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dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/sda
removes all files/filesystems of a harddisk. It removes EVERYTHING of your hard disk. Be carefull when to select a device. It does not prompt for and second check.

Install a basic FreeBSD system
Install a basic FreeBSD system on a distant server. I use this to install FreeBSD on servers that can only boot a Linux rescue system. This sytem loads on ram when booted, so it is possible to install freely. You can even install on ZFS root !

Convert all .flac from a folder subtree in 192Kb mp3
find . -type f -iname '*.flac' # searches from the current folder recursively for .flac audio files | # the output (a .flac audio files with relative path from ./ ) is piped to while read FILE; do FILENAME="${FILE%.*}"; flac -cd "$FILE" | lame -b 192 - "${FILENAME}.mp3"; done # for each line on the list: # FILE gets the file with .flac extension and relative path # FILENAME gets FILE without the .flac extension # run flac for that FILE with output piped to lame conversion to mp3 using 192Kb bitrate

How to backup hard disk timely?
Creates files in $DATE and hardlinks existing files to $PREVDATE. Thus full backup in each directory. Only drawback is changed modification time. Recommend a wrapper script to determine $DATE and $PREVDATE. Works like a charm. (Dirvish handrolled)

Insert a comment on command line for reminder
Comments can be used directly on the command line so I can save in the history a brief description of what command does.

Lists all usernames in alphabetical order
Save some CPU, and some PIDs. :)

Get all these commands in a text file with description.
I tried out on my Mac, jot to generate sequence ( 0,25,50,..), you can use 'seq' if it is linux to generate numbers, need curl installed on the machine, then it rocks. @Satya

Set laptop display brightness
Run as root. Path may vary depending on laptop model and video card (this was tested on an Acer laptop with ATI HD3200 video). $ cat /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness to discover the possible values for your display.

Count threads of a jvm process
if you have problem threads problem in tomcat

Create a bunch of dummy text files


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