Doing visudo you get nano instead of your favorite text editor?
Mine is vim therefore I issue:

DEBIAN/UBUNTU way

# update-alternatives --config editor
There are 4 alternatives which provide `editor'.
Selection Alternative
-----------------------------------------------
1 /usr/bin/vim.tiny
2 /bin/ed
*+ 3 /bin/nano
4 /usr/bin/vim.basic
Press enter to keep the default[*], or type selection number:

Selecting 4 I’m ready to use my full syntax colors when I edit any file.

OTHER DISTROS
Edit your .bashrc file and add the following:
EDITOR=vim
export EDITOR
Next login you will have your VIM working.
If you want to have it immediately and only for this session just type
# export EDITOR=vim
and press enter.

This tip might comes handy when you do a system check and you want to make sure you don’t check the same file twice.

Let’s pretend that our “file1″ is a conf file that needs review. As you can see the output of the command issued below shows that the file was last edited in June.
Today I want to check the file without editing it and make sure next time I won’t check it again:

$ ls -l
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 luca luca 290 2009-06-29 16:33 file1


Touch is an excellent tool in this case:

$ touch file1
$ ls -l
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 luca luca 0 2009-08-29 19:43 file1

The Modification Time has changed and so has the access time.

If you want to change just the modification time leaving the access time untouched try with the -m option

$ touch -m file1
$ ls -l
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 luca luca 0 2009-08-29 19:46 file1
$ stat file1
[..]
Access: 2009-08-29 19:43:45.000000000 +0100
Modify: 2009-08-29 19:46:15.000000000 +0100
Change: 2009-08-29 19:46:15.000000000 +0100

And -a is just for the Access Time.

Another interesting option is -t. It lets you set the time and the date with whatever you like. This is often used to do fishy things

$ touch -t 200701012301 file1
$ stat file1
[..]
Access: 2007-01-01 23:01:00.000000000 +0000
Modify: 2007-01-01 23:01:00.000000000 +0000
Change: 2009-08-29 19:52:26.000000000 +0100


Setting multiple IPs on Linux or in this case Debian is rather straight forward… All the network info is stored in the file /etc/network/interfaces and you just need to add the info to the file…

Before making changes to this file, I recommend you check your values at least 3 times! If you have made a mistake and trying to do it from a remote location, YOU WILL LOCK YOURSELF OUT!

This is a sample configuration with device eth0 having the IP address of 192.168.1.2 on a Class C Network with 192.168.1.1 as the default gateway.

/etc/network/interfaces:

# /etc/network/interfaces – configuration file for ifup(8), ifdown(8)

address 192.168.1.2
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
gateway 192.168.1.1

In order to add multiple IPs to the same interface, In this case eth0 You need to add it in the following method…

auto eth0:0
iface eth0:0 inet static

address 192.168.1.5
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255

Thats it, after you have made all the necessary changes, you need to restart the networking by issueing the following command…

# /etc/init.d/networking restart

This is a common issue and I have come across of this question numerous times on the ASUS Forums, so I have decided to post some info regarding this issue.

If your system has 4GB of RAM or have upgraded to 4GB (Or more) and running a 32-Bit Operating System, It will most likely say you have around 3GB of RAM. Unfortunately there is no way you are going to see all the RAM you paid for.

On the other hand, if you are running a 64-Bit Operating System (Which is designed to support 4GB more), you might be able to see all the RAM but it depends on your motherboard Chipset and the BIOS need to support memory remapping feature.

If you really need to have 4GB or more RAM, you need to check whether the motherboard chipset support at least 8 GB of address space and it must support 64-Bit architecture.

Furthermore, you need to run a 64-Bit Operating System such as Windows XP 64-Bit or Vista 64-Bit to utilise all the installed RAM.

I would recommend you read through the following URL http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/

It is pretty easy when it comes to gaining root password to any Linux System as long as you have physical access.

This is how to change Fedora’s ROOT Password.

When your box starts up, You will see the GRUB screen…

What you need to do is, press the a Key instead of Enter

You will see something like the following…

kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 ro root=LABEL=/ acpi=on rhgb quiet

Add 1 at the end of that… So it looks like the following…

kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 ro root=LABEL=/ acpi=on rhgb quiet 1

This will make the box boot into Runlevel 1

You simply type

passwd

Enter the new ROOT password and reboot the machine.

Same thing goes for Any Linux System as welll… All you got to do is, add the following kernel argument…

init=/bin/bash

And then just change the password…

I had a problem installing the BisonCam Driver on my ASUS Laptop running Windows Vista, The XP driver didn’t work at all and I expected that…

This is how I got it working…

Download the driver in the following location and install it.

http://www.fnode.com/drivers/Bison_Camera_Vista32_NB.zip

Then you need to Reboot. Do NOT avoid to reboot because you are too lazy, otherwise it won’t work!

After that, you need to make some registry modifications. Easy way to do it is to copy the registry code into notepad and save it as a .reg file. After that, just double click the .reg file and apply the registry modification. (Copy the code in between Registry Info tag)

You can also download the .reg file Here.

The Cam might show the picture as upside down, All you got to do is a Verticle Flip, Its on the Option ==> Video Capture Filter ==> Rotation


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cam5603D]
“SensorType”=dword:0000000a
“LensType”=dword:0000000c
“ImageSize”=dword:00000001
“ViewSize”=dword:00000a50
“SnapItem”=dword:00000000
“MPTest”=dword:00000000
“RGB24″=dword:00000000
“WideScreen”=dword:00000000
“DeviceOffOn”=dword:00000000
“CpuUsage”=dword:00000000
“DcOffset”=dword:00000000
“AeTable”=dword:00000000
“PCB_SIZE”=dword:00000001
“PropShowItem”=dword:00000000
“SXGASize”=dword:00000001
“BlockS3S4″=dword:00000000
“AETarget”=dword:00000000
“FlikerLim”=dword:00000000
“InterpolationMethod”=dword:00000000
“ADC”=dword:00000000
“DC_Level”=dword:00000000
“Gama_Offset”=dword:00000000
“ImageEffect”=dword:00000000
“ChkPacketHdr”=dword:00000000
“SaBase”=dword:00000006
“SaDivitor”=dword:00000006
“SensorYUYV”=dword:00000000
“AvgAE”=dword:00000000
“Timer1″=dword:0000000a
“Timer2″=dword:0000005a
“PowerDown”=dword:00000000
“DoXPC3″=dword:00000001
“Do2KC3″=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\BisonCam]
“AgcGainType”=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WebCam\M2000]
“StillImage”=dword:0000000a
“MultiLangID”=dword:00000009

Starting Windows XP with Number Lock ON is a pretty simple registry tweak. All you got to do is the following…

Click Start ==> Run and Type REGEDIT

Navigate to the following Registry tree

KEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Keyboard

Change the value of the key InitialKeyboardIndicators to 2 (initially is it set to 0)

That’s it, When you reboot XP again, Number Lock should be on!

I have been experiencing some strange issue with Adobe software, when I launch it, there will be a program called AdobeUpdater.exe will automatically executes.

This .exe will use about 99% of the CPU runtime and will not be able to kill it via Process Kill, which means a reboot is eminent.

I have tried two methods, one worked, one didn’t

I Renamed updater.api under C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\plug_ins

That didn’t work at all…

Than I tried renaming AdobeUpdater.exe to AdobeUpdater2.exe under

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Updater5

Which seems to work and hence this is a temporary solution.

According to my research, Adobe is aware of this problem so, I guess they will be releasing a patch soon…

Windows Live Call is a resource hog, unless you use this feature there is no need to have it. And it takes about 40 MB of the RAM. Removing Live Call will make the Live Messenger sign in much faster.

Before starting, Shutdown Live Messenger and make sure it is not running. (make sure the icon is not on the taskbar)

You should first remove all the Windows Live Messenger Shortcuts. Here are the common places where you would have a Messenger Shortcut.

Desktop: If you have other user account, its worth deleting it.

Program List: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Start Menu\Programs

Then go to the Windows Live Messenger Install Directory, C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger

And remove the following Files and move them into a Directory of your choice. (just make one into the WLM install Directory)


htc.8.1.0178.00.dll
livecall.exe
pcsexeps.dll
softphone.dll
softphoneps.dll
softphoneres.dll

Now, you can create your shortcut again manually, It should stop Live Messenger from repairing the files. Follow this link on creating shortcuts http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140443

NB: I have also removed and recreated the following registry, I don’t think there is a need to do it, but If livecall.exe starts again, you can try this method again…

Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

You can either use Startup Control Panel or follow the instructions on this URL http://support.microsoft.com/kb/270035

Go to Start –> Control Panel

Open up Scheduled Tasks

Click on File –> New –> Scheduled Tasks

Name it whatever you like, I named it Auto Lock

Open up Auto Lock Under the Task Tab, add the following to the Run: Textbox

%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation

Click on the Schedule Tab

Under Schedule Task: drop down menu, select When Idle

On the Schedule Task When Idle option, set an appropriate Idle time, I set it as 10 Minute(s)

Click Apply, and you will have a popup to add password. Type in the password and confirm it. (I use the same password as my XP login password)

That’s it, It should auto lock your PC after it reaches the set idle time.