TOPIC: UNAME
Finding out what kernel version is running
5th May 2008Here's the command that does the deed for me on Ubuntu:
uname -a
Usually, I only need it to find out what header files I need for any VMware repeat installations or reconfigurations.
Putting it all on one line
9th March 2008One of the nice things about the Linux/UNIX command line is that you get the options of stringing together a number of commands on one line for submission of all for processing at one go. Separating them with && does the trick, but I noticed that semicolon delimitation worked as well. Here's a line that will install VMware for you in one fell swoop:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential gcc-3.4 && tar xzf VMware-workstation-6.0.2-59824.i386.tar.gz && export CC=/usr/bin/gcc-3.4 && cd vmware-distrib && sudo ./vmware-install.pl
Another trick is to direct the output of one command into another, like the following, which subsets a process listing:
ps -aux | grep "wine"
It's all good stuff and is the sort of thing that shows why so many Linux/UNIX types love their command line so much.
VMware going amuck…
4th February 2008Over the last week, I have had VMware misreport the speed of my CPU and have virtual machines like they're on speed. To cure it, I tried restarting the PC a few times but that yielded no joy, even if it did work the last time that VMware did this on me. Following some instructions from the Ubuntu forums set things back onto an even keel again. The commands required follow:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential gcc-3.4
tar xzf VMware-workstation-6.0.2-59824.x86_64.tar.gz
export CC=/usr/bin/gcc-3.4 && cd vmware-distrib && sudo ./vmware-install.pl
The first of these adds in a specific version of the GNU C compiler while also adding kernel headers; the latter weren't needed on my system since I already had them. The second extracts the files from the tarball, while the last performs the required installation rites.