In this post I describe my configuration log for setting up a Linux (Ubuntu) machine as a development workstation. I install several graphical and command-line applications that are essential for my workflow. Starting from a fresh Ubuntu installation, the installation order can be varied, but I recommend (if your Ubuntu is freshly installed) that you follow the same order to see the same results. …
Asterisk is a free software program (under GPL license) that provides PBX (Private Branch Exchange) functionality. You can connect phones to make calls between them within your home (or office) and even access external communications, to the PSTN (like Movistar) or by connecting to a VoIP provider or ISDN links (basic or primary). …
In environments where you need to operate multiple computers simultaneously, efficiency is key. There are several products that mimic the functionality of a KVM switch (Keyboard, Video, Mouse), which historically allowed you to use a single keyboard and mouse to control multiple computers by physically turning a dial. In this post I describe how I install and use Barrier, a software KVM solution, without the need for additional hardware. My use case involves controlling three computers with a single keyboard and mouse. Two of them are desktops – a Mac and a Windows PC. The third is a Windows/Linux laptop. The difficulty lies with the Mac, where I encountered a curious and nearly insurmountable challenge. …
tmux is a terminal multiplexer that allows you to have multiple sessions (shells) in a single window. From your Mac, Linux, or even Windows (with WSL) terminal, in a single window you can have multiple active sessions, switch between them, view them simultaneously, enter one and disconnect (they keep running in the background), and reconnect to it in the future. …
I’ve decided to migrate my CLI from the reliable and well-known bash to the powerful and versatile zsh. It’s an extended evolution of the Bourne Shell (sh) – it not only inherits many of Bash’s familiar features but also introduces a series of new functionalities, plugin support, and custom themes. Apple adopted Zsh as the default shell some time ago, and I still needed to make the switch on my Linux systems, including WSL2 on Windows. …
To find all available users on a macOS system from the command line, you can use a Bash script. The macOS operating system, like other Unix-like systems, stores user information in various system files, primarily in /etc/passwd. macOS uses Open Directory for user management, so you can use commands like dscl to query this information. …