Issue #147 / Feb 2013

KNOW-HOW: Revive Your Old Laptop

Bringing new life to your trusty old laptop

A few years ago, I bought an IBM ThinkPad T41p. It’s a great machine that served me well for a long time, although for the last year it mainly sat on the shelf. I had some free time at hand, so I decided to give it one more chance.

PROGRAMMING: CoffeeScript

CoffeeScript instead of JavaScript

Through the years, many languages have tried to improve or even replace JavaScript, including CoffeeScript, which runs in all JavaScript Runtime Environments and compiles into JavaScript.

PROGRAMMING: Perl: CMS with GitHub

An alternative use for GitHub

With its easy-to-use web interface, GitHub can be put to totally different uses than archiving code. For example, Perlmeister Mike Schilli used GitHub to deploy a content management system for simple websites.

SYSADMIN: Charly's Column: Di

The sys admin’s daily grind – Di

The more frequently a command is used, the fewer letters it should have, so the use of twokey commands like ls, mv, and df is second nature. We look at a previously little-known representative of this club, di.

NEWS: Tracing Tools

Monitoring activities and system processes

Programs rarely reveal what they are doing in the background, but a few clever tools, of interest to both programmers and administrators, monitor this activity and log system functions.

KNOW-HOW: File Transport

Transferring large files

Various alternatives let you work around pesky size limits when transferring a file from point A to point B.

KNOW-HOW: Ask Klaus!

Klaus Knopper answers your Linux questions

Klaus Knopper is the creator of Knoppix and co-founder of LinuxTag expo. He currently works as a teacher, programmer, and consultant. If you have a configuration problem, or if you just want to learn more about how Linux works, send your questions to: klaus@linux-magazine.com

SYSADMIN: Security Lessons: Secure Backup

Back up your systems securely

Creating backups is one thing, making sure they’re secure is another. We offer some tips for ensuring the process is as painless as possible.

KNOW-HOW: TCP Fast Open

Network acceleration with TCP Fast Open

With TCP Fast Open, Google introduces a protocol extension, implemented in the Linux kernel, that avoids unnecessary latency in network traffic and promises up to 41 percent acceleration, depending on the application.

LINUXUSER: Digital Signatures and Encryption with SSL

Secure email and LibreOffice documents

Using personal, self-signed certificates and digital encryption.