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Setting up strongSwan on Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 with NetworkManager

 στο Bash / GNU/Linux  επισημασμένο με ετικέτα bash / GNU/Linux / network manager / strongswan / ubuntu / vpn Από

For Ubuntu users who need to configure strongSwan (an open-source IPsec VPN solution) using NetworkManager on Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04, simply installing the network-manager-strongswan package is not sufficient. Additional plugins and libraries are required to enable full functionality for various VPN configurations, including advanced authentication methods and protocol support.

Required Packages

To ensure strongSwan works seamlessly with NetworkManager, install the following packages:

  1. network-manager-strongswan: This package integrates strongSwan into NetworkManager, allowing you to manage VPN connections using a graphical user interface (GUI). It adds support for IKEv2/IPsec VPNs.
  2. libcharon-extra-plugins: This package provides additional plugins for strongSwan’s IKE daemon (charon), extending its functionality to handle different encryption algorithms, key exchange mechanisms, and advanced authentication protocols.
  3. libstrongswan-extra-plugins: These extra plugins offer support for more cryptographic algorithms and authentication methods, enhancing compatibility with various VPN configurations. This includes EAP-based methods commonly used in VPN setups.

Step-by-Step Installation

To install the necessary packages, follow these steps:

  1. Update the package list to ensure you have the latest versions available:
   sudo apt update
  1. Install the strongSwan NetworkManager plugin along with the extra plugin packages:
   sudo apt install network-manager-strongswan libcharon-extra-plugins libstrongswan-extra-plugins
  1. Restart NetworkManager to apply the changes:
   sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

Configuring a VPN Connection

Once the necessary packages are installed and NetworkManager has been restarted, you can proceed to configure a VPN connection using the GUI:

  1. Open Settings → Network.
  2. Click the + button next to the VPN section.
  3. Select IPSec/IKEv2 (strongSwan) from the list of available VPN types.
  4. Enter the required connection details, including the server address, username, password, and any pre-shared keys or certificates as provided by your VPN provider.

For advanced VPN configurations, you may also need to specify custom encryption settings or certificate paths under the Advanced settings in the VPN configuration window.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues connecting to the VPN, you can check the system logs for more detailed information:

sudo journalctl -xe
sudo journalctl -u NetworkManager

These logs may provide insight into common issues, such as authentication failures, certificate problems, or configuration mismatches.

Conclusion

To successfully configure and use strongSwan VPNs with NetworkManager on Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04, you must install three key packages: network-manager-strongswan, libcharon-extra-plugins, and libstrongswan-extra-plugins. These packages extend the capabilities of strongSwan, providing compatibility with a wide range of VPN configurations, cryptographic algorithms, and authentication methods.

By ensuring these packages are installed and properly configured, you can easily manage your strongSwan VPN connections through the Ubuntu NetworkManager GUI.

bash script to remove the word ‘DALL·E’ from all filenames 1

 στο Bash / GNU/Linux  επισημασμένο με ετικέτα bash / rename Από

To remove the word “DALL-E” from all filenames in a directory, you can use a bash script with rename (or mmv if rename isn’t available on your system). Here is a simple bash script to achieve this:

# Iterate over all files in the current directory
for file in *DALL·E*; do
  # Remove 'DALL·E' from the filename
  new_file=$(echo "$file" | sed 's/DALL·E//g')
  # Rename the file
  mv "$file" "$new_file"
done

echo "Renaming completed."

Explanation:

  1. for file in *DALL·E*; do: This loop iterates over all files in the current directory that contain the word “DALL·E”.
  2. new_file=$(echo "$file" | sed 's/DALL-E//g'): This line uses sed to remove the word “DALL·E” from the filename. The s/DALL-E//g pattern tells sed to replace “DALL·E” with nothing, effectively removing it.
  3. mv "$file" "$new_file": This renames the original file to the new filename.
  4. done: This marks the end of the loop.
  5. echo "Renaming completed.": This prints a message indicating that the renaming process is complete.

Usage:

  1. Save the script to a file, for example, rename_files.sh.
  2. Make the script executable:
   chmod +x rename_files.sh
  1. Run the script in the directory where you want to rename the files:
   ./rename_files.sh

This will rename all files in the current directory by removing the word “DALL·E” from their filenames.

Converting WebP Images to PNG Using parallel and dwebp

 στο Bash / GNU/Linux  επισημασμένο με ετικέτα convert / dwebp / parallel / png / webp Από

In this post, we’ll walk through how to efficiently convert multiple WebP images to PNG format using the parallel and dwebp tools. This method is particularly useful when dealing with a large batch of images, as it leverages parallel processing to speed up the conversion.

Step 1: Install Necessary Tools

First, we need to install the webp and parallel packages. These can be installed on a Debian-based system (like Ubuntu) using the following command:

sudo apt install webp parallel
  • webp is a package that includes the dwebp tool, which is used for decoding WebP images.
  • parallel is a shell tool for executing jobs in parallel, making the conversion process faster.

Step 2: Convert WebP Images to PNG

Once the tools are installed, you can use the following command to convert all .webp files in the current directory to .png files:

parallel dwebp {} -o {.}.png ::: *.webp

Let’s break down this command:

  1. parallel: This is the GNU parallel command. It allows you to run shell commands in parallel.
  2. dwebp: This is the command-line tool to decode WebP files to other formats, like PNG.
  3. {}: This placeholder represents each input file passed to parallel.
  4. -o {.}.png: This specifies the output format. {.} removes the file extension from the input file, and .png appends the new file extension. For example, image.webp will be converted to image.png.
  5. :::: This indicates the start of the input list for parallel.
  6. *.webp: This is a wildcard pattern that matches all .webp files in the current directory.

Example

Assume you have three WebP files in your directory: image1.webp, image2.webp, and image3.webp. Running the command will convert these files to image1.png, image2.png, and image3.png respectively.

Benefits of Using parallel

  • Speed: By leveraging multiple CPU cores, parallel significantly reduces the time needed for batch processing.
  • Simplicity: Using a single command to handle all files in a directory is straightforward and minimizes the risk of manual errors.

With these steps, you can efficiently convert a large number of WebP images to PNG format, saving time and computational resources.

Windows 10 and 11: How to change “Active signal resolution” to match “Desktop resolution”

 στο Windows  επισημασμένο με ετικέτα monitor / resolution / screen / windows Από

Right-click on the desktop and select “Display Settings”.

Scroll down and click on “Advanced display settings”.

In the new window, click “Display adapter properties for Display X”
(where X is the number of the display you are managing).

In the pop-up window, click the “List All Modes” button.

From the new box, scroll until you find the correct resolution and refresh rate configuration, select it, and then click the “OK” button.

You will be sent back to the first pop-up window; click “Apply” or “OK” in that window, and your settings will be applied.