XAMPP by bitnami is a complete stack of Apache, MariaDB(MySql), PHP and Perl. It is a completely free software and widely used on all platforms for web development by developers. Although we have choice to install Apache, MySql and PHP separately on Linux platform easily but many developers choose to install XAMPP for Linux. This article will let you show how to install XAMPP and Composer on Linux – Debian.
XAMPP – Download
Download the latest version of XAMPP from its official website https://www.apachefriends.org by clicking on XAMPP for Linux on home page.
XAMPP – Installation
Open the terminal and navigate to the containing folder using cd command. Possibly your downloaded file will be in Downloads folder.
cd Downloads
Change the permission of file using chmod command. Replace your downloaded filename with xampp-linux-*-installer.run in below command.
sudo chmod 755 xampp-linux-*-installer.run
Execute the file
sudo ./xampp-linux-*-installer.run
You are all set to run XAMPP on your Linux machine. To start, stop, restart XAMPP run the following commands.
sudo /opt/lampp/lampp start
sudo /opt/lampp/lampp stop
sudo /opt/lampp/lampp restart
Setting up Environment Variables
To install PHP technologies like composer, laravel, codeigniter and many others we need to set-up PHP path as an environment variable. Below are the steps to do this.
Open file /etc/environment as root using an Gedit –
sudo gedit /etc/environment
Add the following line at the end of file and then save and exit –
:/opt/lampp/bin/php
Now we need to create a symbolic link –
sudo ln -s /opt/lampp/bin/php /usr/local/bin/php
Composer – Installation
First we need to download composer using curl. If curl is not installed on your system, first install it using following command –
sudo apt-get install curl
then download composer
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
Now move composer to /usr/local/bin/composer folder using following command –
In Short : List the best vector graphics software for Linux that can be used as an alternative to Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw for Linux.
A vector graphics editor lets you create and edit vector graphics images, create vector objects and perform all various manipulations to it. Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw are such premium vector graphics editors, which are used by professionals of print and digital media, but they are not available for Linux flavors.
So what are the available alternatives for Linux? We’ll show you the best available vector graphics software in Linux.
Best free vector graphics editing software for Linux
Installation instructions for Ubuntu / Debian – based Linux distributions is included in this article. But you can easily search the installation instruction for other Linux distribution online. There are a lot of help, support and tutorial articles and videos available online for these softwares.
Inkscape is professional quality vector graphics software which runs on Windows, Mac OS X and GNU/Linux. It is used by design professionals and hobbyists worldwide, for creating a wide variety of graphics such as illustrations, icons, logos, diagrams, maps and web graphics. Inkscape uses the W3C open standard SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) as its native format, and is free and open-source software.
It is obviously one of the best Linux tools for digital artists around that are actively developed. Inkscape has sophisticated drawing tools with capabilities comparable to Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW and Xara Xtreme. It can import and export various file formats, including SVG, AI, EPS, PDF, PS and PNG with a simple interface and options to customize functionalities with add-ons.
Inkscape Interface
Object creation
Drawing: pencil tool (freehand drawing with simple paths), pen tool
(creating Bézier curves and straight lines), calligraphy tool (freehand
drawing using filled paths representing calligraphic strokes)
Shape tools: rectangles (may have rounded corners), ellipses
(includes circles, arcs, segments), stars/polygons (can be rounded
and/or randomized), spirals
Text tool (multi-line text, full on-canvas editing)
Embedded bitmaps (with a command to create and embed bitmaps of selected objects)
Clones (“live” linked copies of objects), including a tool to create patterns and arrangements of clones
Object manipulation
Transformations (moving, scaling, rotating, skewing), both interactively and by specifying exact numeric values
Z-order operations (raising and lowering)
Grouping objects (“select in group” without ungrouping, or “enter the group” making it a temporary layer)
Layers (lock and/or hide individual layers, rearrange them, etc; layers can form a hierarchical tree)
Alignment and distribution commands
Fill and stroke
Color selector (RGB, HSL, CMYK, color wheel, CMS)
Color picker tool
Copy/paste style
A gradient editor capable of multi-stop gradients
Pattern fills (bitmap/vectors)
Dashed strokes, with many predefined dash patterns
Path markers (ending, middle and/or beginning marks, e.g. arrowheads)
Operations on paths
Node editing: moving nodes and Bezier handles, node alignment and distribution, etc.
Converting to path (for text objects or shapes), including converting stroke to path
Boolean operations
Path simplification, with variable threshold
Path insetting and outsetting, including dynamic and linked offset objects
Bitmap tracing (both color and monochrome paths)
Text support
Multi-line text
Uses any installed outline fonts, including right-to-left scripts
Kerning, letterspacing, linespacing adjustments
Text on path (both text and path remain editable)
Text in shape (fill shape following stroke)
Rendering
Fully anti-aliased display
Alpha transparency support for display and PNG export
Complete “as you drag” rendering of objects during interactive transformations
File formats
Perfectly compliant SVG format file generation and editing
Live watching and editing the document tree in the XML editor
PNG, OpenDocument Drawing, DXF, sk1, PDF, EPS and PostScript export formats and more
sK1 (OpenSource Solutions for Prepress) is professional quality illustration program for Windows, GNU/Linux and macOS platforms. sK1 is a powerful and mature application that makes users more productive and provides them professional and free solution even for exotic *nix OSes. Whether you are a newbie user or an experienced designer, sK1 makes it easy to get started. With its professional color-management engine and wide-range file format compatibility, sK1 provides color accuracy and drawing flexibility you need for all types of projects.
sK1 Interface
Features
sK1 supports professional publishing features, such as multiple page document, CMYK color, separations, ICC color management, professional precise printing and press-ready PDF output. So this application could substitute professional proprietary software like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw.
CMYK color-space and SPOT color support
Multilingual Pango text layout
Color management for solid colors and raster images.
Drawing of joint lines, Bézier curves drawing, Ellipse and Polygon drawing support.
Node edit, magnifier glass, text editing features.
Extended import/export functionality.
Installation
Linux deb and rpm packages are available from the official sK1 download page for Mint, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux, elementary OS and OpenSUSE.
Karbon is a component of Calligra Suite, an integrated graphic art and office suite by KDE. Karbon is free software and is getting better every day. It is a vector drawing application with an user interface that is easy to use, highly customizable and extensible. That makes Karbon a great application for users starting to explore the world of vector graphics as well as for artists wanting to create breathtaking vector art.
Whether you want to create clipart, logos, illustrations or photorealistic vector images – look no further, Karbon is the tool for you!
Karbon Interface
Karboon is available for GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, MS Windows, For Mac OS X platforms. For linux it is available using dedicated package manager.
Features
Loading support for ODG, SVG, WPG, WMF, EPS/PS
Writing support for ODG, SVG, PNG, PDF, WMF
Customizable user interface with freely placeable tool-bars and dockers
Layer docker for easy handling of complex documents including preview thumbnails, support for grouping shapes via drag and drop, controlling visibility of shapes or locking
Advanced path editing tool with great on-canvas editing capabilities
Various drawing tools for creating path shapes including a draw path tool, a pencil tool as well as a calligraphy drawing tool
Gradient and pattern tools for easy on-canvas editing of gradient and pattern styles
Top notch snapping facilities for guided drawing and editing (e.g. snapping to grid, guide lines, path nodes, bounding boxes, orthogonal positions, intersections of path shapes or extensions of lines and paths)
Includes many predefined shapes including basic shapes like stars, circle/ellipse, rectangle, image
Artistic text shape with support for following path outlines (i.e. text on path)
Complex path operations and effects like boolean set operations, path flattening, rounding and refining as well as whirl/pinch effects
Extensible by writing plugins for new tools, shapes and dockers
Installation
Linux deb and rpm packages are available from the official Calligra Suite Get Calligra page for Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, Fedora, Arch Linux, Kubuntu and OpenSUSE.
Diffuse is a small and simple graphical tool for merging and comparing text files. diffuse is able to compare an arbitrary number of files side-by-side and gives users the ability to manually adjust line-matching and directly edit files. diffuse can also retrieve revisions of files from bazaar, cvs, darcs, git, mercurial, monotone, subversion and gnu revision control system (rcs) repositories for comparison and merging.
Canadian developer Derrick Moser began work on Diffuse about four years ago while doing experimental development. For tasks in which lots of editing was necessary he found existing merge tools painful to use. He wrote the first version of Diffuse in C++, the language with which he was most familiar, but after a long break he switched to Python to address several usability issues.
Developers frequently need to compare source code in two or more versions of a program, or in different programs, when maintaining software or integrating their work with that of others. Diffuse lets users edit the files being compared and save changed versions of checked-out working copies. This reduces barriers to experimental development, as users can easily discard portions their work that led to a dead end. Diffuse also has built-in support for several popular open source version control systems.
Most merge tools can perform two-way or three-way merges. Diffuse goes further by supporting n-way merges. It also handles many non-English character encodings, and supports input method editors used to type complex characters.
File Permissions
Every file on the system has associated with it a set of permissions. Permissions tell UNIX what can be done with that file and by whom. There are three things you can (or can’t) do with a given file:
r : read it,
w : write (modify) it and
x : execute it.
$ chmod [options] mode file(s)
chmod a-x file
This means that the execute bit should be cleared (-) for all users. (owner, group and the rest of the world) The permissions start with a letter specifying what users should be affected by the change, this might be any of the following:
u – the owner user
g – the owner group
o – others (neither u, nor g)
a – all users
This is followed by a change instruction which consists of a +(set bit) or -(clear bit) and the letter corresponding to the bit that should be changed.
Every one of the three digits on the mode number corresponds to one of the three permission triplets. (u, g and o) Every permission bit in a triplet corresponds to a value: 4 for r, 2 for w, 1 for x.
Triplet for u: rwx => 4 + 2 + 1 = 7
Triplet for g: r-x => 4 + 0 + 1 = 5
Tripler for o: r-x => 4 + 0 + 1 = 5
Which makes : 755
So, 755 is a terse way to say ‘I don’t mind if other people read or run this file, but only I should be able to modify it’ and 777 means ‘everyone has full access to this file’
Here are some useful and helpful commands which is generally used in day to day workings on the Linux system. Following commands were tested on the Ubuntu/Debian Linux.
To fix the broken packages $ sudo apt-get install -f
Compress PDF file using ghostscript $ gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/screen -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=output.pdf input.pdf
Open help and options info of a command $ man <command>
Short help info of any command $ <command> --help
Make ISO of A Directory
An ISO of a directory containing files and sub-directories can be made using this command. mkisofs -o image.iso -R /path/to/folder/
Force Kill Application
Run following terminal command then click the application’s window to close it. xkill
Logout without prompt $ pkill -KILL -u $USER
Create an ISO image of CD/DVD sudo cat /dev/sr0 > foo.iso
