ArsGeek

How to get package info (including version and dependancies) on just about anything in Ubuntu

Do you know how to find out what version of SSH is running on your Ubuntu box?  How about what version of apt?  Would you like to see what certain packages depend on to run?  Or find the MD5 hash for already installed packages?

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Lost an Outlook Express Identity password? Here’s how to recover the email

Recently I had to help out a friend who, for various reasons had two Outlook Express identities on his XP machine.  He had recently changed the password to his ‘important' identity and couldn't for the life of him remember what it was. No password, no access, no important emails.  That's when I got called.  Here's how to recover the mail from an Identity that you can't log in to.

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How to get updated world weather maps as your desktop background in Ubuntu

I also like to see what's going on with the world, particularly the weather but often find myself not in orbit so I'm unable to track worldwide weather patterns like I want to. Then a though occurred to me - what if I set up one of my Ubuntu boxes to have a map of the world with clouds overlayed, updated every hour?  Neat!  I now have a map of the world with cloud overlays updated hourly for my background.

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How to run a dedicated Steam server on your Ubuntu box - Countestrike style

For a while now Valve through Steam have had a dedicated server for Linux from which you can launch your multiplayer fragfests.  I've recently started messing about with it and I've gotten Counter Strike, Counter Strike Source and Half Life multiplayer to launch off of it.  I'm still mucking about with server settings and finding statistics for it however I did not find a ton of documentation on this through Google so I decided to put up my notes here.

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Readyboost for Linux - a quick how to on getting more speed from a USB flash drive

Readyboost for Vista is a feature added to the OS where you can encourage your limping Vista install to jog a bit faster by essentially using a smallish USB drive as disk cache.  There's also some Vista Voodoo with Superfetch going on there. While Ubuntu (the distro that I use) and other distros don't really use Superfetch, you can still get an advantage using the disk cache functionality - particularily if you're running on a system that doesn't have a ton of RAM available.

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How to rip, store, tag and enjoy MP3s on your Ubuntu install

A short while back, I decided I needed to get a handle on my music collection.  I've got random MP3s from years back, purchased MP3s, CDs and even an old 8 track or two.  There are many ways to do go about this, but after throwing out the 8 tracks, here's what I did to get organized.

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