System Administration Page

A starting point for all topics related to IT systems administration.

Software Setup Instructions

The following pages have been written to help with installation of common programs on the Egeland network.

• PidginSetup describes how to install and configure Pidgin, an actively developed instant messaging client which allows AOL IM to SMS messaging. See treocentral for a discussion on Palm IM clients and the use of the AOL gateway. [gnu]
• FirefoxSetup describes how to install Firefox and the most essential add-ons [gnu]
• ThunderbirdSetup describes how to install Thunderbird and apply appropriate settings for egeland.net. [gnu]
• ACTLabelSetup documents all the settings and templates required to print labels on the Brother QL-570 label printer with ACT 6.0.
• SunbirdSetup describes how to set up Mozilla Sunbird to sync with google calendars on google domains.
• UnisonSetup shows how to set up unison for Windows (not well documented elsewhere) and sync with a linux server.
• Filezilla is used to RemoveArchiveFiles.
• Web Folder Update. Fixes webdav in Windows XP.
• SkypeLinuxSetup. Instructions for setting up Skype on an amd64 linux system using OSS in Debian.
• AdobeFlashAmd64. Installation of Adobe Flash for amd64 linux. Adobe has pulled binary for some reason.
• AndroidApps. Applications and notes for Android.
• LatexSetup. Various custom latex files.
• Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack. Used to enable docx and other newer Microsoft Office formats in Microsoft Office 2003.

Essential GNU & Freeware Program Download Links

See also the SecondarySoftware applications which are generally not likely to be installed on every system, but have all been tested and are great apps. The list below is also shared at Xmarks. Many of these programs can be installed from a full package or utility package at ninite.

• 7zip. Versatile compression / decompression program [gnu].
• Adobe Flash Player amd64. Adobe Flash Player for 64-bit Linux Download.
• BonkEnc. Audio encoder and converter [gnu].
• CD Burner XP. A lightweight, very reliable CD and DVD burner [free].
• Daylight Saving Fix. Fixes daylight saving bug in Windows 2000/XP [free].
• Download DVDFab. DVDFab free download, download DVDFab 8.0.4.0 free.
• Dropbox. A simple application to store, sync, and, share files online.
• Everest Home Edition. An excellent system diagnostics utility (older edition 2.20 is free but not GNU) [free].
• Filezilla. Client to access servers through SFTP or SCP. Can be used to remove unison archive files from titan [gnu].
• Firefox. The standard web browser [gnu].
• FolderSize. Useful tool for viewing directory tree with sizes in Explorer [gnu].
• Foxit Reader. Very fast and efficient, free PDF reader [free].
• GIMPshop. A lightweight, GNU image editor similar to Photoshop, but only 7.5 MB! [gnu].
• Go-oo. Optimized version of Openoffice. [gnu].
• Handbrake. DVD transcoding package [gnu].
• ImgBurn. The standard for burning ISO files (but also burns anything else) [gnu].
• Inkscape. Vector graphics editor, supports SVG [gnu].
• K-Lite Codec Pack. Very complete and well tested pack of all Windows codecs. Includes Windows Media Player Lite, Real Alternative, and Quicktime Alternative (the commercial versions are bloatware) [free].
• Last.fm. The worlds largest online music catalogue, with free music streaming [free].
• MakeMKV. Convert DVDs and Blue Ray Discs to MKV (Windows and Linux Native) [free].
• Mp3tag. MP3 tagger and renamer. Quite stable. Includes web scripts. GNU.
• Nomachine NX Client. NX remote desktop client for linux hosts [free].
• Notepad++. Very fast and advanced text viewer and editor (better than Notepad or Wordpad) [gnu].
• OpenOffice. Comprehensive office suite [gnu].
• Panda Cloud Antivirus. Very lightweight and highly-rated, free antivirus tool. [free].
• pdfcreator. Fast, open source PDF creator (similar to Adobe Acrobat but much smaller and faster) [free].
• Putty. SSH client [gnu].
• ScanTailor. Nice GUI cleanup tool for scans. [GNU].
• Skype. Video / audio chat [free].
• SMplayer. A simple GUI mplayer frontend, possibly easier to use than MPUI above [gnu].
• Terminal Server Patch. Allows concurrent users on Microsoft Terminal Server for XP [free].
• Thunderbird. The standard email client [gnu].
• Ultramon. Move windows and maximize windows across the desktop. [free].
• UltraVNC. Fast and efficient remote desktop application similar to tight VNC but more advanced [gnu].
• VirtualBox. Virtual server software from Sun [gnu].
• VirtuaWin. Virtual desktops much in the same way Linux/Unix does [gnu].
• VirusTotal. Online scan service for small files (no software needed) [free].
• VLC Media Player. Universal media player. [gnu].
• WinCalendarTime. Replaces the standard Windows clock with an enhanced clock, if you click on it a calendar is displayed. [gnu].
• Xming. X Server for windows [gnu].
• XnView. Free, fast, and small image viewer (download the complete version). Similar to ACDsee [free].
• Zinf. Lightweight audio player (plays shoutcast and vorbis streams) [gnu].

Other Subjects

• AndroidSetup. Applications and notes relevent esp. to Android on Touch Pro.
• docx converter. High fidelity conversion of Office 2007+ documents.
• NewSystemSetup. Currently maintained script to customize any newly-installed linux systems.
• EximDovecotSieve. Configuration changes required on Debian Squeeze for server side mail filtering.
• UsefulCommands. For linux and especially Ubuntu.
• LinuxMedia. Findings and guides to media on linux, including transcoding, mythtv, audio, etc.
• BackupProcedures describes how linux server systems are backed up, and provides settings and extra scripts.
• LinuxApps. Little known linux tools and apps.
• SystemBenchmarks. Collection of archived system benchmark results.
• TrickyThings. Frustrating problems in software and configuration solved.
• ArchivedProjects. Old pages no longer actively maintained