8 лучших шагов для восстановления старого компьютера с Linux

Пошаговое руководство по восстановлению старого компьютера, чтобы поддерживать его в рабочем состоянии.

Мы живем в замечательную эпоху. Не так давно мы все были прикованы к «беговой дорожке обновлений», вынуждены покупать новые дорогие персональные компьютеры каждые несколько лет.

Сегодня, благодаря программному обеспечению с открытым исходным кодом, вы можете вырваться из этого круга. Один из способов — отремонтировать старые компьютеры и оставить их в рабочем состоянии. В этой статье рассказывается, как это сделать.

1. Возьмите старый компьютер

Может быть, у вас есть старый компьютер, который не используется в подвале или гараже. Почему бы не использовать его?

Или вы можете получить старую машину у друга, члена семьи или по объявлению на Craigslist. Многие центры утилизации электроники позволят вам поковыряться и забрать выброшенную машину, если она вам нравится. Не забудьте взять более одного, если можете, так как вам могут понадобиться детали от пары заброшенных ПК, чтобы собрать один хороший.

Посмотрите на наклейки на передней части машин, чтобы убедиться, что вы выбираете хороших кандидатов на ремонт. Элементы с логотипами Window 7 и 8 работают под Linux достаточно хорошо. Расширенная поддержка 8.1 закончилась в январе этого года, поэтому я вижу, что многие из них сбрасываются.

Многие из этих компьютеров с Windows предлагают отличное оборудование. Их выбрасывают только из-за запланированного устаревания, потому что они не могут работать с Windows 11. Они прекрасно работают с программным обеспечением с открытым исходным кодом.

2. Определить и очистить все

Прежде чем открыть свою «новую» машину, чтобы посмотреть, что у вас есть, обязательно заземлите себя, коснувшись чего-нибудь металлического. Даже такой слабый удар, что вы его не почувствуете, может разрушить тонкую схему.

Вы сразу увидите, отсутствуют ли какие-либо детали. Многие люди вынимают свои диски или иногда память перед тем, как утилизировать компьютер. Вам придется либо приобрести более одной коробки, чтобы покрыть это, либо вам нужно будет купить часть или две, чтобы сделать ее целиком.

Прежде чем продолжить, важно провести тщательную очистку машины. Обратите особое внимание на комплекс ЦП, вентиляторы и все поверхности. Помните, что нельзя тереть электронику, не рискуя ее повредить, поэтому используйте для очистки сжатый воздух.

3. Убедитесь, что все оборудование работает

Вы захотите убедиться, что все оборудование работает, прежде чем устанавливать какое-либо программное обеспечение. Не экономьте на тестировании! Это огромная трата вашего времени, если вы обнаружите, например, что ваш компьютер имеет временную ошибку памяти позже, потому что вы выполнили только короткий тест оперативной памяти, прежде чем переходить к следующим шагам. Я считаю удобным запускать трудоемкие тесты в одночасье.

Большинство компьютеров имеют встроенную аппаратную диагностику. Обычно вы получаете доступ к ним либо через панели UEFI/BIOS во время загрузки, либо путем нажатия клавиши PF во время загрузки. Если на вашем компьютере нет инструментов для тестирования, попробуйте Ultimate Boot Disk , который предоставляет массу полезных утилит для тестирования.

Убедитесь, что вы тщательно протестировали все компоненты:

1. Память
2. Диск
3. ЦП и материнская плата
4. Периферийные устройства (порты USB, звук, микрофон, клавиатура, дисплей, вентиляторы и т. д.)

Если вы обнаружите проблемы, загрузите мое бесплатное Краткое руководство по исправлению оборудования . Это плюс некоторый поиск в Интернете позволяет вам исправить практически все.

4. Подготовьте диск

Вы оценили свое оборудование и привели его в рабочее состояние. Если ваш компьютер поставлялся с жестким диском (HDD), следующим шагом будет его подготовка к использованию.

Вам необходимо полностью стереть диск, потому что он может содержать незаконно полученные фильмы, музыку или программное обеспечение. Чтобы полностью стереть жесткий диск, запустите такой инструмент, как DBAN . После запуска вы можете быть уверены, что диск полностью чист.

Если у вас есть твердотельный накопитель (SSD), ситуация немного сложнее. Программы очистки диска, предназначенные для очистки жестких дисков, не работают с твердотельными накопителями. Вам нужна специализированная программа безопасного стирания для SSD.

Некоторые компьютеры поставляются с утилитой безопасного стирания в UEFI/BIOS. Все, что вам нужно сделать, это получить доступ к панелям конфигурации загрузки, чтобы запустить его.

Другой вариант — сайт производителя диска. Многие предлагают бесплатные загрузки утилит безопасного стирания для своих твердотельных накопителей.

К сожалению, некоторые поставщики не предоставляют утилиту безопасного стирания для некоторых своих потребительских дисков, в то время как другие предоставляют только исполняемый файл Windows. Для SSD функция безопасного стирания Parted Magic — лучший вариант.

5. Загрузка, хранение данных и резервное копирование

Ваша дисковая стратегия для восстановленного компьютера должна учитывать три потребности: загрузку, хранение данных и резервное копирование.

Несколько лет назад, если ваш кандидат на восстановление содержал диск, это всегда был жесткий диск. Вы стираете его с помощью DBAN, затем устанавливаете свой любимый дистрибутив Linux и используете его как загрузочное устройство, так и как устройство хранения. Задача решена.

Современные технологии предлагают лучшие варианты. Это устраняет медленный доступ к жесткому диску, который ранее был одним из недостатков использования старого оборудования.

Один из вариантов — купить один из новых недорогих SSD, которые стали доступны. Теперь они предлагают интерфейсы SATA и внешние USB, которые работают со старыми компьютерами.

Цены упали. Недавно я купил накопитель SSD/SATA на 480 гигабайт за 25 долларов. Это настолько недорого, что, даже если ваш старый компьютер поставляется с жестким диском, вы все равно предпочтете купить новый SSD. Он загружается и получает доступ к данным намного быстрее.

Легкие 2,5-дюймовые твердотельные накопители также решают проблемы монтажа, с которыми иногда сталкиваются старые настольные компьютеры. С помощью одного винта вы можете прикрепить их практически в любом месте. Больше не нужно возиться с направляющими, каркасами и всеми другими дурацкими запатентованными деталями, которые компании использовали для крепления своих тяжелых 3,5-дюймовых твердотельных накопителей. " жесткие диски.

Альтернативой SSD является загрузка с карты памяти USB . Флеш-накопители теперь предлагают достаточно места для размещения любой операционной системы, которую вы предпочитаете, оставляя при этом место для хранения ваших данных. Помимо скорости, вы получаете гибкость, сохраняя свою систему на портативном устройстве.

Поэтому рассмотрите возможность установки вашей операционной системы на быстрый SSD или USB, а затем загрузите и запустите ее оттуда.

А другие диски? Мне нравится использовать любой жесткий диск, поставляемый с компьютером, в качестве резервного диска для моего загрузочного SSD. Или использовать его в качестве запоминающего устройства.

Обычно я удаляю оптические приводы, которые вы найдете в старых настольных компьютерах. Поскольку USB-накопители работают быстрее и содержат больше данных, ими уже мало кто пользуется. Большинство из них теперь транслируют свои фильмы, музыку и программы вместо того, чтобы собирать их на оптических носителях.

Извлечение оптического дисковода освобождает дополнительный набор дисковых разъемов. Это также открывает много места в шкафу и улучшает циркуляцию воздуха. Это может иметь большое значение, если вы имеете дело с небольшими настольными компьютерами с тонкими корпусами или корпусами mini-tower.

Наконец, потратьте несколько минут, чтобы выбрать стратегию резервного копирования. Вам нужно будет сделать резервную копию двух отдельных вещей: ваших данных и операционной системы.

Будете ли вы выполнять резервное копирование на второй диск внутри ПК, съемное устройство хранения или облачные сервисы? Ваше решение поможет определить, нужен ли вам второй диск на восстановленном компьютере.

6. Выберите и установите программное обеспечение

У разных людей разные потребности, которые определяют выбор программного обеспечения. Вот некоторые общие рекомендации.

Если ваш компьютер оснащен процессором Intel i-серии и объемом памяти не менее 4 ГБ, на нем можно с комфортом запускать практически любой дистрибутив Linux с любой средой рабочего стола (DE) .

Имея от двух до четырех гигабайт памяти, установите Linux с облегченным интерфейсом . Это связано с тем, что графика высокого класса потребляет много ресурсов памяти. Я обнаружил, что дистрибутивы Linux с DE, такие как XFCE, LXDE и LXQt, работают хорошо.

Если у вас есть только гигабайт памяти, выберите «сверхлегкий» дистрибутив Linux. Это, вероятно, также должно быть вашим выбором, если у вас есть старый двухъядерный процессор или аналогичный.

Я использовал Puppy Linux и AntiX с отличными результатами на таком минимальном оборудовании. Оба используют облегченные оконные менеджеры для своего пользовательского интерфейса вместо полной среды рабочего стола. И оба поставляются в комплекте с приложениями, специально отобранными для минимизации использования ресурсов.

7. Эффективно просматривайте веб-страницы

Веб-страницы резко выросли за последние пять лет. Более половины компьютерных ресурсов, которые требуются многим популярным веб-сайтам, теперь потребляются рекламой и трекерами. Поэтому при просмотре веб-страниц блокируйте всю эту рекламу и трекеры. Если вы можете перенести блокировку рекламы из браузера в VPN, это идеально. И не позволяйте этим автоматически запускаемым видео запускаться без вашего явного разрешения.

Посмотрите, какой браузер лучше всего подходит для вашего оборудования. Некоторые из них разработаны с учетом философии многопоточности, и это здорово, если ваш компьютер может ее поддерживать. Другие пытаются свести к минимуму общее использование ресурсов. Многие люди не знают, что существует довольно много способных, но минималистичных браузеров для Linux. В конце концов, выберите браузер, который лучше всего подходит как для вашего оборудования, так и для вашего стиля веб-серфинга.

8. Получайте удовольствие

Если вы хотите использовать старый компьютер, стоящий в вашем подвале, помочь окружающей среде, продлив жизненный цикл компьютера , или просто найти свободный компьютер, восстановление — достойная цель.

В этом может преуспеть любой. Помимо вложения вашего времени, стоимость минимальна. Вы обязательно многому научитесь, весело проводя время. Пожалуйста, поделитесь своими собственными советами по ремонту со всеми в разделе комментариев.

Оригинальный источник статьи: https://opensource.com/

#linux #steps #computer 

使用 Linux 翻新旧计算机的 8 个最佳步骤

翻新旧计算机以使其继续使用的分步指南。

我们生活在一个非凡的时代。就在不久之前，我们都被束缚在“升级跑步机”上，每隔几年就被迫购买昂贵的新个人电脑。

今天，借助开源软件，您可以打破这个循环。一种方法是翻新旧计算机并让它们继续使用。这篇文章告诉你如何。

1. 拿一台旧电脑

也许您有一台旧电脑闲置在地下室或车库里。为什么不投入使用呢？

或者，您可以从朋友、家人或 Craigslist 广告中得到一台旧机器。许多电子产品回收中心会让您四处逛逛，如果符合您的喜好，可以拿走废弃的机器。如果可以的话，一定要多拿一台，因为您可能需要从几台废弃的 PC 中取出零件来组装一台好的。

查看机器正面的标签，确保您选择的是好的翻新对象。带有 Window 7 和 8 徽标的项目在 Linux 上运行得很好。今年 1 月 8.1 的扩展支持结束，所以我看到很多人都被抛弃了。

这些 Windows 计算机中的许多都提供了非常好的硬件。它们只是因为无法运行 Windows 11 而因计划中的过时而被废弃。它们运行开源软件就很好。

2. 识别并清洁一切

在你打开你的“新”机器看看你有什么之前，一定要通过触摸一些金属来让自己接地。即使是您感觉不到的轻微震动也会破坏精密的电路。

您会立即看到是否缺少任何零件。许多人在回收计算机之前取出磁盘或内存。您要么需要购买不止一个盒子来覆盖它，要么您需要购买一个或两个零件来完成它。

在进一步操作之前，彻底清洁机器很重要。特别注意 CPU 复合体、风扇和所有表面。请记住，您不能在没有损坏风险的情况下摩擦电子设备，因此请使用压缩空气进行清洁。

3.确保所有硬件正常工作

在安装任何软件之前，您需要验证所有硬件是否正常工作。不要吝啬测试！例如，如果您稍后发现您的计算机出现暂时性内存错误，这是对您时间的巨大浪费，因为您在进行下一步之前只运行了一个简短的 ram 测试。我发现在一夜之间运行耗时的测试很方便。

大多数计算机都内置了特定于硬件的诊断程序。您通常可以通过启动时 UEFI/BIOS 面板或在启动时按 PF 键来访问这些程序。如果您的机器不包含测试工具，请尝试Ultimate Boot Disk，它提供了大量有用的测试实用程序。

确保彻底测试所有组件：

1. 记忆
2. 磁盘
3. 中央处理器和主板
4. 外围设备（USB 端口、声音、麦克风、键盘、显示器、风扇等）

如果您发现问题，请下载我的免费修复硬件快速指南。再加上一些在线搜索，您几乎可以解决任何问题。

4.准备磁盘

您已经评估了您的硬件并使其处于良好的工作状态。如果您的计算机带有硬盘驱动器 (HDD)，下一步就是准备好它以供使用。

您需要彻底擦除磁盘，因为它可能包含非法获取的电影、音乐或软件。要彻底擦除 HDD，请运行DBAN之类的工具。运行之后，您可以放心磁盘是完全干净的。

如果您有固态硬盘 (SSD)，情况就有点棘手了。旨在清理硬盘的磁盘擦除程序不适用于 SSD。您需要专门用于 SSD 的安全擦除程序。

某些计算机的 UEFI/BIOS 中带有安全擦除实用程序。您所要做的就是访问启动配置面板来运行它。

另一种选择是磁盘制造商的网站。许多公司为其 SSD 提供安全擦除实用程序的免费下载。

不幸的是，一些供应商不为他们的一些消费者驱动器提供安全擦除实用程序，而其他供应商仅提供 Windows 可执行文件。对于 SSD，Parted Magic 的安全擦除功能是最佳选择。

5. 启动、数据存储和备份

翻新计算机的磁盘策略必须满足三个需求：启动、数据存储和备份。

几年前，如果您的翻新对象包含一个磁盘，那么它始终是一个硬盘驱动器。你会用 DBAN 擦除它，然后安装你最喜欢的 Linux 发行版，并将它用作你的引导和存储设备。问题解决了。

今天的技术提供了更好的选择。这些消除了以前使用旧设备的缺点之一的缓慢硬盘访问。

一种选择是购买一种新的低端 SSD。这些现在提供与成熟计算机配合使用的 SATA 和外部 USB 接口。

价格暴跌。我最近以 25 美元的价格购买了一个 480 gig SSD/SATA 驱动器。这太便宜了，即使您的旧计算机附带硬盘驱动器，您也可能更愿意购买新的 SSD。它启动和访问数据的速度要快得多。

轻型 2.5" SSD 还解决了旧台式机有时面临的安装难题。只需一个螺丝，您几乎可以将它们安装在任何地方。不再需要使用导轨、笼子和所有其他用于安装重型 3.5" 的愚蠢专有零件公司“ 硬盘驱动器。

SSD 的替代方法是从USB 记忆棒启动。拇指驱动器现在提供足够的空间来托管您喜欢的任何操作系统，同时为您的数据留出一些存储空间。除了速度之外，您还可以通过将系统放在便携式设备上来获得灵活性。

因此，请考虑将您的操作系统安装到快速 SSD 或 USB，然后从中启动并运行它。

其他驱动器呢？我喜欢使用计算机附带的任何硬盘驱动器作为我的启动 SSD 的备份磁盘。或者将其用作大容量存储。

我通常会移除旧台式机中的光驱。由于 USB 记忆棒速度更快并且可以存储更多数据，因此很少有人再使用它们了。大多数人现在流式传输他们的电影、音乐和软件程序，而不是将它们收集在光学媒体上。

卸下光驱可以腾出一组额外的磁盘连接器。它还在机柜中打开了大量空间并改善了空气流动。如果您要处理带有超薄或迷你塔式机箱的小型台式机，这可能会产生很大的不同。

最后，花几分钟时间决定您的备份策略。您需要备份两个不同的东西：您的数据和操作系统。

您会备份到 PC 内的第二个驱动器、可拆卸存储设备或云服务吗？您的决定有助于确定您是否需要在翻新的计算机中安装第二块磁盘。

6.选择并安装软件

不同的人有不同的需求来驱动他们选择软件。以下是一些一般准则。

如果您的计算机具有 Intel i 系列处理器和至少 4 GB 的内存，则它可以在任何桌面环境 (DE)中轻松运行几乎任何 Linux 发行版。

使用 2 到 4 GB 的内存，安装具有轻量级界面的 Linux 。这是因为高端显示图形是内存资源的大消耗者。我发现带有 XFCE、LXDE 和 LXQt 等 DE 的 Linux 发行版运行良好。

如果您只有 1 GB 的内存，请选择“超轻型”Linux 发行版。如果您有旧的双核 CPU 或同等产品，这也可能是您的选择。

我在如此小的硬件上同时使用了Puppy Linux和AntiX ，并取得了很好的效果。两者都为其用户界面使用轻量级窗口管理器，而不是完整的桌面环境。两者都与专门选择的应用程序捆绑在一起，以最大限度地减少资源使用。

7.高效浏览网页

网页在过去五年中急剧增长。现在，许多流行网站所需的计算机资源有一半以上都被广告和跟踪器占用了。因此，在网上冲浪时，请屏蔽所有这些广告和跟踪器。如果您可以将广告拦截从浏览器卸载到 VPN，那就太理想了。并且不要让那些自动运行的视频在没有您明确许可的情况下运行。

环顾四周，看看哪种浏览器最适合您的设备。有些设计采用多线程理念，如果您的 PC 能够支持它，那就太好了。其他人试图尽量减少整体资源使用。许多人并不知道有很多功能强大但极简主义的 Linux 浏览器可用。最后，选择最适合您的设备和您的网上冲浪方式的浏览器。

8.玩得开心

无论您是想利用地下室的旧电脑，通过延长电脑的生命周期来帮助环境，还是只是想找一台免费的电脑，翻新都是一个值得的目标。

任何人都可以在这方面取得成功。除了投入您的时间，成本是最低的。您一定会在享受乐趣的同时学到一些东西。欢迎在评论区与大家分享自己的装修小窍门。

文章原文出处：https: //opensource.com/

#linux #steps #computer 

Best 8 Steps to Refurbish an Old Computer with Linux

A step-by-step guide to refurbishing an old computer to keep it in service.

We live in a remarkable era. It wasn't so long ago we were all chained to the "upgrade treadmill," forced to buy expensive new personal computers every few years.

Today, with the benefit of open source software, you can break out of that cycle. One way is to refurbish old computers and keep them in service. This article tells you how.

1. Grab an old PC

Maybe you have an old computer lying unused in the basement or garage. Why not put it to use?

Or you can get an old machine from a friend, family member, or Craigslist ad. Many electronics recycling centers will let you poke around and take a discarded machine if it fits your fancy. Be sure to grab more than one if you can, as you may need parts from a couple abandoned PCs to build one good one.

Look at the stickers on the front of the machines to make sure you're selecting good refurbishing candidates. Items with Window 7 and 8 logos run Linux quite well. Extended support ended for 8.1 this January, so I'm seeing a lot of those getting dumped.

Many of these Windows computers offer perfectly good hardware. They're only being trashed due to planned obsolescence because they can't run Windows 11. They run open source software just fine.

2. Identify and clean everything

Before you open up your "new" machine to see what you've got, be sure to ground yourself by touching something metal. Even a shock so slight you don't feel it can destroy delicate circuitry.

You'll instantly see if any parts are missing. Many people take out their disks or sometimes the memory before recycling a computer. You'll either have to acquire more than a single box to cover this, or you'll need to buy a part or two to make it whole.

Before proceeding further, it's important to give the machine a thorough cleaning. Pay special attention to the CPU complex, the fans, and all surfaces. Remember that you can't rub electronics without risking damage, so use compressed air for cleaning.

3. Ensure all hardware works

You'll want to verify that all hardware works prior to installing any software. Don't skimp on the testing! It's a huge waste of your time if you find out, for example, that your computer has a transient memory error at a later time because you ran only a short ram test before going to next steps. I find it convenient to run time-consuming tests overnight.

Most computers have hardware-specific diagnostics built in. You usually access these either through the boot-time UEFI/BIOS panels or by pressing a PF key while booting. If your machine doesn't include testing tools, try Ultimate Boot Disk, which provides tons of useful testing utilities.

Be sure you test all components thoroughly:

1. Memory
2. Disk
3. CPU and Motherboard
4. Peripherals (USB ports, sound, microphone, keyboard, display, fans, etc)

If you find problems, download my free Quick Guide to Fixing Hardware. That plus some searching online enables you to fix just about anything.

4. Prepare the disk

You've assessed your hardware and have gotten it into good working order. If your computer came with a hard disk drive (HDD), the next step is to ready that for use.

You need to completely wipe the disk because it could contain illegally obtained movies, music, or software. To thoroughly wipe an HDD, run a tool like DBAN. After running that, you can rest assured the disk is completely clean.

If you have a solid state disk (SSD), the situation is a bit trickier. Disk-wipe programs designed to cleanse hard disks don't work with SSDs. You need a specialized secure erase program for an SSD.

Some computers come with an secure erase utility in their UEFI/BIOS. All you have to do is access the boot configuration panels to run it.

The other option is the website of the disk manufacturer. Many offer free downloads for secure erase utilities for their SSDs.

Unfortunately, some vendors don't provide a secure erase utility for some of their consumer drives, while others supply only a Windows executable. For an SSD, Parted Magic's secure erase function is the best option.

5. Booting, data storage, and backups

Your disk strategy for your refurbished computer must address three needs: booting, data storage, and backups.

A few years ago, if your refurbishing candidate contained a disk, it was always a hard drive. You'd wipe it with DBAN, then install your favorite Linux distribution, and use it as both your boot and storage device. Problem solved.

Today's technology offers better options. These eliminate the slow hard disk access that was previously one of the downsides of using older equipment.

One option is to buy one of the new low-end SSDs that have become available. These now offer the SATA and external USB interfaces that work with mature computers.

Prices have plummeted. I recently bought a 480 gig SSD/SATA drive for $25. That's so inexpensive that, even if your old computer came with a hard drive included, you might prefer to buy a new SSD anyway. It boots and accesses data so much faster.

The lightweight 2.5" SSDs also solve the mounting dilemmas one sometimes faced with old desktops. With a single screw you can attach them almost anywhere. No more messing with rails, cages, and all the other goofy proprietary parts companies used to mount their heavy 3.5" hard drives.

An alternative to an SSD is to boot off a USB memory stick. Thumb drives now offer enough space to host any operating system you prefer, while leaving some storage space for your data. Beyond speed, you gain flexibility by keeping your system on a portable device.

So consider installing your operating system to a fast SSD or USB and booting and running it from that.

What about other drives? I like to use any hard drive that came with the computer as a backup disk for my boot SSD. Or employ it as mass storage.

I usually remove the optical drives you find in old desktops. Since USB sticks are faster and hold more data, few people use them anymore. Most now stream their films, music, and software programs instead of collecting them on optical media.

Removing the optical drive frees up an extra set of disk connectors. It also opens up lots of space in the cabinet and improves air flow. This can make a big difference if you're dealing with small footprint desktops with slimline or mini-tower cases.

Finally, take a few minutes to decide on your backup strategy. You'll need to back up two separate things: your data and the operating system.

Will you back up to a second drive inside the PC, a detachable storage device, or cloud services? Your decision helps determine whether you'll need a second disk in your refurbished computer.

6. Select and install software

Different people have different needs that drive their software selection. Here are some general guidelines.

If your computer has an Intel i-series processor and at least 4 GB of memory, it can comfortably run nearly any Linux distribution with any desktop environment (DE).

With between two and four gigabytes of memory, install a Linux with a lightweight interface. This is because high-end display graphics is a big consumer of memory resources. I've found that Linux distros with a DE like XFCE, LXDE, and LXQt work well.

If you only have a gigabyte of memory, go for an "ultra-light" Linux distribution. This should probably also be your choice if you have an old dual-core CPU or equivalent.

I've used both Puppy Linux and AntiX with great results on such minimal hardware. Both employ lightweight windows managers for their user interface instead of full desktop environments. And both come bundled with apps selected specifically to minimize resource use.

7. Browse the web efficiently

Web pages have grown dramatically in the past five years. Over half the computer resource many popular websites require is now consumed by advertisements and trackers. So when web surfing, block all those ads and trackers. If you can off-load ad blocking from your browser to your VPN, that's ideal. And don't let those auto-run videos run without your explicit permission.

Look around to see what browser works best for your equipment. Some are designed with a multi-threading philosophy, which is great if your PC can support it. Others try to minimize overall resource usage. Many people aren't aware that there are quite a few capable yet minimalist Linux browsers available. In the end, pick the browser that best matches both your equipment and your web surfing style.

8. Have fun

Whether you want to make use of an old computer sitting in your basement, help the environment by extending the computer life cycle, or just find a free computer, refurbishing is a worthy goal.

Anyone can succeed at this. Beyond investing your time, the cost is minimal. You're sure to learn a bit while having fun along the way. Please share your own refurbishing tips with everyone in the comments section.

Original article source at: https://opensource.com/

#linux #steps #computer 

How to Steps and Tips To Becoming A Content Creator

Content creation is the cornerstone of marketing. It’s a way to get your message out to the world and create a buzz about your brand, product, or service. 

For it to get results, though, it needs to resonate with your audience. And, to achieve this, you need to understand where they are coming from and what they want to read. 

So, to be a successful content creator, you’ll need to know much more than simply how to take a photo, write a blog post, or capture a video. You need to keep up with trends and know how to research. 

If the idea of research didn’t scare you, continue reading to find out how you can join this exciting, fast-paced industry. We’ve scoured the web to summarize the main steps and included a couple of tips to help you set yourself apart from the competition from the get go.   

Steps and Tips to Becoming a Content Creator in 2023:

Which Types of Content Creators Do You Get?

As mentioned earlier, content creation is not limited to the written form and so there’s not just one type of content creator that you can become. In the digital marketing space, content creators manage different digital “departments”. While some companies may use a dedicated content creator for a specific type of medium, others may use one to manage all avenues. Here are some of the main types of content creators that you get and a brief look at their job description:

Content writer 

Content writers create original and engaging written content that can be used on various platforms. They are often also tasked with creating text for the company's various marketing channels, such as social media, and email. That said, blogging is usually the most common channel used by content writers. 

Videographer 

Videographers are in charge of filming and editing video content. It’s their responsibility to ensure that the video content is up to the company's standards. YouTube has become the preferred platform for video content creators, but with increasingly more video content getting shared on sites like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, there are multiple platforms where videographers can share their craft.   

Photographer 

Photographers are the creatives behind many of our images on social media and on websites. They use their skills to create compelling photos that tell stories or capture the world's beauty around them. From fashion to beauty to food to fitness, you’ll find photographers in many different fields. While they have a lot of creative control over what they shoot, they also have to consider what their client wants them to shoot. This means that at times they might have to tackle a less interesting project like shooting product photos. 

Podcast host 

Podcasts are a great way to share messages. As a podcast host, you often have to act as the middle or neutral party between the guest and the listeners. You’ll be responsible for conducting interviews, providing commentary, and, ultimately, creating an engaging experience for listeners. 

One of the most important responsibilities when hosting a podcast is interviewing the guests and asking them relevant questions to keep the interview interesting. So, podcast hosts often work with scripted content ideas. This can be difficult because you need to think of questions on the spot, but it is also rewarding to learn more about your guests and meet interesting people along the way. 

Social media influencer 

Social media influencers have a significant and loyal following on social media. They use their following to promote products and services or convey their messages. 

There are many different types of social media influencers that include: 

• Nano influencers who have a following of 1,000 to 10,000 followers 
• Micro-influencers who have 10,000 to 50,000 followers 
• Macro influencers who have 500,000 to 1 million followers 
• Mega influencers who have over 1 million followers 

Some examples of the content that social media influencers can create and share include:  

• Posting pictures on Instagram or Facebook  
• Creating YouTube videos  
• Creating live streams on Twitch  
• Hosting podcasts  
• Writing blog posts 
• Hosting webinars 
• Providing one-on-one digital coaching sessions 

​Essential Steps to Becoming a Successful Content Creator  

Whether you decide to focus on video, blog posts, or podcasts, the following steps will help you to carve your rightful place. While you don’t necessarily need to complete the steps in this exact order, there are certain things, like establishing your target audience, that you’ll need to do first before you can move on to the next step. 

1. Identify your audience  

Knowing who your target audience is, is crucial to the success of your content and marketing strategy. A brand needs relevant and innovative content to pique the audience’s interest. Though, it doesn’t stop at grabbing their attention, you’ll also need to find ways to keep it. And, knowing what they’ll resonate with will make this challenge much easier.  

2. Choose a platform  

The benefit of using social media platforms is that they already have a loyal following of users. Just take Facebook with over 2 billion active users, for example. The picture looks pretty much the same for YouTube (with 2.6 billion users), WhatsApp (with more than 2 billion), and Instagram (with an estimate of 2 billion users). So, social media is a good place to start as you already have a captive audience. 

It’s all good and well to be on all platforms (and it’s probably worthwhile for more exposure to the brand), but choosing one or two platforms will help you to concentrate your efforts and energy on making that a very successful source. After all, there’s no point in using Snapchat or TikTok, if your ideal audience is B2B business owners. 

Also, not all social platforms are created equally. Not only do they attract different audiences, but some platforms have been created for a specific type of content. WordPress is synonymous with blogs. YouTube is the home of video. You get the idea. 

Here are some examples of the social and digital platforms that content creators often use to help boost their reach:   ​

YouTube 

YouTube is perfect for vlogging (video blogging). Content creators can utilize the platform for a wide range of videos like how-to videos, product reviews, unboxing videos, tutorials, etc. Not only is YouTube versatile, but video content is also one of the leading forms of digital entertainment. When people have limited time, they would often much rather watch a short video than to read a long article.  

Instagram  

What’s easier and faster to digest than a short-form video? A picture. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words and this is especially true for Instagram. Sometimes you can’t type everything you want to share, but in many instances you can do just that with the perfect picture.  

Businesses can also use the platform to promote products or sell products directly. Plus, arguably the biggest advantage offered by Instagram is that posts are easily shared, making it perfect for engagement.  

Facebook  

Facebook has always been a flexible option for businesses as it allows various marketing methods. From posting short articles, sharing and reposting stories, video content, and loads more, it’s a great way to promote a brand or service.  

3. Design the content plan 

A content plan can be viewed in some ways as a business plan. It sets the brand up for various scenarios and how to work through each. Best of all, it improves coordination.  

If you’ll be working as part of a bigger marketing team, a content plan is a must as it allows teams to work seamlessly together, and ensure everyone is on the same page. There are a number of great project management software tools like Monday.com, Asana, and Trello that can help you to keep things seamless and communication on a roll.  

Using an effective content plan also helps to prepare you for each month’s topics and events. For example, if you’ll be focusing on social media specifically, there are a number of social media content calendar templates that you can make your own. Even if you’ll be running the show on your own, a unified calendar helps you to look at your posts from a strategic vantage. 

4. Establish the business/brand voice  

The brand’s voice is how the business speaks to its target audience. To help you find and establish your voice, you may need to complete customer surveys and polls. These efforts will help you to identify the age, gender, profession, and geographical area of your target audience. This is a good example of where you’ll first need to complete one step (identify your target audience) before you can move to the next one (establishing your unique brand voice).   

5. Invest in third-party tools  

When you invest in essential content tools like Grammarly and Canva, it goes a long way in helping you to refine your content even more. Some of the most popular third-party tools trusted and loved by content creators are:

SEMrush

SEMrush is a must-have tool for any content creator who’s looking to establish their online presence. The tool provides valuable feedback that helps improve SEO, PPC, PR content management, marketing insights and keyword research to name only a few of its features. It basically does it all, making it extremely convenient and cost-effective.  

Canva

Canva is another exceptional content tool that will help craft great-looking presentations, graphics, infographics, posters, and loads more. Not only is it affordable (it even has a generous free plan), but it’s also very intuitive thanks to its drag-and-drop editor. 

Grammarly

If you’ll mainly be working as a content writer, a professional grammar checker, like Grammarly, is a must-have tool. As a matter of fact, even if you’ll not be using the written form as your main medium, it’s still a good idea to invest in such a type of tool. After all, basically every piece of content that you’ll create for the web has a written component to it, whether it’s a short caption or a longer video description. There are many grammar tools and their prices differ from one to the other, but, overall, Grammarly offers some of the best value for money.  

Google

For example, Google Ads are excellent for revenue generation, and Google Drive gives teams the liberty to collaborate on simultaneous projects in real time. Then, you can also check out Google My Business and Google Trends.   

6. Make a portfolio 

All businesses need a portfolio to show off experience, talents and what other happy clients have to say. If you’re working in the content creation industry, it’s even more important to take the time to create a portfolio that really manages to communicate your expertise and unique selling points. In addition to including examples of your most successful completed projects, you can also include information similar to an About us page so that potential clients can get a sense of your brand voice and style.

​7. Market yourself 

If you create content, having a website and business cards are just some of the more traditional ways that you can use to market yourself. Digital networks and social platforms will also help to boost your online presence needed to thrive in this day and age. Even if you don’t plan on working as a content writer, a blog can be a helpful resource to get the word out about your content creation services (but a little bit more about that later).  

8. Grow a following on social networks  

Social media serve as digital lines that you can use to establish an authentic connection with your target audience. With a solid social media presence, you can reach your audience and increase the credibility of your services. Even if you don’t plan on becoming a social media influencer, it’s still important that you devote some time to creating content to advertise your own brand on social platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Plus, it can be a great way to generate social proof.   

Do You Need a Qualification to Become a Content Creator?  

The good news is that you need no degree to make high-quality content or to be called a content creator. Still, taking extra courses to sharpen your skills and insights is worth the investment.  

Aspiring content creators may consider courses about digital marketing, copywriting, content strategy, social media content creation, and content management to name just a few. While there are loads of paid courses online, there are also many free courses offered by credible platforms like Udemy, LinkedIn Learning and Hubspot. For example, yours truly offers a 10-module introduction course to influencer marketing for those of you aspiring to become social media influencers.   

Can you Make Money?  

Finally, the question that’s been on your mind all this time. Will becoming a content creator pay off? Can you make money? 

Whether you tackle content creation full time or you’re a freelance content creator, there's definitely revenue potential. It will take some time before you start seeing fruits (just like with any other business), but if you’re disciplined and you improve and expand your skills continuously, there’s a market. 

To give you an idea, the top content creators on YouTube are making millions. Though, we’re not saying that you’ll earn six figures, but there’s definitely earning potential.

Extra Tips for Becoming a Successful Content Creator 

For successful content creators, creating content forms part of their lifestyle. After you’ve completed the key steps discussed above, there are a few other things that you should do on a continuous basis to ensure that you can continue to churn out content that’s relevant and gets results. Here are some key habits that you can develop:​ 

1. Create content continuously

Consistency is a critical part of being a successful content creator, no matter what niche you’re serving. All content creators must post regularly. Not only will this ensure that your skills remain sharp, but it will also help to keep you at the top of search engines and boost brand awareness.   

2. Measure success through KPI tracking  

Keeping track of key performance indicators (KPIs) is important as it will empower you to see what type of content is working and what isn’t. Metrics that you want to measure include follower count, average social media engagement rate, and post reach. 

3. Start a blog

Blogs are great for SEO. Not only will it help to establish your online presence, but you can also repurpose the blog posts as an infographic, Instagram post, email newsletter, etc. later on. 

Wrapping Things Up

The above-mentioned steps and tips offer a useful and holistic approach to content creation. Not only will it help you to create better content more often, but it will also make the process less labor-intensive.

At the end of the day, there are many ways to create content, but they all rely on the same basic principles. Know your target audience, know thyself (aka your brand), and know the goals to which you’re working. Even if you don’t make millions like Ryan Kaji, it can be an extremely fulfilling career that you can start today.  

Original article source at: https://influencermarketinghub.com/

#content #steps #tips 

Best 8 Simple Steps to Complete a Technical SEO Audit

A technical SEO audit helps teams understand behind-the-scenes issues that affect search engine rankings like site speed, indexing, and backlinks. It’s important that SEO specialists have a full view of all of the elements that affect page rankings so that teams can take the best course of action to improve their positions.

Conducting daily technical SEO audits is crucial for building a great SEO strategy. But if you’re still starting out, beginning work with a new firm, or want to learn how to complete a technical SEO audit, it can be overwhelming.

In this article, we’ll go over eight steps to help you complete a technical SEO audit, increase web traffic to your web pages, and build your confidence as an SEO specialist.

What Is a Technical SEO Audit?

What most people think of as SEO is what specialists refer to as on-page SEO. This is where a professional optimizes the content that appears on a website so that it appears to the right audiences organically.

Technical SEO is not about the content that appears on a website but how users and search bots navigate through each page. A technical SEO audit is when specialists use a checklist of behind-the-scenes technical elements to review and improve to increase page rankings in search engines.

What’s involved in a technical SEO audit

When SEO specialists perform a technical SEO audit, they check a series of factors that impact a website’s speed, performance, and usability, and they take action towards optimizing web pages. Regular, sometimes daily technical SEO audits can help specialists learn about technical issues they might not know about.

Image source: WordStream

SEO specialists and marketing teams use tools such as Google Search Console, Google PageSpeed Insights, web crawlers, mobile crawlers, and indexing tools, to optimize their web pages and improve search engine rankings through technical SEO audits.

When you should complete a technical SEO audit

It’s important to complete technical SEO audits regularly. Some businesses use technical SEO to help improve cash flow via web traffic and conversions, so daily audits are a must. But for blogs and personal websites, weekly or monthly SEO audits should suffice.

Besides regular maintenance, you should always complete a technical SEO audit when moving to a new site, start freelancing for a new client, or when you first get hired at a firm. And of course, technical SEO audits also come in handy during periods where your rankings are stagnant or in decline.

What you need to do before conducting a technical SEO audit

Before you conduct a technical SEO audit, there are a few things you need to do:

1. Find out what your client’s goals are. Do they want to improve SEO, make web pages easier for users to navigate, or optimize their site’s performance?
2. Get access to their tools and analytics. To perform a technical SEO audit, you’ll need to be able to access things like the site’s Google console, performance monitoring analytics, and anything else you need to meet your client’s expectations.
3. Sign a written agreement. Whether you’re contracted for one job or ongoing work, it’s important to have a written agreement explaining what you’re going to do and how you’ll do it. You’ll also need liability disclaimers and a list of responsibilities so that you aren’t held accountable for things outside your control.

Having all of this information beforehand is important so you can prepare for the work. For example, if you were working for a SaaS company, you might be hired to perform a technical SEO audit on certain specialized landing pages based on their industry and business type so that they appear in front of the right people according to their previous searches and user behavior.

Image source: Search Engine Land

But if you were working for a retail company, your job might be to ensure that pages load fast, that there are no image issues, and that all of your 4xx links redirect to the correct locations.

A Step-by-step Guide to Completing a Technical SEO Audit

Let’s go through each of the eight steps that will help you complete a technical SEO audit successfully.

1. Crawl your website

Use a tool that scans your website to check how many URLs there are, how many are indexable, and how many have issues, including any problems hindering your site’s performance.

Image source: Deepcrawl

For Wix users, Deepcrawl is the top tool that professionals trust, but most people start out using Google Search Console:

1. Decide which sitemap format you want to use: XML, RSS, mRSS, Atom 1.0, or Text.
2. Create the sitemap either manually or automatically with a sitemap generator.
3. Add your sitemap to your robots.txt file, or submit it to Google through the Search Console.

2. Spot indexing issues

If the website has pages that Google can’t crawl, it may not be indexed properly. Here are some common indexing issues to look for:

• indexation errors
• robots.txt errors
• sitemap issues

The easiest way to check your site indexation is to use the Coverage Report in Google Search Console. It will tell you which pages are indexed and why others are excluded so you can fix them. You may need to optimize your crawl budget to ensure that your pages are indexed regularly.

3. Check technical on-page elements

Although on-page elements are often left out of a technical SEO audit, attending to them is considered basic housekeeping that needs to be addressed. Here’s a list of on-page elements to review during a technical SEO audit:

• page titles and title tags
• meta descriptions
• canonical tags
• hreflang tags
• schema markup

4. Identify image problems

Image optimization is another often-overlooked aspect that’s crucial to technical SEO audits. Ensuring images have no errors can help a site’s ranking in many ways, including improved loading speeds, increasing traffic from Google Images, and improved accessibility.

Be sure to identify technical image problems such as:

• broken images
• image file size too large
• HTTPS page links to HTTP image
• missing alt text

5. Analyze internal links

Next, it’s important to analyze internal links. Identify 4xx status codes that need to be redirected. If there are any orphan pages with no internal links leading to them, identify and address them.

6. Check external links

Next, move on to the external links. External links are important because they make a website more credible to users and search engines. Ensure all backlinks are active and don’t lead to broken pages, and check to see that all pages have outgoing links.

7. Measure site speed and performance

Google Search gives better ranking positions to websites with good performance and fast loading times.

Image source: PageSpeed

Here’s how to use Google PageSpeed Insights to check on a site’s performance:

• Go to the Google PageSpeed Insights page.
• Input your web page URL into the box.
• Click analyze and view your results.

This tool will provide you with an overall score, field data, suggestions, and other diagnostic information that can help improve your page speed.

8. Ensure your site is mobile-friendly

Finally, ensure that the site you’re auditing is mobile-friendly, responsive, and compatible with different browsers. Google favors responsive web pages that load easily and are easy to view regardless of the user’s device.

Here’s an example of how CryptoWallet.com uses mobile and web-friendly design:

Web view

Mobile scrolling view

It’s easy to check the responsiveness of a website with a tool like Responsive Web Design Checker or with these steps in Google Chrome:

• Open the web page in Google Chrome.
• Right-click to open the menu and select Inspect.
• Click on the Toggle device toolbar to see how the website looks on screen and mobile.

Wrapping Up

Technical SEO audits help optimize websites so that they’re easier for users and for indexing bots to understand. Conducting a technical SEO audit involves a lot of elements, but this eight-step process can help streamline your workflow so that you don’t miss a thing.

Original article source at: https://www.sitepoint.com/

#seo #steps #audit 

Simple 6 Steps to Get Verified on Mastodon with Encrypted Keys

Get Mastodon's green checkmark with PGP and Keyoxide.

Mastodon permits its users to self-verify. The easiest method to do this is through a verification link. For advanced verification, though, you can use the power of shared encrypted keys, which Mastodon can link to thanks to the open source project Keyoxide.

Install

Pretty good privacy (PGP) is a standard for shared key encryption. All PGP keys come in pairs. There's a public key, for use by anyone in the world, and a secret key, for use by only you. Anyone with your public key can encode data for you, and once it's encrypted only your secret key (which only you have access to) can decode it again.

If you don't already have a key pair, the first step for encrypted verification is to generate one.

There are many ways to generate a PGP key pair, but I recommend the open source GnuPG suite.

On Linux, GnuPG is already installed.

On Windows, download and install GPG4Win, which includes the Kleopatra desktop application.

On macOS, download and install GPGTools.

1. Create a key pair

If you already have a GPG key pair, you can skip this step. You do not need to create a unique key just for Mastodon.

To create a new key, you can use the Kleopatra application. Go to the File menu and select New key pair. In the Key Pair Creation Wizard that appears, click Create a personal OpenPGP key pair. Enter your name and a valid email address, and select the Protect the generated key with a passphrase option. Click Create to generate your key pair.

(Seth Kenlon, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Alternately, you can use the terminal:

$ gpg2 --full-generate-key

Follow the prompts until you have generated a key pair.

2. Add notation

Now that you have a key, you must add special metadata to it. This step requires the use of the terminal (Powershell on Windows) but it's highly interactive and isn't very complex.

First, take a look at your secret key:

gpg2 --list-secret-keys

The output displays your GnuPG keyring, containing at least one secret key. Locate the one you want to use for Mastodon (this might be the only key, if you've just created your first one today.) In the output, there's a long alphanumeric string just above a line starting with uid. That long number is your key's fingerprint. Here's an example:

sec   rsa4096 2022-11-17 [SC]
      22420E443871CF4313B9E90D50C9169F563E50CF
uid           [ultimate] Tux <tux@example.com>
ssb   rsa4096 2022-11-17 [E]

This example key's fingerprint is 22420E443871CF4313B9E90D50C9169F563E50CF. Select your key's fingerprint with your mouse, and then right-click and copy it to your clipboard. Then copy it into a document somewhere, because you're going to need it a lot during this process.

Now you can add metadata to the key. Enter the GnuPG interface using the gpg2 --edit-key command along with the fingerprint:

gpg2 --edit-key 22420E443871CF4313B9E90D50C9169F563E50CF

At the GnuPG prompt, select the user ID (that's your name and email address) you want to use as your verification method. In this example, there's only one user ID (uid [ultimate] Tux <tux@example.com>) so that's user ID 1:

gpg> uid 1

Designate this user as the primary user of the key:

gpg> primary

For Keyoxide to recognize your Mastodon identity, you must add a special notation:

gpg> notation

The notation metadata, at least in this context, is data formatted to the Ariadne specification. The metadata starts with proof@ariadne.id= and is followed by the URL of your Mastodon profile page.

In a web browser, navigate to your Mastodon profile page, and copy the URL. For me, in this example, the URL is https://example.com/@tux, so Enter the notation at the GnuPG prompt:

gpg> notation
Enter the notation: proof@ariadne.id=http://example.com/@tux

That's it. Type save to save and exit GnuPG.

gpg> save

3. Export your key

Next, export your key. To do this in Kleopatra, select your key and click the Export button in the top toolbar.

Alternately, you can use the terminal. Reference your key by its fingerprint (I told you that you'd be using it a lot):

gpg2 --armor --export \
22420E443871CF4313B9E90D50C9169F563E50CF > pubkey.asc

Either way, you end up with a public key ending in .asc. It's always safe to distribute your public key. (You would never, of course, distribute your secret key because it is, as its very name implies, meant to be secret.)

4. Upload your key

Open your web browser and navigate to keys.openpgp.org.

On the keys.openpgp.org website, click the Upload link to upload your exported key. Do this even if you've had a GPG key for years and know all about the --send-key option. This is a unique step to the Keyoxide process, so don't skip it.

(Seth Kenlon, CC BY-SA 4.0)

After your key's been uploaded, click the Send confirmation email button next to your email address so you can confirm that you own the email your key claims it belongs to. It can take 15 minutes or so, but when you receive an email from Openpgp.org, click the confirmation link to verify your email.

5. Add your key to Mastodon

Now that everything's set up, you can use Keyoxide as your verification link for Mastodon. Go to your Mastodon profile page and click the Edit profile link.

On the Edit profile page, scroll down to the Profile Metadata section. Type PGP (or anything you want) into the Label field. In the Content field, type https://keyoxide.org/hkp/ and then your key fingerprint. For me, in this example, the full URL is https://keyoxide.org/hkp/22420E443871CF4313B9E90D50C9169F563E50CF.

Click the Save button and then return to your profile page.

(Seth Kenlon, CC BY-SA 4.0)

You can click the Keyoxide link in your profile to see your Keyoxide "profile" page. This page is actually just a rendering of the GPG key you created. Keyoxide's job is to parse your key, and to be a valid destination when you need to link to it (from Mastodon, or any other online service.)

6. Build trust

The old Twitter verification method was opaque and exclusive. Somebody somewhere claimed that somebody else somewhere else was really who they said they were. It proved nothing, unless you agree to accept that somewhere there's a reliable network of trust. Most people choose to believe that, because Twitter was a big corporation with lots at stake, and relatively few people (of the relative few who were granted it) complained about the accuracy of the Twitter blue checkmark.

Open source verification is different. It's available to everyone, and proves as much as Twitter verification did. But you can do even better. When you use encrypted keys for verification, you grant yourself the ability to have your peers review your identity and to digitally sign your PGP key as a testament that you are who you claim you are. It's a method of building a web of trust, so that when you link from Mastodon to your PGP key through Keyoxide, people can trust that you're really the owner of that digital key. I also means that several community members have met you in person and signed your key.

Help build human-centric trust online, and use PGP and Keyoxide to verify your identity. And if you see me at a tech conference, let's sign keys!

Original article source at: https://opensource.com/

#mastodon #key #steps 

10 Popular Steps To Create Multiple Virtual Machines Using Vagrant

By now you must have seen how to install a single development environment (VM) using vagrant. In case you haven’t please refer to my previous blog before going through this one.

In this blog we are going to see how to create multiple VMs using vagrant. But before we start, we must understand the requirements where  we need to create multiple VMs of the same configuration.

Requirement 1: Hadoop is one of the cutting-edge technologies today and it can be used by creating a hadoop cluster. At times you do not require a full-fledged cluster, but can manage with two servers only. However, you will need at least three datanodes. In this case, you may use one server as Namenode (since namenode has be a high-end machine) and in the other server you can create 3 VMs and use them as 3 datanodes.

Requirement 2: You are working in a production environment where you are dealing with a big project. As all of us are aware that before we deploy the project on the live server, the project has to be developed on the development server and tested on the test server. These servers are of the same configuration. Hence, we may use vagrant to create these servers all together instead of building them individually.

There can be many other requirements where you may leverage this feature. I would encourage you to comment your requirement on this blog so that it can help others as well.

It is assumed that you have Vagrant and Virtual Box already installed. Now, let’s see how to create multiple VMs using vagrant:

Step 1: Open the terminal (Linux or Mac) or command prompt (Windows)

Step 2: Create a new directory for vagrant :

$ mkdir vagrant_multi_edureka
$ cd vagrant_multi_edureka

Step 3: Initialize a new VagrantFile.

$ vagrant init

Step 4: Install a vagrant box. We are using “chef/centos-6.5” for this blog. You can see the list of boxes here.

$ vagrant box add chef/centos-6.5

Step 5: Update the Vagrant File as below:

# This defines the version of vagrant
Vagrant.configure(2) do |config|
	# Specifying the box we wish to use
	config.vm.box = "chef/centos-6.5"
	# Adding Bridged Network Adapter
	config.vm.network "public_network"
	# Iterating the loop for three times
	(1..3).each do |i|
		# Defining VM properties
		config.vm.define "edureka_vm#{i}" do |node|
			# Specifying the provider as VirtualBox and naming the VM's
			config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |node|
				# The VM will be named as edureka_vm{i}
				node.name = "edureka_vm#{i}"  
			end
		end
	end
end

Step 6: Let’s start the edureka_vms namely: edureka_vm1, edureka_vm2 and edureka_vm3:

$ vagrant up

Congratulations! You have created three VMs using single vagrant file. You must be wondering how to use it. You can access it using ssh.
You can connect the VMs using the below host and port number:

edureka_vm1        –>        Host : 127.0.0.1    |   Port  : 2222
edureka_vm2        –>        Host : 127.0.0.1    |   Port  : 2200
edureka_vm3        –>        Host : 127.0.0.1    |   Port  : 2201

Step 7: Download putty (windows shh client) from here. Run the application and connect to the VMs.

Step 8: You need to enter the username and password to login into the VM. It is same for all the three VMs. Please use the below credentials:

                                         Username : vagrant    |   Password : vagrant

Step 9: You need to log in to each VM separately using putty in order to access them.

Step 10: Finally, you need to understand if this fits your requirement or not. Accordingly you will understand how to use vagrant to get maximum benefit.

Got a question for us? Please mention it in the comments section and we will get back to you.

Related Posts:

Mystery Of Devops

Original article source at: https://www.edureka.co/

#steps #machine #vagrant 

ViewPipeSteps: Create Tabs Of View() Output for Each Chained Pipe

ViewPipeSteps 

Installation

You can install the released version of ViewPipeSteps from CRAN with:

install.packages("ViewPipeSteps")

Or install the development version from GitHub with:

remotes::install_github("daranzolin/ViewPipeSteps")

Overview

ViewPipeSteps helps to debug pipe chains in a slightly more elegant fashion. Print/View debugging isn’t sexy, but instead of manually inserting %>% View() after each step, spice it up a bit by, e.g., highlighting the entire chain and calling the viewPipeChain addin:

Thanks to @batpigandme for the the gif!

Alternatively, you can:

• Print each pipe step of the selction to the console by using the printPipeChain addin.
• Print all pipe steps to the console by adding a print_pipe_steps() call to your pipe.

diamonds %>%
  select(carat, cut, color, clarity, price) %>%
  group_by(color) %>%
  summarise(n = n(), price = mean(price)) %>%
  arrange(desc(color)) %>%
  print_pipe_steps() -> result

## 1. diamonds

## # A tibble: 53,940 x 10
##    carat cut       color clarity depth table price     x     y     z
##    <dbl> <ord>     <ord> <ord>   <dbl> <dbl> <int> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl>
##  1 0.23  Ideal     E     SI2      61.5    55   326  3.95  3.98  2.43
##  2 0.21  Premium   E     SI1      59.8    61   326  3.89  3.84  2.31
##  3 0.23  Good      E     VS1      56.9    65   327  4.05  4.07  2.31
##  4 0.290 Premium   I     VS2      62.4    58   334  4.2   4.23  2.63
##  5 0.31  Good      J     SI2      63.3    58   335  4.34  4.35  2.75
##  6 0.24  Very Good J     VVS2     62.8    57   336  3.94  3.96  2.48
##  7 0.24  Very Good I     VVS1     62.3    57   336  3.95  3.98  2.47
##  8 0.26  Very Good H     SI1      61.9    55   337  4.07  4.11  2.53
##  9 0.22  Fair      E     VS2      65.1    61   337  3.87  3.78  2.49
## 10 0.23  Very Good H     VS1      59.4    61   338  4     4.05  2.39
## # … with 53,930 more rows

## 2. select(carat, cut, color, clarity, price)

## # A tibble: 53,940 x 5
##    carat cut       color clarity price
##    <dbl> <ord>     <ord> <ord>   <int>
##  1 0.23  Ideal     E     SI2       326
##  2 0.21  Premium   E     SI1       326
##  3 0.23  Good      E     VS1       327
##  4 0.290 Premium   I     VS2       334
##  5 0.31  Good      J     SI2       335
##  6 0.24  Very Good J     VVS2      336
##  7 0.24  Very Good I     VVS1      336
##  8 0.26  Very Good H     SI1       337
##  9 0.22  Fair      E     VS2       337
## 10 0.23  Very Good H     VS1       338
## # … with 53,930 more rows

## 4. summarise(n = n(), price = mean(price))

## # A tibble: 7 x 3
##   color     n price
##   <ord> <int> <dbl>
## 1 D      6775 3170.
## 2 E      9797 3077.
## 3 F      9542 3725.
## 4 G     11292 3999.
## 5 H      8304 4487.
## 6 I      5422 5092.
## 7 J      2808 5324.

## 5. arrange(desc(color))

## # A tibble: 7 x 3
##   color     n price
##   <ord> <int> <dbl>
## 1 J      2808 5324.
## 2 I      5422 5092.
## 3 H      8304 4487.
## 4 G     11292 3999.
## 5 F      9542 3725.
## 6 E      9797 3077.
## 7 D      6775 3170.

• Try your luck with the experimental %P>% pipe variant that prints the output of the pipe’s left hand side prior to piping it to the right hand side.

diamonds %>%
  select(carat, cut, color, clarity, price) %>%
  group_by(color) %>%
  summarise(n = n(), price = mean(price)) %P>%
  arrange(desc(color)) -> result

## Printing diamonds %>% select(carat, cut, color, clarity, price) %>% group_by(color) %>% summarise(n = n(), price = mean(price))

## # A tibble: 7 x 3
##   color     n price
##   <ord> <int> <dbl>
## 1 D      6775 3170.
## 2 E      9797 3077.
## 3 F      9542 3725.
## 4 G     11292 3999.
## 5 H      8304 4487.
## 6 I      5422 5092.
## 7 J      2808 5324.

Installation

devtools::install_github("daranzolin/ViewPipeSteps")

More Examples

Check tools/test_cases.R for more elaborate examples.

Future Work

• Verify that %P>% is implemented in a useful way and does it what it is supposed to do.

Download Details:

Author: Daranzolin
Source Code: https://github.com/daranzolin/ViewPipeSteps 
License: View license

#r #view #steps 

Productive, Easy steps to make a website for business JP

Building a small business website is necessary to inform your audience about your brand and value proposition, which will help you boost your brand recognition and drive sales.

However, to build a business website, you first need to choose a domain name and a secured web hosting. After this, you need to optimize your website to improve your search engine rankings (SERPs) and drive more traffic.

Everyone is aware of the fact, how people are more indulgent with their mobile phones that is why you should always keep your website updated and optimized for mobile devices too. Also, ensure that your site speed is requisite to improve your search engine rankings (SERPs).

This article is for small business owners who are seeking help to build a website or improve upon their existing website.

Why is it important to have a website for your business?

There are multiple reasons to have a website for your business such as:

Helps you in communicating your brand value - Having a website for small businesses helps you communicate your brand’s value to potential customers easily. It includes various style elements, target market, and many other important factors that can help visitors decide whether they should choose your business for purchase or not.
Easy communications with your clients help you connect with new clients.

Helps you in capturing more leads - Owning a website should ideally capture more leads from the web visitors. This is why having a website is so important for your small business. Using strategic CTA should be placed on your landing page. Structuring your site properly and placing a strong CTA in the right place.
Enhance trust among your customers - Most people in today’s technological world would not trust your business if it does not have an online presence. No matter what your business or your revenue is; having a website is incredibly necessary and there is no excuse to not have one.
It is because without having a website you lose the opportunity to be in front of your potential customers. Additionally, most people might think your business doesn’t exist unless you own a website.

Enhance your business online presence - Your website should enhance the online presence of your business, which is acute to continue to see business growth. Having a website for your business is incredibly important to hold the top position in the market.

24/7 advertising - Your website is a 24-hour billboard for your business. Now, let’s assume your business is closed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. How can you advertise your business when your store is closed or unavailable to take a call? Then having a website will be beneficial for your business, of course.

Increase brand credibility - Your website will give you rapid brand credibility, which will lead to more sales and more customers. This is one of the very important reasons you need a website.**

How to make a small business website?
Once you have a clear understanding of what you want to accomplish, you can initiate digging into the website building process by following the key steps that will help you launch your business successfully online :

Select a platform - Usually, you should go for a mobile-friendly website solution that will help you create a website easily even if you are not a technical person. Here are some platform options that are highly recommended for your website:

WordPress - You can choose WordPress for your website as it has two versions i.e. WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Among both, WordPress.org is preferred by all the beginners as it allows access to the best features and provides you full control over your website.

Hosted website builders - In case you want to have an all-in-one solution for your website, then you might consider Wix or Squarespace. These platforms offer a complete website design which is out-of-the-box as you get an easy drag and drop feature with them.

Moreover, the cost plans related to the hosted website builders depend on the services you choose for your website. After comparing, WordPress is a bit cheaper than other platforms. Some of the reasons why most people recommend WordPress for building their website are:

• It is not necessary to be a developer or have knowledge of technical skills to build a website for business. However, you might need some technical expertise when you desire to customise the website themes as per your requirements.
• The WordPress software is available FREE (Majority of them).
• WordPress is super flexible and you can easily change how your site looks or even add new features.
  Over 37% of the business websites on the internet prefer WordPress, so your business website will effortlessly be under the top websites in the market.

Choose a domain name - To build a small business website, you are required to choose a suitable domain name, that is simply your website’s unique online address. A domain name is created with the combination of your website’s name and the extension.
Having a domain name for your website will help you improve your website’s visibility, credibility, and make your brand trustworthy for the customers.

Find the best hosting provider - You can skip this step if you desire to have an all-in-one website builder. However, if you want to have a WordPress website, then there are various excellent beginner-friendly hosting companies that you should consider.
One of the best considered hosting picks among all is Bluehost. It is usually recommended by WordPress.org: Bluehost is known to offer the cheapest hosting plan. This package is generally suitable for all small business websites, but you can easily upgrade it as your business grows.

Choose a theme or template for your website - Owning a Mobile-friendly website design for your business will be favorable, as it can smoothly fit into the visitor’s screen despite its size and shape.
While building a small business website, you should consider few things such as:

• 61% of visitors consider mobile-friendly websites.
• Responsive website designs help you with more traffic.
• Over 50% of online traffic comes from a responsive website.
• 95% of people create your brand image after going through your website.

Publish High-Quality Content - Everybody knows the power of content to grab visitors’ attention. Informative content offers details related to your brand as well as your service(s)/ product(s).
With the use of informative and creative content, you get the opportunity to perform internal linking, which in turn helps you increase the ROI of your business.

Search engine Optimization - Now that you’ve created a website, and know what to do with it, you should start planning - “How to drive traffic to your website”.
Online Marketing helps you spread awareness about your website’s product(s) or service(s) with the use of multiple web-based channels. Moreover, you should register your website on Google Analytics, after you build a website from scratch. This will help you keep a track of visitor’s numbers and statistics.

Conclusion:
Hope this article helped you in learning “how to create a one page website?” Now by following the above-mentioned steps even a non-technical person can build his/her business website.

Initially, everyone struggles in building a website for small businesses. And if that is the case with you, you can even consider hiring some professionals to build a successful website.

#steps #to #make #a #website

Steps To Grow Emotional Intelligence | LoginRadius

Emotional intelligence aids communication and conflict resolution. It decides how well teams work and how they remain motivated to improve their performance. After Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence was released in the 1990s, the term gained popularity.
Self-awareness, self-regulation, inspiration, empathy, and social skills — the top five components of EI — seemed to have an effect on business communication.

Why Emotional Intelligence Improves Consumer Relations

Consumer service agents’ emotional intelligence provides insight into issues because their conflict management and communication skills allow customers to share feedback. Better individual experiences with customers have a long-term impact on their purchasing decisions. Empathy, adaptability, self-control, teamwork, and a desire to learn are all qualities that emotional intelligence helps agents acquire.

How to Assist Agents in Developing Emotional Intelligence

Begin by cultivating an emotional intelligence culture inside your business. Follow a study guide to learn why agents need EI and how it will help them improve customer relations.

• Introduce the core principles of EI and discuss them during business meetups or team building events.
• Suggest books or critical essays on the topic.
• Visit seminars and workshops with your support team or organize your own in the company.
• Recommend TED talks or educational podcasts about EI.

Consumer service agents must remain involved and respond rapidly when speaking with customers over the phone or in live chats. To ensure emotional intelligence success, use simple strategies.

The ability to control emotions and relate well to others is referred to as emotional intelligence. Incorporating EI training into management systems and empowering employees to expand their EI creates a stronger company. Grow your agents’ emotional intelligence, become emotionally intelligent yourself, and integrate it into your business communication systems.

Discover some steps to grow your emotional intelligence for better consumer relations.

**Steps to Grow Your Emotional Intelligence
**

#grow #emotional #intelligence #steps

5 Steps to Build a High Performing Growth Team in 2021

When it comes to building high-performing teams, you have to think beyond the box. With dedication, patience, and a little guidance, you’ll be on your way to forming high-performing squads in no time, capable of taking the core product and the company to new heights.

The Need for Growth Teams in Startups

Developing new channels to help a business acquire clients is a special responsibility that sometimes falls on the hands of a company. Other benefits that the growth team can provide include providing insight and understanding, as well as assisting in the verification of product-market fit.

5 Steps to Building a Growth Team

• Lay a solid base.
• Select a model for your growth team.
• For your growth team, hire the right people.
• Create an environment that encourages growth.
• Managing and expanding the workforce

You should ensure that the growth and non-growth teams have enough people to provide the necessary data and evaluate it on time.

If your product has already entered the market, you must focus on building a skilled growth team, whether you are a business firm, one of several portfolio companies, a startup, or a small business.

Figure out complete details and step-by-step things, key takeaways about how to build a growth team for your startup or business in 2021.

Top 5 Steps to Build a Growth Team in 2021

#build #growth #team #startup #business #steps