Currently viewing the category: "Tips and tricks"

How to convert UNIX datetime value to date/time string in OpenOffice Calc or Excel

By On 1 April 2013 · 1 Comment

To convert a UNIX datetime value to date/time string in OpenOffice Calc or Excel use this formula (assumes your datetime stamp is in the A1 cell of the current spreadsheet):

=A1/86400+DATEVALUE(“1/1/1970”)

If you want to test the above you may use the following simple C program:
=======

#include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> […]

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Lost window decorations in XFCE!

By On 3 January 2013 · Leave a Comment

Yep, that happens from time to time – you start XFCE and you notice that all the window decorations are lost and your windows look like this:

Luckily fixing this is pretty easy. To get back your window decorations simply delete all the files in ~/.cache/sessions! 🙂 There is also directories in there – […]

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Deleting print jobs in Linux (…and other printer problems…)

By On 31 May 2012 · Leave a Comment

The command to remove a stuck print job in Linux (CUPS):

$ lprm

===============

To list HP printers visible across the network:

$ hp-probe

===============

HP_LaserJet_P2055dn Paused – “/usr/lib/cups/backend/hp failed”

SOLUTION: Printer state must be set to “Enabled”

# sudo system-config-printer

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How-to check my Linux distro (not kernel!) version

By On 1 May 2012 · 1 Comment

To check your Linux distribution version (i.e. release)…

—————————-

On Ubuntu/Debian:

cat /etc/lsb-release
or
cat /etc/debian_version

—————————-

On RedHat/Fedora:

$ cat /etc/fedora-release

—————————-

On Slackware:

cat /etc/slackware-version

—————————-

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Linux clock shows invalid time (UTC vs Localtime problem)

By On 20 September 2011 · Leave a Comment

In a Linux multi-boot system it often happens that one distro shows correct system time and another does not. The problem is in how the startup scripts interpret the hardware (BIOS) clock when setting the OS time (the so called System Clock).

If you want to learn more about this (and fix this problem PROPERLY!) […]

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How to write an ISO image with XCDRoast…

By On 6 June 2011 · 1 Comment

It may sound like a dumb question, since X-CD-Roast is a GUI tool for writing files and images, but it’s logic is so user-unfriendly and unnatural that in reality it’s not at all simple to create a CD or DVD from ISO using this app.

Ok, so how do you write an ISO image […]

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Help! Unable to automount my usb flash disk!

By On 29 March 2011 · 1 Comment

PROBLEM: On certain Linux distributions removable media (USB flash drives, CD’s,…) are auto-mounted by default and all users can read and write to them (if media is writeable of course). On others, inserting a removeable media results in an error message similar to Failed to mount “200GB Volume”, e.g. an error message from your file-manager […]

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Help I can’t write to my windows disk/partition from linux!

By On 25 March 2011 · Leave a Comment

There may be several possible causes why one would not be able to access their Windows hard disk or windows partition. If we assume that obvious human errors are out of the question (e.g. permissions errors due user not having write permissions to the directory of the mount or user not specifying the ‘-o w’ […]

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How to make ‘man’ or ‘less’ paged text not disappear from screen after exit?

By On 11 March 2011 · 6 Comments

Problem:

Depending on your Linux distribution, the text displayed by the ‘man’ command  (or any other text piped into ‘less’ for that matter) may stay on your screen upon exit from man/less or be cleared from your screen upon exit. Many people find it useful to have the man page text stay on the screen, […]

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How to find out where is wine’s C: drive

By On 9 March 2011 · 8 Comments

QUESTION: Where is my wine’s C: drive?

 

SHORT ANSWER: /home/$USER/.wine/drive_c

 

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