mount -o bind /dev ${CHROOTDIR}/dev

        sudo mount -o bind /dev/pts ${CHROOTDIR}/dev/pts

        sudo mount -o bind /sys ${CHROOTDIR}/sys

        find /media -type d -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -exec mountpoint '{}' \;|grep -v "not"|awk '{print $1}'| while read

                do

                        if [ "$REPLY" != "${CHROOTDIR}" ];then

                                sudo mkdir -p "${CHROOTDIR}/${REPLY}"

                                sudo chown $USER:$USER "${CHROOTDIR}/${REPLY}"

                                sudo mount -o bind "$REPLY" "${CHROOTDIR}/${REPLY}"

                        fi

                done

        sudo mount -o bind /tmp/.X11-unix ${CHROOTDIR}/tmp/.X11-unix

        sudo chroot $CHROOTDIR

}



exitchroot ()

{

        sudo umount ${CHROOTDIR}/proc

        sudo umount ${CHROOTDIR}/dev/pts

        sudo umount ${CHROOTDIR}/dev

        sudo umount ${CHROOTDIR}/sys

        find ${CHROOTDIR}/media -type d -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -exec mountpoint '{}' \;|grep -v "not"|awk '{print $1}'| while read

                do

                        sudo umount "${REPLY}"

                        sudo rmdir "${REPLY}"

                done

        sudo umount ${CHROOTDIR}/tmp/.X11-unix

        echo "Left $CHROOTDIR..."

}

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:32 AM.

Page 3 of 3

Show 50 post(s) from this thread on one page