January 2021 – Teza's tech notes

Different ways to run Linux for non – linux users

Posted on January 21, 2021June 16, 2021 by admin

For many users out there, Linux may not be their main OS.
This may be because of a few reasons –

Most computers you buy come with Windows Pre installed.
Your Job offeres you a laptop with Windows OS pre installed.
The worst of all – Intimidation (probably seen codes and command lines and dont know what they are all about)
Linux is not very hard indeed. These days, there are different Linux distributions that looks alot like Windows interfaces.

And the best of all, unlike Windows, Linux is highly customizable.

These are the few ways you can run Linux

Fresh install on Standalone computer
Dual Boot alongside another OS
Virtual Machines such as Virtual Box or VMWare or Windows Hyper-V
Windows Subsystem for Linux
Cloud instances
Live images

1. Fresh install may not be an option for beginners. There may be issues with drivers and pre configs, backups etc – depending on the Linux distro you want to use.
There are some hardware that come with Linux pre installed. Like System 76. Its got PopOS and I hear good things about those devices.

2. Dual boot although dual boot is my preferred choice of installing, you may need to consider hard ware limitation, legacy support, bootloader etc. This may be for more advanced users.

3. With Virtual Machines, you are sharing resources with host machine. There are different Virtualization engines out there. You can simply install one, download the Linux image and run on it. It may be one of the easiest way when you start to migrate to Linux.

4. WSL provides a Linux-compatible kernel interface developed by Microsoft and allows a user to chose a Linux distribution to install from the Microsoft Store. Since it can be easily downloaded from Microsoft Store, within a few clicks, you can try a taste of linux.
If you try to locate the path, C:\Users\AppData\Local\Packages\YourLinux, you will get a better idea of what its doing. You will also not find wireless interfaces in WSL. So you will need an external wifi adapter for doing some wifi tests.

5. Cloud VMs. If you are already using some cloud services, which in these days many offices are, you may be able to try installing cloud instances and try linux there.

6. Most modern Linux distros these days come with Live images. you can install it on any USB device, and plug it into your laptop and try your flavor of linux before you are actually installing it. It may be the easiest way to try out different flavors of Linux.

Regards
Teza

Changing DNS in Linux

Posted on January 19, 2021June 14, 2021 by admin

For whatever reason, you want to change your DNS, you need to change it at resolv.conf

First change your directory to /etc.
cd /etc

if you type in ls -l, you will see resolv.conf file.

you have to sudo or su to make changes

sudo nano resolv.conf

if there is existing dns, you can hash it out. Just put # in front of the address

and then type in the new nameservers

you can use openDNS, Googles DNS or any DNS that you prefer.

OpenDNS 1: 208.67.222.222
OpenDNS 2: 208.67.220.220

ctrl + O
Enter

ctrl +x

Apply for $300 AWS Credit with AWS Proof of Concept Program

Posted on January 19, 2021June 14, 2021 by admin

Yes Amazon is giving away $300 credit with Proof of Concept Program.
Read on below from AWS and see if you are eligible for the application.

Amazon Web Services wants to help your business scale and grow with low cost, easy to use cloud products and services. The AWS Proof of Concept Program provides a $300 credit to small businesses to quickly get started and test AWS against their specific IT and business requirements by subsidizing a proof of concept. More than a million active customers, from Slack to GE, use AWS Cloud solutions to deliver flexibility, scalability, and reliability. Join them and start scaling your business with AWS today.

To qualify, you must have:

A valid AWS account, with up-to-date billing information
(reseller accounts do not qualify)
Not previously received more than $200 of AWS promotional credit
A sufficient business case and proof of concept to test using the credits
No linked accounts
Credits valid for 6 months

Using Proxy Chains to tunnel traffic over network

Posted on January 17, 2021June 14, 2021 by admin

First, install proxychains.

sudo apt-get update -y

$ sudo apt-get install -y proxychains

$ locate proxychains

Then change the config files. The config files are in the code below.

$ nano proxychains4.conf

If you wish, you can add more proxy address.
At the bottom of the conf file, add your proxy addresses.

Format should be
proxy type IP address Port Username password

Example socks5 101.2.3.123 12356

There are many websites which you can find proxy addresses. just search for socks proxy.

Use dynamic chain and link it with Tor
All you need to do is just unhash the lines that you want to enable.

$ service tor status

$ service tor stop /start

$ proxychains4 curl ipinfo.io/city #this will tell you where your current location is. Check this first to make sure you are hidden.

Now you can browse securely.

$ proxychain firefox google.com

You can also use proxychain with other services. You just need to run the proxychain command first.

Example proxychain nmap 213.12.123.12

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No Package MYSQL Server Available

Posted on January 12, 2021June 25, 2021 by admin

If you have come across an issue of installing sql server on AWS Linux AMIs, especially when you are using one of those Free Tier Eligible AMIs, well its very likely that this is the solution for you. I came across this issue and got me stuck for a little while before I found the solution somewhere on the net. The problem is that the AMIs that you are using may not have the default repos in it.

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