69 Linux-Unix cheat sheets – The ultimate collection

The ultimate collection of cheat sheets for linux users. Enough to fill up your whole wall with commands yielded by the geek gods!

Be sure to digg this so more people can have the opportunity to get ahold of all these in one place.

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Getting my wireless card BCM4306 working with Slackware 12..

isn’t a science, it’s more like voodoo. This is true of all the linux distros I have tried. Actually only Fedora Core and Ubuntu. Ubuntu’s Gutsy Gibbon has a wizard that does basiclly the same as the I used. First as root I type lspci , this gives me basic information about my wifi card. After much googling I decide to use bcm43xx-fwcutter tool. I downloaded the source and unzipped to my home directory where it creates a folder named bcm43xx-fwcutter-006. Now from a terminal cd to the folder by typing cd bcm43xx-fwcutter-006. To save keystrokes I type bcm followed by the tab key which acts as auto complete fuction. Within the folder I type make then as root make install. Now I run bcm43xx-fwcutter -l this is the list of drivers for my card

Extracting firmware is possible from these binary driver files:
I’m going to use wl_apsta.o but I’ll have google for it. Then run bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware (location of) wl_apsta.o if you get no error message your card should be funtional.

I have been using Slackware 12

on my Dell laptop for the better part of a month. It has kde as the default desktop although xfce, fluxbox, blackbox and I think like window maker.  No gnome available on the official cd’s.
Ofcourse a version of gnome is available but that beyond the scope of this article.  Overall I’ve been happy with slackware but there were a few rough spots due to my own ignorance.  the install process is fairly straight forward. The partitioning tools cfdisk and fdisk are included on the first install disk. I remember fdisk from my windows 98 days so I’ll use cfdisk. After logging on as genaric root I type cfdisk /dev/hdc and from I can create my linux and swap partitions. After  partioning I type setup to start the install process which is not too hard if you have some experience installing linux. I’m going to use slackware as my one and only operating system so I choose to install everyting, 4.5 gb’s of free software,from cd 1 and 2,cd 3 contains extras and source.  The post install consists of configuring lilo,network and choosing a password for root and then reboot your new system. Now after booting up slackware I still need to configure xwindows so after logging in as root I’ll type xorgsetup that will a gragbical configuration utilty.  It will write to /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, if startx doesn’t startx type nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf and try editing it by hand.  Now I don’t want run kde as root I shall create a normal user by typing adduser followed by whatever username you choose. You’ll be prompted to create a new password, do so for this how you will on normaly use the computer, also when prompted for additonal groups type cdrom,plugdev. This set up seems to work for me but the /etc/group file can edited later.. Now it’s time to log out as root by typing exit then log on as normal user then type startx .  On my laptop acpi was only partialy enabled according to kde control center   klaptop wizard. This means modules need to be loaded. I edited /etc/rc.d/rc.local and added the lines /sbin/modeprobe acpi etc and it worked so far.

Flipping the Linux switch: New users guide to the terminal

The command line. It strikes fear in the hearts of many a new Linux user. They open their terminals reluctantly, and there the prompt sits, with the cursor blinking in rhythm with their racing hearts… All right, so maybe it’s not horror movie material. But it is intimidating for many new users.

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