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Linux is constantly evolving, and with it the tools that its fans use on a daily basis. However, some of the classics such as iptables , which has been replaced by nftables , are now not only outdated, but also potentially insecure or inefficient. Yet they are still referenced in many Linux books and on numerous websites. This tempts users to continue using them. In this article, we present the most frequently encountered “deprecated“, i.e. obsolete, Linux commands. Many users are probably still familiar with them. However, for the reasons just mentioned, they are no longer up to date because they have unclosed security gaps, incomplete functions, or there are more efficient alternatives. Some of the old commands have already been removed from the current distributions. However, others are still included. The Netfilter project not only takes care of the classic iptables, but also of its successor nftables, which also replaces the commands ip6tables, arptables, and ebtables.Foundry Software developer and system administrator Jose Vicente Nunez, for example, has compiled a list of Linux commands that should no longer be used for the Red Hat blog. He also names alternatives which, in his opinion, offer at least the same range of functions, are nevertheless usually more powerful and are also still actively maintained. egrep and fgrep Nunez cites the commands egrep and fgrep as the first examples. They’re based on the grep tool, which specifically searches for text patterns in files or inputs. However, both egrep and fgrep are no longer being developed further because they have now been integrated into grep as additional parameters. Instead of the stand-alone command egrep, which uses extended regular expressions to find the desired pattern, you can now use grep -E This allows you to use more complex patterns and special characters without having to mask them. Similarly, fgrep has been replaced, which searches for fixed, i.e. unchanged text strings and thus saves time. Today, the fgrep command essentially corresponds to grep -F In newer distributions, both egrep and fgrep are merely symbolic links to grep. nslookup The nslookup command is also no longer quite up to date. It was and is still frequently used today to perform DNS (Domain Name System) queries. For example, it can be used to find out the IP address for a domain using a forward lookup or the domain name for an IP address using a reverse lookup. In addition, nslookup can be used to specifically query various DNS servers, check DNS entries or diagnose name resolution errors. The dig command informs you that de.wikipedia.org is another name for dyna.wikimedia.org, displays the corresponding IP address and thus provides a quick overview of the DNS mapping. Foundry The decision to stop developing nslookup was cancelled in 2004. Nunez and many others still recommend using the commands dig and host commands. For example, dig is part of the BIND DNS tools, which are actively maintained and can therefore now do more than nslookup. The name is one of the open source community’s favorite puns. On the one hand, the term “to dig” can be translated as “to dig up”, on the other hand it is also the abbreviation for “domain information groper”. Dig supports DNSSEC, can perform targeted queries of all record types, delivers structured and easy-to-read output and therefore offers greater flexibility even for complex queries. In addition, unlike dig, nslookup does not use the operating system’s local domain name system resolver library to perform queries. As a result, nslookup may return different results than dig if, for example, the resolver library takes additional “hosts” files into account or uses a local cache. ifconfig, route and netstat The ifconfig command is one of the best-known tools that is no longer quite up to date. If the program is used without parameters, it shows the current network configuration. However, it can also be used to configure the network adapter together with information on the server address, gateway, netmask, or IP address. The Linux command ifconfig is one of the most popular relics from the past, but the alternative ip offers far more options and functions for precisely managing network interfaces, IP addresses, and routing.Foundry Most distributions still include ifconfig. The command should have been replaced years ago by the alternative ip from the iproute2 family. At first glance, ip appears more complicated than ifconfig, as a command such as “ip addr show” is required to display the current IP address. Instead, ip provides information with a command such as ip link show ip provides information about the network interfaces, such as real or virtual network cards and WLAN adapters. Further examples of the use of the ip command: ip link set eth0 up Activates the network interface “eth0”. ip link set eth0 down Deactivates the network interface “eth0” again. ip addr show dev eth0 Shows the IP address of the network interface “eth0”. ip link show dev eth0 Shows the details of the network interface “eth0”. ip addr del 192.168.0.77/24 dev eth0 This command is only available with ip, for example. It deletes the specified IP address for the interface “eth0”. In addition to such tasks, ip also provides information about the routing table: ip route show or ip route list Here the ip command shows the routing table and thus also replaces the route command. The “route -n” command displays the addresses in tabular form, but only numerically and without DNS resolution. The output of “ip route show” or “ip route list”, on the other hand, is far more compact and contains additional information. The ip command initially appears more complicated than ifconfig, but provides more detailed information about the various network layers, for example, and allows the network configuration to be controlled and analyzed more precisely.Foundry Another network command, which in this case is replaced by the command ss (the abbreviation stands for “Sockets Statistics”) is netstat. The tool shows, for example, the list of active network connections. An example: netstat --numeric --tcp --listen The command lists the active TCP connections without name resolution. The ss equivalent is ss --numeric --tcp --listen The ss command is also part of the iproute2 package and replaces netstat on modern systems, as it can display more details and also starts faster. While netstat retrieves information from the “/proc” files, ss accesses the kernel directly. In contrast to netstat, which is no longer an actively maintained nettool, ss is continuously being developed and adapted to modern operating systems and protocols. The netstat and ss commands both list the active TCP connections without name resolution. ss works directly with the kernel and therefore provides additional details on sockets.Foundry The “ss” command without further parameters outputs a list of all network connections. Another of the command’s strengths is that it can filter connections according to various criteria. For example, “ss -t” only lists TCP connections, while “ss -u” does the same with UDP connections. To display which processes are accessing the network, use the command “ss -p”. iwconfig Another network command that is now considered obsolete for good reason is iwconfig. It is similar to ifconfig, but is designed for wireless adapters. It can still be found in some distributions such as Ubuntu. However, others such as Red Hat have already removed it and replaced it with the newer iw command. This is because iwconfig does not cover many current WLAN functions and no longer reliably supports modern standards such as 802.11ac or 802.11ax. Iw, on the other hand, is being actively developed further, provides detailed information about network cards, signal strengths, frequencies and channels, allows complex configurations, and supports all current WLAN standards as well as new functions such as mesh networks or WPA3. scp The scp command is another classic, but its use is no longer recommended. One of its strengths is that it is similar to the well-known cp command, which can be used to copy files and directories locally on a computer. Scp, on the other hand, is used to transfer encrypted data over the network using SSH (Secure Shell). In addition to cp, scp also contains functions for authentication with a password or SSH key. For example, the command cp report.txt /home/user/backup/ copies the file “report.txt” from the current directory to a backup folder. With scp it would look like this: scp report.txt user@server:/home/user/ Instead of just specifying a local path, scp requires a few additional details. For example, “user” is the user on the remote system, “server” is its address and “/home/user” is the path to the directory to which the “report.txt” file is to be transferred. Another difference is that the transfer only takes place after the correct password has been entered. With both variants, it is also possible to append a file name to the path. The commands then change the original file name to the new one. In the article “Deprecating scp“, the author Jonathan Corbet describes the most important reasons why scp is no longer being developed further. Jonathan Corbet explains on LWN.net the reasons why even long-time scp users should no longer use the program to transfer files over the network.Foundry For example, scp is based on the outdated rcp protocol, which is now classed as insecure. Another problem, according to Corbet, is the method used by scp to pass arguments. This could lead to the unintentional execution of commands, especially on systems on which access is actually restricted to simply copying data via scp. Red Hat and Fedora have therefore decided in 2022 to no longer support the old SCP protocol by default. The scp command is still available, but now uses the more secure SFTP protocol internally by default (depending on the interpretation, the abbreviation stands for “Secure File Transfer Protocol” or “SSH File Transfer Protocol”), while the reference to the original SCP protocol has been removed. The reason given by Dmitry Belyavskiy, Senior Software Engineer at Red Hat, is that the SCP protocol is already decades old and has numerous security risks and problems for which there are no simple solutions. The change was programmed with the involvement of Jakub Jelen, who was active as a maintainer for the Open SSH package for several years. As a precaution, however, a kind of backdoor was built in. There is now the new scp switch “-O”, which reactivates the old SCP protocol. However, it is likely to be removed again in one of the upcoming Red Hat releases. Its use is therefore not recommended. With the release of RHEL 9, Red Hat has decided not to remove scp completely, but to replace the underlying protocol with SFTP.Foundry It therefore makes more sense to switch to the alternatives rsync or sftp alternatives. Both also use SSH to securely access remote machines. Both also offer more functions and, above all, are being actively developed further. iptables Many Linux users utilize the iptables tool for packet filtering and firewall configuration. It can be used to define rules that allow, block, or redirect packets. However, iptables is now also considered outdated, mainly due to problems with scalability and performance. For this reason, the Netfilter project itself, which also maintains the iptables userland tool in addition to the kernel subsystem, is developing nftables because the iptables framework has become somewhat confusing. For example, it is not exactly efficient to create rules for IPv4 with iptables and for IPv6 with ip6tables in order to then painstakingly synchronize them. This is easier with nftables. Both commands work relatively similarly, but nftables not only uses a simpler syntax. The new tool even understands the syntax of iptables. In addition, iptables- translate is another tool that converts iptables commands into their nftables equivalent. Conclusion: Please switch! In the Linux world, changes tend to be rather cautious. Outdated utilities often remain in use for years, even when more modern and secure alternatives have long been available. Only after a longer period of time, sometimes only after several years, are these older tools gradually replaced by their updated counterparts. However, this process also ensures stability and compatibility in the Linux community. Many old tools therefore deliberately remain in the distributions for compatibility reasons, but should at least be replaced by their more modern alternatives in tutorials, scripts, and new projects. Read...

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Who doesn’t remember PC games such as Maniac Mansion, the King’s Quest series and the dubious adventures of Leisure Suit Larry or software such as Microsoft Works and Lotus Smart Suite? These titles originally came from the 80s and 90s, ran under MS-DOS or Windows 3.1 and were delivered on floppy discs or—very modern back then!—CD-ROMs. In our guide, we want to breathe new life into these treasures from the past and get them running on a current PC with Windows 11. We describe two scenarios: Firstly, we use the original data carriers for MS-DOS or Windows 3.1. The second scenario describes the case where installation media are no longer available. Even then, there is a way for you to delve back into all your favourite games and programs from back then. Prerequisite: DOSBox as MS-DOS emulator To run old applications and games under Windows 11, you need an emulator such as DOSBox. This command line tool, which was primarily developed for games, provides the MS-DOS platform and simulates an IBM PC-compatible computer with an x86 processor, the speed of which you can adjust. This means that old 16-bit programs can also be run under DOSBox, and you can even install Windows 3.1 and then run compatible software on it. Since not every user knows how to use a command line tool or still has the handling of MS-DOS including all commands ready at hand, DOSBox comes with a very good help function and also offers tutorials and instructions on the project website, simplifying operation enormously.Foundry DOSBox also provides the required hardware environment: In addition to mouse and keyboard, the tool controls input devices such as joysticks and gamepads, which is indispensable for games. It also supports (virtual) CD-ROM drives and sound cards for audio output. The emulator works independently of the actual equipment of the PC on which it’s running. The operation of DOSBox requires rudimentary knowledge of command line tools. However, you can always call up a short introduction and the help function each time you start it, and there are excellent instructions on the project website. There is also an alphabetically sorted list of supported games at www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php. Setting up DOSBox and mounting the necessary drives For the sake of clarity, install DOSBox in a newly created directory called Oldies on your hard drive “C:\” and create another folder called DOSSoft in which you’ll later store your games and applications. When naming folders, please note that DOSBox, like MS-DOS itself, abbreviates all names that are longer than eight characters. As you’ll have to type the folder names into the command line later, you should therefore avoid names that are too long. For our article, we first want to run the MS-DOS game Shadowlands (1992), which we still have the original 3.5-inch floppy disc for, under DOSBox. Next, install Windows 3.1 from the original floppy discs and install the graphics program Aldus Photostyler (1991) – available on four 3.5-inch floppy discs – and an image of Microsoft Works (1988). The most important command in DOSBox is mount. You use it to provide the drives and folders that you’ll need later to install and start your software. The dir command shows you the contents of a directory, for example the floppy disc of the game Shadowland (1992).Foundry To read the media, use a USB floppy drive that is mounted in DOSBox, i.e. make it available to the emulator as a physical drive. To do this, start the program and type for the USB floppy drive mount A A:\ -t floppy This preserves the drive’s letter A. The “-t” and the subsequent designation stand for the drive type that is mounted. The drive letter is capitalized. Otherwise, upper and lower case is not important. If the mount was successful, a corresponding message appears. Please be patient, however, as the process may take a few seconds. Important: Every time you exit DOSBox, you must remount your drives. In addition, the contents of the mounted drives and folders are not updated. So if you copy new files into a mounted directory, you must remove it with mount -u : and then remount it. By the way: If you still have programs on 5.25-inch floppy discs, installation can be difficult or even impossible. We did not find any external drives for this in our research, and the current mainboards do not have the controllers for used internal devices. So if you want to use a program that originally comes on 5.25-inch floppy discs, you have to get the ISO from the Internet. But more on this later. Running games from 3.5-inch discs under MS-DOS The fantasy role-playing game Shadowlands was released in 1992 for MS-DOS, Amiga and Atari, and we want to run it from the original 3.5-inch floppy disc in DOSBox. After mounting our floppy drive as described above, we must do the same with our installation directory. So we type mount C C:\Oldies\DOSSoft – the folder now has the drive letter “C:” -, then change the drive letter with A: to the floppy drive and install Shadowlands using the command install A: C: into our game folder. A “SHADOW” folder is automatically created. The message “Install Complete” appears as confirmation, and we switch to the next folder with C: to automatically switch to the SHADOW folder. With dir to display the contents and finally start our game with shadow. The Lucas Arts adventure game The Dig was distributed on a CD in 1995. The game can still be started and played directly from this disc in DOSBox. To do this, we mount the external drive, change to the directory of The Dig and execute the start file. Foundry By the way: If there are several subfolders, the cd command is used to change the subfolder manually. You can go one level higher with cd . (two dots). After starting Shadowlands, select the resolution, i.e. whether we want VGA with 640 x 480 pixels or EGA with 640 x 350 pixels. We prefer the “newer” VGA. Shadowlands then starts with sound output and lets us create a hero for our epic adventure. Conveniently, we can use the mouse, as DOSBox can provide this as well as the keyboard. While you’re in an emulated game, the mouse and keyboard are disabled for your “real” PC. You must then exit the game or briefly interrupt it with Ctrl-Alt-Del to restore functionality. If you then want to switch back to the game, simply click with the mouse in the relevant window. By the way: If you want to install an old game from CD, mount the corresponding drive with mount E E:\ -t cdrom whereby the drive retains the letter E. Then switch to it with E:, display the contents with dir to find the setup file and then execute it. Proceed in the same way if a game can be started directly from CD. Then run the start file instead of the installer. Installing Windows 3.1 from disc or image on DOSBox Next, we want to install Windows 3.1 from our seven 3.5-inch floppy discs under DOSBox. To do this, mount our floppy drive and the installation folder as described above. With dir to display the contents of the first floppy disc and then start the installation with setup The familiar screen appears and you can run through the installation. Change the discs when the installation wizard prompts you to do so. The data is automatically stored in your installation directory in a (new) folder called WINDOWS. To start the operating system, mount this folder as drive F, for example, with mount F C:\Oldies\DOSSoft\Windows mount, then change to the directory with F: and start Windows 3.1 with win to start it. To return to DOSBox, click on “File” and “Exit Windows” in Windows 3.1. You can even install Windows 3.1 in DOSBox using the original discs or an image of them and then use other programs in it. Today, installation via image only takes a few seconds – no comparison with the numerous floppy disc changes in the past. Foundry Caution: Older floppy discs in particular may no longer be readable! In this case, you can alternatively obtain an image of the desired program from the Internet. Remember, however, that you cannot legally use the software without a valid serial number! In the case of Windows 3.1, for example, we found what we were looking for at winworldpc.com. After downloading and unpacking the ZIP file, move the six disc images to a newly created folder called Win31, which you then move to your installation directory. Also unpack the IMG files so that all installation files are in one folder. Now mount the directory as drive E with mount E C:\Oldies\DOSSoft\Win31 then change to the directory with E: and carry out the installation with setup. As with the installation via floppy discs, a folder “WINDOWS” is created, which you must mount in order to install from it with win to start the operating system. Running applications in DOSBox under Windows 3.1 To install a program under Windows 3.1, you’ll need to store the installation files in a folder to which we have access under Windows 3.1. This is the case for your installation directory, so create a folder called Aldus for Aldus Photostyler and copy the files from the Aldus discs into it. Under DOSBox, change to the (newly) mounted drive “C:” and make sure that the folder is also available. Then start Windows 3.1 in DOSBox and open the “File Manager” in the “Main Group” folder. The Office predecessor Microsoft Works (1988) included a word processor, a spreadsheet and a database and can still be installed under Windows 3.1 in DOSBox without any problems. It’s also easy to use.Foundry Find your “Aldus” folder in the “C:” drive, and then open it. Start the installation with the “pssetup.exe” file. Then close the file manager using the button of the same name and find Aldus Photostyler in its own folder. Double-click on the icon to start the application. Next, to install the Microsoft Works 2.0 image proceed in the same way as with the Windows installation: Download the ZIP file from winworldpc.com, unzip it into a previously created “Works” folder in your installation directory and unzip the eight disc images into it so that all the files are in the Works folder. Then remount the folder in DOSBox, start Windows 3.1 and open drive “C:” via the file manager as already described. In the “Works” folder, start the installation via the “setup.exe” file. Create disc images If you have software on original floppy discs and want to store their contents as securely as possible, you should create images of them. This is possible with the freeware Floppy Image, which you simply run via the exe file without installation. The program can create IMZ, IMG, and EXE files. You can create images of your floppy discs with the Floppy Image freeware. The old media are notorious for often causing difficulties when being read so this is a good way to protect your software and install it later.Foundry Click on “Browse” under “Read Floppy” in the program, specify the name, the storage location and the desired image format and click on “Save”. Now enter a description and start the process by clicking on “Start”. Read...

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