Restic is a modern backup program with support for encryption and deduplication. As we saw in this tutorial, Restic is easy to use, but it doesn’t make use of a configuration file, and doesn’t natively include a method to orchestrate and organize multiple backups. That is where autorestic comes in handy: it is a wrapper around Restic which let us configure and orchestrate backups in a single yaml configuration file, specifying multiple sources (locations) and destinations (backends).
Guides
How to get free SSL/TLS certificates with Let’s Encrypt and Certbot
Let’s Encrypt is a Certificate Authority which is able to create and release free SSL/TLS certificates we can use to enable encryption and secure our websites. All the biggest hosting providers allow their customers to request Let’s Encrypt certificates in a user-friendly way, via administration panels like Cpanel or Plesk. If we have SSH access to a remote host, however, we can obtain a Let’s Encrypt certificate from the command line, by using Certbot. In this article, we learn how to install Certbot on the most used Linux distributions, and how to use it to obtain and manage valid Let’s Encrypt certificates.
How to integrate any Linux distribution inside a terminal with Distrobox
Distrobox is a free and open source tool which allows us to integrate the userlands of Linux distributions. Under the hood it uses Docker or Podman to create containers, and integrates them with the host by sharing access to the graphical server, the user HOME directory and USB devices. In this tutorial we see how to install and use Distrobox on the most used Linux distributions.
How to mount a host directory inside a KVM virtual machine
When using QEMU/KVM, there are many methods to share data between the host system and guest virtual machines. In this tutorial, we focus on creating a filesystem passthrough, using virt-manager or by manually editing a virtual machine definition, and we learn how to mount a host directory inside a virtualized guest.
How to create and use custom dmenu scripts
Dmenu is a dynamic menu for X often used on minimal window managers setups. It is part of the suckless tools suite of free and open source utilities created by the suckless.org project, which include, among the others, the dwm window manager and the st terminal emulator.
How to create a portable retrogaming USB stick with Batocera Linux
Batocera is a free and open source Linux distribution designed to create retrogaming consoles out of a vast selection of devices. It supports a variety of platforms and architectures, from Intel-based computers to Raspberry Pi boards and handheld consoles, and works as a central control panel for all the best console emulators.
How to install, configure and customize Waybar on Linux
Waybar is an highly customizable Wayland bar for Sway and other Wlroots-based compositors, such as Hyprland or River. The many available functionalities of Waybar are organized in modules, which can be easily configured and styled.
How to turn a Raspberry Pi into a surveillance system with ZoneMinder
ZoneMinder is a free and open source closed-circuit television software we can install on our Raspberry Pi (or any other Linux system) to monitor and protect our home, or whatever we deem valuable. ZoneMinder is easy to install, supports a vast selection of cameras, and has also APIs for third party software integration.
How to create optimized virtual machines with Quickemu on Linux
Quickemu is a free and open source project which allows us to quickly launch Linux, macOS, and Windows optimized virtual machines. The project is hosted on GitHub, and is basically a wrapper around QEMU and some other tools.
How to create GNOME dynamic wallpapers
GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment), is one of the most popular desktop environments on Linux, and probably the most used one, since all major distributions use it as their default interface. Version 42 of the D.E., introduced a global “light/dark” UI mode switch, which is respected by all GNOME applications and wallpapers: switching the global style to “dark”, automatically changes the GTK theme to Adwaita-dark, and all the wallpapers supporting this feature, to their “dark” versions. GNOME also supports time-shifting wallpapers.
How to create a backup with Proxmox backup client
While in the first part of this series dedicated to the Proxmox backup server we saw how to install the distribution, and in the second we explored the web administration interface, in this third tutorial, we learn how to create and restore a backup of a physical host using the Proxmox backup client.
Introduction to the Proxmox backup server: the web interface
Proxmox backup server is an enterprise-level solution to backup containers, virtual machines and physical hosts. In the first part of this series, we learned how to download and install the distribution. Although the system can be managed from the command line, just like any other Linux distribution, it comes also with a user-friendly, integrated web interface.