Puppy Linux Blog

SSHFS

# sshfs root@192.168.1.101:/mnt/sdb1/mp3 /root/server

This will mount a server directory locally to play music.

The local file must be created and be empty.

Encryption

Download 'openssl' and learn to use it.

Contents of message.txt:
This is a very secret message.

[encrypt the message]
openssl enc -a -aes-256-cbc -in message.txt -out encryptedMessage.txt

encryptedMessage.txt
U2FsdGVkX1+Fv0u9RDYb1jTE8s7qM4+vtn0JnPHrq8fbKhQNk26E7PJpUGA88fut

[decrypt the message]
openssl enc -a -d -aes-256-cbc -in encryptedMessage.txt -out message.txt

Use long complicated passwords
Never store your password on your computer
if you are extra paranoid copy the message to a memory stick and encrypt/decrypt on another computer not on the internet, ever.

OR....Use gnupg (gpg)

message.txt

This is a very secret message

[encrypt the message]

# gpg -c message.txt

message.txt.gpg

®HN®ì`ÒX1ðJ¸ÌQKHÅ;üXV~;ÖHTª4 :á7WSÚÌçð`á
ÉÄÕd¢6ÄQ0: 5EGuç_Fzwãu³½ó^¼!{=M,#À

[decrypt message.txt.gpg]

# gpg -o message.txt -d message.txt.gpg

The decrypted message will appear in the stdout unless you use the -o (output) option, as above.

Baby Back Ribs

For those with non-smoker gas grills...

I picked up one of those perforated smoke tubes from Amazon.

1. Fill smoker tube with flavored pellets of your choice.

2. With a propane torch, light the open end of the tube for about 1 minute. Blow it out and let sit for 2 minutes.

3. Lay the lit tube on it's side on the grates. I use one side of the grill and light the burner on low underneath it.

4. Remove the membrane from the bone side of the rib rack

5. Rub the rib rack with your favorite spices.

6. Place the ribs, bone down, on the top shelf (indirect heat) of the grill and add a cookie sheet of water on the bottom grates for moisture.

7. Cook for 1-1/2 hrs @ 225

8. Remove ribs and place them on a double layer of foil. pour 1/2 bottle of your favorite beer on the ribs.

9. Cover the ribs with foil and seal the edges.

10. Return to the top shelf of the grill, bone down, and cook @ 350 for 1/2 hr.

11. Flip the ribs and cook for another 1/2 hr.

12. Remove ribs from foil and coat with your favorite sauce (Sweet Baby Rays) and return to grill to cook until sauce had "browned" (approx. 15-20 min) flipping as desired.

13. Remove ribs, cut between each bone and serve

secure /tmp on servers

Check if /tmp is already secure. Some servers do not use a /tmp partition while others do.
-----command-----
df -h |grep tmp
-----command-----

If that displays nothing then go below to create a tmp partition. If you do have a tmp partition you need to see if it mounted with noexec.
-----command-----
cat /etc/fstab |grep tmp
-----command-----

If there is a line that includes /tmp and noexec then it is already mounted as non-executable. If not follow the instructions below to create one without having to physically format your disk. Idealy you would make a real partition when the disk was originally formated, that being said I have not had any trouble create a /tmp partition using the following method.

Create a ~800Mb partition
-----command-----
cd /dev/; dd if=/dev/zero of=tmpMnt bs=1024 count=800000
-----command-----

Format the partion
-----command-----
mkfs.ext2 /dev/tmpMnt
-----command-----
When it asks about not being a block special device press Y

Make a backup of the old data
-----command-----
cp -Rp /tmp /tmp_backup
-----command-----

Mount the temp filesystem
-----command-----
mount -o loop,noexec,nosuid,rw /dev/tmpMnt /tmp
-----command-----

Set the permissions
-----command-----
chmod 0777 /tmp
-----command-----

Copy the old files back
-----command-----
cp -Rp /tmp_backup/* /tmp/
-----command-----

Once you do that go ahead and restart mysql and make sure it works ok. We do this because mysql places the mysql.sock in /tmp which neeeds to be moved. If not it migth have trouble starting. If it does you can add this line to the bottom of the /etc/fstab to automatically have it mounted:

Open the file in pico:
-----command-----
pico -w /etc/fstab
-----command-----

Now add this single line at the bottom:

/dev/tmpMnt /tmp ext2 loop,noexec,nosuid,rw 0 0

While we are at it we are going to secure /dev/shm. Look for the mount line for /dev/shm and change it to the following:
none /dev/shm tmpfs noexec,nosuid 0 0

Umount and remount /dev/shm for the changes to take effect.
-----command-----
umount /dev/shm
mount /dev/shm
-----command-----

Delete the old /var/tmp and create a link to /tmp
-----command-----
rm -rf /var/tmp/
ln -s /tmp/ /var/
-----command-----

If everything still works fine, delete the /tmp_backup directory.
-----command-----
rm -rf /tmp_backup
-----command-----

Your /tmp, /var/tmp, and /dev/shm are now mounted in a way that no program can be directly run from these directories.

VPN with DD-WRT

Go to Services > VPN set-up page on DD-WRT router

enter address for the VPN server

enter port for the server

choose TUN for device

choose TCP for protocol

AES 256 for cipher

SHA 512 for algorithm

enable user password authorization

enter username

enter password

TLS cipher - none

LZO Comp - No

NAT enabled

Firewall enabled

IP address - empty

subnet mask - empty

tunnel mtu setting - 1500

Tunnel UDP Fragment - empty

Tunnel UDP MSS-Fix - enabled

nsCertType verification - unchecked

SSH

Connect to a remote machine via a SSH-secured connection and type on it's console to administer it.

This is very simple:

ssh user@remoteaddress

Move data between machines in an encrypted and secure way. It basicly works like the standard "cp" command, but it has got a different name: "scp"

scp /home/me/a_file.txt user@box_B:/home/me/

SSH offers the "-D" option to provide a SOCKS proxy on the local machine:

ssh -D 1234 user@box_B

You'll have a proxy listening on localhost port 1234. Now you just have to setup your webbrowser to use the "SOCKS proxy" on localhost port 1234 and all your surfing will go through Box B. You can check if it worked by visiting a website that shows your IP.

Netstat

To find IP addresses accessing your computer:

# netstat -ntu | awk '{print $5}' | cut -d: -f1 | sort | uniq -c | sort -n

Blue Cheese Dressing

Ingredients

4 ounces Gorgonzola
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Put the Gorgonzola in a small mixing bowl and mash it with a fork.

Add the sour cream, buttermilk, mayonnaise, white wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and black pepper and whisk to combine.

Serve or store in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, for up to 1 week.

Sour Cream Cheesecake

8 - 10 Servings

Total Time: 2 hrs. 30 min.

Ingredients

Crust:

33 graham cracker squares, crumbled

1 stick unsalted butter, melted, plus additional, for brushing the pan

1 tablespoon sugar

Filling:

20 ounces cream cheese

1 1/4 cups sour cream

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

3 yolks

1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Brush some of the melted butter around a 9 by 3-inch cake pan.

Adhere parchment to the bottom and the sides.

In a small bowl, combine crumbled graham crackers, the remaining melted butter, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the parchment-lined pan.

Place remaining crumbs on a sheet pan and bake both the crust and the remaining mixture for 10 minutes. Cool.

Save additional crumb mixture for sides.

In a mixer with a paddle attachment, beat sour cream for 10 seconds.

Add the cream cheese and sugar and mix on low for 30 seconds and then turn up to medium.

Scrape the bowl.

In a separate container, combine vanilla, eggs, yolks, and heavy cream.

With the mixer on medium, slowly pour the liquid mixture in.

When half of it is incorporated, stop and scrape. Continue adding the mixture until the rest of the ingredients are incorporated.

Once completely combined, pour into the cooled crust.

Lower oven temperature to 250 degrees F.

Place cheesecake into a preheated water bath, in the oven for 1 hour.

Turn the oven off and open the door for one minute. Close the door for one more hour.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and place in the refrigerator for 6 hours to completely cool before serving.

When ready to serve, place the entire cake pan into a hot water bath for about 15 seconds.

Unmold onto a cake round or serving dish.

Take the remaining graham cracker mixture and press into the sides of the cake.

Shrimp Gumbo

Serves 6

Total Time: 3 hr. 30 min.

Ingredients

4 ounces vegetable oil
4 ounces all-purpose flour
1 1/2 pounds raw, whole, head-on medium-sized (31-50 count) shrimp
2 quarts water
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced green peppers
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 cup peeled, seeded and chopped tomato
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
1/2 pound andouille sausage, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and browned
1 tablespoon file powder

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the vegetable oil and flour into a 5 to 6-quart cast iron Dutch oven and whisk together to combine. Place on the middle shelf of the oven, uncovered, and bake for 1 1/2 hours, whisking 2 to 3 times throughout the cooking process.

and minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

1 cup mayonnaise

Directions:

Once you have chopped the onion, dill pickle, olives and parsley, combine them all together and continue to mince until finely blended. Spoon mayonnaise into a serving bowl, and stir in the minced mixture. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Servings: 16

Deep Fried Southern Oysters

Ingredients

2 quarts vegetable oil for deep frying

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

12 ounces shucked oysters, drained

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup fine bread crumbs

Directions

Heat deep fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)

Combine flour, salt and black pepper. Dredge oysters in flour mixture, dip in egg and roll in bread crumbs.

Carefully slide oysters into hot oil. Cook five at a time until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Drain briefly on paper towels. Serve hot

Serves 4

Guacamole

Ingredients

3 Haas avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced

Directions

In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat. Drain, and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocados have been coated. Using a potato masher add the salt, cumin, and cayenne and mash. Then, fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

Shrimp Etouf�e

Pulled Pork Chiles Rellenos

Green Sauce

MPD + MPC

These are the two programs of choice when playing and serving large music collections.

I am currently up to almost 9,000 songs and counting.

This post will describe my setup and config files.

Mediatomb and UPnP

Puppy linux and Mediatomb Media Server for DLNA and UPnP

The following is for Mediatomb Version 12
I usually create .pets for easy removal if unwanted

autoconf > 2.6 is required
http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/
untar

./configure
make
make install DESTDIR=/root/test/autoconf-2.65

Download Mediatomb:
svn co http://svn.mediatomb.cc/svnroot/mediatomb/trunk/mediatomb mediatomb

cd to mediatomb directory and:
autoreconf -i
./configure
make
make install DESTDIR=/root/test/mediatomb

Install mediatomb.pet
make sure /root/.mediatomb/config.xml points to /usr/local/share/mediashare not /usr/share/mediatomb

in console:
mediatomb

it should tell you which port it's running on.

access with localhost:[port]/ in your browser

For great trancoding tips, see: http://mediatomb.cc/dokuwiki/transcoding:transcoding

mp3's are playing, video is choppy

webcam screenshots

Using ffmpeg with webcam

take one image per second
-r 1
to take images for 3 seconds
-t 3

so this will give you 3 jpegs in your root directory at vga resolution
Code:

ffmpeg -y -r 1 -t 3 -f video4linux2 -s vga -i /dev/video0 ~/camshot%d.jpeg

similarly here is a cheap way to capture webcam video:

rxvt +sb -bg orange -geometry 80x2 -e ffmpeg -y -f oss -i /dev/audio -f video4linux2 -s qvga -i /dev/video0 ~/a.avi
---------------------------------------

Using mplayer with webcam

changing -frames to different values changes number of screenshots.

mplayer -fps 1 tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:width=320:height=240:outfmt=rgb24 -frames 5 -vo jpeg

Telnet and email

Open a connection from your computer to your mail server.
Code:
telnet mail.domain.ext 110

You should receive a reply like:
Trying ???.???.???.???...
Connected to mail.domain.ext.
Escape character is '^]'.
+OK ready

Then log in:
Code:
USER username

This should give you:
+OK Password required for userName.

Now give your password:
Code:
PASS password

Should yield:
+OK userName has ? visible messages (? hidden) in ????? octets.

To see a list of your emails awaiting collection use the LIST command, this will also show you the id number of your messages (e.g. 1 or 2 etc.)

To view the contents of an email type RETR + the id number of the message (e.g RETR 1).

To delete a message use DELE + the id number of the message (e.g DELE 1).

To leave your mailbox and close the connection use QUIT

finding what ports are used

Use the following to find out what ports are being used on linux computer

netstat -anp --ip

Convert .ogg to .mp3

for x in *.ogg; do ffmpeg -i "$x" -ab 128 "`basename "$x" .ogg`.mp3"; done

This does an entire dir at once. You must be inside the dir you want to convert. Substitute whatever you want your target bitrate to be up where 128 is.

mplayer and recording

To record using mplayer, use the following format:

mplayer -dumpstream -dumpfile <filename> <url>

External IP

curl whatismyip.org

or

wget -O - -q http://whatismyip.org/