Helpful SuSE documentation and download sites

Here's a collection of sites I've found useful for information on SuSE (trust me, not all the sites out there actually provide useful information :-) )

Documentation and Info:

* http://susewiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
* http://opensuse-community.org/
* http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org
* http://susewiki.apanela.com/
* http://susefaq.sourceforge.net/

Blogs on SuSE: http://www.planetsuse.org/


Good Third-Party packages:

[I strongly suggest you use the SMART package manager, or at least YaST repositories or apt. You won't be disappointed, they are all easy to use after a minimal amount of configuration]


* Guru's RPMs http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser/
* Packman's RPMs http://packman.links2linux.org/
* James Ogley's http://www.usr-local-bin.org/rpms/

Firebug Firefox Extension - tweak any web page

Earlier this week someone directed me to a FireFox extention called "FireBug" - possibly the most interesting tool for web developers I've ever come across.

It allows you to open a console for any page you are browsing (not just on your own server- if it loads in your browser, you can work with it) and view and change the code in a very convenient manner - to me it is much easier than the typical "view source" method. Want to know what your favorite site would look like with a black background? Find your bgcolor tag and modify the color - presto, you have a black background.

FireBug provides a host of other features too, though.

One really useful feature is a graph that shows where HTML and CSS layout controls are trying to place each object, showing a small boxed example with rulers and guides. Great for finding out why things aren't lining up correctly.

Another really slick feature is the "network monitor" that shows how long it takes each element to load - perfect for finding out why some pages take a mysteriously long time to load.

Also worth mentioning is the error console and logging, including JavaScript errors.

Quick Install:
http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/extensions/firebug/firebug-1.01-fx+fl.xpi

If the install link doesn't exist by the time you read this page, head over to the project's page on the FireFox Extensions site:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1843/

Project home page: http://www.getfirebug.com/

Blocking web banner advertisements

A great deal of web sites I use to look up technical information run way too many banner ads. I know they provide some revenue, for the company, but the thing is, I /never/, ever click on those banners. So they won't be getting any click-counts from me.

In the mean time, they are annoying, sometimes distracting, and often ugly. I've also had badly designed Flash banners crash my browser.

My workstation runs SuSE Linux, and Firefox is my browser of choice for browsing the wide web. adBlock Plus is great tool for doing away with the banners in Firefox.

Here's some quick install links if you are running any version of Firefox or Mozilla-Seamonkey:

Install adBlock XPI: http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/extensions/adblock_plus/adblock_plus-0.7.2.4-fx+fl+zm+tb.xpi

Install primary filtersets after installing adBlock:
abp://subscribe/?location=http%3A%2F%2Feasylist.adblockplus.org%2Fadblock_rick752.txt&title=EasyList
abp://subscribe/?location=http%3A%2F%2Feasylist.adblockplus.org%2Feasylist-element_rick752.txt&title=EasyElement

I'm sure those links will break when a new version is released, so here's the project homepage:
http://adblockplus.org/en/

The install page at Mozilla's Extentions directory:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1865/

And the list of filtersets to subscribe to:
http://adblockplus.org/en/subscriptions

Enjoy!

Intro

I'm a system administrator for a small Central Texas IT Company, Cedar Creek Software. We specialize in custom programming projects, usually involving relational database programming for website backend engines.

I am also a technical consultant for a variety of businesses and organizations, including my father-in-law's stained glass studio, Stanton Glass Studio.

I specialize in small LAN and heterogeneous network administration, mostly using Linux and Mac OS X.