In a previous article, we saw how to create kvm virtual machines from the command line; in this tutorial, instead, we learn how to access and modify virtual machines disk images, using some utilities which are part of the libguestfs package on the most commonly used Linux distributions. Those tools let us perform a variety of tasks.
Egidio Docile
Introduction to Powerline the statusline plugin for VIM
Vim is one of most used and famous text editors on Linux and other Unix-based operating systems. It is free and open source software, based on the original Vi editor (Vim stands for Vi IMproved) and mainly developed by Bram Moolenaar. The editor can be setup by editing the ~/.vimrc configuration file, and by using a vast range of plugins.
How to build a Tkinter application using an object oriented approach
In a previous tutorial we saw the basic concepts behind the usage of Tkinter, a library used to create graphical user interfaces with Python. In this article we see how to create a complete although simple application. In the process, we learn how to use threads to handle long running tasks without blocking the interface, how to organize a Tkinter application using an object oriented approach, and how to use Tkinter protocols.
Getting started with Tkinter for Python tutorial
Tkinter stands for “Tk interface”: the package with the same name on many Linux distributions provides the Python bindings for the Tcl/Tk GUI toolkit. Although other graphical toolkit can be used from Python, like Qt or GTK, Tkinter is the standard (the Python IDLE editor and development environment is written using this toolkit, for example) and probably the easiest to work with.
Zsh shell installation and configuration on Linux
The Z-shell (zsh) is a modern and very powerful shell: it incorporates and extends many feature of other shells, like Bash. Although it can be used as a powerful scripting language, it is mainly aimed at interactive use, since one of its more prominent feature is the advanced tab completion system.
How to use LUKS with a detached header
Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS) is the de-facto standard block device encryption format used on Linux-based systems. We already discussed some of the features provided by it in a previous tutorial about using a file as a LUKS device key.
How to scrape web pages from the command line using htmlq
Web scraping is the process of analyzing the structure of HTML pages, and programmatically extract data from them. In the past we saw how to scrape the web using the Python programming language and the “Beautilful Soup” library; in this tutorial, instead, we see how to perform the same operation using a command line tool written in Rust: htmlq.
How to install and manage fonts on Linux
Fonts are a really important part of the user experience. On the most commonly used Linux-based distributions, there are many packaged fonts which can be installed using the native package manager. Sometimes, however, we may want to install some fonts manually.
How to manage Bash history
BASH (Bourne Again SHell) is the default shell in practically all Linux-based operating systems. All the commands we write in the terminal are interpreted by the shell, and become part of its history. In this tutorial we see where the shell history is saved, and how to manage it using the “history” built-in command and some environment variables.
How to create a flatpak package
We already talked about using flatpak packages in a previous tutorial: with this technology we universally distribute applications, which are packaged together with their dependencies and run inside a sandbox, isolated from the rest of the system.
How to set, change and delete music tags with Mutagen
Tagging music files is a way of keeping a music library well organized and let us search for songs on the base of Artists, albums, genre and other parameters. Many graphical and command line applications exist on Linux to manage tags for audio files, like Picard or Quodlibet.
Introduction to MySQL storage engines
MySQL is probably the most famous Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). Developed as a free and open source software, it was originally backed by the MYSQL AB company, but is now owned by Oracle. In MySQL the “storage engine” used for a table determines how data is handled.