Perl Mirror.pl Script

Sometimes, when you need to get somethings done, the most simple of the scripts can do the job much better than hefty softwares out there.

I like to keep a mirror of laptop hard disk on a portable hard disk for safe keeping and also while traveling. And there is a perfect script to do just that

http://rumkin.com/software/mirror/

I do not need to carry a bulky hardware with me and when I do need a file, I simply plug my drive into a Netbook and see replica of what I have on my main computer in the drive.

I like the script for its simplicity. It can be programmed into your CRON and can execute standalone. It does a full mirror sync (exact replica of the hard drive) or one way dumping of all latest files. It however, does not copy the config files/directories starting with a dot ".".

Written in Perl, it can be run off any operating system with a Perl interpreter (Linux, Unix, Windows, Mac OS). And as the author says:

Yes, I know that there are other tools out there, and I am especially aware of 'rsync', but there was a need for a PERL-based mirror tool. I wrote one that only copies the file if the size is different or the source timestamp is newer than the destination timestamp. It works extra-good if it is copying to/from the same filesystem or when the filesystems have the same time.

Installing dLink DWA 525 Linux Drivers

Dlink DWA 525 PCI Card

If you are upgrading your desktop PCI wifi cards to faster N series Dlink cards, you will be in for a bit of surprise. The drivers provided by Dlink are still in alpha (for DWA 525 series) and are not natively supported in most Linux distributions.

So if you face this conundrum, here is a simple solution (Thanks to Aftab and Umar for providing the steps).

• First download the drivers for Dlink DWA-525 wifi card from the following link: http://ftp.dlink.ru/pub/Wireless/DWA-525/Drivers/Linux/
• Unzip the downloaded file into a directory
• cd into the newly unzipped directory
• type the following commands
• make
• sudo make install
• Now edit the following file
• vi  /etc/modeprob.d/blacklist.conf
• Append the following line at the end of the file
• blacklist rt2800pci
• And now reboot the machine
• sudo reboot

Your newly installed wifi card should now be working just fine. Enjoy surfing at 150mbps (theoretically) :)

Ubuntu Manual – A Great Addition and Must for Beginners

I must say, we have been pleasantly surprised at the content and quality of the manual developed by the community for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. These past few days, we have had the opportunity to share it with non-techies and people new to Linux. To our great satisfaction and delight, they not only found the manual extremely easy to follow but were able to do most of the tasks (including installation) without anyone's help.

Ubuntu itself is probably the most intuitive Linux distribution out there. But the manual is a great addition, making adoption of Linux even more easy. The document is divided into 9 distinct chapters that deal with its installation, the desktop environment, security, hardware and software management.  There are even some advanced topics on how to use command line interface to accomplish tasks the traditional way, among others. It even has a chapter on how to use Word, Spreadsheets, web browser, Instant Messaging, including Twitter making it easy for people to migrate to Ubuntu without any glitch.

The documentation is well supported by clear and extremely helpful screen shots of various Ubuntu features, that visually guide the user through many cumbersome tasks. This makes life easy for someone who has never used Ubuntu or Linux before.

Considering that it is a community driven project, it is a remarkable achievement and will go a long way in making Linux in general and Ubuntu in particular get mainstream acceptance. We for one are recommending it to anyone who wants to migrate/move to Linux and is unsure of where to begin.

If you prefer to get a printed version of the manual, you can get it through Lulu otherwise, the electronic version in PDF can be downloaded free of cost from Ubuntu Manual Website.