USEFUL LINUX COMMANDS (I KEEP FORGETTING)
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Formatting The Master Boot Record
---------------------------------

$ dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda count=1 bs=512


Formatting Flash Drives With An Ext3 Partition
----------------------------------------------

Start by running fdisk at the prompt, and delete any existing partition.
Once the problem partitions are gone, use cfdisk to create a new 
partition table. (Or use fdisk---you crazy freak.)

$ mkfs.ext3 -m 0 /path/to/device

This will format the drive as ext3 and NOT reserve blocks for privileged
users.

Finally, you will want to run the following to disable forced file
system checking every 'x' mounts:

$ tune2fs -i 0 /path/to/device


Killing A Hanging Process
-------------------------

$ ps -A

Or

$ ps -u <user>

$ kill <PID>


Printing Random Lines From A File
---------------------------------

$ shuf -n <number of desired lines to output> /path/to/file


Backing Up DVD's
----------------

Backup the DVD:

$ dvdbackup -i /dev/dvd -o ~ -M

Create the iso:

$ mkisofs -dvd-video -udf -o ~/dvd.iso ~/MOVIE_NAME

Test the iso:

$ xine dvd:/path/to/iso

Burn the iso:

$ growisofs -Z /dev/dvd=~/dvd.iso


Downloading Streaming Media
---------------------------

$ mplayer -dumpstream -dumpfile "foo.bar" "mms://path/to/media/foo.bar

Or

$ mplayer -dumpstream "foo.bar" -dumpfile "mms://path/to/media/foo.bar

(Note: other potential protocols include mmst:// , http:// , ftp:// ,
rtp:// , rtsp:// , mpst:// , and sdp:// .)


Combining *.vob Files
---------------------

cat file-1.vob file-2.vob ... file-n.vob > file-new.vob