Python vs Perl vs Lua - speed comparison

I have written the base64 encoding algorithm in Perl, Python and Lua to compare the performance in basic arithmetic and file-io operations. Perl implementation was written a long time ago and it supposed to be a one liner. That's why the script looks so obfuscated:

Using ssmtp to send email notifications

I've been using ssmtp for a long time to send automatic notifications from all my embedded systems like routers or NASes and also to send anything from a command line to a desired email address. The program is only 8K (whereas mutt is 3.5M) but it can handle secure TLS/SSL connections to SMTP servers. Setup is very easy as only one file has to be adapted. Please read this tutorial to set the ssmtp up.

To make it easier to use I have written a bash script that handles email header creation and adds a simple command line interface:

Minimal Xubuntu Desktop installation

 

Edit: I strongly recommend to continue with the Xubuntu 13.10 installation because many steps described here are obsolete.

I spent a day building a minimum Xubuntu installation to avoid bloat-ware installed by default. I was installing Xubuntu on a small 16GB SSD that was used previously as an ExpressCache drive on Windows 7 and that's why I wanted to install minimum set of software for the Desktop to work.

As the basis for the system I've chosen Ubuntu 13.04 mini.iso. My first attempt was to install Debian Sid branch but software there is already outdated! And installing new software from experimental branch is not possible as apt-get would completely destroy installed Sid system.