Archive for the ‘Cool Tools’ Category
Sep
8
Greetings folks, I’d like to take a moment to share with you something that I found a while back and have been using since I found it. What I found was a service, a source code hosting service fully integrated with Subversion. Now, I had already been using Subversion, I had it setup and running on my own servers in my lab. I had even looked at the idea of commercial Internet based Subversion hosting since it would put my source code archive off-site and accessible from outside my lab, but the providers and plans I found were either expensive, feature light, or just didn’t seam to be a quality service provider. Usually more than one of those things. Besides, I am very picky about where I put my source code. Call me paranoid, but I don’t toss code around anywhere, I have to be comfortable that it’s in a safe and secure place.
So, now enter Code Spaces, the best hosted Subversion I have ever seen, even over hosting it myself. The service is superb and the features included go way beyond simple Subversion hosting. In the end, between the ease of use and the extra goodies that they include with the service, not to mention the reasonable price, I believe in the long run I am saving money over hassling with doing it myself. Not to mention my code is now safely archived off site, which is great for disaster recovery.
Now, what all do they provide other than great Subversion hosting? Take a look:
- SSL Encryption
- Real Time Backups
- Project Management Tools
- Bug Tacking Tools
- Project Milestones and Task Setup
- A 45 Day FREE Trial
- A Money Back Guarantee
There’s more to it than that, but you really have to go check out their site to get a handle on all that they offer. Frankly, if this type of service is something that you want or need, I’d give them a shot for the 45 day free trial. That’s what I did and I was blown away by how good their service is. Check them out at http://www.codespaces.com today! By the way, if anyone is interested, this is not a paid endorsement. I don’t get any kickbacks or consignments if you sign up and they didn’t pay me or give me a credit/discount for this post, I just like the service that much that I wanted to share it with all my visitors. Enjoy!
Apr
19
It’s not every day that you come across such a fine collection of tools that someone has generously created and put forth for the world. One of my agents in the field sent this my way and so I feel compelled to share with you, my loyal readers. This is a set of system administration tools, written in PERL, and that been offered up for free by the author simply out of the goodness that swells within his and her heart. With tools like ‘turbo’, ‘cdrewind’, and ‘mkzombie’ just to name a few, how can you NOT have this collection in your kit? Check it out, and see the goodness for yourself!
Mar
8
I have added another goody for anyone working on Windows that might be interested. It’s an new tool that does MD5 checksum generation and comparison for you. It’s free and still in BETA, but I am pretty sure it’s solid and I have any kinks worked out. If you have any troubles, let me know or post in the forums. Now, get over there and check it out!
Jan
31
XanaNews Screenshot
I was looking for a good, solid and preferably open source news reader (usenet client) whilst booted into Windows XP on my laptop earlier, and I found a dandy. I found a lightweight client called XanaNews, which although lightweight, not over burdened or bulky, it is also solid and easy to use. Throw in that it is open source and free, and it’s a nice application.
I looked at the screen shots and it looked like it was along the lines of what I wanted, so I decided to download it and give it a try. After running the installer I easilly configured my news server (Giganews, if you aren’t using them and you want AWESOME usenet access, check these guys out! Like NOW!) and off I went, effortlessly subscribing to groups and reading posts on procmail. That’s what I was working on at the time.
Well, I liked XanaNews so much, that I decided to install it on my main machine running Ubuntu. I fired up Wine and ran through the same install steps and it again worked like a charm. So now I can use this dandy little news reader on Windows and Linux. I felt like I just had to share with everyone, because it seems like good usenet clients are hard to find unless you want to try and use something bundled into a web browser or email client which I usually don’t. Give me an app made especially for what I want to use it for, and it’s probably going to do a better job of it every time. Not always, but most of the time I would say. Hope you enjoy it!
Jan
21
Moving files from Windows to UNIX or Linux (and now MacOSX) can be a pain if during the process you end up with a text file full of EOL characters thanks to how Microsoft terminates lines of text in Windows. Yep, that’s the little ^M at the end of every line. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you can’t help but get stuck with them.
Here’s a tip for getting rid of them once and for all. Use the dos2unix command! Just like it sounds, it converts text files riddled with ^M’s to nice pretty *nix happy files.
By default, the command will open and read your file, and write it back to it’s original name and location. Minus the ^M beasties. So you can simply do this to convert a file:
dos2unix filename
Yes, it’s that easy. There are other options if you want to get fancy, read the man page it’s full of information. Do a quick Google search and you’ll find lots of resources about it, but chances are it’s already part of your Linux distro. Other operating systems may be different. Have fun!
Jan
18
Greetings everyone, I am back with more information about backing up your files. I know, I know, talking about backups might be boring, but one day a good backup will save your butt, I guarantee it. Previously I posted an article extolling the virtues of rsync, a very powerful command line tool for syncing files both locally and across networks via SSH. This is great for command line addicts like myself, and especially because you can use it in scripts such that along with shared keys and keychain it becomes a powerful tool in your arsenal of sysadmin goodies.
Now, for folks that aren’t command like geeks, or maybe just want a quick and easy way to backup some files, there is a nifty little tool called grsync. This is (as you can probably guess from the name) a gui for the command line rsync, making it much more user friendly. Also, it’s quite nice for pointing and clicking what you want, and then seeing what the command it will use is, a learning tool.
The home of grsync is here:
http://www.opbyte.it/grsync/
For Debian, Ubuntu users you can find it in the repositories.
