Most Linux desktop users don’t fancy the default fonts which ship default with Linux. Luckily there are a few ways you could easy enjoy Microsoft fonts on your Linux desktop.

The simplest way would be to use the package manager to add distro specific packages to install the fonts. openSUSE, Ubuntu and many other distros now provide the fonts with a disclaimer which you will have to agree to before the fonts get installed.

If the above did not work for you then download this rpm package: ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/suser-jengelh/AnyDistro/noarch/MicrosoftFonts-1-jen14.noarch.rpm which will provide the fonts for you. Use your package manager to install the package or simply install it from the command line using the command below. An advantage of this rpm package is that it includes the Tahoma fonts which is not included by the distro specific packages.

rpm -ivh  MicrosoftFonts-1-jen14.noarch.rpm

The third and final way which is also the legal way would be to copy the fonts over from a licensed Windows XP computer. Move them over using winscp or a usb thumb drive,WinSCP in my case. Once moved over simply use your font’ manager to install them. In my case KDE, the font manger can be accessed at KDE Menu -> Configure Desktop -> System Administration -> Font Installer -> “Administrator Mode”.

Enjoy your fonts, drop me a comment if you need help.

If you are like me then you must hate the “BEEP!” that comes along with Linux. Turning it off in KDE or Gnome is easy but what if you are on the virtual console? Here’s how you get rid of the “BEEP!” temporarily or permanently.

Temporary solution,

** make sure to be root or use sudo **

1. Check if you have the pcspkr module loaded.

[root@nosebleed ~]# lsmod | grep pcspkr

pcspkr                  7105  0

2. Remove the module. lsmod will return nothing if the module was removed.

[root@nosebleed ~]# rmmod pcspkr

[root@nosebleed ~]# lsmod | grep pcspkr

3. Restore the module when done.

[root@nosebleed ~]# modprobe pcspkr

[root@nosebleed ~]# lsmod | grep pcspkr

pcspkr                  7105  0

Permanent solution,

** make sure to be root or use sudo **

1. add the pcspkr module to the modprobe blacklist file.

[root@nosebleed ~]# vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

Add the lines below to the file.

# pcspkr - turn off pc speaker "BEEP!"

blacklist pcspkr

2. Reboot, and check if the pcspkr module was loaded. If the blacklist file kicked in then nothing will be returned.

[root@nosebleed ~]# lsmod | grep pcspkr

This fix works for my CentOS and Ubuntu but not openSUSE as the pcspkr driver is built right into the kernel.

Image taken from DavidAirey

What would you do if someone hacked into your Gmail account and stole valueble information like your user name and passwords?

This happened to David Airey a logo designer from http://www.davidairey.com which is now forced back to it’s secondary URL http://www.davidairey.co.uk. His site was getting about 2000 hits a day. His business cards need to be updated and clients need to be informed.

The attacker managed to leverage a security exploit in Gmail which allowed him to inject a mail filter into Gmail which forwards all mails with attachments to the attacker. The attacker managed to obtain David’s domain account credentials.

During David’s recent holiday to India with his girlfriend, the attacker transfered “www.davidairey.com” to himself and is now holding it ransom till David decides to pay up the ransom fee of USD250 which initially was USD600.

Read the full story here.

My Advice: Google has since fixed this issue but still, make sure to check your Gmail filters. It could just save you your business and loads of time.

What would you do if this happened to you? How can we prevent this?

Want to work around Microsoft’s protection, Windows Genuine Advantage? The people at releaselog have a good walk through with screen shots that will help you work around the the protection. Check it out by going to the link below.

Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Removal

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