useradd syntax

useradd [options] {username}

Useful options are:

-d

declare the users home directory

-m

force ‘useradd’ to create the home directory

-D

accept the system defaults for account settings

An alternative for ‘useradd’ though is ‘adduser’:

adduser {username}

This will then prompt you for all the information needed to set up the account.

making the user an administrator (with sudo)

As the root user…

visudo

Then underneath the entry for ‘root’ just add in an entry with the desired user name:

{username} ALL=(ALL) ALL

I’ve seen things like this posted on the net before but never really had a chance to play with the idea. But as I’m now using git and svn a lot more these days (fingers crossed i’ll be totally free of cvs soon!) I thought it was about time I pulled my finger out.

So here’s the end goal, in a normal directory, we just get a normal bash promt, but in a directory controlled by git or svn, we also get an addition telling us the source control tool in use and the current branch:

So, fire up yer terminal and add the following to your .profile, .bash_profile or .bashrc (whichever one you use):

parse_git_branch () {
	git name-rev HEAD 2> /dev/null | sed 's#HEAD\ \(.*\)# (git::\1)#'
}
parse_svn_branch() {
	parse_svn_url | sed -e 's#^'"$(parse_svn_repository_root)"'##g' | awk '{print " (svn::"$1")" }'
}
parse_svn_url() {
	svn info 2>/dev/null | sed -ne 's#^URL: ##p'
}
parse_svn_repository_root() {
	svn info 2>/dev/null | sed -ne 's#^Repository Root: ##p'
}
 
BLACK="\[\033[0;38m\]"
RED="\[\033[0;31m\]"
RED_BOLD="\[\033[01;31m\]"
BLUE="\[\033[01;34m\]"
GREEN="\[\033[0;32m\]"
 
export PS1="$BLACK[ \u@$RED\h $GREEN\w$RED_BOLD\$(parse_git_branch)\$(parse_svn_branch)$BLACK ] "

Simples. Now just open up a new terminal and move into a project directory using svn or git.

If you’re both a coffee- and gadget-freak, this project by DIY’er Tim Hirzel will probably be a notably inspiring hack. By combining a fancy-pants Rancilio Silvia espresso machine, the multi-purpose Arduino micro-controller, a Wii nunchuk, and some seriously high-level hacking, Tim has created a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. The typically straight-up espresso maker is now controlled electronically, allowing integration of a calendar, sleep timer, wake-up alarm, and temperature regulation. The system also allows a user to time its functions (to get that perfect cup of espresso), and the nunchuk can be used to alter settings on the unit. Be sure and take a look at the video after the break to see this mod in action.

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Oh. my. god. This game is frigging awesome!

I had no idea what I was doing half the time, and spent most of the night watching replays of how I died, but I haven’t had a laugh like this with a game since Gears of War came out. Halo 3 was good, great even - but it just didn’t have that stand out ‘you’re gonna remember this’ feeling to it, it was just more, well, Halo.

Maybe this is because COD4 is my first COD game and i’ve just been missing out all of these years (the WWII stuff never really appealed).

Anyway, enough of my rambling… If you own a machine capable of gaming in anyway, be it Xbox, PS3, Wii, PC, your toaster, whatever - you need to try out COD4.

Oh, and for real giggles, try an 18 player free-for-all on the world’s smallest map ‘Shipment’. I think I had on average about 5 seconds between respawns!

Future generations will most likely divide the timeline of history at this point: when Quake 3 achieved motion-sensing, wireless network play on two iPod touches. Just think, less than a year ago we were salivating (or at least mildly enthused) at the prospect of rocking Doom on this thing, and now Quake 3 Arena is yours for the taking — or at least will be once we get any sort of hard info on this app.

via

Microsoft has officially announced that the Xbox 360 sequel to the popular shooter Gears of War will launch in November of this year.

Much of the Xbox 360’s first year success was dependent on Epic’s Gears of War. It proved much more than just substitute until Halo 3 arrived and really showed the gaming quality that the console could deliver. In fact, many still favour Marcus Fenix over Master Chief Petty Officer John-117.

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Engadget are running a story with pics for HP’s answer to the Eee PC. It does look quite sweet, but no details of the full spec or final price as yet.

If they could pitch this about the same price as the Eee - I could see this being quite sweet… However, it says that it can come with Vista or Linux - my bet is that it’s going to be a touch more powerful than the Eee (it’ll need to be if Vista is an option!), and a shedload more cash!!! Please let me be wrong, (on the cash point )!

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Seems like the well spoken geek Stephen Fry is quite a fan too:

I am writing this article on a kind of mini John the Baptist, a system that prepares the way of the software saviour whose coming will deliver the 90% of world computer users who suffer under Windows from the expensive, clumsy, costly, ugly, pricey toils of Microsoft.

The Asus EEE PC perched on my knee combines GNU software with a Linux kernel powered by an Intel Celeron Mobile Processor to produce a very extraordinary little laptop. It weighs less than a kilogram, starts up from cold in about 12 seconds and shuts down in five. It has no internal hard disk and no CD drive. It offers 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and a seven-inch display; wireless, dial-out modem and ethernet adaptors are available for networking and internet connections, three USB ports, mini-jack sockets for headphones and microphone, a VGA out, an SD card slot and a built-in webcam. All for about £200 - less than the price of a show, dinner and taxi for two in London’s West End.

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“The W3C just gave SPARQL the stamp of approval. SPARQL is a query language for the Semantic Web, and differs from other query languages in that is usable across different data sources. There are already 14 implementations of the spec available. Most of them are free software. There are also billions of relations out there that are query-able, thanks to the Linking Open Data project. The structured data of Wikipedia is now query-able at DBpedia. Also, have a look at Ivan Herman’s presentations on this topic.”

via