No More Beeping

*NIX Quick Tip

Beep, beep, beep,
If your like me and don't like auditory reminders, you can turning off the beeping quickly and easily:

X Windows
If you want to disable beeps in X11 (X Windows), you can turn them off with the command:
# xset b off
*Note: you will need to login as root or use sudo.

csh and tcsh
You can disable csh and tcsh shell terminal beep if you put `set nobeep' (no quotes) in your ~/.cshrc file.

This options will work on most *nix systems (using csh/tcsh or X windows), including Ubuntu, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD, however I tested this solution using FreeBSD.

Zero Comes First

When I'm flicking through terminals (ttys), I find it frustrating that the keys start with the number 1 (F1), and not 0.
I use a simple trick remind myself where they are.

1. First I get some self adhesive labels, you can buy them from most newsagents.
2. Then I write out the numbers 0-9 and a-b, fairly neatly and about 5mm x 5mm big. (You could always print them out if you want them to be neater).
3. Cut them out, like in the image to the right.
4. Now place them on the keys.

Done, now next time you need to go to tty4 you can press F5 with out even thinking about it.

Dreaming about Blowfish and Daemons

I've had a moment with Ubuntu, yes one of those moments where your eye develops a twitch. So I quietly and calmly backed-up my files, rebooted and wiped my hard drive, a few times :)

I decided to reinstall OpenBSD 4.1, and so far I'm loving it. The freedom and the experience of the command line is unlike any other. After all the command line is why I wanted to learn a Unix based system in the first place.

I'd forgotten how excited I feel working with the commandline. I'm actually looking forward to using my computer again.
My servers don't have GUI's yet it's been a while since my desktop was a command line.
Everything is very fast, I almost don't know myself. I feel as though I'm flying along.

I think I'll be dreaming about blowfish and daemons tonight ;) If I ever get to bed that is.