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ssh: how to permit root login only from local network / ip

Posted on October 22, 2008

From version 4.3p2, sshd supports an interesting option called Match. At the time of writing, this is the version supplied with Debian Etch (stable).

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Disable .bash_history logging in bash, Debian

Posted on October 19, 2008

I hate the .bash_history file. It never contains what I want, screws up when using multiple sessions and generally contains junk. I like to disable the .bash_history file, while still keeping the ability to push the "up"-key to scroll through earlier commands in the same session.

The way to do this is to set $HISTFILE to /dev/null. Bash will now log all its history to a nice, black hole.

This can be done at the beginning of ~/.bashrc

...
HISTFILE=/dev/null
...

There. Now I wont forget.

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Encrypted swap in Debian

Posted on October 18, 2008

So, you got your home directory encryopted, but you're not sure what sensitive material could end up in swap? After a long day of running a whole lot of applications and processes, many interesting things could potentially wind up there. So here's how to make sure that data is completely garbled after a reboot.

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Vista file transfer estimates: WTF?

Posted on October 8, 2008

In Windows XP, it seemed like the estimated transfer time of files in a folder, when copying that folder from one place to another, was estimated purely based on the sum of the file sizes and the current transfer speed. It also seemed to have a preference for transferring the larger files first.

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What separates a straight network cable from a crossover network cable

Posted on October 6, 2008

If you're connecting two machines with just a single network cable, like we did with parallell and serial cables back in the days, you've no doubt used a crossover cable. But why is this?

VESA console modes

Posted on October 6, 2008

Most linux kernels accept a "vga=" command line parameter, which will set the resolution to use during boot. This is a short list of video modes which can be used, given your kernel supports your video card well enough, and the video card can handle the resulution.

My computer has the correct resolution all the way from boot time, which makes text MUCH easier to read.

Motorized Madness

Posted on October 6, 2008

I rarely post just a link, but this casemod is just too awesome:

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showpost.php?p=172860&postcount=377

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Disable bittorrent in Opera

Posted on October 5, 2008

Short reference, but I always forget.

Go here: opera:config#BitTorrent|Enable

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Retrieving Opera wand passwords, opera password recovery

Posted on October 5, 2008

To fetch Opera's stored wand passwords, all you need is a new powerbutton. Don't pay for this service!

http://operawiki.info/PowerButtons#retrievewand

Fetch that and use this new button instead of the wand when you want to recover a password you've saved with the wand.

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MySQL Cheat Sheet

Posted on October 5, 2008

My relatively short list of useful mysql commands

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