Issue #147 / Feb 2013

As these pages go to print, I notice that we have reached issue 147. The number 147 might not seem particularly noteworthy to the rest of the world, but I noticed it. You see, the first issue with my picture on page 3 was issue 48, and if you count by ones from the beginning of the issue 48 cycle to the end of the issue 147 cycle, you get to 100 issues. This number 100 is always good for a milestone moment in our base 10 universe. Celebrating a numeral is not so important on its own, but having these reasons to look back can provide some context for looking ahead into the future – or looking around at the present.

The Knoppix Live Linux distro is packed with powerful tools for fixing broken systems. We ask Knoppix creator Klaus Knopper for his favorite Knoppix rescue tricks.

If your Linux or Windows system won't boot, or if you're worried that the hard disk is on its last legs, the first thing you need to do is rescue the partition data and copy it to a safe location.

Rootkits allow attackers to take complete control of a computer. We describe the tricks intruders use to gain access to the Linux kernel and provide guidelines on hardening the kernel against such attacks.

Making online schema changes to your database can be tricky, but the right tools can help. We show how to change even the largest tables in an orderly and efficient manner.

A few years ago, I bought an IBM ThinkPad T41p. It's a great machine that served me well for a long time, although for the last year it mainly sat on the shelf. I had some free time at hand, so I decided to give it one more chance.

Through the years, many languages have tried to improve or even replace JavaScript, including CoffeeScript, which runs in all JavaScript Runtime Environments and compiles into JavaScript.

With its easy-to-use web interface, GitHub can be put to totally different uses than archiving code. For example, Perlmeister Mike Schilli used GitHub to deploy a content management system for simple websites.

The more frequently a command is used, the fewer letters it should have, so the use of two-key commands like ls, mv, and df is second nature. We look at a previously little-known representative of this club, di.