Ripping DVDs on Linux in 2024

Suppose you have the need to rip a DVD in 2024 on Linux – not too common I guess, but sometimes it can happen. Purely out of curiosity, I did some research and testing – I’d never never break copyright laws, obviously. I knew that you could use Handbrake for that kind of task – …

Disabling daily Fedora auto reboots

After using Tuxedo OS (a kubuntu variant provided by the manufacturer Tuxedo) for a year or so, I decided to give Fedora another try – no special reason, just out of curiosity. I’ve been happy so far, everything works as you’d expect. However, I noticed that every day in the morning, if I didn’t put …

Set up wireguard connection on Ubuntu to FritzBox

For some time now, AVM’s various FritzBox models support Wireguard for VPN connections but until now I used tradidional IPSec tunnels. After reinstalling my notebook I couldn’t make the IPSec connection work again, so I thought I might as well switch to the supposedly more performant Wireguard method. Setup in the FritzBox is very easy, …

Disabling Bluetooth in Ubuntu

Since I don’t use Bluetooth I’ve been wondering for some time how to permanently disable it in Ubuntu. There’s a menu item that allows to quickly disable it, but this setting doesn’t survive a restart. Despite some time spent searching around I have not found a reasonable solution to shut down Bluetooth. The only thing …

Disabling the ThinkPad TrackPoint in Ubuntu

One thing that has annoyed me since I switched to Ubuntu as my main operating system is the little red TrackPoint of my Thinkpad, situated in the middle of the keyboard. Often, when I’m typing something, I will hit it and the focus suddenly is on a different UI element. Today I finally found how …

Setting up samba shares in Ubuntu

One step of moving over from Mac OS X to Ubuntu was setting up my file shares that I’m using for serving media content to Openelec. For OS X I’ve used SMBUp to configure the folder sharing. Ubuntu supposedly makes it easy to share a folder, you just right click the candidate and choose “Share …