Ubuntu Sharing » Security

Enable Login As Root in Ubuntu 12.04/11.10 with LightDM

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 03:45:12 +0000

It’s not commended to enable and login as root user in Ubuntu Linux. sudo command can do most works if you need super user privilege. But if you do need or have a good reason to login Ubuntu as root, here’s a way to login root via LightDM. Do it at your own risk!

Since Ubuntu 11.10, the default display manager was changed to LightDM. It’s no longer supported to login with an arbitrary username. You can use GDM to login as root but it takes time installing packages and some don’t really want to replace LightDM.

Enable Root Login via LightDM:

First of all, enable root user by giving a password. In terminal execute:

sudo passwd root

enter current user password and then input a root password twice.

Then, edit the /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf by your favorite editor and add this line:

greeter-show-manual-login=true

Now, reboot! In login screen, there’s a more option “Login” which promts to input Username and Password. You know what to do next ^_^.

Get Back Graphical Users & Groups Management Tool in Ubuntu 12.04

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:30:27 +0000

The old Gnome 2 User and Groups management tool has been turned off since Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric. But it’s still avaiable in Ubuntu repository contained by package gnome-system-tools.

So if you’re looking for this easy to use graphical method for modifying users’ group membership in Ubuntu 12.04, use following method to get it back.

In Ubuntu Software Center search and install gnome-system-tools, then you can launch Users and Groups in the Dash.

Or install it via apt-get command:

sudo apt-get install gnome-system-tools

Now, you get back this old Users Settings tool:

easily edit user advance settings:

manager groups:

Install AMD ATI Driver Catalyst 12.3 in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise

admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 04:59:48 +0000

AMD has released the ATI Catalyst 12.3 driver for Linux. It has a great improvement on performing with Ubuntu 12.04 Precise.

Here’s the ATI Catalyst 12.3 installation guide. Do it at your own risk!

1.) Open the terminal and execute following commands to remove current amd driver:

sudo sh /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh
sudo apt-get remove --purge fglrx fglrx_* fglrx-amdcccle* fglrx-dev*

2.) Install required packages:

sudo apt-get install build-essential cdbs fakeroot dh-make debhelper debconf libstdc++6 dkms libqtgui4 wget execstack libelfg0 dh-modaliases linux-headers-generic

For 64-bit, install this:

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs dkms

3.) Now, download ATI Catalyst 12.3 and give its execute permission.

cd ~/
mkdir catalyst12.3
cd catalyst12.3/
wget http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/amd-driver-installer-12-3-x86.x86_64.run
chmod +x amd-driver-installer-12-3-x86.x86_64.run

4.) build and install the deb.

sudo sh ./amd-driver-installer-12-3-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/precise
sudo dpkg -i fglrx*.deb

5.) After the setup wizard:

create the configuration file by:

sudo aticonfig --initial -f
sudo aticonfig --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf --tls=1

Now, reboot!

Canonical’s Ubuntu System Management Service Landscape become default in Ubuntu 12.04

admin — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 07:05:23 +0000

Ubuntu 12.04 Beta, in today’s updates ‘System Settings’ window adds a new item called ‘Management Service’

It’s Canonial Landscape, an easy-to-use systems management and monitoring service. Manage multiple Ubuntu machines as easily as one and lower your management and administration costs.

When you first time clicking on it, a window pops up prompts installing Landscape client. Just click Install and enter your user password.

After installation, make a free register at https://landscape.canonical.com/. Then select Landscape server to monitor your current using Ubuntu.

Now, open https://landscape.canonical.com/, and you will get an authentication message ’1 pending computer needs authorization’. After that, you can manage this computer via web browser.

Now, you just need one web browser to manage many Ubuntu machines.

Via imtx.me

Saidar, Command-Line Tools viewing system statistics(CPU/Mem/Network/Disk)

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:35:34 +0000

Saidar is a curses-based tool for viewing the system statistics avail-able through libstatgrab. Statistics include CPU, processes, load, memory, swap, network I/O, disk I/O, and file system information.

Saidar can be installed by apt-get command for Ubuntu and Debian:

sudo apt-get install saidar

Then you can execute this to get system statistics in command line:

saidar

Or using -c to get colored output:

saidar -c

Using -d to set DELAY seconds between updates (default 3):

saidar -d 5

Hack Code: Changing Unity-2D Launcher BackColor & Transparency

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:44:25 +0000

There’re several GUI tools for configuring the Launcher appearance in Unity 3D. But for Unity 2D, it’s kinda difficult.

This tutorial shows how to change the Launcher back-color and transparency by a little change on the code.

NOTE: YOU MUST KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO BEFORE

First, make a backup of /usr/share/unity-2d/launcher/Launcher.qml. Then edit this file with your favourite editor, for example:

gksu gedit /usr/share/unity-2d/launcher/Launcher.qml

Search rectangle to find out following section:

Rectangle {
Accessible.name: “background”
anchors.fill: parent
color: “black”
opacity: 0.66
visible: screen.isCompositingManagerRunning
}

Now change the color: “black” & opacity: 0.66, and it will take effect at next login.

Remove Workspace Switcher from Unity Launcher(via ppa) in Ubuntu 11.10

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:17:56 +0000

The Workspace Switcher icon on Ubuntu Unity’s Launcher is a waste of space if you’re used to using keyboard shortcuts.
Workspace Switcher is un-customizable, it’s hard coded to unity and cannot be removed without hacking source code.

Option 1:

via imtx.me
Thanks to TualatriX, the developer of ubuntu-tweak who modified the code and added it into his personal PPA: https://launchpad.net/~tualatrix/+archive/personal

I’m not good at compiling codes and even not willing to spend time on it. So I tried this in Ubuntu 12.04 daily build. Installed (packages here):

libunity-core-4.0-4_4.24.0-0ubuntu2.1.1_amd64.deb libunity-core-4.0-dev_4.24.0-0ubuntu2.1.1_amd64.deb netbook-launcher_4.24.0-0ubuntu2.1.1_all.deb unity-common_4.24.0-0ubuntu2.1.1_all.deb unity-services_4.24.0-0ubuntu2.1.1_amd64.deb unity_4.24.0-0ubuntu2.1.1_amd64.deb

Missing dependencies can be fixed by Synaptic.

Option 2:

If you’d like modifying the code and rebuild unity by yourself, follow the steps from askubuntu:

Make sure you have the package dpkg-dev installed

sudo apt-get install dpkg-dev

To modify the code and compile it your self you need to do the following

mkdir ~/code cd ~/code mkdir build cd build sudo apt-get source unity cd unity*

Open plugins/unityshell/src/LauncherController.cpp with your favorite text editor, ie:

gksudo nano plugins/unityshell/src/LauncherController.cpp

Locate the lines

_num_workspaces = WindowManager::Default()->WorkspaceCount(); if (_num_workspaces > 1) { InsertExpoAction(); }

Change them to

/*_num_workspaces = WindowManager::Default()->WorkspaceCount(); if (_num_workspaces > 1) { InsertExpoAction(); }*/

Build the package

sudo apt-get build-dep unity sudo debuild -us -uc

Wait for it to finish and install when done

cd .. sudo dpkg -i unity*.deb libunity*.deb netbook*.deb

Guake – Another Drop-down Quake-style Terminal Emulator

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:14:03 +0000

Guake is a top-down terminal for Gnome, in the style of Yakuake for KDE, Tilda or the terminal used in Quake.
Guake’s properties window supports configuring keyboard shortcuts, appearences, main window height, etc. Unfortunately, the width is fixed and maximal.

Guake Preferences

Guake is available in Ubuntu universe repository. Install it via Ubuntu Software Center, or:

sudo apt-get install quake

Here are screenshots of Yakuake and Tilda (both quake style and available in ubuntu’s default repository):

Yakuake Terminal Emulator for KDE

Tilda

How to Login Without Password in Ubuntu 11.10

admin — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 03:27:15 +0000

If your Ubuntu machine is at home, you may want log-in Ubuntu without a password in the Log-in Screen or run sudo command without asking for a password.

1.) Set your user account to log-in without a password.

This is easy, just click on top-right your user name and launch System Settings -> User Accounts. Click Unlock and enter the password. Now, double click on pass-phrase after Password and you’ll see following pic.

Choose “Login without a password” in first drop-down box and click “Change” at bottom.

Now, you can log-in this user without password both in GUI log-in screen and text (tty1~tty6) mode. The password is actually set to “None”. So in the tty1~tty6 (press Ctrl+Alt+F1~F6), it won’t ask a password for running commands with sudo at beginning. But in desktop environment, sudo command and “Authentication Required” window still need password and you can’t get through whatever you input. To deal with that see following steps.

2.) Reset password in command-line. After that, you can login without password in LightDM Login Screen and all others back to normal.

Press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to navigate to TTY1 and log-in with your username. Then run this command to reset password:

sudo passwd YOUR-USER-NAME

Then input a new password and again to confirm.

3.) If you want executing sudo command without asking for a password in terminal, run:

sudo visudo

Under “# Members of the admin group may gain root privileges” change:

%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL

%admin ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:NOPASSWD:ALL

Press Ctrl+X and then input y to save it.

Install PAC Manager – Manage Remote Connections in Ubuntu 11.10

admin — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 04:39:00 +0000

PAC, Perl Auto Connector is a simple GUI to manage/launch SSH/Telnet connections to remote machines.
It is a Perl/GTK replacement for SecureCRT/Putty/etc (linux ssh/telnet/… gui)… It provides a GUI to configure connections: users, passwords, EXPECT regular expressions, macros, etc.

Features:

Unique linux app to implement SecureCRT’s functionality (more or less!)
Remote and local macros
Remotely send commands with EXPECT regexp
Cluster connections!! Connections on same cluster share keystrokes!!
Proxy support
Serial/tty connection via cu/tip/remote-tty connections!!
Pre/post connections local executions
TABS OR WINDOWS for connections!!
Wake On LAN capabilities
Possibility to split terminals in the same TAB!
Quick acces to configured connections via tray menu icon
Best linux GUI for ssh, telnet, sftp, rdesktop, vnc, cu, remote-tty, ftp, etc
DEB, RPM & .TAR.GZ packages available!!
More to come (ASA I find time!)
FREE (GNU GPLv3)

Pac Manager Website: http://sites.google.com/site/davidtv/

Installation

Download .deb package of pac from sourceforge.net

Then use this command to install pac in terminal:

cd ~/Downloads
sudo dpkg -i pac-*.deb

Run the command to fix dependencies error if any and finish installation.

sudo apt-get -f install