Most Popular

1500 questions
769
votes
40 answers

How do I remove old kernel versions to clean up the boot menu?

Every time I install a new Linux kernel, it gets left in the grub_config, making the boot menu longer each time. I know I can manually search through the installed packages and remove them. Does Ubuntu provide any easier way to clean them up or…
767
votes
21 answers

How do I get the CPU temperature?

How do I get the CPU temperature?
trampster
  • 11,792
735
votes
8 answers

How to make 'python' program command execute Python 3?

The python program command executes Python 2. Python 3 can be executed using the python3 command. How can Python 3 be executed using the python command?
Cloud Engineer
  • 7,493
  • 3
  • 14
  • 9
727
votes
81 answers

What Application Indicators are available?

This question exists because it has historical significance, but it is not considered a good, on-topic question for this site, so please do not use it as evidence that you can ask similar questions here. While you are encouraged to help maintain…
user8592
  • 838
712
votes
9 answers

What does "sudo apt-get update" do?

I am wondering what sudo apt-get update does? What does it update?
Elysium
  • 11,142
711
votes
8 answers

How can I decode a base64 string from the command line?

I would like to write a bash script to decode a base64 string. For example I type decode QWxhZGRpbjpvcGVuIHNlc2FtZQ== and it prints Aladdin:open sesame and returns to the prompt. So far I have tried a simple bash file containing python -m base64 -d…
lofidevops
  • 21,912
705
votes
14 answers

How do I install a .tar.gz (or .tar.bz2) file?

I have downloaded tar.gz files. But I don't know how to install it. How do I install this kind of file?
683
votes
9 answers

How do I check which shell I am using?

I read that terminal is nothing but shell, and Unix provides different flavors of shells: Bourne shell (sh) C shell (csh) TC shell (tcsh) Korn shell (ksh) Bourne Again shell (bash) Questions: When I open a terminal window, which shell is opened…
deltacoder
  • 7,005
674
votes
8 answers

How do I add environment variables?

I'm running Ubuntu 11.04. I use the terminal to start a bash session, and I want to add an environment variable: $r@hajt:~$ env THEVAR=/example But it's not working. It shows all the variables with THEVAR being the last one, but another call to env…
huff
  • 6,840
673
votes
27 answers

How to display network traffic in the terminal?

how to display the actual network traffic (wireless) in a terminal? Additionally: Is it possible to add this info to the chart of top?
672
votes
15 answers

How do I resolve unmet dependencies after adding a PPA?

Occasionally, when I'm installing stuff, I get an error like the following: Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable distribution that some required packages…
658
votes
26 answers

How do I free up more space in /boot?

My /boot partition is nearly full and I get a warning every time I reboot my system. I already deleted old kernel packages (linux-headers...), actually I did that to install a newer kernel version that came with the automatic updates. After…
user6722
  • 6,855
656
votes
8 answers

How to create a soft or symbolic link?

I am installing p4v in /opt, but /usr/bin is on my path. Is it possible to create a soft or symbolic link for p4v from /opt to /usr/bin, so I can just type "p4v" since /usr/bin is in my path?
coffee
  • 6,783
655
votes
28 answers

How can I record my screen?

How can I record my screen on Ubuntu? The app I'm looking for has ideally all of these features: Can record in a format that can be played back easily on any platform and/or accepted by YouTube or another popular video site Can record just a…
654
votes
8 answers

How do I set up a Cron job?

I want to schedule a task to run on a regular basis and have heard that Cron is the way to do this. How do I add Cron jobs in Ubuntu?