Share your Pro Tips

Dethredic · 2010-01-29 13:29:25

I was using linux (not arch) for about 6-8 months before I realized that pressing "Tab" in the terminal was an auto complete. This got me thinking that there are probably better ways of doing simple things that I just haven't realized.
Maybe just share little things you do that help out a lot that other people could have missed, like "I do this when updating so if something goes wrong I can revert back easily" as a simple example.

tomd123 · 2010-01-29 13:37:44

This one's pretty simple. If you have a pacman -Syu addiction (you run it without knowing if you have to on a regular basis) then install conky and put the following into .conkyrc:

${if_match ${execi 3 pacman -Qu | wc -l} == 0}Updated${else}Outdated${endif}

then put the following into /etc/cron.hourly or daily or whatever you want:

pacman -Syy &> /dev/null

(Sy sometimes doesn't work well with http)

Last edited by tomd123 (2010-01-29 13:38:38)

drcouzelis · 2010-01-29 13:55:03

Dethredic wrote:

Maybe just share little things you do that help out a lot that other people could have missed

My favorite Linux pro tip is "anything that can be done in a GUI can be done with the command line". And many people would probably say that it is faster to do it that way.

That includes multitasking, having multiple screens and windows, copy and paste text, playing music and playlists, instant messaging, web browser, email, file management, programming, and sometimes even view photos and watch movies. The only thing I can think of that can't really be done with the command line is drawing a picture. Maybe someone can show that even that isn't true.

JohannesSM64 · 2010-01-29 14:33:10

drcouzelis wrote:

That includes multitasking, having multiple screens and windows, copy and paste text, playing music and playlists, instant messaging, web browser, email, file management, programming, and sometimes even view photos and watch movies. The only thing I can think of that can't really be done with the command line is drawing a picture. Maybe someone can show that even that isn't true.

Indeed, but you need a graphical web browser for today's web to render correctly. And X renders photos and movies much better than a framebuffer.
Still, I recommend getting a good grasp of the command line (zsh, vim, tmux, ssh..). It allows for much more efficient work once learned.

Last edited by JohannesSM64 (2010-01-29 14:38:07)

ijanos · 2010-01-29 14:38:12

#1: always backup important data
#2: if you are repeating the same task over and over (even if it is very simple) then probably there is a better way to do it.

JohannesSM64 · 2010-01-29 14:40:38

ijanos wrote:

#2: if you are repeating the same task over and over (even if it is very simple) then probably there is a better way to do it.

iow. shell script.

tvale · 2010-01-29 14:45:59

tomd123 wrote:

This one's pretty simple. If you have a pacman -Syu addiction (you run it without knowing if you have to on a regular basis) then install conky and put the following into .conkyrc:
${if_match ${execi 3 pacman -Qu | wc -l} == 0}Updated${else}Outdated${endif}
then put the following into /etc/cron.hourly or daily or whatever you want:
pacman -Syy &> /dev/null
(Sy sometimes doesn't work well with http)

THANK YOU!
Much cleaner than the one I had.

Dethredic · 2010-01-29 14:52:17

what kind of cron tasks is everyone running?

tvale · 2010-01-29 14:56:28

I'm running one every hour to check for updates, and one every 5 minutes to check for e-mail.

dyscoria · 2010-01-29 15:00:59

If I had to say just one thing, it would be to backup data. You can never be too careful.

I have not one, but two backups of my data on a pair of external hard drives, each of which I keep in a separate location (in case of burglary or house burning down). Call me paranoid but I can sleep well at night knowing it would be extremely unlikely for my laptop and both my external hard drives to die simultaneously

raymboard · 2010-01-29 15:07:39

JohannesSM64 wrote:

drcouzelis wrote:
That includes multitasking, having multiple screens and windows, copy and paste text, playing music and playlists, instant messaging, web browser, email, file management, programming, and sometimes even view photos and watch movies. The only thing I can think of that can't really be done with the command line is drawing a picture. Maybe someone can show that even that isn't true.
Indeed, but you need a graphical web browser for today's web to render correctly. And X renders photos and movies much better than a framebuffer.
Still, I recommend getting a good grasp of the command line (zsh, vim, tmux, ssh..). It allows for much more efficient work once learned.

How to view photos and movies in a framebuffer?

ataraxia · 2010-01-29 15:25:41

Keep your dotfiles and things in /etc in git or hg repositories. I suggest only committing things you actually modify. This lets you get any old versions or deleted things back, and means that listing the contents of the repo shows you all the files you care about.

hatten · 2010-01-29 15:45:26

backup. And use the CLI.

ArchArael · 2010-01-29 16:57:01

Don't eat the yellow snow.

Learn to use properly your shell of choice. Configure it properly and learn shortcuts for command line editing. Try fish shell.

Learn to use properly your editor of choice.

Automatize. Let the machine work for you.

In the sql statement when using mysql client put \G instead of ; to switch on the vertical output.

And most important of all...the thing I am still learning and I never learn is RTFM.

vik_k · 2010-01-29 16:58:52

raymboard wrote:

How to view photos and movies in a framebuffer?

for movies, use mplayer (if you have declared video driver in mplayer config file then try to use "-noconfig all" at commandline)

for images, i'm not sure but might be you can use "zgv"

Arch Linux

#1 2010-01-29 13:29:25

Share your Pro Tips

#2 2010-01-29 13:37:44

Re: Share your Pro Tips

#3 2010-01-29 13:55:03

Re: Share your Pro Tips

#4 2010-01-29 14:33:10

Re: Share your Pro Tips

#5 2010-01-29 14:38:12

Re: Share your Pro Tips

#6 2010-01-29 14:40:38

Re: Share your Pro Tips

#7 2010-01-29 14:45:59

Re: Share your Pro Tips

#8 2010-01-29 14:52:17

Re: Share your Pro Tips

#9 2010-01-29 14:56:28

Re: Share your Pro Tips

#10 2010-01-29 15:00:59

Re: Share your Pro Tips

#11 2010-01-29 15:07:39

Re: Share your Pro Tips

#12 2010-01-29 15:25:41

Re: Share your Pro Tips

#13 2010-01-29 15:45:26

Re: Share your Pro Tips

#14 2010-01-29 16:57:01

Re: Share your Pro Tips

#15 2010-01-29 16:58:52

Re: Share your Pro Tips

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