I think ... - Ubuntu

Pimping up My Linux Terminal

2021-03-31T00:00:00+06:00

The purpose of this post is to be my quick, copy-paste source of the commands that I use to set up my terminal on a new *nix system. However, if someone else finds it useful, that’d be some cherries on top.

This command prompt in the below image is the end goal.

Assuming, I’m on a standard pc/server with Ubuntu Linux and I have CLI access with sudo. For other Linux distros or MacOS, some commands might be slightly different.

Step-1: Confirm that Zsh is up-to-date¶

While on most of the Linux systems Zsh is present by default, on others that’s not the case. So, let’s make sure about it.

$ sudo apt install zsh

Confirm the version. Oh-my-zsh recommends Zsh to be 5.0.8 or higher.

$ zsh --version
zsh 5.8 (x86_64-ubuntu-linux-gnu)

Also, you gotta make sure that git (recommended v2.4.11 or higher) is also installed on the system.

Step-2: Install Oh-my-zsh, the fun “configuration” framework¶

Install directly from the source.

$ sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

In the last step of this installation, it will ask to set Zsh as THE shell. Go ahead.

Now we have the default prompt from Oh-my-zsh.

Now, let’s pimp up the prompt. Shall we?

Step-3: Install `powerlevel10k`, a powerful prompt theme¶

I love the powerful Zsh theme powerlevel10k. More on why this theme is awesome.

Let’s install it on top of oh-my-zsh.

$ git clone --depth=1 \
  https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git \
  ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k

Now, gotta set ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k" in ~/.zshrc by adding that manually in the file.

Step-4: Make sure the prompt looks like as you want¶

In this step, I’m gonna bring in my already open-sourced Zsh config file aka .zshrc.

# deleting the current one & get my personal one from GitHub
$ rm .zshrc
$
$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kmonsoor/dot-files/master/.zshrc

I kept the powerlevel10k configs as comments so that Zsh doesn’t complain if I use the config file early. Have to set ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k" in the ~/.zshrc as well.

Otherwise, once the powerlevel10k theme will run for the first time by Zsh, a very friendly step-by-step prompt will run you through towards a desirable prompt for you. Also, whenever you want, you can invoke the config-wizard by executing p10k configure on the shell.

Now is the time to enable the changes by restarting Zsh and enjoy the new config and the powerful prompt.

$ exec zsh

Optional¶

Also, I usually install this very useful, but external plugin zsh-syntax-highlighting for oh-my-zsh.

$ git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting

Don’t forget to activate the plugin by including it in ~/.zshrc. For that, add zsh-syntax-highlighting inside the list of other plugins.

plugins=( plugin_a plugin_b zsh-syntax-highlighting)

Ubuntu - Update APT-GET Server to Use Fastest Mirror

2016-10-10T00:00:00+06:00

Prelude¶

By default, Ubuntu sets the update server pointing to its own (http://archive.ubuntu.com). It is the safest bet for Ubuntu. But, that’s not the case for users, especially who are outside USA. To make it smoother as well as distribute the load, Ubuntu also provides a list of mirror sites. You can find the official mirror list here.

However, it needs some configuration.

On GUI¶

Yes, you can do the selection on Ubuntu using its GUI tool. But, the problem is it don’t always work as you want.

It works on geolocation, giving me the local server, which is waaaayy slower where I am. The network temporal distance is the important factor here, not spatial distance (http://askubuntu.com/a/9035/113604)

so, what else do we have ?¶

I use a handy tool for this purpose to point me to the fastest server FOR ME. It’s apt-select.

To install it, i found this method most hassle-free. You may also try pip install method described on the repo’s README file.

$ git clone https://github.com/jblakeman/apt-select.git

That’s it. Now to execute it, just run the “main” Python file.

$ cd apt-select
$ ./apt-select.py -c -t 3 -m one-week-behind

We are choosing here the best 3 mirrors(due to -t 3) which are at most one week behind from the main Ubuntu server. For general purposes, that’s good enough.

It will choose one using the latency & ping time, and also show servers’ bandwidth. Then the tool asks you to select new mirror from the 3 options came up. Usually, stick to the top option, hence 1. For example in my case, it shows:

[khaled:~] $ apt-select -c -t 3 -m one-week-behind
Getting list of mirrors...done.
Testing latency to mirror(s)
[3/3] 100%
Getting list of launchpad URLs...done.
Looking up 3 status(es)
[3/3] 100%
1. mirror.dhakacom.com (current)
    Latency: 1.89 ms
    Org:     dhakaCom Limited
    Status:  Up to date
    Speed:   1 Gbps
2. mirror.dhakacom.com
    Latency: 1.96 ms
    Org:     dhakaCom Limited
    Status:  Up to date
    Speed:   1 Gbps
3. archive.ubuntu.com
    Latency: 205.23 ms
    Org:     Canonical Ltd.
    Status:  Up to date
    Speed:   100 Mbps
Choose a mirror (1 - 3)
'q' to quit 1
New config file saved to /home/khaled/sources.list

Then, the tool prepares a new sources.list file to replace the system’s one with.

Now, replace the file with the new one which will be now used by the apt-get * commands. As it overwrites a system config file, you need to do with sudo.

$ sudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.backup && sudo mv sources.list /etc/apt/

That’s it. Now, all you update/upgrade will be fetched from the newly selected mirror.

However, I highly recommend to run update once right away.

$ sudo apt-get update

Then, only if you want, run upgrade:

$ sudo apt-get upgrade

Increase virtual-disk size in VirtualBox on Windows 7

2012-05-26T08:02:00+06:00

Are you stuck with your small virtual disk partition for VirtualBox? You created the partition for some testing & practicing, now it needs more space. I was also stuck with the same problem; so I researched many forums, and here is the gist.

[Note: This procedure won’t work for VM with snapshots. So, please take note the fact about your system beforehand.]

Download Gparted, disk manager for Linux. It’ll come as an ISO file.
Boot into your guest OS, check, with df command, which partition you need to grow. Take note of that specific mounted HD, such as /dev/hdb/sda3
Take backup of your existing data, as I WILL NOT TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU DAMAGE YOUR DATA.
In host OS, Goto the command prompt by running, cmd.exe
Navigate to the Virtualbox installation folder
Execute the command:

C:\ VBoxManage modifyhd X:\yourVM_DiskPath_InHost\yourVM_Disk.vdi  --resize 40960

you will see progress as below:

If you fail with a message like thid

“VBoxManage.exe: error: Resize hard disk operation for this format is not implemented yet!”

Now, you need this tool CloneVDI.exe from this VirtualBox forum-post. If you’re using this tool, remember to check “Increase virtual drive size to ” with your desired size.

Now, Load the ISO file to the CD/DVD drive of your virtual Linux.

Boot the Guest OS; from the boot menu, select CD/DVD drive, then it will boot in GParted tiny OS. Now the PartitionManager tool will come up automatically, like below:

Now “shrink/Grow” or “Move” your desired partition, but be careful. Don’t rename any of them. Be careful about your data.
Don’t worry, unless you clicked Apply, nothing has actually took place. When you are done with moving and resizing, you have to click Apply to commit the change

Once completed, close Gparted, and then shutdown the OS
Unload the ISO aka virtual CD from virtual OS
Boot into the virtual OS again
Now, check that if the desired partition grew or not by using the df command

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How to install and use `UNAFold` / `mfold` RPM package on Ubuntu

2011-02-17T00:00:00+06:00

[Please note that this post has been written quite a while ago. After that, it hasn’t been updated much.]

I failed to install UNAFold/mfold in Ubuntu 10.10 as the supplied binary package was in rpm (RedHat) format.

Ubuntu 10.10 can’t use rpm files to install software directly.

After doing some digging, I found that it is possible to convert rpm files to deb(Debian) format by using another app, named alien.

But alien isn’t installed on Ubuntu by default. So I used the command,

$ sudo apt-get install alien

then check the installation:

$ alien

if it goes okay, now to simply convert the UNAFold package:

$sudo alien ~/Downloads/unafold-3.8-1.i386.rpm

the converted one is named like unafold_3.8-2_i386.deb

Now use this new package for installation

$ sudo dpkg -i unafold_3.8-2_i386.deb

after installation, you should be able to run the *.pl scripts with appropriate input, like:

$ perl /usr/bin/UNAFold.pl  ~/s1.seq