Linux Blog

Iptraf - Ncurses based LAN monitor

IPTraf is a network monitoring utility for IP networks. It intercepts packets on the network and gives out various pieces of information about the current IP traffic over it. Information returned by IPTraf include:

    * Total, IP, TCP, UDP, ICMP, and non-IP byte counts
    * TCP source and destination addresses and ports
    * TCP packet and byte counts
    * TCP flag statuses
    * UDP source and destination information
    * ICMP type information
    * OSPF source and destination information
    * TCP and UDP service statistics
    * Interface packet counts
    * Interface IP checksum error counts
    * Interface activity indicators
    * LAN station statistics

IPTraf can be used to monitor the load on an IP network, the most used types of network services, the proceedings of TCP connections, and others.

Installation:
OpenSuSe 11.1 - here
OpenSuSe 11.0 - here

Others:
Download the latest version. Once you have it downloaded, move it to /usr/local/src and untar it by running: # tar -zxvf iptraf-3.0.0.tar.gz

To compile and install, just change to the iptraf-3.0.0 top-level directory and type:./Setup
This will automatically compile and install the software and install the binaries into /usr/local/bin so make sure that directory is in your PATH.

The traditional way to do it ..

        cd src
        make clean
        make
        make install

Precompiled binaries are available in the iptraf-3.0.0.i386.bin.tar.gz file. This contains no source code and is expected to run on Intel x86 Linux with the GNU C Library 2.1 or later.

Once you have it installed, start it up by typing /usr/local/bin/iptraf as root. An ncurses based main menu will come up on your screen and you will have a list of options that you can select.

ntop (Monitor Network Traffic) installation/configuration on OpenSuSe

ntop is a network traffic probe that shows the network usage, similar to what the popular top Unix command does. ntop is based on libpcap and it has been written in a portable way in order to virtually run on every Unix platform and on Win32 as well.

ntop users can use a a web browser (e.g. Firefox) to navigate through ntop (that acts as a web server) traffic information and get a dump of the network status. In the latter case, ntop can be seen as a simple RMON-like agent with an embedded web interface. The use of:

    * a web interface
    * limited configuration and administration via the web interface
    * reduced CPU and memory usage (they vary according to network size and traffic)

make ntop easy to use and suitable for monitoring various kind of networks.

To run ntop you also require rrdtool, if not install, install it : # yast2 -i rrdtool rrdtool-devel

Installation: Use "1-click" installer to install ntop
OpenSuSe 11.1 - here
OpenSuSe 11.0 - here

Once the installation is successfully completed run ntop -A (as a root user) for the first time to set the password for the default ntop admin user (admin).

Now go to /etc/sysconfig/ntop config file and make the necessary changes like web interface (NTOPD_PORT="127.0.0.1:3000") and ethernet card (ip address) on which you want to monitor your network traffic like eth0, something like ....

After making all the necessary changes just restart the ntop server: # /etc/init.d/ntop restart and go to you web browser and point to: http://localhost:3000 to see network traffic flowing in and out of your network, something like ...

React Operating System - Another Windows in making

ReactOS is a free, modern operating system based on the design of Windows XP/2003. Written completely from scratch, it aims to follow the Windows architecture designed by Microsoft from the hardware level right through to the application level. This is not a Linux based system, and shares none of the unix architecture.

The main goal of the ReactOS project is to provide an operating system which is binary compatible with Windows. This will allow your Windows applications and drivers to run as they would on your Windows system. Additionally, the look and feel of the Windows operating system is used, such that people accustomed to the familiar user interface of Windows would find using ReactOS straightforward. The ultimate goal of ReactOS is to allow you to remove Windows out of your window and install ReactOS without the end user noticing the change.

ReactOS is licensed under the GNU General Public License.

More such screenshots - here

Ubuntu 9.04 - Jaunty Jackalope CD Labels

Excellent cover for your CDs Jaunty.
It also included the SVG so you can edit it if it doesn't fit your CD's (larger middle hole).

There are covers also available for:
    * Ubuntu SVG
    * Ubuntu 32 bits Desktop
    * Ubuntu 32 bits Alternate
    * Ubuntu 32 bits Server
    * Ubuntu 64 bits Desktop
    * Ubuntu 64 bits Alternate
    * Ubuntu 64 bits Server
    * Kubuntu SVG Kubuntu SVG
    * Kubuntu 32 bits Desktop
    * Kubuntu 64 bits Desktop

Download it from -- here

Voice Control your Ubuntu desktop

Gnome-Voice-Control is a dialogue system to control the GNOME Desktop. It is developed on Google Summer of Code 2007.

The idea is to develop some features that will improve the usability in the Gnome Desktop (Ubuntu). The goal is to implement a Desktop Voice Control System. The system consists in an application that will be monitoring the audio input(microphone) and when a significant audio signal has been detected, the software catches, processes and recognizes the signal and then executes the desired action over the Gnome Desktop. In a set of actions could include maximize, minimize, close the active window; open a specific program; switching from one desktop to another; among others. GnomeVoiceControl is implemented in C in conjunction with CMU Sphinx, which is an open source tool, created to convert speech to text.

If you'd like to have a quick start, look at screencast below .

Install it from the terminal:

sudo aptitude install gnome-voice-control

The installation and configuration is simple. To use you have to right click on a panel (the bar on the desktop) and add the applet "VoiceControl", and using this applet you can start and stop the use of voice control application.

For now the application is in its initial stage but can do everything like ...

Next Window
Minimize Window
Maximize Window
Close Window

Run Terminal
Run Text Editor
Run Mail