Linux

2026

Installing Zotero on Linux/Ubuntu
Application is not responding
The find command on an old Asustor
How to install the color-blind-safe Nature Color Palette in Inkscape
The Asustor AS-304T NAS cannot mount contemporary ext4 filesystems
Routing network traffic through two different NICs

2025

Python rules our plants
Instructions how to convert an Asustor AS7004T into an Ubuntu Server
Exporting from Avidemux to MP4
t_coffee still fails on a standard Ubuntu 24.04 LTS install
Wireguard
Backing up DVDs
Python Virtual Environments
ProxyJump
Barrier (a software KVM switch)

2024

Taking an webcam image from the command line
Overstretched IT support

2021

How to manually encrypt a second hard drive in Ubuntu 20.04
Ways how to keep a process running after logging out
Directory hard links in Linux
Multiple Python versions on Ubuntu 20.04
Eduroam installation on Linux

2020

Grub2
Listing all active internet connections on Linux
Apache forward proxy
Counting files (list and word count, ls & wc)
Copying with rsync

2019

Free digital signing of documents under Linux - an impossibility?
PXE-booting from Netgate Pfsense SG-3100
Mounting lvm2 manually
How to enable passwordless logins to a server
Ḿanuscript reviewing by annotating PDFs
Is Ubuntu 18.04 still using the SSD drive for swap?
Linux copy (cp)
Passwordless login via the GUI and ssh defaults
Changing swappiness on Linux and SDD
Mounting group directories via the fstab

2018

OpenVPN server on pfsense and client on Ubuntu 16.04
SSD or spinning disk?
Computer time: Windows against the rest of the world
Remote desktop sessions to your Helsinki University work computer

2017

The magic sequence to wake up Apple’s SuperDrive on Linux
Deleting files with “illegal characters”
Windows changes my computers clock
Accessing shared folders in VirtualBox (Linux guest)
Handbrake and protected DVDs

2016

ScanSnap iX100 support for Linux
Automated reinstall of software from package list
Batch renaming files on the command line
Netstat
BSD and Linux
BackupPC and Macs
SnapGene - Simply the best DNA manipulation software

2015

Managing OpenVPN with Network Manger

2014

Ubuntu is slowly getting unusable
Poster printing without an A0 printer

2013

Mounting individual partitions from disk dumps
Updating drupal

2012

x11vnc as a nxserver replacement
Meine Podcast-Favoriten
My favorite podcasts

2011

Some useful PDF editing (and search) commands

2010

Disk dumps (dd) and copying over the network (netcat)

2009

A permanent static route in Ubuntu Karmic Koala (9.10), Precise Pangolin (12.04) & Trusty Tahr (14.04)
How to use jhead or exiftool to add a time stamp to a jpg image
File permissions on html server (recursive chmod) differentiating between files and directories
How to erase hard drives (shred, dd)
How to access encrypted volumes from live CDs
Changing the MAC (Media Access Control) address of NICs (Network Interface Cards)

2008

WINE regression testing
Reinstallation of packages from a list
mysql server restart

2007

Finding files with find
Encrypted backup using BackupPC, LVM and cryptsetup
cryptsetup on lvm on Ubuntu Feisty
E-mail: migrating from kmail to Evolution
Why some scripts in the cron.hourly directory do not become executed
What corresponds to the Windows ipconfig /all command in Linux?
VNC (Virtual Network Computing) via ssh
The sticky bit, bzip2 and automatic start of programs upon login
The ls command
Startup script for VNC server
Some partition rearrangements under Linux
rio500-0.7-1.i386.rpm works under RedHat 9
Mount Samba shares (why doesn’t Nautilus work?) and making smb mounts permanent
Mac-Linux Connectivity (netatalk, atalk, Appletalk)
lmule and xmule trouble
How do I run the Gene Construction Kit under Linux?
Hot-swapping different user GUIs under Linux
Floppies and Linux
Creating a shared directory under Linux
BitTorrent
Binhexed attachments and Mozilla (hexbin, macutils)
Audio CDs to the Rio 500 mp3 player using Linux
Acrobat Reader 5.07 for Linux
(Re)installing GRUB bootloader
Suse 9
sudo is not only to sudo (execute files as another user)
Self-extracting compressed files
Loosing your Windows softly
Location of launchers, panels, etc. in Gnome
grep to search for file content or rpm -qa output
Gnome & KDE sessions autostart items
Connecting the external hard drive to my computer (Maxtor One Touch 200GB, FireWire & USB 2.0/1.1)
Changing environment variables (env, csh, bash)
BackupPC (and MacOS X)
What Text Editor for Linux?
VNC server under Suse 9
Using Riositude under VMware
Starting up and shutting down network cards
RPM management
ps2pdf
Problem to access X desktop from a root terminal
No chown or chmod on samba mounts
More about GCK2.5 under wine
Installing Staden 2003b on Suse 9
Editing the crontab
Changing job priority under Linux
The new iPod (3rd generation) and Suse Linux 9
ssh host keys
Spin down the harddisk with hdparm
Samba trouble (smb, smbadduser, smbpasswd)
Running wine from a real windows install
Problems with vhosts on RedHat 8
Piping the output of find into a new command (find, xargs)
MySQL install
How to rescue a bad X configuration during Suse 9 install
How to mount a NFS export
How to import sequences from SRS into GCK2.5
GRAMPS and Suse Linux 9
Editing (resizing, format converting, compressing) images in the command line with ImageMagick (mogrify, convert)
Creating Konqueror Service Menus (aka contextual menus)
Creating a boot floppy for RedHat 8
Changing specific ownerships: chmod –from
Changing sound volume or bitrate of mp3 files with lame
Burning CDs from the command line: cdrdao
Adobe Acrobat 5.0.5 under wine
Adding a Suse 9 to a Red Hat 9 (two different distros on the same computer)
A good introduction to shell scripting
Wine and Adobe Illustrator (can’t find AIRes.dll)
Where do man documents live?
VMware setup error (libpopt)
VMware and Samba
VMware and nonstandard screen resolutions of laptops
suid and executing programs as root without need of typing the root password
Staden 1.4 and Suse 9
smb mounts via fstab or automount?
Reiserfsck and repairing the root partition using the Knoppix CD
Good rpm repositories for Suse Linux 9
Formating an mounting an external firewire reiserfs disk
Editing names of desktop entries
Changing the host name with Yast2 (overriding the DCHP server)
autofs, automount, auto.master and mounting samba shares
Quick edits of jpg files from within Konqueror (jhead, jpegtran)
Installation and configuration of disc-cover on Suse 9.0
File Associations in KDE
Couldn’t find MIME type application/octet-stream (Konquerer/Kdesktop)
The PATH in Suse Linux 9 (/etc/profile.local)
kaptain on Suse Linux 9
Installation of Duplicate File Finder
Desktop Integration of the Staden Package in KDE on Suse Linux 9
Changing the default to tree view in Konqueror
Automatization of Sequence Handling (Staden’s pregap4 and gap4)
Windows NT, network browsing, mounting and disconnecting from network drives (command netuse)
What nfs and smb shares are available on a server (showmount, smbclient)?
True Type fonts under Linux
Syncronizing Psion3a address database with KDE’s address book
Suse Linux 9.1/9.2 and vmware
Suse Linux 9.1
Start netatalk as system service during bootup on Suse Linux 9
Staden Help Function (no Netscepe, no help)
Specifying a default working directory (Path) for Acrobat via acroread.desktop file
Software development projects for Molecular Biology
Sequence trace files in tar archives (Staden)
scp (secure copy)
Resetting the MySQL root password
Removing PDF password protection
Reference Sequences (Staden)
Recursive grep
Quanta crashes during start-up (moving my account to a new user)
Problems installing VMware tools (manual installation)
Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe and Linux support
Manually uncompressing backup files creating by BackupPC (Zzzz)
KMail, multiple SMTP servers and the alternative sendmail
Installing Windows95 under VMware
Identifying your kernel version (ver)
Extracting files from rpm archives (rpm2cpio)
Desktop Integration of Staden into KDE 3.2
DCOPserver error during KDE login
winmail.dat (TNEF) attachments and non-Windows operating systems
Where KAdressbook stores its data and settings (kabc)
Wheel Mouse trouble with Suse Linux 9.2 (SaX2, xorg.conf, explorerps/2, ZAxisMapping)
Webalizer on our server
Vmware and ’error while loading shared libraries’: Suse’s new gdk-pixbuf rpm is broken
Updating Suse Linux 9.0 to 9.1
Tunneling of remote X11 output to a local machine behind a firewall (ssh, X11, ForwardX11)
The invisible screensaver (kslideshow, import, screenshot)
The Debian Package manager (apt-cache, apt-get, install, search)
System reinstall, kmail, kopete and other application preferences/settings
Suse Linux 9.3 Display Manager (xdm, kdm)
smbclient (mount, Windows XP, SFS, file sharing)
Self-playing DivX movies on CD (movix, autostart, vlc)
SCPM (System Configuration Profile Management)
RDF, image metadata, jpg/jpeg image annotation (RDFPic)
NFS shares & automount
Mplayer is probably the best video player (and mencoder the best encoder)
Mouting of encrypted partitions under SuSE 9.3 (losetup, cryptotab, twofish256, twofishSL92)
Mounting of vfat partitions and accession privilege management mapping (fstab, vfat, umask, fmask, dmask, users)
Monitoring the CPU temperature (ksensors, lmsensors)
Migrating the Mad Thought Blog to a new server (mysql, php)
Manually syncronizing the time (xntp, ntpdate)
ksubtile, subtitles and subtitle format (srt, mplayer)
Kill and defunct (zombie) processes (kill, pstree, xkill)
Keyboard layout under xfce (Debian Testing, XF86Config)
Installing source rpms (rpmbuild –rebuild)
How much disk space do I have left (disk usage du and disk free df)
Hardware (harddisk) failure (dma timeout error, dma_timer_expiry)
Grip configuration (%) switches for file formats
Firewall configuration programs (fwbuilder, yast2, iptables, Brickwall/Brickhouse)
Exporting automounted partitions via nfs
Execution of dd command via ssh and output redirection to local file
Cutting mpeg movie files (mpgtx)
Converting Mac text files into UNIX text files (tr)
aMule on our server (what ports to open?)
Using ssh in scripts (one-click secure VNC connection using krdc)
Ubuntu 5.04 or Debian 3.1 on the original PB G3 (aka Kanga aka PB 3500)
Installing mplayer on kubuntu
How to mount a partition formatted with UFS (UNIX file system) and the partitioner included with the MacOS X installer
Updating gallery via CVS
Ubuntu and root, su and sudo
Re-encoding mp3 files into smaller files with lame
Migrating my old mysql blog database to a new blog software (PluggedOut)
Keeping preferences and similar stuff (e.g. password files, bookmarks) in sync between two different Linux distributions (unison)
Importing email from Kontact to Apple’s Mail App
How to transfer the oligo database from MacVec tor to a web-based blast database
How to boot into the BIOS of a Dell Precision WorkStation 410MT to change to SCSI booting
Force immediate reboot
Command line rpm and SuSEconfig
Find and replace with perl

2006

Shell script to downsample podcasts
Creating and mounting iso images (CD image files) under linux (dd)
Manually creating an encrypted partition without yast2 (fdisk, mkreiserfs, losetup, twofish, cryptotab)
How to backup mysql databases (mysqlhotcopy, mysqldump)
Backup your home directory using tar
Watching, ripping and converting DVDs (xine, mplayer, mencoder, dvd, iso image)
Suse Linux 9.2 and encrypted DVD playback (xine, libdvdcss2, libxine, hdparm, DMA)
Using lame to create mp3s from wavs
How to trim a wav file from the Linux command line
How to install perl modules
Konqueror bookmark xml (xbel) files and its display in web browsers (Mozilla that is) using stylesheets (css or xsl)
Adding a new user to MySQL and other basic mysql commands
Updating gallery
Restricting Samba access on SuSE 10.1 to one IP
Migrating from SuSE 9.3 to SuSE 10.1
Kernel parameters for Macintosh Powerbook 3500/G3 (“Kanga”)
How to enable VPN clients to access LAN computers that are not running VPN software

2004

Fujitsu Siemens Amilo D1840W and Linux
What file format stands the .ACE ending for and how does one decompress them under Linux?
Wine vs. Crossover Office
Syncronizing Suse 9 with a public time server
How to format and duplicate floppies under Linux
How to load kernel modules automatically during system boot
Hiding dot files for samba shares
Shortcoming of silent mutagenesis tools (EMBOSS, GCK): WatCut as a solution
KDX under WINE
Getting the web interface for BackupPC working with Apache2 under Suse 9
Find me elsewhere

Biochemistry/Molecular biology researcher and teacher