Unix News

Two entries in /proc contain useful system statistics. The /proc/loadavg file contains information about the system load. The first three numbers represent the number of active tasks on the system—processes that are actually running—averaged over the last 1, 5, and 15 minutes. The next entry shows the instantaneous current number of runnable tasks—processes that are currently scheduled to run rather than being blocked in a system call—and the total number of processes on the system. The final entry is the process ID of the process that most recently ran. The /proc/uptime file contains the length of time since the system was booted, as well as the amount of time since then that the system has been idle. Both are given as floating-point values, in seconds. read more...

it's a simple job to do a cron job. This month, I thought I'd take another sidetrack. (You knew that entrepreneurs all have ADD, right?) So, it should be no surprise that to me, the fastest way from point A to point B is, um, what were we talking about? read more .

The XO laptop (of the One-Laptop-Per-Child initiative) is an inexpensive laptop project intended to help educate children around the world. The laptop includes many innovations, such as a novel, inexpensive, and durable hardware design and the use of GNU/Linux® as the underlying operating system. The XO also includes an application environment written in Python with a human interface called Sugar, accessible to everyone (including kids). Explore the Sugar APIs and learn how to develop and debug a graphical activity in Sugar using Python.

Examine methods for reporting on e-mail usage and getting detailed statistics on mailbox use. E-mail logs can provide a wealth of information about your users and their e-mail habits, including how often and frequently they use their e-mail. Depending on your UNIX® systems, you might even be able to glean more detailed information, such as identifying which users are using their folders effectively and who could benefit from further training and advice.read more on IBM developers.

If you would like to copy a set of files for all existing users, use the following scripting trick. It will save lots of manual work. First you need to grab all user names from /etc/passwd file using cut comand: read more .

The term hacking has an unfortunate reputation in the popular press, where it often refers to someone who breaks into systems or wreaks havoc with computers. Among enthusiasts, on the other hand, the term hack refers to a "quick-n-dirty" solution to a problem or a clever way to do something. The term hacker is very much a compliment, praising someone for being creative and having the technical chops to get things done. O'Reilly's Hacks series is an attempt to reclaim the word, document the ways people are hacking (in a good way), and pass the hacker ethic of creative participation on to a new generation of hackers. Seeing how others approach systems and problems is often the quickest way to learn about a new technology.

Under Linux you can use faillog command to display faillog records or to .set login failure limits. faillog formats the contents of the failure log from /var/log/faillog database / log file. It also can be used for maintains failure counters and limits. Run faillog without arguments display only list of user faillog records who have ever had a login failure. more ...