Reading through my backlog of Linux news and features this week, I found a few things of note that are for the true geeks out there — those of you who are always tweaking, optimizing, and customizing Linux to make it look, do, and behave exactly the way you want it. That, of course, is the true beauty of Linux for many.
Scripts
I don’t know why things always seem to boil down into handy sets of Ten Things. Maybe it has something to do with the metric system. Perhaps it will be explained in the final season of Lost, but anyway, over at techradar.com, Mayank Sharma has compiled this list, “10 scripts to create your own Linux distribution.”
If everyone’s Ubuntu is not your Ubuntu, you can customize it to your heart’s content, and essentially create your own distribution with kits like the wonderfully named UCK (Ubuntu Customization Kit).
This tool is ideal for advanced users because during the customisation process it places you in a chrooted environment of the Live CD, enabling you to tweak any aspect of the distro.
There are also tools for customizing Fedora, Debian and derivatives, Slackware, and SUSE. There is even a resource listed to help you create a Linux distribution from scratch!
Drupal
For Drupal developers, go see Greg Harvey’s “Wrapping Up: A Linux Script For The End Of The Day” at drupaler.co.uk. Harvey offers a Linux shell script that:
Clears Drupal’s cache Deletes the old database dump Dumps and bzip2s the database in to a pre-determined location in our workspace Commits the new database dump Updates the application (to catch any updates others might have done today) Commits any changes to updated files/commits all added files
Screenlets
Moving to more cosmetic matters, Linux screenlets allow you to add little apps and bits of eye candy to your desktop. Jack M. Germain details your options for finding and installing screenlets in a post at TechNewsWorld.com, “Screenlets: Eye Candy for Linux Users.”
Swiftfox 3.6
Last, but not least, WebUpd8.com puts in a good word for the latest release of the optimized Mozilla Firefox build that lets you download the right builds for specific processors — the end result being that it’s much faster. You can download Swiftfox here. For more details, see the linked post at WebUpd8 above.
