Archive for the ‘ Hardware ’ Category

Tip: Add User and Generate Password Script

Hey guys!

Finally, I found time to update this lovely blog of mine. And luckily, I have one super cool simple script to share. This script will help a lot of system administrators in adding user accounts, very useful if you have about a hundred servers to login to and execute useradd and passwd again and again. This is a bash script, so no need to install packages and easy to understand.

Here goes the code.


#!/bin/bash

for USER in $(cat /tmp/users.txt) do
$(useradd $USER)
###Remove the space between 8 and )
PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -base64 8 )
###passwd [double dash] stdin
echo $PASSWORD | $(passwd –stdin $USER)
echo “$USER $PASSWORD” | mail -s “Your Account Info” $USER@company.com
sleep 3
done

Here is a quick summary of the code per line:

for USER in $(cat /tmp/users.txt) do
This line begins the for loop and /tmp/users.txt should be a text file containing the list of usernames to be added one username per line. The value of $USER

$(useradd $USER)
This line will begin by executing the command useradd. If the script fails at this point because the username already exists, it will proceed with changing the password of the username.

###Remove the space between 8 and )
###passwd [double dash] stdin
PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -base64 8 )
echo $PASSWORD | $(passwd --stdin $USER)

This line generates an 8-byte random password using openssl and pipes it to command passwd using –stdin option so the generated password can be passed.

echo “$USER $PASSWORD” | mail -s “Your Account Info” $USER@company.com
This line sends an email to the user containing the username and password, assuming that the email address is the same as the username.

This script can be further enhanced (imagination is limitless!) and feel free to share your script here.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Creative CPU Designs

I have tried PC Modding before but never really succeeded in doing so for a couple of reasons. One is I am too lazy to create something that is artistic, and the other reason is I am not that artistic. And besides, cool CPU designs are available at my favorite PC store anyway so I’ll just go ahead and buy one if I want to change my PC’s look.

Anyway, here are some of the coolest CPU designs that I found over at www.technoscrap.com. Feast your eyes over the coolest and weirdest designs:

Popularity: 9% [?]

Seagate Unveils 1TB Hard Disk Drive

It may seem a dream at first to have a whopping 1 Terabyte of disk storage for all your digital movie, picture and music files. And now the dream is over as Seagate, world’s top manufacturer of digital storage media, made available to consumers 1TB hard disk drive (HDD) at 72000rpm motor speed.

The HDD is made up of four platters and eight heads, making it 180GB worth of storage per square inch, industry’s highest when it comes areal density. But power consumption and noise level are still at par with the current drive models using 13w of power and 2.8bels in idle mode and 3.7bels in seek modes. The speed is also the same with the 1TB model since it uses 7200 revolutions per minute in its spin. The drive can cache 32MB of data and seek time averages at 8.5ms.

Current prices range from $180to $250 for SATA based on amazon.com prices.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Speak Up!

I have read somewhere, maybe watched it on television, that human ears are the first of the five senses that become active just as you wake up. It means you hear sounds around you first, before you feel the pillow, see the morning sunshine or smell the breakfast coffee.

But can you imagine life without sounds? I can’t. Music is part of my everyday life from the morning news to my MP3 while getting some work done up to my nightly habit of watching anime shows. That is why I equip my computer with 5.1 speaker system to make sure that I get the best sound out of anything that my computer plays.

Even our home entertainment system is equipped with branded sound system to make sure that every movie that we watch on the DVD player is as real as it can get. And contemporary computer speakers are easy to find. If you what Google is, then you are halfway there to finding the best set of speakers that you can find. A good sound system cannot replace what a cheap, poor speaker system so it is always good to invest in something that is worth your money.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Creative Labs Threatens Third Party Driver Modder

A post from Creative Labs Forums delivers a message from Phil O’Shaughnessy, Corporate Communications VP, to Daniel_K, an individual who modifies the sound card drivers of Creative to unlock functionalities that are not usually available for Windows Vista users.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 6% [?]

How Tell Your Hard Drive Is About To Die

LifeHack.org writes all the tell-tale signs to know if your hard drive will soon fail and die on you. Very helpful since I have already suffered enough from hard drives that decided to just get tired and stop breathing - er… spinning.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 9% [?]

DataPipe Server Migration

DataPipe has announced that there will be a scheduled downtime for affected servers because of a physical migration. Unfortunately this included our colocated server and because of miscommunication, and we had little time to prepare for this event. The migration took place last Friday, March 14th between 12:00AM to 8:00AM EST.  Although DataPipe provided an 8-hour window for the downtime, they anticipated that the servers will be back to normal in less than 8 hours. However, in my experience, the usual 8-hour window normally takes longer than the announced downtime because of “unexpected events”.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Fast-Teks On Site Computer Services

Fast-teks On-Site Computer Services provides computer service when you need it. With their certified technicians, they can guarantee customer satisfaction with their full array of services for every customer need, be it residential or business, all in reasonable rates. All Fast-teks technicians, trainers and website developers are A+ certified or hold a comparable certification in their area of expertise so rest assured that your valuable computer hardware and data are in safe hands.

Residential services include the following:

* Virus, Worm, Spyware Removal
* Wireless Networking
* Data Backup and Recovery
* High-Speed Cable DSL Modem Setup
* Troubleshoot and Repair
* Software Training
* Audio Visual
* Shared Internet Office Solutions

Small and medium business services include the following:

* Managed Services
* Data Backup and Recovery
* Website Design and Hosting
* Technology Consulting
* Troubleshoot and Repair
* Software Training
* Remote Managed Services
* Network Monitoring and Management
* Remote Data Backup
* Computer and Network Security
* Shared Internet Office Solutions
* Email Server and Mobile Device Support
* Office Relocation and Setup
* QuickBooks Training

Fast-teks On-Site Computer Services was ranked #6 in the Franchise 500 magazine in 2006 in the tech industry and #385 in the entire Franchise 500. This is a yearly publication that ranks franchises based various factors. Financial strength and stability, growth rate and size of system are just a few categories that ranking is based on. Many companies are considered, but only the top 500 make it onto this list.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Picotux: Smallest Linux Computer In The World

Only slightly larger than RJ45 connector, Picotux 100 is the world’s smallest computer running Linux operating system. Armed with Busybox 1.0, ARM7 CPU at 55 MHz running uClinux kernel 2.4.27.

Technical data:

Processor: 32-bit ARM 7 Netsilicon NS7520
Processor Clock: 55 MHz
Flash Memory: 2 MB
RAM: 8 MB SDRAM
Ethernet: 10/100 Mbit, HD and FD, auto sensing
Serial (TTL): Up to 230.400 bps
General Input/Output Pins(TTL): 5, can be used as Handshake
LED for Ethernet: 2; green (programmable) and yellow (Carrier)
Supply Voltage: 3,3 Volt +- 5%
Supply Current: 250 mA
Operating System: uClinux 2.4.27 Big Endian (native)
Shell: Busybox 1.0 and others
File Systems: CRAMFS, JFFS2, NFS
Applications: Webserver, Telnet
Size of the Linux Systems in Flash: 720 KB and more
Protected Bootloader for Update over Network: 64 KB Code
Development System: GNU Tool chain
Compiler: GCC 3.4.4 for C/C++ and Fortran
Binutils: 2.15
Library: uClibc 0.9.26

Dimensions:
Height: 19 mm
Width: 19 mm
Deep: 36 mm
Package: Shielded by metal
Weight: ca.18 g
Ambient Temperature: -40°C to 85°C

Popularity: 9% [?]

The Best Laptops Under $1000

These days, $1000 lands you a pretty well rounded budget laptop. You can easily get 2GB of memory, 120GB or more of hard disk space, 802.11b/g wireless networking, and dedicated multimedia shortcut keys that let you watch DVDs or view documents without booting into Windows. The Acer and Dell laptops in our list even sported HDMI connections, extras we didn’t expect at this price point. Read more here.

Source: pcworld.com

Popularity: 7% [?]