Little known gems and apps you use

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

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

Thanks for ncdu

slac-in-the-box · 06-16-2011, 02:36 PM

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

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

Some really nice ones there!

gorillus · 06-17-2011, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gezley

Some really nice ones there!

Thanks! :-D

dh2k · 06-25-2011, 09:24 AM

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

zathura - pdf-viewer

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

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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