Terminal Takeaway πŸ₯‘

How many errors has your ECC memory encountered?

If you have ECC memory you’ll probably know because it’s not a norm for personal computers. It’s usually in servers as they need max reliability and there can be a lot of memory churn (made that term up, might be real).

Inspired by natermer’s Reddit comment below after Linus expressed his disappointment with Intel’s ongoing stance on ECC. (Learn more in TWIL episode 133)

"I 100% have found dozens of production servers that were on the verge of failing and the only warning signs were ECC memory correction errors.

It’s a big deal."

How to read errors:

# Is my memory ECC!?
sudo dmidecode -t memory | grep "Type Detail:"
# Unregistered means no

# Get a reader for EDAC (Error Detection and Correction) drivers in the Kernel
sudo dnf install edac-utils # Fedora/CentOS/RHEL
sudo apt install edac-utils # Debian/Ubuntu

# Check if EDAC drivers are loaded and which memory controllers you have
edac-util --status

# Report memory controller data, error count should show up in the output
edac-util --report

Monitoring software often reads EDAC too so it’s worth confirming if your solution is checking for ECC errors.

I think the correct term is garbage collection, but that may just be the term used on the development side.

After reading this I wanted to try using curl, but I cannot integrate it on my system (KDE Neon on kernel 5.4.0-60).

This is curl I got. How do I use it on Linux?

1 Like

Tuesday again. Some inxi magic. You can make inxi show you the weather in your location, pretty cool. Of course not so cool as all those tricks by Ulfnic. :wink:

inxi -w
Weather:   Temperature: 0.7 C (33 F) Conditions: Overcast Clouds Current Time: Di 12 Jan 2021 22:19:03 CET (Europe/Berlin) 
           Source: WeatherBit.io 

Inxi is very powerful for all sorts of information about your system.

4 Likes

curl wttr.in

https://wttr.in/:help

2 Likes

2 posts were split to a new topic: Self-hosted GeoIP Lookup

Script for terminal themeing

Highlighting a brilliant project by lemnos which lets you change your terminal’s theme on the fly from a selection of 274 themes.

Install

Option 1. I want this installed for use by my user account

# Download to user's custom executable location
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin/
curl -o ~/.local/bin/theme.sh 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lemnos/theme.sh/master/theme.sh'

# Confirm no shenanigans
nano ~/.local/bin/theme.sh

# Make executable to current user
chmod u+x ~/.local/bin/theme.sh

Option 2. I want this installed for use by every account

Note: I changed the installation destination from /usr/bin to /usr/local/bin to follow filesystem standards.

# Download to system's custom executable location
sudo curl -o /usr/local/bin/theme.sh 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lemnos/theme.sh/master/theme.sh'

# Confirm no shenanigans
nano /usr/local/bin/theme.sh

# Make executable to all users
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/theme.sh

Try it out

# Output CLI instructions
theme.sh

Pick a theme interactively:

theme.sh -i # Enter interactive mode to pick a theme:
# Use: theme.sh -i2 for terminals limited to 16 colors.

# Use the arrow keys or type to search
# Enter to select a theme
# Ctrl + C to quit

Before:

After:

Add this command to your .bashrc to make a theme permanent:

nano ~/.bashrc
# Add the following replacing "tempus-autumn" w/ your desired theme:
theme.sh tempus-autumn

# Save & quit
# Open a new terminal
1 Like

Learned about vertical tabs today…

image

3 Likes

We all love ls but what if you want a tree like view, just type:

ls -R | grep ":$" | sed -e 's/:$//' -e 's/[^-][^\/]*\//--/g' -e 's/^/ /' -e 's/-/|/'

Enjoy your output.

1 Like

Nice use of the cascading sed substitutions!

1 Like

Maze Game

I created a timed maze game that reads a player defined map using arbitrary text. Has hit detection and a timed win condition.

Add an X for the player, an E for the exit, spaces are where the player can travel and anything else blocks movement.

I’ve been working with arrays so much the idea popped into my head so I put it into code. You can copy/paste in any text based map you find on the Internet (so long as traversable areas are spaces) and the script will make it work. Just add an X for the player and E for exit.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
#
# === USER DEFINED MAP ===
#
# Map key:
#   - X for the player
#   - E for exit
#   - Space for traversable
#   - Any other character blocks the player's movement

{ MAP_DATA=$(</dev/stdin); } <<\EOF

   Movement: AWSD or HJKL     
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ/E\β–ˆ 
β–ˆ       β–ˆ           β–ˆ       β–ˆ 
β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ 
β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ 
β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ 
β–ˆ   β–ˆ           β–ˆ       β–ˆ   β–ˆ 
β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ   β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ   β–ˆ 
β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ       β–ˆ   β–ˆ       β–ˆ 
β–ˆ   β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ 
β–ˆ           β–ˆ           β–ˆ   β–ˆ 
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ   β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ 
β–ˆ       β–ˆ       β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ 
β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆ   β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ   β–ˆ 
β–ˆ X β–ˆ       β–ˆ               β–ˆ 
β–ˆ ^ β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ 
                              
EOF

# === DEFINE FUNCTIONS ===

MOVE_PLAYER(){
	# Define where the player is attempting to move
	ATTEMPT_X=$(( $1 + $PLAYER_X ))
	ATTEMPT_Y=$(( $2 + $PLAYER_Y ))
	ATTEMPT_MAP_Y_LINE=${MAP_Y[$ATTEMPT_Y]}

	# Prevent out of bounds travel
	if [ "$ATTEMPT_X" = "-1" -o "$ATTEMPT_Y" = "-1" ]; then return 1; fi

	# Is the player moving onto a win condition?
	if [ "${ATTEMPT_MAP_Y_LINE:$ATTEMPT_X:1}" = "E" ]; then

		# Get the finish time, print victory statement and exit
		FINISH_TIME=$(( SECONDS - GAME_START ))
		printf "You escaped in %s seconds" $FINISH_TIME
		if [ $PLAYER_Y == 0 ]; then printf " using \e[0;91mrule 0\e[0m"; fi
		printf "!\n\n"
		exit 1

	fi

	# Is the player attempting to move into an empty space?
	if [ "${ATTEMPT_MAP_Y_LINE:$ATTEMPT_X:1}" = $EMPTY_BLOCK ]; then

		# Erase current player location
		PLAYER_MAP_Y_LINE=${MAP_Y[$PLAYER_Y]}
		MAP_Y[$PLAYER_Y]="${PLAYER_MAP_Y_LINE:0:$PLAYER_X}${EMPTY_BLOCK}${PLAYER_MAP_Y_LINE:$(($PLAYER_X+1))}"

		# Move player coordinates
		PLAYER_X=$ATTEMPT_X
		PLAYER_Y=$ATTEMPT_Y

		# Draw new player location on updated and/or different PLAYER_MAP_Y_LINE
		PLAYER_MAP_Y_LINE=${MAP_Y[$PLAYER_Y]}
		MAP_Y[$PLAYER_Y]="${PLAYER_MAP_Y_LINE:0:$PLAYER_X}X${PLAYER_MAP_Y_LINE:$(($PLAYER_X+1))}"

		# Print map
		PRINT_MAP

	fi
}

PRINT_MAP(){
	clear
	#printf '\e[0;92m' # Make green
	printf '%s\n' "${MAP_Y[@]}"
	#printf '\e[0;0m' # Reset color
}

USER_INPUT_LOOP(){
	# Wait for the user to press a key and define it as $KEY
	read -s -n 1 KEY

	# Move the player according to the KEY's associated movement value in KEY_TO_MOVEMENT
	MOVE_PLAYER ${KEY_TO_MOVEMENT[$KEY]}

	USER_INPUT_LOOP
}

# === STARTUP ===

# Declare human input keys with movement modifiers
declare -A KEY_TO_MOVEMENT=( [w]="0 -1" [d]="1 0" [a]="-1 0" [s]="0 1" [k]="0 -1" [l]="1 0" [h]="-1 0" [j]="0 1" )

EMPTY_BLOCK="." # Special ANSI invisible character
IFS_OLD="$IFS";
IFS=""

# Replace all spaces with the EMPTY_BLOCK to simplify sequencing and add map to MAP_Y array.
MAP_DATA=$(echo $MAP_DATA | sed "s/ /$EMPTY_BLOCK/g")
readarray -t MAP_Y <<< "$MAP_DATA"

# Get player location by counting prior new lines and prior characters on the player's MAP_Y line.
PLAYER_Y=$(( `echo ${MAP_DATA%X*} | wc -l` - 1 ))
PLAYER_X=$(( `echo ${MAP_Y[$PLAYER_Y]%X*} | wc -m` -1 ))

IFS="$IFS_OLD"
GAME_START=$SECONDS
PRINT_MAP
USER_INPUT_LOOP

ncat: Hosting a public website with a single command

sudo dnf install nmap-ncat # Fedora/CentOS/RHEL
sudo apt install ncat # Debian/Ubuntu
ncat -klp 8080 --send-only -c 'printf "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\n\n%s" "<html><body><h1>Terminal Tuesday !!</h1></body></html>";'
# (Ctrl-C to quit)

# Options in use:
# -k, --keep-open            Accept multiple connections in listen mode
# -l, --listen               Bind and listen for incoming connections
# -p, --source-port port     Specify source port to use
#     --send-only            Only send data, ignoring received; quit on EOF
# -c, --sh-exec <command>    Executes the given command via /bin/sh

# Test in another terminal or Web browser:
curl http://127.0.0.1:8080
curl http://YOUR_LAN_OR_PUBLIC_IP:8080

Other Examples:

Similar to rm -rf these scripts are a great way to get yourself in trouble. Close off port 8080 on your firewall before playing, think before you type, know that any website can send you to a local address like 127.0.0.1:8080 in a hidden iframe and consider security is hard even for sysadmins.

# Introducing option: --allow <host>
# Allow only given hosts to connect to Ncat

# Return all environment variables accessible to the process (yikes)
ncat -klp 8080 --allow 127.0.0.1 --send-only -c 'printf "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\n\n"; printenv;'

# Run a local script and return the output (yikes)
ncat -klp 8080 --allow 127.0.0.1 --send-only -c 'printf "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\n\n"; ./run.sh;'

# Return an HTML page
ncat -klp 8080 --send-only -c 'printf "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\n\n"; cat ./index.html;'

# IP Lookup Server:
ncat -klp 8080 --send-only -c 'printf "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\n\n%s" "$NCAT_REMOTE_ADDR";'
# More ncat env variables: https://secwiki.org/w/Ncat/Environment_variables

Bash can look very sexy sometimes:

for n in {1..5}; do echo $n; done

And the output:

1
2
3
4
5
1 Like

Something I learned recently…

If any amount of leading zeros are added, the output will always be equal to the maximum number of possible digits.

for n in {01..10000}; do echo $n; done

00001
00002
…
09999
10000

for n in {1..010000}; do echo $n; done

000001
000002
…
009999
010000

2 Likes

This might be the coolest usage of an old terminal with a modern Linux machine I have yet seen. This is purely entertainment but something I have watched more than once, purely for the smiles.

This is part 2 where it is actually being employed.

For what it is worth, he is using Kubuntu for his Linux distribution.

Because it isn’t nice to just post a part 2, here is the Part 1

6 Likes

If this worked with Fusion 360… (insert dream sequence here)…

1 Like

If Fusion360 was fully supported on Linux by Autodesk… (insert dream sequence here)…
:slight_smile:

That video made me want to check out openSCAD, any time I can do something from the terminal I’m all in. So far it is really neat. Thanks for sharing!

2 Likes

I think I need to try to understand openSCAD too. It’s on the list… but not high on the list.

I use openSCAD – it just requires you to break an object down into shapes that produce the whole. I think one of the best features of it is that it’s parametric. You can search scad files on thingiverse – I have discovered some mind-blowing mathematical functions – which reminded me that there are people in the world who have forgotten more math than I have ever known.