James'Techblog

Thunar, one of the lighter options in terms of file managers, recently updated to version 1.6.15 in Manjaro. Thunar uses a wrapper library to handle volume management using udev rules in Linux. Recently I noticed that the last two or three versions were actually throwing up notifications falsely about how they could not properly eject removable flash drives within Manjaro. I noticed this on multiple installations across multiple drives. I also noticed this behavior on other machines as well. While the system actually ejects the drive normally, the notifications persist.  Even after the initial eject, I get a delayed error window stating that the drive could not be ejected, however, lsblk clearly states that that is false. Right now, the easiest workaround that I have found is to just use a distribution independent file manager such as PCManfm. Also, running the command sudo eject /dev/$drivename  works equally as efficient. I don't believe that it's strictly a problem wi...

In Linux, there is no right or wrong answer. There are plenty of choices. Don’t like a window manager? Usually you can change that. Don’t like a desktop environment? There is something for everyone. This same amount of choice even bleeds through to the very software applications that you use on a day-to-day basis. Even Windows uses the Aero window manager now, but you don’t really get a choice with that unless you choose to turn off all the visual effects. This will only skim the surface, however, I will cover the multiple choices in desktop environments and window managers in this part one and the upcoming part two of this series. I will briefly explain their strengths and a few of their weaknesses as well. MATE is a modernized fork of GNOME 2 after the advent of G NOME 3. Much to the shugrin of many Linux users at that time, Gnome 3 has had a consistent history of adding things which didn’t need to be added and stripping out things that should have been kept. Most...

Recently, Cloudflare launched a new DNS service. This service is relatively fast and responsive from my own testing. The service reports that is is actually milliseconds faster than Google’s own public DNS. DNS is the lookup of internet domains based on numbers which correspond to domain names given by the user, much in the same way a phonebook works. While this DNS service does appear to offer a few privacy features such as the lack of ip logging and the deletion of 24hr query logs, this doesn’t offer malware blocking yet, unlike OpenDns which offers this for free. OpenDns is a bit of pain, for someone who just wants to use a simple, fast, lightweight DNS service that isn’t Google, this could be service you’re looking for. I suspect with future updates and improvements will also come more features. More can be found at:  http://www.tomshardware.com/news/cloudflare-privacy-focused-dns-service,36786.html also:  https://www.ghacks.net/2018/04/02/cloudflare-launches-f...

Ever wonder what’s going on under the hood of your current operating system? Ever wonder if your system’s task manager is reading the information correctly; would you like a second opinion? Are you aware of what “zombie” processes are? Today’s modern Linux or Unix operating systems handle memory fairly well. They do this by caching the RAM used by recently opened applications so that when they are opened again, there will be less load time and latency. Memory runs at a set speed, but in the case of modern systems, it’s the fastest bit of hardware in your system. Within Linux, everything you do has a consequence, but don’t let that scare you, Linux knows when RAM is being used and when it is not. When RAM is no longer being accessed, small amounts get reclaimed by the system. Usually this works without issue, but seeing as loading applications from the hard drive can be slow, this procedure takes time. Linux likes to store much of the existing apps in RAM for as long as it f...

WORKING WITH THE NEW WESTERN DIGITAL BLUE 3D NAND 250GB SSD I can say without a doubt that the overall speed and snappiness makes this a worthwhile buy. When working with SSDs it is recommended that you do not store personal media on the device as these add needless writes to infrequently accessed data. This also takes up space that the OS uses for speed and reliability. When working with the SSD, there is little to no worry of jarring or failing due to small drops as the drive has no moving parts. SSDs are similar to memory in that they store data in cells; the cells are read and handled in similar fashion to the way memory handles the data. This allows for faster booting and smoother loading of applications. SSDs do not produce extreme amounts of heat, nor do they constantly have to write back like with standard hard disk drives. GARBAGE COLLECTION AND TRIM SSDs have a limited amount of read/write cycles and GC or Garbage Collection is a must for these drives. I...

Many things within Linux can be done via terminal shortcuts. As many of my readers, Linux enthusiasts, and even developers would know, everything within Linux has a CLI equivalent. In many of the Gtk environments at least, you can alter your defaults to other specific programs or applications by using xdg-settings. These specific settings change mime defaults in the desktop itself. With xdg you could even change theme settings within the desktop, but for today I'm only focusing on changing default applications, more specifically the browser. To change the default browser application you can go to preferred applications and change it from a drop menu there, or you could open the terminal and type: $ xdg-settings set default-web-browser $browser.desktop, changing $browser for the name of the browser you wish to use.  One more item that I often change on my systems, this is set as default in my scripts because this applications is easier for new users, I change the default text e...

Linux is more secure than Windows and this is no secret. Many websites and companies alike all use Linux for their servers. Some Linux desktops are more stable than others that is true, but Linux servers have fewer attack surfaces thanks to the headless(lack of desktop) by default set up. Linux servers are sturdy as there is no graphical interfaces or other useless software getting in the way. Linux servers are, in my opinion, far superior to Windows servers. This is much to do with the lack of graphical tools as well as how the system is laid out by default. Linux files are placed in order on the drive, whereas a Windows machine is constantly in complete chaos. Always moving files around to and fro. In Linux, the file system is structured in a much more organized fashion. Another way that Linux is more secure and better than Windows is that Linux uses separate accounts in Ubuntu by default. Manjaro is generally used in a similar way. Arch and Debian usually have it differe...