(Part 3) Best products from r/linux

While being a self taught sys admin is great, learning the internals of how things work can really extend your knowledge beyond what you may have considered possible. This starts to get more into the CS portion of things, but who cares. It's still great stuff to know, and if you know this you will really be set apart. Im not sure if it will help you directly as a sys admin, but may quench your thirst. Im both a programmer and unix admin, so I tend to like both. I own or have owned most of these and enjoy them greatly. You may also consider renting them or just downloading them. I can say that knowing how thing operate internally is great, it fills in a lot of holes.

OS Internals

While you obviously are successful at the running and maintaining of unix like systems. How much do you know about their internal functions? While reading source code is the best method, some great books will save you many hours of time and will be a bit more enjoyable. These books are Amazing
The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System

Linux Kernel Development
Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

Networking

Learning the actual function of networking at the code level is really interesting. Theres a whole other world below implementation. You likely know a lot of this.
Computer Networks

TCP/IP Illustrated, Vol. 1: The Protocols

Unix Network Programming, Volume 1: The Sockets Networking API

Compilers/Low Level computer Function

Knowing how a computer actually works, from electricity, to EE principles , through assembly to compilers may also interest you.
Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective

Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools

My 2c since I've stared at this problem for a while. Sorry for any misapprehensions about these technologies.

• NIS+ just works, scales decently, but is archaic and isn't a true 'directory' per se. Still, I've seen it used for 10,000 clients, and if authentication's all you need, this is the simplest solution in UNIX-land.
  
• OpenLDAP is mature, extensible, (mostly) standards/RFC compliant, is ridiculously scalable, and can power... anything. It's sort of UNIX-like: Its power comes from its simplicity, but you'll have to work with it a lot to appreciate what you can do with it. If you're new to this, it's hard to learn, implement, and maintain with the suite of CLI tools it ships with. At least on RHEL/CentOS, you don't even get a sample directory to start learning. The gentoo of LDAP. I read this book but found it too theoretical (probably a refresher for diradmins; I was also impatient). I thought that the Ubuntu project would have some kinda frontend, but alas.
  
• Red Hat Directory Server - Now we're talking! It's also called 389 Directory Server if you want it for free. Based on OpenLDAP, but includes a super easy installer, a Java Webstart-based frontend you can access from your browser (from anywhere!), easy replication setup, and nicely written wrapper scripts for most OpenLDAP-based administration tasks. Custom schemas, SSL integration, Active Directory syncing, modular plugin-based architecture, replication, password complexity policies, etc, etc. Great stuff from RH.
  
• Red Hat Identity Management - Takes RHDS above, combines it with Kerberos (plus a certificate system and other stuff) to provide an ultra-secure single sign-on solution. If you called it FreeIPA, you'd get it for free. The ease of setup and use are remarkable: I was up and running in 15 minutes on a test server. Imported old NIS entries in another 15-20. Had replication set up in 10. Doesn't come with the Java GUI tools of RHDS, but you can install them later or use Apache Directory Studio (see below).
  
  Miscellaneous notes:
  
  
• RHDS (389) and RHIM (FreeIPA) are designed to do two different things. The former's a true directory and is broader in its scope, utility, & customizability. However, if you want the simplest, bullet-proof, enterprise-class IPA management solution, I can't think of anything better than FreeIPA at the moment. All depends on the problem you want to solve.
  
• The two are available only on RHEL/CentOS 6.x. Definitely on Fedora, but I don't use Fedora :)
  
• OpenLDAP is basically a few Berkeley DBs and flat files. UNIX-like: Simple and powerful. Add Java, JBoss, Jakarta, Apache, Dogtag, Kerberos... my point is that more complexity might make things pretty and life easy, but might also complicate troubleshooting issues with your directory instance when problems arise. Backing up an OpenLDAP instance basically entails dumping and gzipping an LDIF file. Not as simple with FreeIPA.
  
• If you only needed a graphical frontend to get started, Apache Directory Studio will work with OpenLDAP. Pretty awesome project.
  
• Apple's OpenDirectory is a breeze to set up and use, though I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy.
  
  This is all I know. And now you know :)

> Presario CQ61

Looks like This?

• AMD Sempron Processor 2.1GHz
  
• 2GB DDR2 RAM
  
• 250GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
  
• 15.6-Inch Screen, ATI Radeon HD 4200
  
  I suspect this is pretty much going to "just work" under Linux. Because it's an AMD chipset, there might be some issues with the mainboard chipset, but grabbing a Live CD and testing out the wifi/wired/sound/video/etc would be the best bet.
  
  The only issue might be the RAM. Although generally Linux desktop environments take up less RAM than Windows, some apps (Firefox, etc) can still eat up a ton. If you can, I'd see if I could get it up to 4GB of RAM. If not, don't worry, it'll still be very usable. I'd just switch away from a heavyweight desktop (GNOME, KDE) over to something like XFCE or LXDE.
  
  Here's some basic hardware stuff:
  
  
• If you want to go to 4GB of RAM, here's some Compatible PC2-6400 laptop RAM
  
• Grab a can of air from the store and blow out all the vents. Chances are good on most old laptops that intermittent crashing is heat related.
  
• Follow the instructions in section 4-17 of The service manual for your laptop and remove the keyboard to blow out the fan and all the dust in the system.
  
• Get a Memtest86+ boot CD and run that with the laptop plugged in for at least 4 hours, to make sure it gets nice and warm. If it fails, take a look at the RAM replacement above
  
• Snag yourself a new battery if it's older than 2-3 years.
  
• When you get the Live CD, switch to root and run:
  
  smartctl -d ata -t long /dev/sdX
  Where sdX is either sda or sdb. You can tell which by running fdisk -l /dev/sda, then fdisk -l /dev/sdb, and so on until you find one that's the same size as your hard drive. This will start a SMART long self-test of the disk. It takes several hours. You can check on the progress with:
  
  smartctl -a /dev/sdX
  
  If it fails the test, replace it. Any 2.5" SATA hard drive will do, but I highly recommend getting an inexpensive SSD drive because it will be faster (which will help a slower machine) and will be less prone to damage from dropping/vibration. The above manual has instructions for replacing it. You'll take off the drive tray from the old drive and install it on the new one, so don't just throw away the old drive. I have a Kingston HyperX 120GB drive I got for $100 or so. The good thing is later on you can swap this good drive out from the old machine to a newer one, and buy a machine with a less expensive spinning disk. Most companies charge a high premium for an SSD, so you can swap the drives out and stick the "new" spinning disk in a small enclosure for a portable drive, and get the advantage of the SSD in the new box too.
  
  At this point you've potentially swapped out most of the "likely to fail" parts. Another part is the fan, but that usually requires replacing the heat pipes. if you feel up to it, the manual linked above has the part numbers you'd need. You'll know if the fan needs help if you can hear it making any noise other than "woosh" when you run something that taxes the system (like a game). Blowing the fan out with air will most likely make it work longer, in any case.
  
  I spend a lot of time at work resurrecting laptops that are "broken", you'd be amazed what you can do with a little software and some time. You should be able to get the machine in a working state pretty well with all this. I'd go with XFCE as your starter desktop, and I hear good things about Linux Mint, although I'm a Fedora guy (and use fluxbox for my window manager)

Here's the popular /r/linux answer; Lenovo X220

They do sell on Amazon, but not shipped and sold by Amazon. If you're okay with purchasing from a 3rd party via Amazon then it might be a good option.

Amazon.com link

I can't recommend this enough. It's about as comprehensive a guide to Linux as you could hope for, and accessible for beginners.

As far as distros go, I'd go with Mint. It's a great community-driven distro that's very user friendly.

Baytrail systems are rated around 10W, and the J1900 is quad-core. That TDP wattage technically applies to the CPU, and not the board, so it'll be a bit higher. I'd recommend something like this. Spendy NUCs can be better, but the low-end dual-core Celerons are pretty much just rebadged Atoms.

Your biggest power consumption with a NAS could end up being the hard drives. If you're going to include multiple drives, it makes sense to get a system that lets you stuff them all inside a case. If you need lots of hard drives, an AMD Kabini might be a better approach, as they've got more ports for expansion. There's one board with 4 SATA ports. The system wattage is double, though.

Actually, from what I know regarding UI design, it's the best UI design I've ever seen (and by far the most daring, hence the controversies I guess).

You might want to have a look at this book : https://www.amazon.fr/User-Interface-Design-Programmers-Spolsky/dp/1893115941/ref=sr_1_1 . It might give you a lot of insights regarding their design choices.

You definitely want this book for debian
The Debian Administrator's Handbook

You might also look for a book to teach you the basics of command line tools and system configuration files. I used to have a book I really liked but its too old to be found these days.

edit:
This is the one we used at university
UNIX System Administration Handbook
I'm not sure I would recommend it though as I'm not sure its the best. There is plenty others out there.


You should also try to compile your own kernel at some point just so you know how it is done and how you can tune a kernel if you need to.

Yeah, good call. I can understand that people might want to support ThinkPenguin, but some people who don't have the money for that would still like to support FS.Pretending the "official" one is the only one, people may simply turn to a non-free alternative thinking they have no other option, which kind of defeats the purpose.I put together a little list of other dongles using the same chipset. I'm sure it's incomplete, but it's all I'm willing to do for now.

---

Wikidevi list of Atheros AR9271 Devices



Netgear WNA1100

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I consider Classic Shell Scripting by Robbins and Beebe to be the greatest book on the topic. It is so extensive yet readable that it is really worth getting a copy. I owe it to this book that I first really got into Unix as a whole. The authors speak from positions of vast experience and go out of their way to teach you the POSIX way, which is not only handy on exotic Unixes as opposed to Linux, but also on Debian and its derivatives now thanks to dash. Keeping scripts POSIX-compliant pay off a lot cause dash is (in my experience) 1.5 - 2 times faster in trivial looping applications.

I have found the Netgear N150 (WNA1100) to work very well with various Linux distros. Here's a link to its page on Amazon. You might find a better price elsewhere, though (I got a bunch of them for $6.95 a couple years back).

Oh by the way what exact model of Asus did you return?

I did some search on amazon.com and found this ASUS ZenBook UX305CA where the top reviewer says it's a great Linux machine.

I bought a Nintendo case for it and make it into a retro gaming console.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0kmd7kwRjo

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My very first project was the Pirate Box.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTEGLb8aREI

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Also make a Pirate radio station

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/broadcast-fm-radio-station-raspberry-pi/

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A simple Media HTPC Server

https://mediaexperience.com/raspberry-pi-xbmc-with-raspbmc/

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I get my projects from The Raspberry Pi Magazine Magpi

https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/

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I also got projects from the Make Magazine

https://makezine.com/category/technology/raspberry-pi/

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Plus bought breadboard with accessories for the Raspberry Pi

https://www.amazon.com/Freenove-Raspberry-Processing-Tutorials-Components/dp/B06VTH7L28/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=Freenove+RFID+Starter+Kit+for+Raspberry+Pi%2C+Model+3B%2B&qid=1554079552&s=electronics&sr=1-1-fkmrnull

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I just like to play. I have 6 mini-SD cards so I don't have to over ride a project every single time. Can keep a project for a while and just recycle the mini-SD cards.

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I have the Alienware 15R2 (6th gen processor as well and a GTX 970m). I have the same monitor.

I'm currently using Archlinux (up to date) and it works just fine using bumblebee. (works, in fact, much better than connecting to the hdmi port). I'm using this cable. EDIT: minor formatting.

ASUS has a laptop that has a better webcam and is thinner, faster and cheaper than the newest Macbooks here.

However, it has a larger bezel and a greater height when folded up-right. If that's a deal-breaker for you, then go for the Macbook, it's your choose after all.

I realize Spolsky is not considered relevant any more but his UI book is a pretty decent intro: http://www.amazon.com/User-Interface-Design-Programmers-Spolsky/dp/1893115941

A lot of Kernighan’s (co‐authored) books age surprisingly well. It’s a real testament to his writing style that they are still relevant today despite examples tending to be in PL/I or Fortran.

• The Elements of Programming Style
  
• Software Tools
  
• The Practice of Programming
  
• The Unix Programming Environment
  
  And, of course…
  
  
• The C Programming Language

Well, there is The UNIX Programming Environment by Kernighan and Pike (K&P). It's a little dated but it covers sh and awk, including the use of grep, sed, lex, yacc, and the like. You might want to combine it with a more modern book to learn the latest enhancements to bash.

Many laptops have a USB-C port that is capable of being used in displayport mode, and transmitting a displayport signal.

I have 2 Dell displayport monitors that I connect to my MacBook Pro using one of these cables: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EXKDRAC/

There are also adapters like this for existing cables: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N2ORP84/

Since what you're looking at is "thunderbolt 3 compatible", I believe that also means it'll work in displayport mode.

This book is full of unix and linux tips. I suggest this book over all others I've read. It is an immense help for daily tasks as well as stuff you don't see too often.

http://www.amazon.com/UNIX-System-Administration-Handbook-3rd/dp/0130206016

The Thinkpad X220 would be a good choice. It's tough and just simply a work horse of a laptop. Here's one on Amazon for $280 and has an SSD. https://www.amazon.com/Thinkpad-X220-12-5-128GB-4G/dp/B005SSQ1UC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1466974414&sr=8-4&keywords=lenovo+X220

Check out Rebel Code for all of your answers and some good history. Just for Fun is decent too.

you may like this one

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ubuntu-Linux-Toolbox-Commands-Debian/dp/0470082933

I don't recommend either of those books, try these instead:

High Performance MySQL: Optimization, Backups, and Replication by Baron Schwartz, http://amzn.com/1449314287

A Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming (3rd Edition) by Mark G. Sobell, http://amzn.com/013308504X

> Is there some sort of golden rule book whose laws must not be violated?

Yes. The Design of the UNIX operating system and there's The UNIX Programming Environment :\^)

I found this book useful:
www.amazon.com/Classic-Shell-Scripting-Arnold-Robbins/dp/0596005954