Recently we had to provide support on a Red Hat Server where there were hundreds of users and the user directories organized into hierarchies. Normally we change to a users directory using cd ~username. We had some extra time on our hands and wanted to play with the /etc/passwd file and tried to use awk to do the same thing. The following one liner will do this the hard way :-)

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Zyxware technologies joins hands once again with GNU/Linux Users Group Trivandrum to organize the third install fest of the year in Trivandrum. This time the event is planned on a much more massive scale than the first two install fests. The earlier events were 1 day events targeted at the general public. This time it is targeted at the IT community in technopark and it is a full week program. The program is scheduled to be conducted from Sep 1 to Sep 5 at Park Center, Technopark, Trivandrum.
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If you have noticed a drastic slowdown in your DSL internet connection after you upgraded to Ubuntu Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 8.04) then it might not be that your ISP is entirely to blame. It could be settings on your PC that is slowing things down. We had a problem in our office where Ubuntu PCs were getting only around 80Kbps as opposed to 2Mbps from Windows machines. After troubleshooting and playing with some configuration parameters we got the Ubuntu Machines up to the same level as the Windows PCs
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We run apt-cacher to save bandwidth in our intranet. All Ubuntu systems in our office uses the apt-cacher server to update and upgrade. Recently we started getting the hash sum mismatch and size mismatch errors. After some dabbling with the settings and the files we figured out a simple solution for this problem.
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After a long 3 months since the release of Ubuntu Hardy heron, we have managed to download the complete Ubuntu Repository for Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. The full set of Ubuntu Repository DVDs (set of 5 DVDs) is now available and you can order it through our RequestCD Program. If you get the complete Ubuntu Repository on DVDs you do not have to have an internet connection to install any package that is normally available through Synaptic Package Manager.
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We install Ubuntu on almost all systems built at Zyxware. One common request we have heard from our customers was for a simple printed user manual that they can use to learn and start using Ubuntu. We have been guiding people to the web to learn the ins and outs of using the operating systems but this does not always work very well. As a permanent solution to this problem we are embarking on an ambitious project to create a print ready Ubuntu Manual. As the first step towards this we have created a website dedicated to compiling content that can go into the ubuntu manual. You can check out the ubuntu manual site.
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Matrix Screensaver is a very popular screensaver based on the digital rain shots (moving text) in the blockbuster movie trilogy - The Matrix. This is available as a screensaver in popular GNU Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Fedora and Debian with their default installations. But the default Matrix Screensaver that comes with these distributions contains only falling English alphabets. Now Santhosh Thottingal of SMC (Swathanthra Malayalam Computing) has modified this for Indic scripts and has made it available for everybody.
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With a view to promote free software across Kerala, we have decided to promote district wide groups and as part of this initiative we have started GNU/Linux Users Group Alappuzha. This group is specially focussed on Free Software Enthusiasts from Alappuzha District erstwhile known as Alleppey . We will support all free software including but not exclusively all GNU/Linux distributions. We invite all Free Software Users and Supporters from Alappuzha district to join this group and have fun. You can join this group by sending a mail to ilug-alp-subsribe @ googlegroups.com or you can join from the Alappuzha GNU/Linux Users Group Website.
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Zyxware Technologies joins hands with GNU/Linux Users Group Trivandrum (ilug-tvm), SPACE-Kerala and FSF India to bring to the public the second GNU/Linux Install fest in Trivandrum in the last 3 months. This time the event is arranged to coincide with the Worldwide Mandriva Linux Install Fest so as to pledge our cooperation with the Mandriva Community. The event is arranged for the 14th of June 2008 at Cotton Hill Lower Primary School, Vazhuthacaud.

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One of our customers recently brought an Acer Aspire 3002NLC Laptop to install Ubuntu and to configure the laptop as a Samba server for his home networking. There was one more thing that he wanted to us to configure - that was internet through the Reliance Datacard. The card provided was ZTE MC315. Installing Ubuntu and configuring the rest of the applications were easy but the reliance datacard installation took some time. But once we figured it out, the steps involved were very simple.
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