Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming, A (2nd Edition) This is an excellent book that I highly recommend for anyone who want's to learn/keep up with the latest and greatest Linux Commands, Editiors, and Shell Programming Knowledge! Such a great book it's actually worth buying if you are serious about learning Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming! Highly Recommended! Also, here are some other great Linux books that I highly recommend purchasing while they're still in stock:

Slim Down and Speed Up Linux

While Linux is pretty efficient with a computer's resources out of the box, there are still ways you can make it run leaner and meaner on your desktop. Using a little bit of know-how, a willingness to run a few terminal commands, and a mind for efficiency, you can get every last bit of power from your Linux box, or get more life from an older system. Read on for a roundup of ways to slim down and speed up Linux that any level of user can implement.

One quick note: Many of these tweaks require altering system files, disabling processes or otherwise changing how your system runs. Whenever you alter a system file, back it up. The easiest way is to open a terminal and create a ".backup" version of it. For instance, to back up the /etc/hosts file, open a terminal and type:

sudo cp /etc/hosts /etc/hosts.backup

More importantly, if you're unsure of anything, don't do it!

Prune your processes

The easiest and safest way to free up memory in any Linux system is to stop unnecessary programs and background processes from running, and then get your system to remember how you like it. Most Linux distributions have a tool in their "System" or "Administration" menus that let you see what's going on and halt things, if necessary—in Ubuntu, there are two of them: System->Preferences->Sessions, and System->Administration->Services. On every computer I've loaded Linux onto, there are a few startup programs I almost always disable from the "Sessions" menu. I don't sync my phone to my computer and use Thunderbird instead of the built-in Evolution, so the Bluetooth Manager and Evolution Alarm Notifier are first to go. Before touching anything in the "Services" window, consult this ExtremeTech guide for pointers on what is and isn't safe to turn off. As mentioned in the guide, Ubuntu (like most distro GUIs) only sees a few of the many services your computer is running. If you really want to fine-tune your system, you can install the sysv-rc-conf package found in many distros and surgically remove unnecessary background programs—but I'll reiterate that point made above about backing up and making only a few changes at a time.

Install Lighter, Faster Applications

Full-featured, well-rounded programs like Firefox, OpenOffice.org, and Amarok are a big part of the growth in Linux users. For computers running tight on memory, however, they can make Linux feel less like the streamlined system it's meant to be. For users who only need the basics, there are lighter-weight alternative applications that take up less memory and move a little swifter.

• Office programs: AbiWord, Gnumeric, KOffice—OpenOffice, like its proprietary adversary, Microsoft Office, has more features, settings and tools than any one user is likely ever going to need. For those who just want to be able to type documents and make basic spreadsheet edits, AbiWord and Gnumeric are a nice compromise between speed and features. KOffice is a bit more full-featured and KDE-oriented, but seems to run faster than OpenOffice.
• File browsing: Thunar, PCMan—Both are fast, streamlined file browsers that don't try to offer up all the multimedia extras and graphical niceties that can bog down the default Nautilus (GNOME) and Konquerer (KDE) browsers. The PsychoCats site has a helpful guide for switching from Nautilus to Thunar; KDE users can also install Thunar or look into installing Dolphin from repositories, and any user can check out Google Docs, Zoho or other online office suites.
• Web browsing: Opera, Konquerer—There are extremely light browsers that use far less memory than Firefox (Dillo, Epiphany, and the like), but the convenience and ease of use are hardly comparable. Opera, however, offers a small memory savings, and KDE's built-in browser is extensible and noticeably lighter.

Remove extra virtual terminals

Virtual terminals are a good tool to have—they offer a last-ditch escape to command line for a chance to fix things in a crashing system. But many Linux systems come with six of them enabled, which isn't usually necessary. You can usually disable five of them with few consequences. If you're using Gutsy, open a terminal and type in the following commands:

cd /etc/event.d
sudo mv tty3 tty3.bak
sudo mv tty4 tty4.bak

... and so on, through the tty6 file. If you're still on Feisty or other Linux distros, you'll likely have to edit the file in /etc/inittab and add a # character in front of the lines ending with tty3, tty4 and the like.

Reduce swappiness

If your system generally has enough memory to handle what you throw at it, your use of swap space should be minimal, but your system doesn't know that. To temporarily lower your swappiness, type the following command into a terminal (replacing "sudo" with "su" in some systems):

sudo sysctl -w vm.swappiness=10

To make that fix permanent, enter the following command (trading "gedit" for "kate" in KDE systems, or "nano" or "vi" if you have neither):

sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf

In the file that comes up, look for the line vm.swappiness=x and change the value to 10, or add the line if it doesn't exist.

Get good with the terminal

You've heard us evangelize about the efficiency of terminals before, but it's especially true in Linux. Give your terminal a handy keyboard shortcut, keep a list of basic commands handy, and learn to write bash scripts, create command shortcuts and find anything from one no-nonsense interface.

Five more tips and guides to speeding up your system

• Speed up GNOME menu—A simple but noticeable tweak, especially on older computers.
• Speed up OpenOffice—Also applies to Windows and Mac versions.
• Speed up Ubuntu Boot and Shutdown Process—This guide applies mainly to Ubuntu 7.04, "Feisty Fawn," and earlier versions.
• Give Ubuntu a speed boost—Note that some of the tweaks in the linked article could, if done improperly, leave a system unbootable, so proceed with caution.
• Change GNOME Menus to Use PCMan File Manager—If you don't want to make a complete PCMan transition, this trick launches the browser from GNOME's top bar menu.

How do you optimize your Linux desktop? Let us know in the comments.
Kevin Purdy, Lifehacker's newest Associate Editor, digs finding optimization tips. His weekly feature will appear every Friday on Lifehacker.

openSUSE 11 Speed Tweaks

1. Disable Swap.
Swap is provide to anticipate lack of memory when using heavy application like graphical application. But sometime i using it.
To disable swap, in terminal konsole as root type /sbin/swapoff -a, anyway it can enable anytime with /sbin/swapon -a.

add on : Oct 17, 2008
Just found the effect when i swap off 256 MB RAM on my friend PC. It’s resulting Hang. I’m not recommend to disable swap if RAM size <=256MB

2. Inactivate Unnecessary Service
Open Yast | System | System Service (Runlevel) and click Expert Mode radio button. Disable service below by pressing STOP button then following with SET button to disable.
1. aaventd
2. boot.aapmor
3. atd
4. auditd
5. autofs
6. autoyast
7. fbset
8. gpm
9. joystick
10. mdadmd
11. portmap
12. nfs
13. nscd
14. ntp
15. openct
16. pcscd
17. postfix
18. powerd
19. powersaved
20. raw
21. rpasswdd
22. smbfs
23. spamd
24. xfs
25. xinetd
26. ypbind

3. Edit Innitab
At terminal konsole type vi /etc/inittab then push insert button on keyboard and give comment with # at following line :
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty –noclear tty1
2:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2
#3:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3
#4:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty4
#5:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty5
#6:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6

This will inactivate ty3~tty6

4. Modify sysconfig
open Yast | System | /etc/sysconfig Editor, click plus on SYSTEM then KERNEL tree and change
SCHED_MINTIMESLICE to 1000
SCHED_MAXTIMESLICE to 40000
next click File systems then mdadm, change MDADM_DELAY to 0.

5. Edit Service Manager
open K menu | Personal Settings | advance tab | Service Manager
Let below service running :
KDED Favicon Module
Konqueror preloader (if using Konqueror)
Kwallet Daemon Module

And disable others than above.

6. Inactivate Beagle
open Yast | Software | Software Management
search for beagle and tick to remove this application then click Accept Button.

openSUSE Tweak : Increase openSUSE Speed & Performance

openSUSE Tweak : Increase
openSUSE Speed & Performance

Image
credit to : masternewmedia.

Before you read this, please keep in mind that there were no
tweak
or tips which suitable for all condition and completely work for all
users. Tweak and tips will only be suitable depending your purposes,
requirement and environment. As an example, I may disable a service but
the same service must be keep enable on your side because I do not use
the service but you do.

This post is based on true
story :-). It’s my experience
and I’ve applied it. I get a faster and nicer openSUSE after applying
these tips. The success story may vary depending above reason and I’ll
be very pleasant for your advice or suggestion. Please share your experience by dropping a comment
if you decided to apply these tweak, partially or fully implementation.

1. Disable Swap
   
   If you have more than 512 MB of RAM (1 GB an example), it’s
   may better to disable your swap space. Swap will only be used if
   computer has not enough memory
   for managing system task, but in certain condition, swap will be used
   even on enough memory condition. Disabling swap will push the system to
   fully managing memory allocation with RAM.
   
   
   
   Disabling swap :
   
   
   

   
   

   view
   sourceprint?

   
   

   
   

   
   

   1./sbin/swapoff
-a

   
   

   
   
   
   

   Enabling swap :
   

   
   
   
   

   
   

   view
   sourceprint?

   
   

   
   

   
   

   1./sbin/swapon
-a

   
   

   
   
   
   

   BEWARE : Please don’t try this if
   you have less than 512 MB of RAM.
   Even though Linux have a good memory management to manage memory
   allocation, I do not suggest this tips because the computer may
   suddenly hang if Linux has not enough memory.

   
   

   There were also some suggestion on
   installation tutorial to
   prepare about 2.5X of RAM as good swap partition. IMHO, it may suitable
   for an ancient history where 128 MB of RAM
   is quite big. Now, RAM bigger than 4 or 8 GB is a common environment.
   2.5X of 8 GB is 20 GB. Do you need 20 GB of swap for buffering daily
   task ?
   

   
   


2. Disable Unnecessary Services
   
   It’s an important tips. Disable unnecessary service to increase
   available memory. Go to YAST | SYSTEM | SYSTEM
   SERVICES - RUNLEVEL to disable or enable any service.
   You may also used chkconfig servicename off/on to
   disable or enable services but I recommended YAST as primary choice
   because YAST has complete information about what is service provided
   for.
   

   Choose Expert Mode to see
   complete
   information.What’s service should be disable ? As describe on prologue
   above, it may vary depending your purposes but I try to keep it simple.
   Below is a list of some service. Please adjust the service state with
   your purposes and condition. If I skip the service, it means that I
   leave it on default condition.
   

   
   
   
   

   
   

   view
   sourceprint?

   
   

   
   

   
   

   01.SuSEFirewall2_init
and setup : disable, unless you used firewall.

   
   

   02.aaeventd
: If you have never used AppArmor, disable it. Disabling this service will also disable boot.apparmor

   
   

   03.

   
   

   04.acpid
: leave it

   
   

   05.alsasound
: leave it

   
   

   06.atd
: disable

   
   

   07.auditd
: disable

   
   

   08.autofs
: disable

   
   

   09.autoyast
: disable

   
   

   10.avahi-daemon
: disable (will also disable avahi-dnsconfd)

   
   

   11.bluetooth
: disable, unless used bluetooth

   
   

   12.bluetooth-coldplug
: disable, unless used bluetooth

   
   

   13.

   
   

   14.cron
: leave it, unless you have no scheduled cron job. I leave it enable on
my work PC but disable this
on my home PC

   
   

   15.

   
   

   16.cups
: leave it if
you has attached printer or need
CUPS to print to another printer, if not
so, disable it.

   
   

   17.dbus
: leave it

   
   

   18.

   
   

   19.earlykbd
: leave it, unless you do
not need keyboard

   
   

   20.earlyxdm
: leave it

   
   

   21.earlysyslog
: leave it, for
logging

   
   

   22.fbset
: disable

   
   

   23.gpm
: disable

   
   

   24.haldaemon
: leave it

   
   

   25.idmapd
: disable

   
   

   26.joystick
: disable, unless used it for
games

   
   

   27.kbd
: leave it, for
keyboard

   
   

   28.lirc
: disable

   
   

   29.mdadmd
: disable

   
   

   30.named
: leave it, for
DNS Server daemon (I leave it
disable on my home PC but automatically change to enable if I
decided to install DNS Server)

   
   

   31.mircocodectl
(Disable for
AMD CPU, leave it for Intel
processor)

   
   

   32.

   
   

   33.network
: leave it, unless you have stand alone workstation and do not
need to share files or used networking service

   
   

   34.

   
   

   35.nfs
: disable

   
   

   36.nfsboot
: disable, depending

   
   

   37.nfsserver
: disable

   
   

   38.nmb
: disable, unless used it for
Samba sharing file

   
   

   39.nscd
: disable

   
   

   40.ntp
: disable

   
   

   41.openct
: disable

   
   

   42.pscsd
: disable

   
   

   43.portmap
: disable

   
   

   44.postfix
: disable, unless used it for
mail transport or mail server

   
   

   45.powerd
: disable

   
   

   46.powersaved
: disable, unless used suspend feature

   
   

   47.random
: leave it

   
   

   48.raw
: disable

   
   

   49.rpasswdd
: disable

   
   

   50.saslauthd
: disable

   
   

   51.smb
: disable, unless used it for
Samba sharing file

   
   

   52.smbfs
: disable, according to smb state

   
   

   53.smpppd
: disable, unless used it for
dial up

   
   

   54.spamd
: disable

   
   

   55.splash
: leave it

   
   

   56.splash_early
: leave it

   
   

   57.sshd
: disable, unless used it for
ssh access. sshd = ssh service
daemon.

   
   

   58.syslog
: leave it

   
   

   59.xdm
: leave it

   
   

   60.xfs
: disable

   
   

   61.xinetd
: leave it

   
   

   
   
   
   


3. Edit Inittab
   
   Edit /etc/inittab and disable (add # mark) tty3-tty6. It should like
   this :
   
   
   

   
   

   view
   sourceprint?

   
   

   
   

   
   

   01.#
getty-programs for the normal runlevels

   
   

   02.#
<id>:<runlevels>:<action>:<process>

   
   

   03.#
The “id” field MUST be the same as the last

   
   

   04.#
characters of the device (after “tty”).

   
   

   05.1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty
–noclear tty1

   
   

   06.2:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty
tty2

   
   

   07.#3:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty
tty3

   
   

   08.#4:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty
tty4

   
   

   09.#5:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty
tty5

   
   

   10.#6:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty
tty6

   
   

   
   
   
   


4. Change sysconfig setting
   
   Change concurrent setting onYAST |
   SYSTEM | /etc/sysconfig editor Choose positive sign (+)
   on SYSTEM, KERNELChange
   
   
   

   
   

   view
   sourceprint?

   
   

   
   

   
   

   1.SCHED_MINTIMESLICE
1000

   
   

   2.SCHED_MAXTIMESLICE
40000

   
   

   
   
   
   

   Make another change on SYSTEM, File System -> mdadm

   
   

   Disable MDADM_SCAN and set “0″ for MDADM_DELAY
   

   
   


5. Increase Partition Performance.
   
   Modify /etc/fstab and add these setting :
   
   
   

   
   

   view
   sourceprint?

   
   

   
   

   
   

   1.for
Ext3 : natime, nodiratime, barrier
= 1

   
   

   2.for
XFS : noatime, nodiratime

   
   

   3.for
ReiserFS : notail, noatime,
nodiratime, barrier = flush

   
   

   
   
   
   

   Please keep in mind that change the setting or partition
   type will
   make a deal with recovery capability of appropriate partition. It’s a
   good idea to read this
   and there
   tutorial for a reference.
   

   
   


6. Disable Beagle
   
   Beagle used for desktop search.
   It has such improvement on openSUSE 11.0 and 11.1 but if you didn’t
   used it for daily usage, removing beagle will saved a memory that being
   used for indexing. Remove it with YAST | Software | Software Management
   or used our lovely zypper :
   
   
   
   

   
   

   view
   sourceprint?

   
   

   
   

   
   

   1.zypper
rm beagle

   
   

   
   
   
   


7. Disable Nepomuk Desktop Search (on KDE 4)
   
   
   
   If you use KDE 4, you may get a bonus by disabling
   Nepomuk Desktop Search and Strigi desktop
   Indexer . Navigate to Kick
   off Menu | Configure Desktop | Advanced | Desktop Search.
   Disable (uncheck) Nepomuk Desktop Search and Strigi desktop
   Indexer.

After applying these tips, launched Konqueror and navigate to
System Information (type sysinfo:/
on URL address and press enter. I used KDE 4.2 beta 2 with standard
menu while writing this post. You
may also get same result by go to kick off
menu | Computer | System Information).
See how much free memory available on your computer. After that, reboot
your computer, re-check the system information before and after
tweaking.

Reference :

1. Tips
   Meningkatkan Kecepatan openSUSE (Indonesian)


2. Ben
   Kevan : Speed up your Linux Boot and Normal Use (openSUSE)