How to add a hard disk to hddtemp and read the temperature

Hddtemp is an application for reading the temperature sensor of hard disks with S.M.A.R.T support. In case the software doesn’t recognize your hard disks sensor, but you are sure that your disk has one and is also S.M.A.R.T enabled, you can manually add the correct parameters for your disk to the hddtemp database. I will show this based on my INTEL 530 Series mSATA Solid-State drive in the second part of this post, .

How to use your iPod Shuffle in Linux

In this article I will describe the probably best way to use your first or second generation iPod Shuffle in Linux. The described method is based on a python script called rebuild_db. The script will allow you to simply copy/paste music files to your iPod like to any other regular MP3-Player. In case you have a different or newer version of the iPod, the described method may not work for you and you should try using gtkPod instead.

How to trim disk images to partition size

I’ve recently been playing with my Raspberry Pi and Arch Linux when I encountered the following problem:

I’ve downloaded the Arch Linux image from the Raspberry Pi download page and used dd to copy it to a 8GB SD card.

How to mark books as read in Calibre

In this article I will describe how to mark/flag books you have already read in Calibre. Calibre is probably one of the best open source E-book library management application out there. It comes with many great tools and features and it’s easy to customize. By default there is no prebuild possibility to mark books you have already read in your library, but that’s where Calibres possibilities of customization come in handy. You can achieve this by simply adding a new column to your library. Just follow these simple steps:

How to enable SWAP without restart

I use Conky to monitor my computer status, e.g. current cpu, memory and swap usage network connections etc. A few weeks ago I noticed that my SWAP-partition was not enabled. Maybe Conky was wrong, but I took a deeper look at it:

$ cat /proc/meminfo
[...]
SwapTotal:             0 kB
SwapFree:              0 kB
[...]

How to install Bumblebee on Arch Linux

In this article I will describe how to install Bumblebee on Arch Linux. The Bumblebee-Wiki provides the following description for the software: “Bumblebee is an effort to make Nvidia Optimus enabled laptops work in GNU/Linux systems. Such feature involves two graphics cards with two different power consumption profiles plugged in a layered way sharing a single framebuffer”. Please be extremely cautious throughout the whole installation procedure, depending on your system you may end up with a messed up driver or system configuration! This “How To” is based on my system, here are the most relevant specs:

• Lenovo ThinkPad T420s
• CPU: Intel Core i7 – 2620M with integrated GPU
• Graphics: NVIDIA 4200M Optimus Graphics (NVIDIA GF119M)

0. Preparations
1. Installation
2. Important and useful commands
3. Troubleshooting

How to receive files via Bluetooth on Gnome3

In this post I will describe how to receive files via Bbuetooth on Gnome3. Strangely it is possible to send files from your PC to any other device, but it is not possible to receive files from other devices via bluetooth. Maybe that’s just the case for people with a minimal installation of Gnome3 like my self, however the solution for this problem is very simple.

How to migrate from initscripts to systemd on Archlinux

In this how to I will describe how to migrate from initscripts to the “new” systemd init system on Archlinux. Initscripts will still work, but it is recommended to switch completely to systemd.

1. Update and installation
2. Migration and configuration
3. Optional improvements
4. Useful commands
5. Troubleshooting

How to mount LUKS encrypted partitions manually

In the last days I played a bit with Slackware Linux on my netbook. But I play a bit too much and I had to recover some important files from my home folder but it is encrypted. The system wasn’t able to boot successfully. I had to boot from an usb-stick. But the problem was to decrypt the partition with my home folder.

How to disable the monitor sleep mode

A week ago I changed the linux distribution from Ubuntu to Slackware. I also changed my windowmanager from Gnome 3 to XFCE. But whatever I set in the power manager XFCE puts the monitor to sleep every 10 minutes. Here is a fix that worked for me.