Debian Tips & Tutorials

Unoconv (converter between OpenOffice.org document formats): a commandline utility which can convert from any document format that OpenOffice can import to any document format it can export.

Install Unoconv

Debian

apt-get install unoconv

Ubuntu, Mint

sudo apt-get install unoconv

Start Open Office in headless mode

soffice -headless -accept=”socket,host=127.0.0.1,port=8100;urp;” -nofirststartwizard

doc to odt
unoconv -c “socket,host=localhost,port=8100;urp;StarOffice.ComponentContext” -f odt *.doc

doc to pdf
unoconv -c “socket,host=localhost,port=8100;urp;StarOffice.ComponentContext” -f pdf *.doc

Finally Stop OpenOffice

killall soffice.bin

The list of formats to which the document can be converted is given in the following page.

http://dag.wieers.com/home-made/unoconv/

“Liberate your documents” – documentfreedom.org

Majority of bloggers and website owners choose shared hosting packages for hosting their blogs and websites. But as traffic increases the server begins to choke. You will see plenty of internal server errors, CPU over usage messages etc. Then you will find emails from the shared hosting company telling that your website/blog is not suitable for shared hosting. Here I will explain how you can migrate your websites to a Virtual Private Server (VPS). VPS is also called as Virtual dedicated server. In a VPS you can do everything like what you can do in a dedicated server. VPSes are cheap when compared to dedicated servers and have a better resources (CPU, bandwidth, storage). Lets start.

1. Find the best VPS hosting company.
2. Buy a package which satisfy your needs. You can choose your favorite GNU/Linux distro while purchasing. You will also get a static IP.
3. Note down the things to be migrated (database, static files, CMS)
4. Setup the VPS. install required services. write proper firewall rules. tune your vps to get the maximum out of your VPS.
5. Copy the files from shared hosting to VPS. This will take a considerable amount of time. Some shared hosting servers won’t give you shell access. This is the most worst condition. You will have to download the files to your local computer and then copy the files to the VPS. If you have shell access you can copy the files using ssh.
6. Dump the database, copy it to the new VPS and restore it.
7. Point your domain name to the VPS. You can do this by going to domain control panel and fill the A record of your domain with the IP of the VPS. It is better to change the TTL to a lower value before the migration so that it will take only a less time to spread the domain change throughout the internet name servers.

You can host unlimited websites and blogs in your VPS provided it will not affect your server performance.

Remember VPS is an unmanaged service. You have to manage your VPS yourself. Some companies offer paid support.

Recommended VPS hosting companies

www.vps.net
www.linode.com
www.slicehost.com

If you need any support for migration, optimization send an email to me at: contact [at] sreenadh [dot] in

Please don’t forget to drop your valuable feedback and suggestions about this post.

How to reinstall GRUB?

Note: before continuing read this post if you are not familiar with GNU/Linux
http://debian.sreenadh.in/mount-partitions-in-a-gnulinux-system/

Put the first DVD of Debian in DVD drive.  After booting from DVD you will be asked to choose language, country, keyboard layout. you need to press 3 enter keys for that process.

Press Ctrl Alt F2 then
Press enter key
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A few days back I have got a laptop from one of my friend. Since I don’t have another pc other than my desktop my plan was to use this laptop for doing experiments. So I decided to install Debian GNU/Linux Lenny to test LTSP5. But the optical drive of lap was not working. My friend told me that he transferred the data from the lap by connecting lap HDD to another pc using the external USB HDD adapter. But he doesn’t have that at that time. So the only option for me to install Debian is via LAN. For that the lap has to be booted from a pen drive.
Read more…