Ubuntu11.04 : cp: cannot create symbolic link: Operation not permitted

The problem is because your destination device doesn't support the symbolic link creation, mainly because of it's format. In my case, the destination device format was Fat-32. Then there are 2 options:

1. Format your destination device with a format that support the symbolic link creation like NTFS format. And try again the cp command

2. Copy the entire file instead of the symbolic link, using -L option in the cp command:

cp -rL source_dir dest_dir

Resource:
http://diogomelo.net/node/46

Linux: Process Backgound/Foreground

To send a currently running process to background press: Ctrl+Z

~$ sudo unzip Acappella_METRO.zip
Archive:  Acappella_METRO.zip
   creating: Acappella_METRO/
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/.project
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/.pydevproject
   creating: Acappella_METRO/.settings/
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/.settings/org.eclipse.core.resources.prefs
   creating: Acappella_METRO/birt-runtime-2_2_2/
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/birt-runtime-2_2_2/about.html
   creating: Acappella_METRO/birt-runtime-2_2_2/about_files/
   creating: Acappella_METRO/birt-runtime-2_2_2/about_files/CVS/
 extracting: Acappella_METRO/birt-runtime-2_2_2/about_files/CVS/Entries
 extracting: Acappella_METRO/birt-runtime-2_2_2/about_files/CVS/Repository
 extracting: Acappella_METRO/birt-runtime-2_2_2/about_files/CVS/Root
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/birt-runtime-2_2_2/about_files/LICENSE.txt
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/birt-runtime-2_2_2/birt.war  ^Z
[1]+  Stopped                 sudo unzip Acappella_METRO.zip

To bring back the process to foreground type: fg 1

inflating: Acappella_METRO/thirdparty/sqlalchemy/orm/mapper.py
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/thirdparty/sqlalchemy/orm/mapper.pyc
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/thirdparty/sqlalchemy/orm/properties.py
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/thirdparty/sqlalchemy/orm/properties.pyc
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/thirdparty/sqlalchemy/orm/query.py
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/thirdparty/sqlalchemy/orm/query.pyc
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/thirdparty/sqlalchemy/orm/scoping.py
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/thirdparty/sqlalchemy/orm/scoping.pyc
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/thirdparty/sqlalchemy/orm/session.py
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/thirdparty/sqlalchemy/orm/session.pyc
  inflating: Acappella_METRO/thirdparty/sqlalchemy/orm/shard.py

Linux: change another's user password from root

To change the password for the user 'roger' (only you are logged in as root)...

passwd roger
Enter existing password (can be either roger's password or root's password)
Enter new password
Enter new password again (to validate)


Resource:
http://www.ahinc.com/linux101/users.htm

Linux: cp command

cp -r /home/hope/files/* /home/hope/backup

Copies all the files, directories, and subdirectories in the files directory into the backup directory.

Example:

cp -r /home/john/Desktop/shared_folder/* /media/DISK/disk1


Reference:
http://www.computerhope.com/unix/ucp.htm

Linux: find a file

find <dir_where_you_want_to_search> -name <file_nameyou_want_to_search>:


find /home/john -name 'httpd-xampp.conf'


Note: In ubuntu use sudo at the beginning :
sudo find /home/john -name 'httpd-xampp.conf'


Resource:
http://www.codecoffee.com/tipsforlinux/articles/21.html

Linux: open a .tar.gz file

tar xvfz filename.tar.gz


Resource:
http://www.wallpaperama.com/forums/how-to-uncompress-open-tar-gz-files-t52.html

command to Get linux distro and version

enter the following command at the shell prompt:
$ cat /etc/*-release

Source: 
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/find-linux-distribution-name-version-number/

extract from tgz file

tar -xvzf test.tgz

Ubuntu boot error : no init found, Try passing init=bootarg

I got this error:

mount: mounting /dev/mapper/ubuntu-root on /root failed: Invalid argument
mount: mounting /dev on /root/dev failed: No such file or directory
mount: mounting /sys on /root/sys failed: No such file or directory
mount: mounting /proc on /root/proc failed: No such file or directory
Target filesystem doesn't have /sbin/init.
No init found. Try passing init= bootrag


I searched a lot on the web, and I finally found the solution :D

I just had to boot a live cd, load gparted  - partition editor ,  and use the "check" option on the partition labeled as "boot". That's all.