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Check SMS on computer: pair Android phone with PC

It's an excellent idea to pair your Android phone with a personal computer and manage SMS fast and easily. Managing SMS and messages on a big computer screen is convenient for individuals and institutions to check the updates frequently. Here are the steps to pair an Android phone with a PC.

1. Make sure that your messaging app is Messages by Google. Otherwise, install the Google Messaging app from the Play Store and make it default.

2. Open the browser on the computer and load the URL https://messages.google.com/web . Where we can see the QR Code.

3. Open the Google Messages app and click on More options. Select the option Device Pairing. Click on the QR code scanner button.

4. Scan the QR Code on the browser using the mobile. The messages interface will load on the browser.


Reference

Check your messages on your computer or Android tablet
https://support.google.com/messages/answer/7611075?hl=en

Install VirtualBox 7 on Debian 12 (Bookworm)

Debian 12 recently rolled out, and many dependencies for the installation of VirtualBox must borrow from the previous version of Debian. We need to add the Debian 11 repository first.

Add the Debian 11 repository.

echo 'deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian bullseye main ' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian11.list

sudo apt update

Visit the following URL and download the .deb suitable for Debian,

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads

Apply the following command to install the VirtualBox Debian package. I assume that the VirtualBox .deb file in the Download folder,

cd Downloads

sudo dpkg -i virtualbox*

Find the VirtualBox in the application launcher.

Install Telegram messenger in Debian and Ubuntu

Image courtesy: telegram.org
Telegram is a messaging app focusing on speed and security, and it is super-fast, simple and free. You can simultaneously use Telegram on all your devices. Messages sync seamlessly across any number of your phones, tablets or computers. 

Telegram has an app for desktop pc use. It supports popular Linux-based operating systems like Debian and Ubuntu. 

Installation
Telegram app is available in the software repository of Debian and Ubuntu Linux. Apply the following command to install Telegram;

sudo apt install telegram-desktop

Debian 12 Bookworm repository information

Here are the steps to add the main repository address to Debian 12.
Add to sources.list
Open the sources.list using your favourite text editor (e.g. Mousepad),

su
mousepad /etc/apt/sources.list

Copy and paste the following lines into the file,

deb https://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main contrib non-free-firmware non-free
deb-src https://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main contrib non-free-firmware non-free

Save and close the file. Update the repository list and upgrade the packages by applying following commands;

apt update
apt upgrade

Change PHPMyAdmin port number from 80 to another


Add a new port number to Apache

Port 80 is the default number of PHPMyAdmin. On certain occasions, we need to change the port number to another. Here are the steps to accommodate PHPMyAdmin to a new port number. 

Open ports.conf file, 

sudo mousepad /etc/apache2/ports.conf

Add a new port number (e.g. 8001). Add the following line, save and close the file.

Listen 8001

Open a new Apache virtual host. Open the following file,

sudo mousepad /etc/apache2/sites-available/phpmyadmin.conf

Copy the following piece of code into the file,

<VirtualHost *:8001>
        ServerName localhost
        <Directory /usr/share/phpmyadmin>
                AllowOverride None
                Require all granted
        </Directory>
        DocumentRoot /usr/share/phpmyadmin
        Include /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf
        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/phpmyadmin.error.log
        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/phpmyadmin.access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file. Apply the following commands one by one.

sudo a2disconf phpmyadmin
sudo a2ensite phpmyadmin
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
sudo service apache2 restart

Open PHPMyAdmin in the browser, localhost:8001

Reference

https://askubuntu.com/questions/896988/change-phpmyadmin-port-from-80-to-another-number

Install startup disk creator on Ubuntu

Startup disk creator helpful to burning operating system ISO files to flash drive (pen drive). Earlier versions of Ubuntu were preloaded with a Startup disk creator. Startup disk creator is not available with the latest versions of Ubuntu Linux. To install the tool, apply the following command on the terminal,

sudo apt-get install usb-creator-gtk

Startup disk creator icon visible at Application launcher after the installation.

Installation of LAMP stack on Debian/Ubuntu

Popular enterprises applications run on the LAMP stack; Linux, Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, and PHP. WordPress, Drupal, Moodle, and similar application software run on LAMP. Installation of a LAMP stack on Linux-based operating systems like Debian/Ubuntu is comparatively easier than before.

Install the latest stable version of Debian/Ubuntu first. I prefer to use lightweight Ubuntu flavour Xubuntu for this purpose. Here are the steps and commands to install LAMP infrastructure.

Update the Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade


Install complete collection of Google fonts on Debian/Ubuntu

Google Fonts is an extensive collection of Free and Open Source fonts. The collection includes more than one thousand fonts and releases under Open licenses (SIL Open Font License and Apache License). Google fonts can make use with word processors (LibreOffice, Abiword) after the installation on Linux based operating systems.

Users have to visit the Google Fonts website to download and install the font one by one, and it's a time-consuming process. The font collection maintains through the GitHub repository, where all font files can be download directly. Users can download the entire font collection and put it in the font directory of Linux based operating systems. Then the fonts become available for the entire system.

Download font collection

Visit https://github.com/google/fonts and download the fonts package.


Installation of fonts

A compressed file with the name fonts-main.zip download to the Download folder. Extract the zip file. A folder will appear with the name fonts-main. Rename the fonts-main folder to gfonts and copy the folder to home.

Move the gfonts folder to /usr/share/fonts, where fonts are located in Ubuntu. Apply the following command to move the fonts to the Ubuntu font folder.

sudo mv gfonts /usr/share/fonts

Refresh the cache of the font directory to take effect the changes.

sudo fc-cache -f -v

Check the new fonts available.

Open LibreOffice Writer and check the font, EB Garamond available.

Install Brave browser on Ubuntu and Debian


Brave is a free and open-source web browser based on the Chromium web browser. Brave is a privacy-focused browser and automatically blocking online advertisements and website trackers in its default settings. The extensions of the Chrome browser also works with Brave. Bookmarks and extensions from Chrome import after the installation of Brave browser. Brave browser has its own search engine for web search.

Following are the commands to install, apply the commands one by one.

sudo apt install apt-transport-https curl

sudo curl -fsSLo /usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg arch=amd64] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main"|sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list

sudo apt update

sudo apt install brave-browser

Install Teamviewer on Debian/Ubuntu from DEB repository

Teamviewer is a popular remote desktop access software. Often, Linux users install Teamviewer from .deb package. Users need to upgrade the software manually whenever new version arrives. Now Linux users can install Teamviewer by adding software repository. This method is convenient to keep the software new all time. Teamviewer update along with updating Linux operating system. This method can apply to install Teamviewer on Ubuntu and Debian. Following are the steps to add and install Teamviewer from DEB repository. Open a Terminal and apply the following commands for each purpose.

Add the repository address to the system (change editor name, here I am using Mousepad)

sudo mousepad /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teamviewer.list

Add software repository address in the file,

deb https://linux.teamviewer.com/deb stable main

Save and close the file.

Add the repository key,

sudo su

wget -O - https://download.teamviewer.com/download/linux/signature/TeamViewer2017.asc | apt-key add -

sudo apt update

sudo apt install teamviewer

The software will appear on Applications > Internet after the successful installation.

Reference

https://community.teamviewer.com/English/kb/articles/30666-how-to-update-teamviewer-on-linux-via-repository

Install Anydesk from DEB repository

Anydesk is a remote desktop access software and offers a user-friendly interface. Traditionally Anydesk installs from the .deb package. Users need to upgrade the software manually whenever a new version arrives. Now Linux users can install Anydesk by adding a software repository. This method is convenient to keep the software new all time. Anydesk update along with updating Linux operating system. Following are the steps to add and install Anydesk from the DEB repository.

Ubuntu 22.04 users need to download and install the following package before the installation of Anydesk.

cd

wget http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/p/pangox-compat/libpangox-1.0-0_0.0.2-5+b2_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i libpangox-1.0-0_0.0.2-5+b2_amd64.deb

Become a Root user,

sudo su

Add the repository key,

wget -qO - https://keys.anydesk.com/repos/DEB-GPG-KEY | apt-key add -

Add the repository

echo "deb http://deb.anydesk.com/ all main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/anydesk-stable.list

Update the software index.

apt update

Install Anydesk

apt install anydesk

The software will appear on Applications > Internet after the successful installation.

Reference

http://deb.anydesk.com/howto.html?_ga=2.12911607.170071280.1612773999-782358492.1612773999

Find a Dell Vostro laptop with Ubuntu Linux

Image courtesy: Dell.com

Dell Vostro is a product segment of business-oriented laptop computers. I love the Vostro series because of its durability and good performance compared with other brands. Hard core Linux lovers would like to buy laptops without Windows operating system. They prefer to get laptop with either pre-loaded Linux operating system or to install the favourite Linux. Often computer shops and online stores stocked with laptops with pre-loaded Windows operating system. Windows operating system with laptop computer cost you extra Rs. 8000. If you buy from Dell website, customers can select either Windows/Linux as operating system and help to save money. Visit the Dell website and there you can choose laptop computer with Linux operating system.

Speed up updates in Linux Mint

Software repositories are computers located in various places. Indian Linux users can select servers located in India to download and install packages to keep the system new. Linux Mint allow the users to select fastest software repository and speed up the update process. This feature facilitates the packages download speedy manner. Otherwise, need to stick on with slow software repository and wait more for downloading the package updates.

Open Application Launcher > Administration > Software Sources.

The Software Sources will open up. Two sources available, one for Linux Mint and another for Ubuntu. We need to select fast sources for our computer.
 Click on Mirrors and find the fastest mirror accessible from your place.
Select the software repositories for both Linux Mint and Ubuntu. Open Terminal and apply following commands to update the system.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Hypnotix: a live TV app for Linux

Here is a Live TV streaming application for Linux based operating systems. Nowadays, people depend on YouTube for watching Live TV. Commercial streaming services display advertisements while managing channels, and it disturbs the watching experience. 

Hypnotix is a Free Software and licensed under GPLv3. It is a stand-alone application and free from advertisements. 

Install LibreOffice 7 on Debian 10 (Buster)

LibreOffice 7 is now out and Debian 10 users can try it. Follow the steps mentioned below,

Update the Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Install Gnome icons

sudo apt install libreoffice-gnome

Add LibreOffice 7 software repository

sudo mousepad /etc/apt/sources.list
Add the following line at the bottom
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main
Save and close the file and apply the following commands,
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -t buster-backports libreoffice