today's howtos

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Feb 07, 2026

• Hackaday ☛ A Deep Dive Into Inductors

  There are three things to notice about the effect of an inductor: increases in current are delayed, decreases in current are delayed, and when there is no change in current there is no noticeable effect. The inductor doesn’t resist current flow, but it does resist changes in current flow. This resistive effect only occurs when current is changing, and it is known as “inductive reactance”.

  After explaining an inductor’s behavior the video digs into how a typical inductor coil actually achieves this. The basic idea is that the inductor stores energy in a magnetic field, and it takes some time to charge up or discharge this field, accounting for the delay in current that is seen.

• University of Toronto ☛ A surprising path to accessing localhost URLs and HTTP services

  One of the classic challenges in web security is DNS rebinding. The simple version is that you put some web service on localhost in order to keep outside people from accessing it, and then some joker out in the world makes 'evil.example.org' resolve to 127.0.0.1 and arranges to get you to make requests to it. Sometimes this is through JavaScript in a browser, and sometimes this is by getting you to fetch things from URLs they supply (because you're running a service that fetches and processes things from external URLs, for example).

• HowTo Geek ☛ The $0 Linux "Swiss Army Knife" every developer should install today

  Working as a developer doesn't mean you always code. Often, you're assigned boring, mundane tasks. Be it converting data formats, encoding and decoding data, or validating their structure, jumping from tool to tool is cumbersome. That's where Dev Toolbox comes into play.

• HowTo Geek ☛ The fastest ways to find files from the command-line on Linux

  The one thing that slows me down (or at least used to slow me down) was having to look up documentation or commands while working with Termux. So I found a way to bring an AI assistant (not a coding agent) into Termux. Now I can look up commands and search for stuff on the fly without leaving the terminal. It's helping me learn Termux faster and saves me the trouble of switching between apps.

• linuxcapable

  • Linux Capable ☛ How to Install Fail2Ban on Arch Linux

    This guide walks you through how to install Fail2ban on Arch GNU/Linux and configure it to slow down brute-force attacks against services like SSH and HTTP authentication. Fail2ban watches your logs for repeated failures, then applies temporary firewall bans for the source IPs that match those patterns.

  • Linux Capable ☛ How to Install Nmap on Arch Linux

    Nmap (Network Mapper) discovers hosts, open ports, running services, and operating system details across your network. Security professionals use it for penetration testing and vulnerability assessments, while system administrators rely on it for network inventory and troubleshooting connectivity issues.

• idroot

  • ID Root ☛ How To Install SMPlayer on Debian 13

    Finding a reliable media player that handles every video format without constant codec hunting can be frustrating. SMPlayer solves this problem elegantly on Debian 13, offering a feature-rich multimedia experience right out of the box.

  • ID Root ☛ How To Install Caddy on Fedora 43

    Caddy stands out as a modern web server that makes website deployment remarkably simple. Unlike traditional servers such as Apache or Nginx, Caddy automatically handles HTTPS certificates through Let’s Encrypt, eliminating hours of manual SSL configuration.

  • ID Root ☛ How To Install Nomacs on Fedora 43

    Finding a reliable, lightweight image viewer for GNU/Linux can transform your daily workflow. Nomacs stands out as an exceptional choice for Fedora 43 users who need a powerful yet resource-efficient solution for viewing and managing images.

  • ID Root ☛ How To Install FreeIPA on Fedora 43

    Managing user accounts, authentication, and access control across multiple GNU/Linux systems can quickly become a nightmare. Enter FreeIPA—an integrated security information management solution that transforms identity management from a daily headache into a streamlined process. Think of it as Active Directory for GNU/Linux environments, combining LDAP, Kerberos, DNS, and certificate management into one powerful package.

  • ID Root ☛ How To Install Erlang on Manjaro

    Erlang stands as one of the most powerful functional programming languages for building concurrent, distributed, and fault-tolerant systems. Manjaro Linux, with its rolling-release model and access to vast software repositories, provides an excellent environment for Erlang development.

• LinuxConfig ☛ How to Use Docker Hub on Ubuntu 26.04

• LinuxConfig ☛ How to Install Docker Compose on Ubuntu 26.04

• LinuxConfig ☛ How to Install VirtualBox on Ubuntu 26.04