Dave McKay

Add swap space to a Linux computer, or increase the swap space that’s already present, without messing about with partitions. We show you the easy way to tailor your swap space.

The Linux stat command shows you much more detail than ls does. Take a peek behind the curtain with this informative and configurable utility. We’ll show you how to use it.

The Linux which command identifies the executable binary that launches when you issue a command to the shell. If you have different versions of the same program on your computer, you can use which to find out which one the sh...

When you use the Linux du command, you obtain both the actual disk usage and the true size of a file or directory. We’ll explain why these values aren’t the same.

The Linux swappiness value has nothing to do with how much RAM is used before swapping starts. That’s a widely reported and widely believed mistake. We explain what it really is.

The dmesg command lets you peer into the hidden world of the Linux startup processes. Review and monitor hardware device and driver messages from the kernel’s own ring buffer with “the fault finder’s friend...

We use the Linux ls command every day without thinking about it. That’s a pity. Pay it some attention, and you’ll find many useful options—including some you should add to your command-line arsenal....

There’s more to a user account than a user name. Learn how to set and change all the metadata associated with a Linux user account from the command line.

The sudo command lets you run commands on Linux as though you were someone else, such as root. sudo also lets you control who can access root's capabilities, with granularity. Give users full access or let them use a small...

Get a snapshot of the processes running in your Linux computer with the ps command. Locate processes by name, user, or even terminal with as much or as little detail as you need. We show you how.

The Linux curl command can do a whole lot more than download files. Find out what curl is capable of, and when you should use it instead of wget.

Passwords have been a keystone of account security for 60 years, predating Unix by nearly a decade. Learn how to use either the command line or the GNOME desktop environment to manage your passwords in Linux....

Desktop icons should be simple, but they’re not on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and newer releases like Ubuntu 19.10. Follow these easy steps to get desktop shortcuts for your favorite applications, just like on other operating sys...

The echo command is perfect for writing formatted text to the terminal window. And it doesn’t have to be static text. It can include shell variables, filenames, and directories. You can also redirect echo to create text...

Adding a new hard drive or solid-state drive to your Linux computer? You’ll need to edit your fstab file. A lot of people find the very idea scary. Yes, it’s critical that you get it right, but armed with the righ...

The less command lets you page through a text file, displaying a screenful of text each time. It seems like one of the simplest Linux commands at first glance, but there’s a lot more to less than meets the eye....