- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Ongoing Collapse In PC Sales
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 18 May '16

18 May '16

PC unit shipments are down by a third on volumes of just a few years ago, while revenues have shrunk even more <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/18/pcmarket2016q1/>. Not sure if that includes tablets: not that it would probably help, nowadays...

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200GB MicroSD for $120nzd
by Chris McClimans 18 May '16

18 May '16

Not bad: http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-200GB-Micro-SDSDQUAN-200G-G4A/dp/B00V62… and they get cheaper as you get smaller, less than half that for 128GB. -chris

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Google Dorking
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 May '16

17 May '16

Fun search terms for finding documents that should never have been made public: <http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/05/google-dorking-when-pii-and-exploit…>.

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Raspberry Pi Zero gains camera support, keeps the $5 price
by Peter Reutemann 17 May '16

17 May '16

"When the Raspberry Pi Foundation launched the credit-card sized Zero, it stressed that the DIY computing board would not be as capable as the rest of the Pi family. But if there's one thing we've learned about the Raspberry Pi, it's that there's always room for improvement. Today, the Zero has received its first major hardware upgrade since its hugely successful launch in November: a camera connector. The new addition works very nicely with the two new Sony imaging modules announced last month and the board retains its $5 (£4) price." -- source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/05/16/raspberry-pi-zero-camera-module/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Open-Source VPU-Side Bootloader For Raspberry π
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 May '16

17 May '16

The Raspberry π has been open-source from the beginning in every respect except one: the earliest stages of booting are actually managed by the “VPU” graphics chip, not by the ARM CPU. And the bootloader has been a proprietary firmware blob with no source code available. What made it worse was that the VPU has control over the CPU, not the other way round. Now it looks like that may be changing <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Raspberry-Pi-Bootloader>.

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Using Intel’s Xeon Phi Under Linux
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 May '16

17 May '16

Some researchers at the Czech Technical University in Prague have been using an Intel Xeon Phi co-processor with Gentoo Linux, and have written up their experiences as a guide for others <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-Xeon-Phi-Gentoo>.

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YubiKey Replaces Open-Source Encryption With Proprietary Version
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 16 May '16

16 May '16

The latest version of the YubiKey no longer uses OpenPGP <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160515/02094934446/bad-news-two-factor-…>.

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Ubuntu 16.04 proves even an LTS release can live at Linux’s bleeding edge
by Peter Reutemann 16 May '16

16 May '16

'A disappointing trend has become clear to Linux users in recent years. Whenever Canonical offers a new Ubuntu Long Term Support (LTS) release, it tends to be conservative in nature. (See our Ubuntu 14.04 review, which earned a "Missing the boat on big changes" headline.) Apparently no one wants to try to support a brand new, potentially buggy piece of code for half a decade. The last few Ubuntu releases haven't been LTS rollouts, yet Vivid Vervet (15.04) and Wily Werewolf (15.10) also short-changed users in the way of new features. So when Canonical officially released the latest Ubuntu LTS version (Ubuntu 16.04 or Xenial Xerus) this spring, similar expectations loomed. Frankly, this could potentially be the most boring Ubuntu release to date. Thankfully, perception hasn't matched reality this time around for Ubuntu users. Ubuntu 16.04 is in fact the most exciting release Canonical has put out in recent memory. And after using it for the last few weeks, this may even be the best release Canonical has presented to date.' -- source: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/05/ubuntu-16-04-proves-e… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Raspbian Linux OS Gets Major Update, Adds Bluetooth Support to Pi 3
by Peter Reutemann 14 May '16

14 May '16

"The Raspberry Pi 3 was launched with built-in chip for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support, however, software support for Bluetooth was lacking until now. The drivers were there, but today's update to the Raspbian Linux distribution adds much-needed GUI tools to help you establish Bluetooth connections. Another cool addition is a new backup tool. There are other improvements as well including the mouse settings, and the ability to empty the wastebasket through right-clicking as seen below (yes, seriously). There is even a new shutdown dialog, something even casual users should notice." -- source: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/05/13/1740218 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Heart Surgery Stalled For Five Minutes Thanks To Errant Anti-Virus Scan
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 13 May '16

13 May '16

<https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160506/07161334360/heart-surgery-stalle…> "...the antivirus froze access to crucial data acquired during the heart catheterization. Unable to access real-time data, the app crashed spectacularly."

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Could someone help with setting up a computer with linux
by Michelle 13 May '16

13 May '16

Hi, My name's Michelle. I've been using Linux on and off for the last few years. If this has not been sent to your LUG mailing list (if you have one) could you please send it to that or to all the people in your LUG please? I'm looking for someone who would help me set up a computer with linux on it. I had a Dell on which I set up Puppy with no problem whatsoever. The computer died and so then I took the puppy distro and the other disto I'd bought (can't remember what) and tried to install them on 2 older computers I had but it didn't work. I don't know why, maybe it was because one of the distros was on a stick and not compatible or maybe both computer hard drives were stuffed? After that I bought a mini-pc (I think it was supposed to run linux) but it didn't work at all. Then I bought a tablet but after a month or two it stopped working or pretty much? Stopped working. So I just used a phone for about a year and last year bought a brand new Toshiba laptop. The problem with this was two fold: 1. It was a laptop. 2. It was a Toshiba (oh how I hate Toshiba) I had known that not all computers were readily compatible with linux but after my easy experience with the Dell I wasn't too concerned. I bought two linux distros on different media and hoped/assumed? that something would work – it didn't. I bought another say 2 or 3 distros and managed to get the Mint to install on this Toshiba. It wasn't until after this annoying endeavor that I found out online that: - laptops are less compatible than desktops with linux and that - Toshiba out of the maybe top 6 or 8 computer manufacturers is consistantly about the least compatible with linux ( I HATE TOSHIBA) I don't happen to have a few spear thousand dollars sitting around to enable me to buy a computer and try and set it up with the distros I want, find it dosen't work, buy another computer, find it doesn't work, buy another and finally find one that works with the distros I want. So I am sending this message to basically all the Linux users groups in NZ and hoping someone can help me set up a computer with the two linux distros I want. I don't know how that would work. Maybe someone is about to buy a new computer and can try these distros before they put theirs on, maybe someone has a partition on their computer that is spare and can try it there, maybe they own a computer shop or work in a computer shop or at a university or polytech with computers or computer parts around. So for anyone who may be willing to help me here is what I would like: - a desktop (not the modern ones that are a computer plus other thing/s but just a computer - not a toshiba - Whonix to run on top of Qubes. Whonix is great for anonimity and Qubes is designed for security/safety. - I have a DrayTek vigor 120 modem. I connect it via DSL. When looking into whonix I read that it is complex to configure and setup, so I was hoping that you might have such a modem or access to one and set it up with whonix and then tell me how you did it. - I don't want the computer to come with wifi or bluetooth or any similar thing. I don't want it just not running, I don't want it there at all. - I'm wanting to install 3 old encyclopedias. I was reading about the new versions online and people were recommending old ones. I've bought Encarta 2004, 2001 and Encyclopaedia Britannica '98. To run them on I've bought Windows 98 second edition and Windows NT (first edition?). If you have or could borrow these windows OS could you see if you could get them running in whonix or qubes? - One or both of the encyclopedias need 2 DVD players so I'd like at least 2 DVD players with one being a recorder. - I'm not looking for a high end computer. As long as it will play youtube, that's fast enough. BUT I would appreciate hearing any recommendation about if I just add such and such for $100 or $150 it would go much faster. I'd like 500GB hard drive at least and I've been recommended to get 8GB RAM at least. I wouldn't buy the computer off you but rather if you could tell me what computer/computer parts worked, I'd pay up to $150 for the info. If 10 different people told me what worked of course I couldn't pay 10 different people $150. I am sending this to: the wlug, Glen Ogilvie at nelg(a)linuxsolutions.co.nz in Auckland, the Welly LUG through hugh(a)davenport.net.nz, nzlug(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz and Wellington LUG through jethro.carr(a)jethrocarr.com. If you know of any active LUG that I have missed or anyone else that might be willing to assist me could you please pass this onto them? My email is michelle400(a)orcon.net.nz. If this is posted to a mailing list (I've never used one before) and I don't reply in a week could you get back to me on my email? Thank you to anyone willing to help Michelle Gorringe.

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BitKeeper Becomes Open-Source
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 10 May '16

10 May '16

BitKeeper was the distributed version-control system that Linus Torvalds and the other kernel developers were using over a decade ago. It was a proprietary product, but the Linux folk were allowed use of it for no charge, under a licence that prohibited reverse-engineering, and that obligated them to uprade to newer versions with whatever new licence terms the company wanted to impose. It was a stoush over this reverse-engineering prohibition that led to BitMover giving notice it was cancelling this agreement, which in turn led to Torvalds creating Git. And the rest, as they say, is history. <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=BitKeeper-Open-Source>

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Debian Dropping Support For Older CPUs
by Peter Reutemann 09 May '16

09 May '16

'The Debian project supports a wide range of hardware architectures, including 32-bit x86 CPUs. Changes are happening in Debian's development branches which will make older versions of the 32-bit architecture obsolete. Ben Hutchings provides the details: "Last year it was decided to increase the minimum CPU features for the i386 architecture to 686-class in the Stretch release cycle. This means dropping support for 586-class and hybrid 586/686 processors. (Support for 486-class processors was dropped, somewhat accidentally, in Squeeze.) This was implemented in the Linux kernel packages starting with Linux 4.3, which was uploaded to Unstable in December last year. In case you missed that change, GCC for i386 has recently been changed to target 686-class processors and is generating code that will crash on other processors. Any such systems still running Testing or Unstable will need to be switched to run Stable (Jessie)."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/05/09/028259 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Leading-Edge Technology ... Or Not
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 07 May '16

07 May '16

To service the McLaren F1 supercar, McLaren needs a Compaq LTE 5280 laptop which hasn’t been manufactured in about 20 years <http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/3/11576032/mclaren-f1-compaq-laptop-maintena…>. The laptop has a special CA (“Conditional-Access”) card, and "The CA card is an interface between the laptop software (which is DOS-based) and the car." .. the CA card was used as custom hardware as part of an integrated system for security and copy protection. In other words, this is part of a system to ensure that nobody but McLaren can access the car software. Their attempt at vendor lock-in has led to vendor lock-in being imposed on them.

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embedded projects
by rowan schischka 06 May '16

06 May '16

there is about five weeks of lectures left at uni so looking to get some things together now due to international shipping delays. does anyone want to share shipping costs on an intel curie? http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/do-it-yourself/arduino-101.html I would also appreciate some buying advice. there are a number of retailers but the cheapest one only sells instore in north america. I also need to purchase a small suitable rechargeable battery. also where is the maker scene at waikato? -- Rowan Schischka

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UK Spooks Say: Don’t Keep Resetting Your Passwords!?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 06 May '16

06 May '16

On World Password Day (who knew?), the Communications-Electronics Security Group (CESG), part of GCHQ, is telling sysadmins not to force their users to keep resetting their passwords <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/05/stop_resetting_your_password_says_u…>. The result, according to CESG, is that we are more likely to write our password down. Or forget the password altogether, forcing service desks to reset them, chewing up time and resources. So what was wrong with writing them down, again? You know how to keep your cash, credit cards and house keys safe; why can’t you keep your written passwords in the same place? The last three paragraphs of the article are, um, worth reading carefully...

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Microsoft unveils new effort to make its documentation great again ... or does it?
by rowan schischka 06 May '16

06 May '16

>Just one problem: while Microsoft itself uses the term ?open sourced? I think you will find that Microsoft will make its own definition of the word 'open'. for example for years they have been calling their bulk license purchasing plan the 'Open License' (OLP, OLV, OVS, etc). Their Open is not GPL. They want hobbyists and students to tinker with their products and if you're not making money they wont bother you. for example they give charities and schools dirt cheap pricing because they just want everyone to use their products. Their bottom line is; if you make money off our product we want our cut of that to return to our investors.

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TLS Proxies: Insecure By Design
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 06 May '16

06 May '16

A “TLS Proxy” short-circuits the security of TLS/SSL connections so it can do deep-packet inspection on encrypted connections. This kind of thing always seemed dodgy. And now it turns out that is so for good reason: these devices are full of holes <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/05/tls_proxies_are_insecure/>. The paper mentioned there concentrated on consumer/retail devices. But it’s unlikely ones designed for business/enterprise use are going to fare any better...

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Unity 8 And Snaps Are Conquering The Ubuntu Desktop After Ubuntu 16.10
by Peter Reutemann 05 May '16

05 May '16

"Today is the last day of the Ubuntu Online Summit 2016, and the Ubuntu developers discussed the future of the Ubuntu Desktop for Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety Yak) and beyond. It looks like Snaps (Snappy) and Unity 8 with Mir are slowly conquering the Ubuntu Desktop, at least according to Canonical's Will Cooke, Ubuntu Desktop Manager. Work has already begun on pushing these new and modern technologies to the Ubuntu Desktop, as Ubuntu 16.04 LTS has just received support for installing Snaps from the Ubuntu Snappy Store. Canonical's Will Cooke has mentioned the fact that the Unity 7 desktop enters its twilight years, which means that it gets fewer features and it's being reduced to only critical and OEM work. This is because Unity 8 desktop is getting all the attention now, and it will become the default desktop session somewhere after Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety Yak)." -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/05/05/2038256 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Microsoft unveils new effort to make its documentation great again ... or does it?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 05 May '16

05 May '16

<http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/05/microsoft-unveils-new…>: Some teams within Microsoft, such as those developing ASP.NET and .NET Core, had already open sourced their documentation. On the new site, all documentation will be handled similarly. Every article will have an "edit" button enabling changes and fixes to be proposed. These changes will be handled as pull requests on GitHub, with the documentation itself using the popular Markdown markup language. Just one problem: while Microsoft itself uses the term “open sourced” <https://docs.microsoft.com/teamblog/introducing-docs-microsoft-com/>: All documentation on docs.microsoft.com is open sourced and designed to allow community contributions. Nowhere does it actually spell out what the copyright licence is. Clicking on the “Terms of Use” link takes you here <https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/copyright/defaul…>, where it says Personal and Non-Commercial Use Limitation Unless otherwise specified, the Services are for your personal and non-commercial use. You may not modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information, software, products or services obtained from the Services.

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Proprietary Software Riddled With Old Open-Source Vulnerabilities
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 04 May '16

04 May '16

No big news, really: closed-source software, even if it is built on open-source components, will inevitably accumulate long-standing bugs that never get fixed. And sometimes the bugs have security implications. This report from Black Duck uses the term “commercial” software, but it’s quite clear they mean “proprietary” software, i.e. closed-source <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/04/commercial_software_chokkas_with_an…>. The telling phrase in the report is “visibility into the components that are included in their code base is required”. How would you *not* have such visibility, if the source of your product is open? A lot of companies may hate copyleft licences, but at least they force a level of transparency that makes this kind of thing much harder to cover up.

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Hard Drive Warranties Are Now Specifying Data-Write Limits?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 04 May '16

04 May '16

It used to be that warranties for hard drives were for some specified number of years, it didn’t matter how much load they were under (compare SSDs). But it seems that is now changing, as capacities are pushed to the point where ever more creative strategies are needed to get the devices to work at all <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/03/when_did_hard_drives_get_workload_r…>.

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The Tao Of Programming
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 04 May '16

04 May '16

<http://www.mit.edu/~xela/tao.html>: 4.3 The Master was explaining the nature of Tao to one of his novices. "The Tao is embodied in all software -- regardless of how insignificant," said the Master. "Is the Tao in a hand-held calculator?" asked the novice. "It is," came the reply. "Is the Tao in a video game?" asked the novice. "It is even in a video game," said the Master. "Is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?" asked the novice. The Master coughed and shifted his position slightly. "The lesson is over for today," he said.

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Aging and bloated OpenSSL is purged of 2 high-severity bugs
by Peter Reutemann 03 May '16

03 May '16

"Maintainers of the OpenSSL cryptographic library have patched high-severity holes that could make it possible for attackers to decrypt login credentials or execute malicious code on Web servers. The updates were released Tuesday morning for both versions 1.0.1 and 1.0.2 of OpenSSL, which a large portion of the Internet relies on to cryptographically protect sensitive Web and e-mail traffic using the transport layer security protocol. OpenSSL advisories labeled the severity of both vulnerabilities "high," meaning the updates fixing them should be installed as soon as possible. The fixes bring the latest supported versions to 1.0.1t and 1.0.2h." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/05/aging-and-bloated-openssl-is-purged… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Huge number of sites imperiled by critical image-processing vulnerability
by Peter Reutemann 03 May '16

03 May '16

"A large number of websites are vulnerable to a simple attack that allows hackers to execute malicious code hidden inside booby-trapped images. The vulnerability resides in ImageMagick, a widely used image-processing library that's supported by PHP, Ruby, NodeJS, Python, and about a dozen other languages. Many social media and blogging sites, as well as a large number of content management systems, directly or indirectly rely on ImageMagick-based processing so they can resize images uploaded by end users." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/05/easily-exploited-bug-exposes-huge-n… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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fast good unlimited internet
by Ian Young 03 May '16

03 May '16

As per the subject it sounds great. Alas this is New Zealand, home of the rapacious duopoly, and one cable outwards. So you won't be looking at 'Spark' (aka former monoply Telecom) or global corp Vodafone. The fast thing has got a bit better since the powers that be finally fibred up at taxayer expense at least in part. Or so I hear. Ultra fast is probably an exaggeration compared with benchmark nations. Long white cloud has some issues with population density and geography. However it sounds like there may be a local option. Tauranga is an opulent region so there must be some money in it for small providers. Until a bigger fish appears bent on acquisition.

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Art Or Spam?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 May '16

03 May '16

A bot has been hanging around 3D-printing site Thingiverse, generating random and bizarre/surreal remixes of objects posted to the site by others <http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/05/that-time-a-bot-invaded-thingiverse-…>. The creators of the bot recently showed some of the results at an exhibition. Is “confrontational art” just another term for “trolling”? Opinions about the bot’s contribution to the community seem mixed...

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Tauranga ISPs
by Chris McClimans 03 May '16

03 May '16

Any suggestions for fast, good, unlimited broadband? Maybe with a chance for static IPs?

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Ubuntu Quietly Raises Install Image Size to 2GB
by Peter Reutemann 02 May '16

02 May '16

'You can expect to see a larger Ubuntu desktop installation image by the time the Yakkety Yak yips out. Developers are currently debating the exact size limits that official flavours will adhere to, with some favouring a 2GB hard limit while others are looking to go full-DVD size at 4.7GB+. Canonical's Steven Langasek explains the plans for Ubuntu 16.10 Yakkety Yak: "I've finally gone ahead and bumped the limit on Ubuntu desktop images to 2GB for a minimally-sized USB stick; this gives us a new limit that I think we will care about, while also leaving us headroom so we're not constantly fighting it back down to the line." The Ubuntu ISO is supposed to be around the 1GB mark but has creeped past this in recent releases. The current Ubuntu 16.04 LTS desktop .iso is 1.4GB.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/05/02/1035248 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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From Paintbox to PC: How London became the home of Hollywood VFX
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 01 May '16

01 May '16

Nice article about the video-effects business, from the Quantel Paintbox to present-day CGI <http://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2016/05/how-london-became-the-home-of…>, from Ars Technica UK. Betting on Moore’s Law: Framestore tried to predict when technology would allow them to charge what their clients were willing to pay, and adjust the business accordingly. It was a risky, yet incredibly shrewd plan—and it paid off. This same company went on to make “Walking With Dinosaurs”. Moving away from the legendary SGI workstations of the early 1990s, towards more commodity hardware nowadays: Today, VFX studios are powered by Intel processors, Nvidia graphics cards (all the VFX studios I spoke to used Nvidia graphics cards, citing reasons of driver stability), and Linux operating systems. These parts are just as accessible to consumers as they are to businesses: one only need look at the rise of YouTube and high-quality homemade videos to see just how far the commoditisation of VFX technology has come. But those Nvidia cards are mainly used for on-screen previews, not the final renders: Like the rest of the VFX industry, Pixar is yet to introduce GPUs into its render farms, preferring instead to use them in local or farm-based workstations for quick and dirty lighting previews. It faces the same issue as everyone else: GPUs simply don't have enough memory. Each frame in a final render requires as much 64GB of system memory, with films like Avatar pushing 128GB. The highest-end Nvidia graphics card comes equipped with just 12GB of memory. The article has a strange reluctance to use the term “renderer”. It describes Arnold as “a cutting edge lighting program” and Renderman as “a way to flesh out an existing 3D model or animation with interactive lighting and shading”. One quote I found revealing: At most VFX studios the final render is done at around 2K resolution. It doesn’t qualify this by saying this is for TV work, not for film work. So is 2K enough even for film work? And just like when they moved from TV to film, studios like MPC, Framestore, and Pixar are waiting for technology to catch up with their creative ambitions, even if they're not all convinced 4K is the answer. Meanwhile, some people are managing 4K renders <https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=blender+foundation+4k> just fine...

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Re: [wlug] Intel?s Atom Chips Circling The Plughole (Lawrence D'Oliveiro)
by rowan schischka 01 May '16

01 May '16

>I wondered--still wonder--why Intel doesn?t just make ARM chips. It?s got to be more profitable than the billions it has wasted on developing Atom processors that nobody seems to want. I believe the Atom was Intel's competition to the AMD geode which is I think is still available. I wouldnt say no one wants them. Microsoft has been keen on them since Windows RT failed. Arm is an old competitor to Intel; remember Acorn computers? I dont think they would attract investors if they were buying licenses from ARM. Seems logical they are dropping the Atom in favour of their new IoT chips. Im more interested in what Samsung is doing with its Artik 12x12mm SOC, an arm you can fit in your undies! -- Rowan Schischka

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Intel’s Atom Chips Circling The Plughole
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Apr '16

30 Apr '16

The next, “Broxton”, generation of Intel’s Atom chips have been cancelled, along with future SoCs incorporating Atom cores <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/04/30/intel_atoms_cancelled/>. I can remember when the first generation of Atom chips were announced, back in 2008 or so with the debut of “netbooks”--remember them? (/me glances at an old Asus Eee 701 sitting within arm’s reach.) Intel claimed it was two years ahead of ARM at that point, and able to offer the “full Internet experience” (which was code for “can run Flash videos”). That “two years ahead” claim went quiet after a few months... I wondered--still wonder--why Intel doesn’t just make ARM chips. It’s got to be more profitable than the billions it has wasted on developing Atom processors that nobody seems to want.

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Intel’s Clear Linux Is Making Waves
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Apr '16

26 Apr '16

Intel has brought out “Clear Linux”, incorporating many optimizations for speed. Now the Fedora folks are looking into these speedups, with a view to making them more mainstream <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Fedora-Looks-At-Clear>.

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Cinnamon 3.0 Desktop Environment Tagged for Linux Mint 18, Here's What's New
by Peter Reutemann 25 Apr '16

25 Apr '16

"With updated dependencies on board and numerous bug fixes, Cinnamon 3.0 comes with multiple new features, among which we can mention an option that lets users display or hide the favbox in the Menu applet, the addition of new default application buttons, as well as support for displaying the panel-launchers actions. The Sound settings have been rewritten in Python, and there's a custom page that shows users when there's no input devices available or if any apps are now playing. Additionally, the Sound panel received a custom settings box that should prevent the sound effects dialog to be opened in a very tall window." -- source: http://www.linuxtoday.com/developer/cinnamon-3.0-desktop-environment-tagged… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Mozilla Seeks New Home For Email Client Thunderbird
by Peter Reutemann 25 Apr '16

25 Apr '16

"In a report commissioned by Mozilla to explore the next home for Thunderbird, two potential new hosts have been offered: the Software Freedom Conservancy (host to git, boost, QEMU, and a host of other projects) and The Document Foundation (home of LibreOffice). At the same time, the report discusses completely uncoupling Thunderbird from the rest of the Mozilla codebase and bringing in a dedicated technical architect to chart the software's roadmap. Given that the two named organizations are already on board with taking Thunderbird under their wing, is this a new lease on life for the email program Mozilla put out to pasture four years ago?" -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/04/25/1949239 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Still On For Tonight?
by Chris McClimans 25 Apr '16

25 Apr '16

I noted that we seem to be scheduled, even though it is a public holiday today. I was planning to attend, but wanted to make sure it was still on. I have some fun org-babel-async stuff I use that might be fun to share. (vim users might enjoy looking at spacemacs.org as well) Cheers, -chris

2 2

Docker-Online-Meeting tomorrow 9am
by Chris McClimans 24 Apr '16

24 Apr '16

http://www.meetup.com/Docker-Online-Meetup/events/230475901/ Wouldn't mind meeting in person if anyone is up for it. Cheers, -chris

1 0

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Available To Download; Mozilla To Offer 0-Day Firefox Releases Via Snaps
by Peter Reutemann 22 Apr '16

22 Apr '16

"The latest, and hopefully, the greatest version of Ubuntu is now available to download. On the sidelines, Mozilla today announced the availability of future releases of its popular Firefox web browser in the snap package format for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. Earlier today, Canonical unleashed the final release of the highly anticipated Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system, bringing users a great set of new features and improvements. Also today, it looks like Canonical has renewed its partnership with Mozilla to offer Firefox as the default web browser on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and upcoming releases of the Linux kernel-based operating systems. As part of the new partnership, Mozilla is committed to distributing future versions of Firefox as a snap package. Having Firefox distributed in the snap format means that you'll have 0-day releases in Ubuntu 16.04. Yes, just like Windows and Mac OS X, users are enjoying their 0-day releases of Mozilla Firefox and don't have to wait for package maintainers of a particular GNU/Linux distribution to update the software in the main repositories. For Mozilla, having Firefox as a snap package means that they'll be able to continually optimize it for Ubuntu." -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/04/21/1940213 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 2

meeting next Monday
by Ian Young 21 Apr '16

21 Apr '16

If there is time available I could talk about a distro called LXLE I have been looking at lately. ~ Ian Y

2 1

Tauranga Makerspace
by Chris McClimans 20 Apr '16

20 Apr '16

http://onurcelebi.com/blog/how-a-diode-changed-my-life/ I've been working with electronics over the past year, including making a keyboard with batteries, and charging ports, etc for use with various embedded systems, usb, and bluetooth. Reading this article actually helped me solve some of the charging and power problems, and makes me realize I don't know much about electronics. I'm looking forward to getting together with other folks who solder, and see what happens. (Still trying to find housing, but I'm hanging around @basestationnz most mornings)

1 0

Intel To Sack “Up To 12,000” Staff
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 19 Apr '16

19 Apr '16

<http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/04/intel-announces-evolution-away-from…> ...the firings were meant to "accelerate [Intel's] evolution from a PC company to one that powers the cloud and billions of smart, connected computing devices." And yet they still insist on trying to push unpopular x86 chips on these markets, instead of the ARM chips that everybody else wants to use.

1 0

topics for next monday?
by Peter Reutemann 19 Apr '16

19 Apr '16

Hi everyone At the moment, we don't have anything lined up for next Monday. Any ideas for topics? New distros or applications uncovered? Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

5 8

Cybersecurity Report From 1970
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 19 Apr '16

19 Apr '16

<http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/04/flashback-declassified-1970-dod-cyb…> The Ware Report included a list of conclusions and recommendations that (based on recent data breaches and security failures) many have failed to take to heart. “Plus ça change”, as they say...

1 0

The Ars guide to building a Linux router from scratch
by rowan schischka 19 Apr '16

19 Apr '16

> What about a MIPS-oriented distro like OpenWRT? I have never tested OpenWRT. I would think that the strength of openWRT would be in its web interface and it has been customised for specific hardware. Both my embedded devices are capable of running debian and I have no need for a web interface. I think you would use OpenWrt if you already have the hardware for it.

1 0

Re: [wlug] The Ars guide to building a Linux router from scratch
by Roger Hardy 18 Apr '16

18 Apr '16

I run several instances of pfsense on both pcengines APU boards and as Xen VM's, and I would use that over pretty much anything these days. Good throughput, easy to manage, and lots of features. In my case this was because my iptables script was getting to be handful as well as IPSec and OpenVPN installations that are now much easier to manage and monitor. Industrial strength magic for home router price from my point of view.

1 0

The Ars guide to building a Linux router from scratch
by rowan schischka 18 Apr '16

18 Apr '16

A few years ago I built an ap on a pc engines alix board. Of course the choice of wireless card is going to be the deciding factor in performance as the alix's cpu and ram is higher than most wireless appliances. My performance was good but not as good as similar priced appliances. I am not using it atm because I'm using a skinny 4g modem. If I needed a wireless ap in the future I would buy an appliance over built due to cost, time, and performance. What you loose out on appliance ap is software and security upgrades. Also the coolest thing with building a router based on debian is you can install anything you want. But if you want to install proxy server, file server and virus scanners don't go for an embedded chip, get a proper pc with decent cpu and hard drive. And lastly I tested the original raspberry pi as an ap. Throughput was terrible. About 1mb per second file transfer speed using rsync, my understanding is that is due to everything running through its USB controller

2 1

The Ars guide to building a Linux router from scratch
by Peter Reutemann 17 Apr '16

17 Apr '16

"After finally reaching the tipping point with off-the-shelf solutions that can't match increasing speeds available, we recently took the plunge. Building a homebrew router turned out to be a better proposition than we could've ever imagined. With nearly any speed metric we analyzed, our little DIY kit outpaced routers whether they were of the $90- or $250-variety." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/04/the-ars-guide-to-building-a-linux-ro… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Will Bring Snap Packages For Up-To-Date, More Secure Apps
by Peter Reutemann 13 Apr '16

13 Apr '16

"Canonical, Ubuntu's parent company, has announced that Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Long Term Support) will come with support for the snap packaging format and tools. As a result, end users will get more up-to-date apps, something that proved tricky in the past due âoethe complexity of packaging and providing updates,â which prevented updates to some apps being delivered. Snaps will make the Ubuntu platform more unified, developers will more easily be able to create software for PC, Server, Mobile, or IoT devices. The other major benefit of snaps is that that they're more secure than software installed through deb packages. Snaps are isolated from the rest of the system, meaning that malware packaged with a snap won't be able to affect your Ubuntu installation." -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/04/13/1627204 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

The Future of Firefox is Chrome
by Peter Reutemann 13 Apr '16

13 Apr '16

"Mozilla seems to think a new future for Firefox [lies in Chrome]. While they claim that it is only about new ways of browser design, it is also an open secret that they are running into more and more problems lately with web compatibility. [Senior VP Mark Mayo caused a storm by revealing that the Firefox team is working on a next-generation browser that will run on the same technology as Google's Chrome browser. The project, named Tofino, will not use Firefox's core technology, Gecko, but will instead plumb for Electron, which is built on the technology behind Google's rival Chrome browser, called Chromium.] The benefit of Chromium/Electron would be that it is a solution they could pull much faster forward than their own Servo plans [Servo being Mozilla's Rust-based web engine]. What the real outcome of all this will be, only Mozilla knows so far. But inside Mozilla there is much resistance against such plans... Interesting times are ahead." -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/04/12/2025215 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Yes, Badlock bug was shamelessly hyped, but the threat is real
by Peter Reutemann 13 Apr '16

13 Apr '16

"In a nutshell, Badlock refers to a defect in a security component contained in just about every version of the Windows and Linux operating systems. Known as the Distributed Computing Environment/Remote Procedure Call (DCE/RPC), it's used by administrators around the world to access the most valuable asset on any Windows network—the Active Directory, which acts as a network's digital security guard, allowing, for instance, an organization's CFO to log in to an accounting server, while locking out the janitor or the groundskeeper. Because Active Directories enforce security policies and contain password data and other crucial credentials, they are almost always the first asset hackers access once they gain a limited foothold into a targeted network." "An Active Directory infrastructure with a Samba server as a domain member is vulnerable to this flaw," an advisory published Tuesday by Linux distributor Red Hat warned. "A man-in-the-middle attacker could intercept DCE/RPC traffic between the domain member and the domain controller to impersonate the client and get the same privileges as the authenticated user account. The attacker could view or modify secrets within an AD database, including user password hashes, or shutdown critical services." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/04/yes-badlock-bug-was-shamelessly-hyp… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Linux-On-Windows Performance
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Apr '16

11 Apr '16

Some initial benchmarks on the Linux layer that Microsoft has added to Windows 10: <http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=windows-10-lxcore&num=1>. Summary: CPU performance seems quite good, while I/O is terrible.

1 0

Popular Firefox Add-Ons Open Millions To New Attack
by Peter Reutemann 09 Apr '16

09 Apr '16

'Security researchers claim that NoScript and other popular Firefox add-on extensions are exposing millions of end users to a new type of vulnerability which, if exploited, can allow an attacker to execute malicious code and steal sensitive data. The vulnerability resides in the way Firefox extensions interact with each other. From a report on SlashGear, "The problem is that these extensions do not run sandboxed and are able to actually access data or functions from other extensions that are also enabled. This could mean, for example, that a malware masquerading as an add-on can access the functionality of one add-on to get access to system files or the ability of another add-on to redirect users to a certain web page, usually a phishing scam page. In the eyes of Mozilla's automated security checks, the devious add-on is blameless as it does nothing out of the ordinary."' 'Firefox's VP of Product acknowledged the existence of the aforementioned vulnerability. "Because risks such as this one exist, we are evolving both our core product and our extensions platform to build in greater security. The new set of browser extension APIs that make up WebExtensions, which are available in Firefox today, are inherently more secure than traditional add-ons, and are not vulnerable to the particular attack outlined in the presentation at Black Hat Asia. As part of our electrolysis initiative -- our project to introduce multi-process architecture to Firefox later this year -- we will start to sandbox Firefox extensions so that they cannot share code."' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/16/04/09/1758255 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Researchers Help Shut Down Spam Botnet That Enslaved 4, 000 Linux Machines
by Peter Reutemann 09 Apr '16

09 Apr '16

'A botnet that enslaved about 4,000 Linux computers and caused them to blast the Internet with spam for more than a year has finally been shut down. Sophisticated Mumblehard spamming malware flew under the radar for five years. Known as Mumblehard, the botnet was the product of highly skilled developers. It used a custom "packer" to conceal the Perl-based source code that made it run, a backdoor that gave attackers persistent access, and a mail daemon that was able to send large volumes of spam. Command servers that coordinated the compromised machines' operations could also send messages to Spamhaus requesting the delisting of any Mumblehard-based IP addresses that sneaked into the real-time composite blocking list, or CBL, maintained by the anti-spam service. "There was a script automatically monitoring the CBL for the IP addresses of all the spam-bots," researchers from security firm Eset wrote in a blog post published Thursday. "If one was found to be blacklisted, this script requested the delisting of the IP address. Such requests are protected with a CAPTCHA to avoid automation, but OCR (or an external service if OCR didn't work) was used to break the protection."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/04/09/1827238 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Developer Warns Of "Uncorrectable Freedom & Security Issues" For x86
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 05 Apr '16

05 Apr '16

Modern Intel and AMD x86 chips cannot even boot up without various pieces of locked-down proprietary binary firmware. Effectively this is an OS-within-an-OS, that retains ultimate control of the processor, regardless of what the owner of the machine might want. <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=x86-Uncorrectable-Freedom>

1 0

Microsoft Windows Linux Take 2
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Mar '16

30 Mar '16

From <http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/03/ubuntus-bash-and-linu…>: ...we've known for several months now is that the company has developed some Windows kernel components (lxcore.sys, lxss.sys, presumably standing for "Linux core" and "Linux subsystem," respectively) that support the major Linux kernel APIs. ... Microsoft is calling this the "Windows Subsystem for Linux" (WSL). ... Canonical has provided a system image containing the Ubuntu versions of the various command-line tools that are typically found in a Linux distribution. Our understanding is that these are not recompiled or ported versions of the programs (as are used in tools aiming to provide a Unix-like environment on Windows such as Cygwin) but instead unmodified programs. Microsoft is describing this in terms of providing a Linux-like command-line environment at the moment, but from what we can gather, there's little fundamental restriction to this, potentially opening the door to running a wide range of Linux programs natively on Windows. Absolutely nothing to do with the fact that tomorrow is April 1...

1 0

meeting on Monday
by Peter Reutemann 28 Mar '16

28 Mar '16

Hi everyone We have a WLUG meeting on Monday. Unfortunately, there won't be a demonstration of the Raspberry Pi 3 and I'm not sure about the Pine 64 either. http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/229051656/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

5 4

Red Hat Achieves 2 Billion USD In Annual Revenue
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 23 Mar '16

23 Mar '16

Red Hat has taken just 2 years to double its annual takings <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Red-Hat-Two-Billion>. I remember a senior executive saying some years ago that for every dollar of revenue they get, they take $10 away from their proprietary rivals. So their overall effect on the market is massively deflationary.

1 0

Oracle Versus PostgresQL
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 21 Mar '16

21 Mar '16

Looks like Russia’s Government departments are looking to move to PostgresQL instead of Oracle. In response, Oracle has released a document trying to point out all the problems with PostgresQL <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/21/oracle_fights_russian_software_poli…>. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you...

1 0

How to maintain my connection to squeeze
by Chris O'Halloran 12 Mar '16

12 Mar '16

Hi all, I have a server at work that is hacked and customized to bits to keep a wiki going using mediawiki [1] software including node.js [1a] binaries. It was a turneky [2] appliance based on Debian 6 or squeeze. It's work very well these past 6 or 7 years. It also runs a ruby on rails app clockingit.[3] I've installed the anaconda python distribution [4] on it and that is running fine. It was the only way to get python 3.4 running nicely with notebooks. A thing I've been tinkering with lately is the latex circuit package circuitikz [5] for my making nice circuit diagrams and another bit of ipython magics [6] allows you to insert these into your ipython notebooks. I know this keeps putting off the inevitable but I'd rather procrastinate further than rebuild the server. It seems squeeze has experienced some sort of migration to an LTS release even though officially it's not longer supported. The point is, I'd like to sudo apt-get install texlive-science but say it will have problems chris(a)wiki apt/sources.list.d$ sudo apt-get install texlive-science Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable distribution that some required packages have not yet been created or been moved out of Incoming. The following information may help to resolve the situation: The following packages have unmet dependencies: texlive-science : Depends: python2.7 but it is not going to be installed Depends: texlive-base (>= 2015) but it is not going to be installed Depends: texlive-latex-base (>= 2015) but it is not going to be installed Depends: tex-common (>= 6) but 2.08.1 is to be installed Depends: texlive-latex-recommended (>= 2015) but it is not going to be installed Depends: texlive-binaries (>= 2015.20160222.37495-1) but 2009-8 is to be installed E: Broken packages when I do sudo apt-get update Err http://cdn.debian.net squeeze/main amd64 Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 180.214.94.18 80] Err http://cdn.debian.net squeeze/contrib amd64 Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 180.214.94.18 80] Err http://cdn.debian.net squeeze/non-free amd64 Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 128.61.240.89 80] Fetched 39.3 kB in 7s (5257 B/s) W: There is no public key available for the following key IDs: 7638D0442B90D010 W: Failed to fetch http://cdn.debian.net/debian/dists/squeeze/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 180.214.94.18 80] W: Failed to fetch http://cdn.debian.net/debian/dists/squeeze/contrib/binary-amd64/Packages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 180.214.94.18 80] W: Failed to fetch http://cdn.debian.net/debian/dists/squeeze/non-free/binary-amd64/Packages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 128.61.240.89 80] So is seems I need to update the squeeze sources to still access the old repos. I'm nervous about upgrading because of all the customisations and don't wish to break things. Any clues on how I have have my server still able to download old packages. Cheers Chris [1] http://mediawiki.org/ [1a] https://nodejs.org/en/download/ [2] http://www.turnkeylinux.org/ [3] http://www.clockingit.com/ [4] https://www.continuum.io/downloads [5] http://www.texample.net/tikz/examples/circuitikz/ [6] https://github.com/mkrphys/ipython-tikzmagic

2 2

Former Microsoft CEO No Longer Negatively Attacks Linux
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Mar '16

11 Mar '16

Interview with Steve Ballmer linked from <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ballmer-Linux-Cancer-Free>: Fifteen years after calling the open-source operating system Linux a "cancer," former Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has softened his position. Speaking on Wednesday night at a dinner hosted by Fortune magazine, Ballmer said the position was right for the time, but the threat from Linux was now "in the rearview mirror." Which is why Microsoft is spending more effort than ever on Linux, no doubt...

1 0

Microsoft SQL Server For Linux?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 07 Mar '16

07 Mar '16

From <http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/03/sql-server-for-linux-…>: The announcement implies [one of] two things. Either there is a large number of Linux-using corporations out there that are desperate for SQL Server's feature set (as opposed to open source databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MaxDB, or the proprietary ones such as IBM's DB2 and, of course, Oracle's Oracle), or there is a large number of SQL Server-using organizations out there that are keen to ditch the cost of their Windows licenses but happy to continue to pay for their SQL Server licenses. Neither seems obvious to us. Nor to me...

1 0

Raspberry Pi 3
by William Mckee 02 Mar '16

02 Mar '16

Hello, Raspberry Pi 3 was just released. The highlights of the model: Raspberry Pi 3 - Model B Technical Specification Broadcom BCM2387 chipset 1.2GHz Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A53 802.11 bgn Wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.1 (Bluetooth Classic and LE) 1GB RAM 64 Bit CPU I think I am most excited about the 64 Bit CPU. What's also amazing is they have kept the same price as the Raspberry Pi 2 - 35 pounds. I'm happy with my Raspberry Pi 2 setup but keen to pick one of these up (still can't get a zero). Blog post: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-3-on-sale/ cheers, William.

3 7

LibreSSL Unaffected By DROWN
by Peter Reutemann 02 Mar '16

02 Mar '16

"The OpenBSD people forked and heavily cleaned up OpenSSL to create LibreSSL due to dissatisfaction with the maintainance of OpenSSL, culminating in the heartbleed bug. The emphasis has been on cleaning up the code and improving security, which includes removing things such as SSL2 which has fundamental security flaws. As a result, LibreSSL is not affected by the DROWN bug. LibreSSL is largely compatible with OpenSSL. The main exceptions are in the cases where programs use insecure functions removed from libreSSL, or require bug compatiblity with OpenSSL." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/16/03/02/1620221 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

SCO Is Undeniably, Reliably Dead
by Peter Reutemann 01 Mar '16

01 Mar '16

"On Friday, IBM and SCO filed an agreement with the US district court in Utah to accept a ruling of dismissal of the last remaining claims by SCO against IBM." -- source: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/03/01/154214 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

A Third of All HTTPS Websites Vulnerable To DROWN Attack
by Peter Reutemann 01 Mar '16

01 Mar '16

"The OpenSSL project has released versions 1.0.2g and 1.0.1s to address a high severity security issue known as the DROWN attack (CVE-2016-0800) which allows attackers to break HTTPS and steal encrypted information. In layman terms, the attack uses an improperly patched issue (from 1998) in SSL to attack websites using the more modern TLS protocol. Servers where admins use SSL and TLS are in danger. Additionally, servers where only TLS is used, but the admins are sharing the same certificate for other servers where they have SSL, are also vulnerable, since the attack targets RSA, employed in both SSL and TLS. The entire attack is also easy to carry out, costing only $440 on Amazon EC2." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/16/03/01/1743237 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Pi used in FM radio transmitters in Syria
by Ian Young 01 Mar '16

01 Mar '16

Hope this is of some interest - not a Pi application I have heard about hitherto. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35690688

1 0

OpenShot 2.0 Beta Is Out
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 29 Feb '16

29 Feb '16

Initial verdict on the results of the crowd-funded development: “The real winners here are Linux users who now have an editor that's on par with Apple's iMovie (even more powerful than recent versions of iMovie) and bears considerable resemblance to the industry-standard Final Cut Pro.” <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/29/openshot_2_review/>

2 1

Skype On Linux Is Broken
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Feb '16

26 Feb '16

Seems like the Linux version of Skype has lost the ability to connect with Skype on other platforms. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/25/linux_skype_outage_outrage/>

1 0

Linux On Windows?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 25 Feb '16

25 Feb '16

Microsoft has abandoned its “Astoria” project to allow Android apps to run essentially unmodified on Windows. <http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/02/microsoft-confirms-an…> Nevertheless, one interesting by-product of this effort remains: Tucked away inside the Windows 10 Insider Preview is a Linux-like operating system. The big question is what Microsoft is actually going to do with it.

1 0

Software Freedom Conservancy: Distributing Linux With ZFS Is Illegal
by Peter Reutemann 25 Feb '16

25 Feb '16

'Phoronix reports that Bradley M. Kuhn and Karen M. Sandler at the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFS) have posted a blog post today arguing that Canonical's plan to distribute Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" with support for the ZFS file system violates the Linux kernel's GPLv2 license. On February 18, Dustin Kirkland at Canonical wrote on his blog: "We at Canonical have conducted a legal review, including discussion with the industry's leading software freedom legal counsel, of the licenses that apply to the Linux kernel and to ZFS. And in doing so, we have concluded that we are acting within the rights granted and in compliance with their terms of both of those licenses...The CDDL cannot apply to the Linux kernel because zfs.ko is a self-contained file system module — the kernel itself is quite obviously not a derivative work of this new file system. And zfs.ko, as a self-contained file system module, is clearly not a derivative work of the Linux kernel but rather quite obviously a derivative work of OpenZFS and OpenSolaris. Equivalent exceptions have existed for many years, for various other stand alone, self-contained, non-GPL kernel modules. Our conclusion is good for Ubuntu users, good for Linux, and good for all of free and open source software." The SFS's blog post of today states: "We are sympathetic to Canonical's frustration in this desire to easily support more features for their users. However, as set out below, we have concluded that their distribution of zfs.ko violates the GPL."' -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/02/25/1846230 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

Carnegie Mellon University Attacked Tor, Was Subpoenaed By Feds
by Peter Reutemann 25 Feb '16

25 Feb '16

'Back in November 2015 it was speculated that Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) helped the FBI attack the TOR network. Now, both the name of the university and the existence of a subpoena have been confirmed in a recent filing in one of the affected criminal cases: "The record demonstrates that the defendant's IP address was identified by the Software Engineering Institute ("SEI") of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU") [sic] when SEI was conducting research on the Tor network which was funded by the Department of Defense ("DOD")," an order filed on Tuesday in the case of Brian Farrell reads. Between January and July 2014, a large number of malicious nodes operated on the Tor network, with the purpose, according to the Tor Project, of deanonymising dark web sites and their users. The attack relied on a set of vulnerabilities in the Tor software—which have since been patched—and according to one source, the technique could unmask new hidden services within two weeks.' -- source: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/02/25/172245 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Linux Mint Hack Is an Indicator of a Larger Problem
by Peter Reutemann 25 Feb '16

25 Feb '16

"On February 20th, a hacker working under the handle 'Peace' took control of the website of Linux Mint, a popular Linux distribution derived from Ubuntu (and Debian) targeted toward non-technical users and power users unhappy with modern desktop environments. While these attacks are regrettable, and part of an infrastructure problem rather than a problem with the distribution itself, it increasingly appears that the Linux Mint team is spread too thin when it comes to security. The distribution itself blacklists updates that work perfectly in Ubuntu and Debian, and the graphical utilities don't update the kernel. Because the value added by Linux Mint is in Cinnamon, why do the developers need to distribute a broken version of Ubuntu when the Cinnamon DE could be distributed as an Ubuntu spin?" -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/02/24/1924229 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Linux Virtual Ethernet Bug Delivers Corrupt TCP/IP Data
by Peter Reutemann 22 Feb '16

22 Feb '16

"Vijay Pandurangan from Twitter warns about a Linux kernel bug that causes containers using Virtual Ethernet devices for network routing to not check TCP checksums. Examples of software stacks that use Virtual Ethernet devices are Docker on IPv6, Kubernetes, Google Container Engine and Mesos. The kernel flaw results in applications incorrectly receiving corrupt data in a number of situations, such as with bad networking hardware. The bug dates back at least 3 years or more – it is present in kernels as far back as the Twitter engineering team has tested. Their patch has been reviewed and accepted into the kernel, and is currently being backported to -stable releases back to 3.14 in various distributions. If you use containers in your setup, Pandurangan recommends that you deploy a kernel with this patch." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/02/22/1715202 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Knoppix image
by Ian Young 21 Feb '16

21 Feb '16

Hi Peter, Yes, I have the image thanks. ~ Ian Y

2 1

Timeline Of Events: Linux Mint Website Hack That Distributed Malicious ISOs
by Peter Reutemann 21 Feb '16

21 Feb '16

"The Linux Mint website was hacked last night and was pointing to malicious ISOs that contained an IRC bot known as TSUNAMI, used as part of an IRC DDoSing botnet. While the Linux Mint team says they were hacked via their WordPress site, security experts have discovered that their phpBB forum database was put up for sale on the Dark Web at around the same time of the hack. Also, it seems that after the Linux Mint team cleaned their website, the hackers reinfected it, which caused the developers to take it down altogether." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/02/21/1548228 Ouch... Maybe time to switch to a Nikola generated site... Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

knoppix live install
by Ian Young 21 Feb '16

21 Feb '16

If there is some free time at Monday's meeting perhaps we could try an install of what i think is the latest Knoppix iso to USB, live as it happens. ~ Ian Y

2 1

World’s cheapest Android smartphone goes on sale for just $3.67
by Peter Reutemann 20 Feb '16

20 Feb '16

"An Android-based smartphone costing about the same as a cup of coffee has been launched today in India by the local company Ringing Bells. The Freedom 251 costs 251 rupees (about £2.50 or $4), comes with a one-year guarantee, and has surprisingly decent specifications, on paper at least. The phone's price is not subsidised by a carrier contract: it really costs £2.50." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/02/worlds-cheapest-android-smartphone-g… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

3 2

TP-Link Begins Lockdown of Firmware In Response To FCC
by Peter Reutemann 18 Feb '16

18 Feb '16

'In response to an FCC rule that requires manufacturers to lock down computing devices (routers, PCs, phones) to prevent modification if they have a "modular wireless radio," TP-Link has begun locking down its routers to prevent firmware not signed by TP-Link from being installed. This essentially prevents open source OSs (OpenWRT, for example) from being used on routers.' -- source: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/02/18/1423216 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

Stealing Keys From a Laptop In Another Room — and Offline
by Peter Reutemann 18 Feb '16

18 Feb '16

'Motherboard carries a report that with equipment valued at about $3,000, a group of Israeli researchers have been able to extract cryptographic keys from a laptop that is not only separated by a physical wall, but protected by an air gap. This, they say, "is the first time such an approach has been used specifically against elliptic curve cryptography running on a PC." From the article: The method is a so-called side-channel attack: an attack that doesn't tackle an encryption implementation head on, such as through brute force or by exploiting a weakness in the underlying algorithm, but through some other means. In this case, the attack relies on the electromagnetic outputs of the laptop that are emitted during the decryption process, which can then be used to work out the target's key. Specifically, the researchers obtained the private key from a laptop running GnuPG, a popular implementation of OpenPGP. (The developers of GnuPG have since released countermeasures to the method. Tromer said that the changes make GnuPG âoemore resistant to side-channel attack since the sequence of high-level arithmetic operations does not depend on the secret key.â)' -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/16/02/18/1626205 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Meet Linux's Little Brother Zephyr, a Tiny Open Source IoT RTOS
by Peter Reutemann 18 Feb '16

18 Feb '16

"The Linux Foundation has launched the Zephyr Project, to foster an open source, small footprint, modular, scalable, connected, real-time OS for IoT devices. The Zephyr Project's RTOS implements both a small footpoint microkernel and an even tinier nanokernel, and is the result of Wind River contributing its Rocket RTOS kernel to the Zephyr Project. (Wind's Rocket RTOS will now become a downstream commercial distribution based on Zephyr sources.) To get a sense of Zephyr's benefit, its nanokernel is said to be able to run in as little as 10KB of RAM on 32-bit microcontrollers, whereas a minimalistic Linux implementation like uClinux needs upwards of 200KB. The Linux Foundation hopes to see cross-project collaboration between the Zephyr and Linux communities. Technical details are at the Zephyr site." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/02/18/1522219 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Magnitude of glibc Vulnerability Coming To Light
by Peter Reutemann 18 Feb '16

18 Feb '16

"The glibc vulnerability disclosed this week has some experts on edge because of how DNS can leveraged in exploits. Dan Kaminsky said that while man-in-the-middle attacks are one vector, it would appear that it's also possible to exploit the bug and attack most Linux servers via DNS caching-only servers. 'This would be substantially worse if it went through the caching ecosystem; 99 percent of attack vectors go through that system,' Kaminsky said. Glibc, or the GNU C library, is used by most flavors of Linux and also a number of popular web services and frameworks, giving attacks potentially massive horizontal scale. The major Linux distros have patched and pushed updates to servers; source code is also available for homegrown Linux builds." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/02/18/157239 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Fwd: [NZLUG] Fwd: [SECURITY] [DSA 3481-1] glibc security update
by Peter Reutemann 18 Feb '16

18 Feb '16

Apologies for cross-posting... Cheers, Peter ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Mark Foster <blakjak(a)blakjak.net> Date: Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 1:50 PM Subject: Re: [NZLUG] Fwd: [SECURITY] [DSA 3481-1] glibc security update To: NZ Linux Users Group <nzlug(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz> And just to illustrate that, CERT is compiling a list of vendor's position statements etc, it's quite a list already: https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/457759 On 18/02/2016 1:49 p.m., Mark Foster wrote: This is a widespread risk to pretty much every linux based system out there. I hope you're all aware of this one and taking action to patch or protect your systems. -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: [SECURITY] [DSA 3481-1] glibc security update Resent-Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 14:18:54 +0000 (UTC) Resent-From: debian-security-announce(a)lists.debian.org Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 14:18:27 +0000 From: Salvatore Bonaccorso <carnil(a)debian.org> Reply-To: debian-security(a)lists.debian.org To: debian-security-announce(a)lists.debian.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA512 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Debian Security Advisory DSA-3481-1 security(a)debian.org https://www.debian.org/security/ Florian Weimer February 16, 2016 https://www.debian.org/security/faq - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Package : glibc CVE ID : CVE-2015-7547 CVE-2015-8776 CVE-2015-8778 CVE-2015-8779 Debian Bug : 812441 812445 812455 Several vulnerabilities have been fixed in the GNU C Library, glibc. The first vulnerability listed below is considered to have critical impact. CVE-2015-7547 The Google Security Team and Red Hat discovered that the glibc host name resolver function, getaddrinfo, when processing AF_UNSPEC queries (for dual A/AAAA lookups), could mismanage its internal buffers, leading to a stack-based buffer overflow and arbitrary code execution. This vulnerability affects most applications which perform host name resolution using getaddrinfo, including system services. CVE-2015-8776 Adam Nielsen discovered that if an invalid separated time value is passed to strftime, the strftime function could crash or leak information. Applications normally pass only valid time information to strftime; no affected applications are known. CVE-2015-8778 Szabolcs Nagy reported that the rarely-used hcreate and hcreate_r functions did not check the size argument properly, leading to a crash (denial of service) for certain arguments. No impacted applications are known at this time. CVE-2015-8779 The catopen function contains several unbound stack allocations (stack overflows), causing it the crash the process (denial of service). No applications where this issue has a security impact are currently known. While it is only necessary to ensure that all processes are not using the old glibc anymore, it is recommended to reboot the machines after applying the security upgrade. For the stable distribution (jessie), these problems have been fixed in version 2.19-18+deb8u3. For the unstable distribution (sid), these problems will be fixed in version 2.21-8. We recommend that you upgrade your glibc packages. Further information about Debian Security Advisories, how to apply these updates to your system and frequently asked questions can be found at: https://www.debian.org/security/ Mailing list: debian-security-announce(a)lists.debian.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1 iQIcBAEBCgAGBQJWwy2KAAoJEAVMuPMTQ89EIIIP/1Sa7Mlc0xJ0b4v5QFf1UL1N zLPxw/JXbExR1sX9RUt8mCzdOoz5rcwaR8yyvGZS0A+NwtSgLr3sNKweMrrf3yaH Ul7vziRfgcNjnWdN5+aeHp+lIUEIgCbT6JJVqt/lfXO8/vo23V2EZKVTtnNt7oR6 FmhSW73+jt8v9qxdHVDhE0ivXhs7Neeo7oLfolAX9n+ZFjRhT68ERRTyPaq3dnfS PdDLdnn5V+g+3y9zjurGNvmSp7OcOq7aKclEFtQBoEF6ZFmqhUYkuOmAkhlQlMMX nJGqZYrY2pgz1pHZZXJGY31WIYDaYR0cSIoe/c49ejT+Kug9IMLBMruvwAglX+gd IAFflJ8Iar9StiPwMz3HloLbNT1vVCvlvdbEJiMrgpTMRUyacG6GfHVid2tso+n7 ZpWnxI2B62lwJU/Jq2yxRkIVtGs9go7lvGEmUs/T4Pl87otULBAfGD0xXtt2vY+A hrEbjCgNMrbrjiCdm/w2MW+hLwiXgRn617Q7w9e5gWnSjIEpybrrwKAR1QsDxxNM zwjgwQdTEivJ5dtXQdwkHg+2ba1/gqKqMU9b0rlBf/YF0e73I/FTaDu1nEgOX4En kq6ZwrPBlptv0kCR0EtyX6xmt4Q3j8tF1IwPyEwfiyPKcN0cxuk7LLILc7ewPnGU pPKkk9EqhPWAP7+Ufo9p =lzjt -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ NZLUG mailing list NZLUG(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz http://lists.nzoss.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/nzlug _______________________________________________ NZLUG mailing list NZLUG(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz http://lists.nzoss.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/nzlug -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Chrome OS distro for regular PCs can now dual-boot with Windows
by Peter Reutemann 18 Feb '16

18 Feb '16

"Today, Neverware announced a new version of CloudReady aimed at schools and individuals who want to try the software on their PCs without losing the capability to run Windows. CloudReady version 45.3 can be installed on any system with an existing UEFI-mode installation of Windows 7, 8, or 10 and 32GB of free disk space. You can find detailed installation directions on Neverware's site." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/02/chrome-os-distro-for-regular-pcs-can… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Apple Being Ordered To Help Break Into San Bernardino Shooter’s Phone
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Feb '16

17 Feb '16

It is being widely reported in the news that a judge has told Apple to give investigators access to encrypted data on an Iphone belonging to one of the perpetrators in the San Bernardino shooting case. Current versions of IOS do not allow Apple to break this encryption. However, it seems Apple is actually being asked to help bypass the feature that autowipes the phone after 10 failed attempts to enter the decryption key, thereby allowing the key to be broken by brute force. This feature is supposed to be under the control of the owner of the phone, not Apple. But what Apple can give, it can take away. It may be possible that Apple could load a software update (perhaps a temporary one) into the phone to override control of this feature. <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160216/17393733617/no-judge-did-not-jus… backdoor.shtml>

2 2

Backblaze Report On Hard Drive Failures In 2015
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Feb '16

17 Feb '16

Backblaze has posted another report on the reliability of their hard drives <https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-reliability-q4-2015/>. As pointed out in the Ars Technica analysis <http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/02/hgst-hard-disks-still…>, HGST is owned by WD, so WD is simultaneously responsible for the most and least reliable brands of drives in the report. An overall statistic of 6% failure rate per year seems a reasonable conclusion. Also it seems like 3-4TB is still the sweet spot.

1 0

WLUG meeting next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 17 Feb '16

17 Feb '16

Hi everyone We have a meeting coming up next Monday: "Peter Reutemann will demo Alpine Linux, a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox. Discussion of March meeting: potential introduction to git version control, in conjunction with CS^3 student society from Computer Science. Discussion of meetup.com's new pricing strategy: going up from USD 12 per 6 months to USD 29.94 per 6 months. Feel like demoing another distro? Or some other great open-source tool (doesn't necessarily have to be Linux)? Then let me know." http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/228718557/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

3 4

New Warnings In GCC 6
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 16 Feb '16

16 Feb '16

Couple of interesting blog posts <https://gnu.wildebeest.org/blog/mjw/2016/02/15/looking-forward-to-gcc6-many…>, <https://gnu.wildebeest.org/blog/mjw/2016/01/09/looking-forward-to-gcc6-nice…> about new dubious-looking constructs that the GCC 6 C and C++ compilers can pick up. I particularly like the latter, which warns against a situation like the following: if (cond) statement_guarded_by_cond; statement_not_guarded_by_cond; /* though it may look like it is */ Of course, this only works in a language that allows the redundancy of having both bracketing symbols and indentation. This is why trying to get rid of one, and having the other do duty for both--is such a bad idea.

2 2

UEFI aka Ooof!!y links - more than a lifetime to know
by Ian Young 13 Feb '16

13 Feb '16

Following a recent refererence to the dread Oofy at a LUG meeting and after looking at a couple of Intel PC type machines using this boot method I am pretty well totally baffled. The people of Arch however know it all. Or as much as can be known. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface#… I seem to have a vague recollection that Sun once used Ooofy. And Apple of course was an early adopter. Or am I thinking of Open Firmware? Somewhat related. Hmmm. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Firmware

1 0

The Truth Behind “true”
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Feb '16

11 Feb '16

Among the many useful commands you will find as standard on any POSIX system is “true”. This command does absolutely nothing, but returns a successful exit status. (There is also “false”, which also does nothing, but always returns a failure status. If anyone is curious as to how you would make use of these in shell scripts, just ask.) This page <http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/humor/ATT_Copyright_true.html> gives the history of the “true” command from the original AT&T Unix--it was essentially a shell script that did absolutely nothing at all. Yet AT&T claimed copyright on it. This article <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/10/line_break_ep2/> includes, among its examples of supposedly bad code, the full source of the GNU “true” program (which actually also shares its source with the “false” program), which runs to 80 lines, as compared to the version from OpenBSD, which is just four lines (including a blank line and comments). But as pointed out in the previous link, the GNU version uses less memory and runs faster.

2 1

San Francisco To Open-Source Its Voting Software
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Feb '16

11 Feb '16

The San Francisco Elections Commission has resolved to “support the development and certification of an open source voting system running on commercial off-the-shelf hardware; and to request that the Mayor and Board of Supervisors initiate and fund a project to develop and certify such a system for use in San Francisco”. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/10/san_francisco_to_open_source_voting…> Contrast this with ongoing unsuccessful attempts to get access to the software used for Australian federal elections under its Freedom Of Information Act <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/13/aec_easycount_foi_decision/>: [Hobart lawyer Michael] Cordover sought the source code because Australia's 2013 election produced some irregularities. What software do we use in NZ?

2 1

Docker Images To Be Based On Alpine Linux
by Peter Reutemann 07 Feb '16

07 Feb '16

"Docker container sizes continue a race to the bottom with a couple of environments weighing in at less than 10MB. Following on the heels of this week's story regarding small images based on Alpine Linux, it appears that the official Docker images will be moving from Debian/Ubuntu to Alpine Linux in the near future. How low will they go?" -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/02/06/0433228 Alpine Linux is rather small, coming in at 82MB as ISO download: http://www.alpinelinux.org/ Anybody feel like giving a demo at the next meeting? Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Open Source Pioneer Michael Tiemann On the Myth of the Average
by Peter Reutemann 03 Feb '16

03 Feb '16

'In a recent article, Michael Tiemann, one of the world's first open source entrepreneurs and VP of Open Source Affairs at Red Hat, highlights an example from the 1950s US Air Force where the "myth of the average resulted in a generation of planes that almost no pilots could reliably fly, and which killed as many as 17 pilots in a single day." He uses this example to argue that IT leaders who think that playing it safe means being as average as possible in order to avoid risks (i.e. "Buy what others are buying. Deploy what others are deploying. Manage what others are managing.") may be making IT procurement and strategy decisions based on flawed data. Instead, Tiemann says that IT leaders should understand elements of differentiation that are most valuable, and then adopt the standards that exploit them. "Don't aim for average: it may not exist. Aim for optimal, and use the power of open source to achieve what uniquely benefits your organization."' -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/16/02/03/177233 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 2

New Hack Shrinks Docker Containers
by Peter Reutemann 03 Feb '16

03 Feb '16

'Promising "uber tiny Docker images for all the things," Iron.io has released a new library of base images for every major language optimized to be as small as possible by using only the required OS libraries and language dependencies. "By streamlining the cruft that is attached to the node images and installing only the essentials, they reduced the image from 644 MB to 29MB,"explains one technology reporter, noting this makes it quicker to download and distribute the image, and also more secure. "Less code/less programs in the container means less attack surface..." writes Travis Reeder, the co-founder of Iron.io, in a post on the company's blog. "Most people who start using Docker will use Docker's official repositories for their language of choice, but unfortunately if you use them, you'll end up with images the size of the Empire State Building..."' -- source: http://developers.slashdot.org/story/16/02/03/221231 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Chromodo Browser Disables Key Web Security
by Peter Reutemann 03 Feb '16

03 Feb '16

"A Google Security Research update has claimed that Comodo's internet browser Chromodo, based on the open-source project Chromium, contains significant security failings and puts its users at risk. This week's Google alert suggested that the Chromodo browser – available as a standalone download, as well as part of the company's Security package – is less secure than it promises. According to analysis, the browser is disabling the Same Origin policy, hijacking DNS settings, and replacing shortcuts with Chromodo links, among other security violations." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/16/02/03/1416236 NB: I know that the browser is for Windows, but you might know someone who's using it, blindly trusting the marketing of Comodo. Chromium builds are available here: https://www.chromium.org/getting-involved/dev-channel Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Crypto flaw was so glaring it may be intentional eavesdropping backdoor
by Peter Reutemann 03 Feb '16

03 Feb '16

"Socat is a more feature-rich variant of the once widely used Netcat networking service for fixing bugs in network applications and for finding and exploiting security vulnerabilities. One of its features allows data to be transmitted through an encrypted channel to prevent it from being intercepted by people monitoring the traffic. Amazingly, when using the Diffie-Hellman method to establish a cryptographic key, Socat used a non-prime parameter to negotiate the key, an omission that violates one of the most basic cryptographic principles." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/02/crypto-flaw-was-so-glaring-it-may-b… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

Fwd: [NZOSS OpenChat] TPPA appears to compromise NZ data sovereignty
by Peter Reutemann 02 Feb '16

02 Feb '16

Apologies for cross-posting. Cheers, Peter ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dave Lane <president(a)nzoss.org.nz> Date: Wed, Feb 3, 2016 at 10:22 AM Subject: [NZOSS OpenChat] TPPA appears to compromise NZ data sovereignty To: NZOSS Open Chat List <openchat(a)groups.nzoss.org.nz> Hi all, Thanks to Grant Paton-Simpson for bringing clause 14.13.2 of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement to my attention... I've just written a quick post to explain the potential implications of it, as I see it: https://nzoss.org.nz/content/tppa-compromises-nz-data-sovereignty Any comments or corrections (or alternative interpretations) to the article would be appreciated. If you think it is a cause for concern, I encourage you to promote it, particularly among those who will understand the implications. The TPPA is slated for signing tomorrow. We need to make a BIG stink about this very unfortunate turn of events. Cheers, Dave -- Dave Lane, President, New Zealand Open Source Society e: president(a)nzoss.org.nz m: 021 229 8147 w: http://nzoss.org.nz ―― View topic http://groups.nzoss.org.nz/r/topic/7bw4I2juaLBbCQycHlZriA Leave group mailto:openchat(a)groups.nzoss.org.nz?subject=Unsubscribe Start groups https://OnlineGroups.net -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

The State Of Blender: “The Art Of Open Source”
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 02 Feb '16

02 Feb '16

An article <https://www.blender.org/media-exposure/the-art-of-open-source/> written for the November 2015 issue of “Linux Format” magazine covers the origins and increasing popularity of Blender. But more than popularity, it seems it is now (somewhat grudgingly) winning actual respect among 3D artists. Pixar even lists Blender as one of the packages it officially supports in the latest release of RenderMan. My main beef with the article is the writer keeps saying “commercial” when he means “proprietary”, seemingly reserving the use of “proprietary” for when he means “in-house”. If you don’t think Blender can be “commercial”, just look at some of its users mentioned in the article. A quote from one of those users: “In 10 years of using proprietary 3D software, we never received usable support from either software vendor or reseller – except on problems with registering our licences.”

1 0

Classic Linux Joke Even Less Funny Than Previously Thought
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 02 Feb '16

02 Feb '16

On some UEFI-based systems, the old “rm -rf /” trick for destroying your system may do more than annihilate your software installation, it may also brick your machine. This is because it is possible to mount a virtual kernel filesystem that gives access to persistent UEFI configuration data read/write, and deleting this data makes it impossible for your machine to boot. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/02/delete_efivars_linux/>

1 0

Towards A Ten-Million-Core Supercomputer
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 02 Feb '16

02 Feb '16

Europe’s ExaNeSt project is putting together a small prototype of what will eventually be a supercomputer with 10 million ARM cores. Why ARM? Because the performance bottleneck in a super is not the CPUs, but the interconnect between them. So it makes sense to use more power-efficient cores to keep the overall cost down. The main cost of running a super, or indeed any massively-multiprocessor installation (data centre, cloud service, render farm etc) is the electricity bill. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/02/buddy_can_you_spare_ten_meeelion_ar…>

1 0

Using IPv6 with Linux? You’ve likely been visited by Shodan and other scanners
by Peter Reutemann 02 Feb '16

02 Feb '16

"One of the benefits of the next-generation Internet protocol known as IPv6 is the enhanced privacy it offers over its IPv4 predecessor. With a staggering 2128 (or about 3.4×1038) theoretical addresses available, its IP pool is immune to the types of systematic scans that criminal hackers and researchers routinely perform to locate vulnerable devices and networks with IPv4 addresses. What's more, IPv6 addresses can contain regularly changing, partially randomized extensions. Together, the IPv6 features cloak devices in a quasi anonymity that's not possible with IPv4. Now, network administrators have discovered a clever way that scanners are piercing the IPv6 cloak of obscurity. By setting up an IPv6-based network time protocol service most Internet-connected devices rely on to keep their internal clocks accurate, the operators can harvest huge numbers of IPv6 addresses that would otherwise remain unknown. The server operators can then scan hundreds or thousands of ports attached to each address to identify publicly available surveillance cameras, unpatched servers, and similar vulnerabilities." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/02/using-ipv6-with-linux-youve-likely-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

Bloat: How and Why UNIX Grew Up (and Out)
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 31 Jan '16

31 Jan '16

The original versions of common utilities like “cat”, “grep” and “ls” on V6 Unix from 1976 could measure their disk and RAM usage in bytes in just five figures. A few decades later, and the corresponding programs on a modern Linux distro are orders of magnitude larger. Why? Here is a detailed (and technical) analysis from the 2012 Linux.conf.au <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbv9L-WIu0s> which takes you step by step through all the contributions to the difference. They isolated most of these by modifying the code, selectively taking out features, and building it in different ways. Conclusion: you may call it “bloat”, but if you want a modern system, it’s pretty much unavoidable.

1 0

High-severity bug in OpenSSL allows attackers to decrypt HTTPS traffic
by Peter Reutemann 28 Jan '16

28 Jan '16

"Maintainers of the OpenSSL cryptographic code library have fixed a high-severity vulnerability that made it possible for attackers to obtain the key that decrypts communications secured in HTTPS and other transport layer security channels. While the potential impact is high, the vulnerability can be exploited only when a variety of conditions are met. First, it's present only in OpenSSL version 1.0.2. Applications that rely on it must use groups based on the digital signature algorithm to generate ephemeral keys based on the Diffie Hellman key exchange. By default, servers that do this will reuse the same private Diffie-Hellman exponent for the life of the server process, and that makes them vulnerable to the key-recovery attack. DSA-based Diffie-Hellman configurations that rely on a static Diffie-Hellman ciphersuite are also susceptible." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/01/high-severity-bug-in-openssl-allows… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

What’s The Cheapest Wi-Fi Access Point?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 27 Jan '16

27 Jan '16

Someone has hacked a cheapie wireless SD card reader to turn it into a wi-fi access point running OpenWRT: <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Zsun-WiFI-With-OpenWRT>. The most obvious thing it lacks is any kind of wired network port...

1 0

Material for Monday's meeting
by Peter Reutemann 26 Jan '16

26 Jan '16

Hi everyone The material from Monday's meeting is now available from our github account: https://github.com/WLUG/meetings/tree/master/2016/2016-01-25 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Linux 4.5 Adds Raspberry Pi 2 Support, AMD GPU Re-Clocking, Intel Kaby Lake
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jan '16

24 Jan '16

"Linux 4.5 is set to bring many new features across the kernel's 20 million line code-base. Among the new/improved features are Raspberry Pi 2 support, open-source Raspberry Pi 3D support, NVIDIA Tegra X1 / Jetson TX1 support, an open-source Vivante graphics driver, AMDGPU PowerPlay/re-clocking support, Intel Kaby Lake enablement, a Logitech racing wheel driver, improvements for handling suspended USB devices, new F2FS file-system features, and better Xbox One controller handling." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/01/24/1329206 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Atom-Based JaguarBoard To Take On Raspberry Pi
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jan '16

24 Jan '16

"The tiny single-board PC movement that's leading the Internet of Things (IoT) market is largely dominated by ARM-based processors, and for good reason — they're cheap, low power and capable. However, what if you prefer to work with the x86 architecture? JaguarBoard looks strikingly similar to Raspberry Pi, which is arguably the most popular single-board mini PC. But unlike Raspberry Pi, JaguarBoard allows users to develop for x86, courtesy of its Intel Atom Z3735G (Bay Trail) foundation. The chip is a quad-core part clocked at 1.33GHz to 1.83GHz with 2MB of L2 cache, offering a fair amount of horsepower for IoT applications. In addition to an Atom processor, JaguarBoard also boasts 1GB of DDR3L memory, 16GB of eMMC storage, three USB 2.0 ports, 10/100M LAN port, HDMI 1.4 output, SDIO 3.0 socket, two COM ports, four GPIO pins, and audio ports. It's an interesting device that you could use strictly as a mini PC for general purpose computing, as an embedded system, a learning or research tool, or for whatever DIY projects you can conjure up." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/01/24/1729241 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Searching For Vulnerable Webcams
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 23 Jan '16

23 Jan '16

Customers don’t understand and don’t care about the security of the devices they put online. And vendors are in no hurry to enlighten them, if it adds to costs and cuts profits. If anybody is in a position to intervene, it has to be a Government authority. <http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/01/how-to-search-the-internet-of-thing…>

1 0

Linux Filesystems On Windows
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 22 Jan '16

22 Jan '16

Came across this <http://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/phoronix/latest-phoronix-articles/8468…> rather informative posting about different filesystems for cross-platform use. One interesting possibility is UDF (“Universal Disk Format”), which is how DVDs are usually formatted. It turns out it is useful not just for read-only media but read/write as well. There is widespread built-in support for it on Linux, OS X and Windows, albeit with some limitations in the proprietary OSes (as usual). It can even work on flash drives, though there may be some issues with the hardware layout being optimized for FAT32 or other antiquated filesystems. Alternatively, the article mentions a number of choices for accessing Linux filesystems on Windows: <http://www.fs-driver.org/> <http://uranus.chrysocome.net/linux/ext2ifs.htm> <http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/> <http://www.chrysocome.net/virtualvolumes> Disclaimer: I haven’t tried any of these.

1 0

Command-Line Options For CUPS
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 20 Jan '16

20 Jan '16

I was looking for some options to tweak scaling and positioning of images printed with the CUPS “lp” command. This page <http://www.cups.org/documentation.php/doc-1.5/options.html> lists various keywords that can be used with the “-o” option, in particular “natural-scaling”, “ppi” and “position”. You’ll notice that section has a large banner at the top saying “Not Supported on Mac OS X”. Which is slightly ironic, given that CUPS is owned by Apple. Anyway, the description of those options has disappeared from versions of that page for CUPS 1.6 and later, e.g. <http://www.cups.org/documentation.php/doc-1.6/options.html>, <http://www.cups.org/documentation.php/doc-2.1/options.html>. This even though I have CUPS 2.1.2 on my system, and the “position” option, for example, does seem to do something.

1 0

Tracking Protection In Wi-Fi Networks Coming Soon To Linux
by Peter Reutemann 19 Jan '16

19 Jan '16

'Fedora contributor and NetworkManager developer Lubomir Rintel explains how your devices are being identified on a network by a unique number that most of us know by the name of MAC address. Same goes for mobile networking, as your laptop's or mobile phone's MAC address is, in most cases, broadcasted everywhere you go before you even attempt a connection to a wireless network. And that's a problem for your privacy. The solution? Randomization of the MAC address while scanning for Wi-Fi networks. Apple is already using this method on iOS 8 and later mobile operating systems, and so is Microsoft in Windows 10, so Linux users will ["likely"] get it in the upcoming NetworkManager 1.2 release.' -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/01/19/1345210 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

Building Your Own Internet Router
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 19 Jan '16

19 Jan '16

<http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/01/numbers-dont-lie-its-time-to-build-y…>: A lot of you are probably muttering, "right, pfSense, sure." Some of you might even be thinking about smoothwall or untangle NG. I played with most of the firewall distros out there, but I decided to go more basic, more old school: a plain, CLI-only install of Ubuntu Server and a few iptables rules. His benchmarks show his homebrew router handily beating off-the-shelf products in wired performance. In wireless performance, however, he feels available PC cards are way behind what dedicated router boxes can do.

1 0

Serious Linux Kernel Vulnerability Patched
by Peter Reutemann 19 Jan '16

19 Jan '16

"A patch for a critical Linux kernel flaw, present in the code since 2012, is expected to be pushed out today. The vulnerability affects versions 3.8 and higher, said researchers at startup Perception Point who discovered the vulnerability. The flaw also extends to two-thirds of Android devices, the company added. An attacker would require local access to exploit the vulnerability on a Linux server. A malicious mobile app would get the job done on an Android device. The vulnerability is a reference leak that lives in the keyring facility built into the various flavors of Linux. The keyring encrypts and stores login information, encryption keys and certificates, and makes them available to applications." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/01/19/1326212 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

WLUG meeting next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 19 Jan '16

19 Jan '16

Hi everyone We have a WLUG meeting coming up next Monday: "Lawrence D'Oliveiro and Ian Stewart will demo RAID 1 configurations and also using rsync for backups." More details: http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/228022101/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Mr “Linux Software RAID” Stepping Down
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 18 Jan '16

18 Jan '16

Neil Brown, the guy who has been mostly responsible for the software RAID subsystem on Linux since he created it over a decade and a half ago, has decided to hand over the reins <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Neil-Brown-Last-MD>. No drama involved, he just seems to have lost interest.

1 0

Fedora Linux Might Drop Incremental Upgrades
by Peter Reutemann 17 Jan '16

17 Jan '16

"As you might know, Fedora and many other GNU/Linux distributions require users to do an incremental upgrade when attempting to move from an older version of the operating system to the most recent one. For example, if you want to upgrade from Fedora 21 to Fedora 23, you will have first to upgrade to Fedora 22. Lately, Fedora upgrades have become more stable and reliable, mostly because of some brand-new technologies, such as the DNF package manger. Fedora's Adam Williamson theorizes about an innovative method that might support official upgrade of the Fedora Linux operating system across two releases in the future." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/01/16/2156219 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Bug that can leak crypto keys just fixed in widely used OpenSSH
by Peter Reutemann 17 Jan '16

17 Jan '16

'A critical bug that can leak secret cryptographic keys has just just been fixed in OpenSSH, one of the more widely used implementations of the secure shell (SSH) protocol. The vulnerability resides only in the version end users use to connect to servers and not in versions used by servers. A maliciously configured server could exploit it to obtain the contents of the connecting computer's memory, including the private encryption key used for SSH connections. The bug is the result of code that enables an experimental roaming feature in OpenSSH versions 5.4 to 7.1 "The matching server code has never been shipped, but the client code was enabled by default and could be tricked by a malicious server into leaking client memory to the server, including private client user keys," OpenSSH officials wrote in an advisory published Thursday. "The authentication of the server host key prevents exploitation by a man-in-the-middle, so this information leak is restricted to connections to malicious or compromised servers." The advisory said that anyone using a vulnerable version should update right away. Those who are unable to update should disable roaming by adding the string UseRoaming no to the global ssh_config(5) file or to the user configuration in ~/.ssh/config, or by entering -UseRoaming=no on the command line.' -- source: http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/01/bug-that-can-leak-crypto-keys-just-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Fwd: Global Game Jam and Unity Game Engine Introductory Course.
by William Mckee 15 Jan '16

15 Jan '16

Attached an Email I got from Bill Rogers regarding Global Game Jam and some Unity3d training. http://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/08/26/unity-comes-to-linux-experimental-build… cheers, William. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bill Rogers <coms0108(a)cs.waikato.ac.nz> Date: Tue, Jan 12, 2016 at 11:44 PM Subject: Global Game Jam and Unity Game Engine Introductory Course. To: Bill Rogers <coms0108(a)cs.waikato.ac.nz> Hi Everyone, I'm sending this to all CS and CGD students, 2015 GGJ participants and High School Entrants in the NZ Programming Contest. If you are interested, good. If not feel free to pass it on to anyone you know who might be. If it is unwelcome spam, sorry about that. Global Game Jam is just over two weeks away. As usual we are running a site at Waikato University. On Friday 29th we kick off at 5pm with the 2016 Jam. We are also running an introductory session on using the Unity Game Engine prior to the jam on Thursday 21st January (just over one week away). For those who are new to the idea, GGJ is an international game (computer and board) development festival. For 48 hours (Friday 5pm to Sunday 5pm) people gather and develop games following a theme announced at the start. Almost anyone can take part (at Waikato we have an age limit of 16 or over). If you can program, design, develop artwork, have game ideas, or can game test, or would just like to watch, come and participate. To find out more about this year's event at Waikato and to register go to globalgamejam.org.nz The entry fee at Waikato is $25 - for that you get a t-shirt and meals for the weekend. You can come with friends or come alone and join a team formed at the event. So, if you would like ... 1. ... to attend the Unity Training Session on Thursday Jan 21st (from 1pm) please reply to this email. 2. ... to take part at the Waikato Site for Global Game Jam 2016, please register at globalgamejam.org.nz. (We will ask you for the $25 in due course.) 3. ... to know more about GGJ and see games developed in previous years, visit the global site at www.globalgamejam.org. (Please register to take part at our site, not at the global one.) Bill Rogers and Brian Cole Waikato GGJ Site 2016

1 0

Another Advantage Of Linux Software RAID
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Jan '16

11 Jan '16

I am a long-time fan of Linux software RAID. But in reading an online discussion which happened to mention variations in actual sizes of storage devices (disks or flash) of supposedly identical capacity, I realized that there is yet another advantage of Linux software RAID: the fact that it can build arrays out of disk partitions, not necessarily entire disks. This means you can create the partitions to be a standard size, slightly smaller than the maximum capacity of the disk. (Each disk will have just one partition on it, the rest of the disk being unused.) Then if you have to replace a failed disk, you can create a new partition of the same size on the replacement. Otherwise, if you use the entire disk, you run the risk that the new disk is a bit smaller than the old one, and trying to add it to the RAID container may fail.

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X.Org Might Lose Its Domain Name
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Jan '16

11 Jan '16

Seems like the ownership of the x.org domain was not properly handed over during the reorg of the organization into a nonprofit. So now it is likely to expire in a matter of days, unless some (unspecified) back-room maneouvring succeeds... <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=X.Org-Domain-Woes>

1 1

a quad core Atom from Intel with added Windows 10
by Ian Young 09 Jan '16

09 Jan '16

Anyone got a use case? http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/01/07/2218254/intels-next-gen-compute… What on earth is Core-M you may possibly ask? 'Delving a little deeper into exactly what Core M offers, its headline figure is a Thermal Deisgn Power (TDP - read max power consumption) of just 4.5W. This compares to around 10-15W for a typical laptop processor and 50-100W for desktop processors. Previously this level of power draw was only possible in severely under-powered Atom processors, such as the Bay-Trail line, which were really only good for more simple tablet-type devices. Core M really is the first processor to bridge the gap between ultra-low TDP and acceptable laptop performance. Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/intel-core-m-everything-you-need-to-…'

2 1

Programmers’ Note-To-Selves
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 08 Jan '16

08 Jan '16

An Ubuntu kernel engineer has done an analysis of how many instances there are in the Linux kernel of comments saying “FIXME” or “TODO”. The total numbers of these are increasing with the size of the code, but at least the number of FIXMEs per source line seems to be going down. <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-Kernel-FIXME-TODO>

1 0

Elementary OS' Freya Dumbs Down Linux
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jan '16

07 Jan '16

'The release last month of Elementary OS Freya version 0.3.2 showed little has changed in this new-style Linux distro that wraps its own lightweight desktop design around the Ubuntu core. Elementary OS first appeared in 2011. I last looked at its Freya beta release in 2014. I liked its fresh, new look and simplified approach to desktop management. However, my hopes for more features and a faster-evolving desktop environment in the latest release went unfulfilled.' -- source: http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/elementary-os-freya-dumbs-down-lin… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Android N switches to OpenJDK, Google tells Oracle it is protected by the GPL
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jan '16

07 Jan '16

'The Oracle v. Google legal battle over the use of Java in Android keeps on going, but this week Google made a change to Android that it hopes will let the company better navigate its current legal trouble. Google told VentureBeat that it in "Android N," the next major version of Android, it is swapping Android's Java libraries from its own Apache Harmony-based implementation to one based on Oracle's OpenJDK—yes that Oracle, the same company suing Google. OpenJDK is the "official" open source version of the Java Platform, and Oracle makes it available under the GPL with a linking exception.' -- source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/android-n-switches-to-openjdk-go… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Murdock On The Birth Of Debian
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 06 Jan '16

06 Jan '16

Noted Free Culture rapporteur Glyn Moody recalls his 1999 interview with late Debian founder Ian Murdock about the genesis of the project: <http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/01/the-birth-of-debian-i…>. As Murdock told me in 1999, the problems arose from the fact that "the fellow who was doing [SLS] was trying to do everything himself. And so I looked on that and I thought, well, you know, if Linux has taught us anything it's that that kind of model is sub-optimal. What we really ought to do is we ought try to take the model that Linux has pioneered, intentionally or not, and try to get the same benefits from that for building the system around it."

1 0

Microsoft's Latest Patent Aggression Comes Under Fire From the EFF, Former GNU/Linux Company the Patent's Target
by Peter Reutemann 04 Jan '16

04 Jan '16

'MICROSOFT, which is connected to many patent trolls (includingIntellectual Ventures, the world’s biggest), is still busy suing companies. Microsoft has a long history of patent aggression, including patent litigation against Linux (not just threats thereof). As longtime readers of this site may know, this and only this was the raison d’être of this Web site. “…since winning a case for infringement of design patents can lead to a damage analysis based on “lost profits,” which can theoretically lead to a patent owner getting all of a defendant’s profits.” –Joe MullinAs we noted the other day, referring tothe original from the EFF, Microsoft is now attacking a company that once dominated word processing. Microsoft allegedly engaged in competition crimes against this company, leading to decades of expensive litigation. This company also pioneered some important GNU/Linux efforts until Microsoft shut these down with a mysterious deal (which we wrote about on several occasions around 2007). Well, Microsoft is now trying to drive this company into bankruptcy, using patents. What’s the name of this company? Corel. We have a whole category about Corel (with 51 articles, as well as leaked court documents). History is important here and it’s imperative that people properly study Corel to truly grasp how severe this situation really is.' -- source: http://techrights.org/2015/12/31/patent-aggression-against-corel/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

A Leap of Faith -- Replacing Ubuntu Server with openSUSE Leap
by Peter Reutemann 04 Jan '16

04 Jan '16

"I run a local file and media server, which is a very important part of my digital life -- it hosts all of my files. Everything. I have been using an Ubuntu 14.04 server running on a self-assembled PC. But, it’s a big, noisy system and generates too much heat. So, I planned to move to smaller form factor, such as System76's Meerkat." -- source: http://www.linux.com/news/enterprise/systems-management/874378 -- Meerkat link: https://system76.com/desktops/meerkat Cheers, Peer -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock
by Peter Reutemann 31 Dec '15

31 Dec '15

"With a heavy heart Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock, stalwart proponent of Free Open Source Software, Father, Son, and the 'ian' in Debian." source: https://bits.debian.org/2015/12/mourning-ian-murdock.html Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz

3 3

Inside Red Star OS
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Dec '15

30 Dec '15

North Korea has developed its own Linux distro, chock-full of features to allow every action of its users to be tracked. Some researchers have been taking it apart to see how these features work. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/29/north_korea_red_star_os/>

1 0

The Guardian Project
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 25 Dec '15

25 Dec '15

Just been watching the latest in the “Rebel Geeks” series on Al Jazeera. Today the episode was called “A Bigger Brother” <http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/rebelgeeks/2015/12/bigger-brother-15121…>, centred around the use of an open-source Android app called CameraV. The aim of this app is to record video along with a whole heap of corroborating metadata (GPS coordinates, local wi-fi networks etc) to make the footage credible enough, in particular proof enough against accusations of tampering, to be used as evidence in court. This is particularly important where the video is documenting crimes committed by people in positions of power and trust, such as the police. They used a nice term for this: “sousveillance” (watching done by ordinary people from below), as compared to the more usual “surveillance” (watching by those in privileged positions from above). One interesting comment made in the program was that the phone needs to look like it is not capturing video while the app is running, because in a place like Rio De Janeiro, the cops will grab phones away from people who they think are filming them. I did some digging around on GitHub, and found that this app is part of the Guardian Project, and they have a whole bunch of other useful-looking tools related to encryption, privacy and so on <https://github.com/guardianproject> They also have a website <https://guardianproject.info/>.

1 0

HTTP Error Code 451 Approved For Censored Web Pages
by Peter Reutemann 21 Dec '15

21 Dec '15

'The Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) has finally approved the new 451 status code for HTTP error messages involving web pages which have been repressed or removed for legal or political reasons. The initiative was proposed in 2013, and gained interest from various groups, such as Lumen (formerly Chilling Effects), who see the potential of the Bradbury-inspired code to help develop comprehensive indexes of censorship on the internet. Mark Nottingham, chair the IETF HTTP Working Group, says, "It'll be an RFC after some work by the RFC Editor and a few more process bits, but effectively you can start using it now."' -- source: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/12/21/1549258 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Raspbian Levels the Field With Latest Update
by Peter Reutemann 18 Dec '15

18 Dec '15

"During all the Pi Zero hype and showcasing, most of us probably didn't realize that the Raspbian OS got a much needed update. While this update isn't a major release, it still contained some amazing features. If you are running Raspbian Jessie, then take a moment to read over this article so you won't be left out in the cold. I'll go over the best parts of the update and also provide install instructions on how to get all this on your current Raspbian install." -- source: http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/raspbian-levels-the-field-with-lat… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

3 3

Items From Blender Conference 2015
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Dec '15

17 Dec '15

I saw from Peter’s posting that Blender got one of the “top 10 open source projects” awards on opensource.com this year. And they had their Blender Conference 2015 about a month ago. A couple of notable related articles I found on opensource.com are “Teaching Teens 3D Animation With Blender” <https://opensource.com/life/15/12/blender-interview-tom-haines-3dami> where this nonprofit called 3Dami offers a free, intensive 7-day course to selected students. Quote on the (much-maligned) Blender interface: Many do prefer to use Blender outside our events. Once you have got over the bump of its interface being different to other software, you soon learn just how insanely fast it is—its interface is different for a very good reason, and its hard to accept the slow down of using other software. Some students actually learn that lesson during our event: More than a few have turned up moaning that we aren't using a certain piece of software beginning with "M," but they usually get why we use Blender by the time they leave. I do know that one of our students is making money using Blender, and I expect others to join them given time. Another one, relevant to a University research setting, is “Visualize Astrophysics Data With Blender” <https://opensource.com/life/15/11/blender-conference-interview-jill-naiman-…>. Besides Blender, this also builds on a Python-based astrophysics simulation framework called “yt”. (Aside: the more we become accustomed to being able to use keyword searches to find everything online, the more annoyed some of us become with short names that are hard to search for. Is this good or bad? Discuss.) I suspect there are bits there that could be adapted to other kinds of physical simulation. More presentations to see here: <https://www.youtube.com/user/BlenderFoundation/videos>

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end of year: best of open source
by Peter Reutemann 16 Dec '15

16 Dec '15

Top 10 open source projects of 2015 https://opensource.com/business/15/12/top-10-open-source-projects-2015 Bossies 2015: The Best of Open Source Software Awards http://www.infoworld.com/article/2984437/open-source-tools/bossies-2015-the… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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AMD Goes Open Source, Announces GPUOpen Initiative, Linux Compiler, Drivers
by Peter Reutemann 15 Dec '15

15 Dec '15

'AMD announced today that the company is releasing a slew of open-source software and tools to give game developers, heterogeneous applications, and HPC applications deeper access to the GPU and GPU resources. AMD and their Radeon Technologies Group (RTG) are looking for ways to ease game development, so developers can more easily re-use code and port their games from consoles over to the PC. With GPUOpen, game developers will have direct access to GPU hardware, as well as access to a large collection of open source effects, tools, libraries and SDKs, which are being made available on GitHub under an MIT open-source license. As part of the effort, the company is also releasing a new HCC C++ compiler which will be a tool in enabling developers to more easily leverage the resources of discrete GPU hardware in heterogeneous systems. The HCC complier also allows developers to convert CUDA code to portable C++. According to AMD, internal testing shows that in many cases 90 percent or more of CUDA code can be automatically converted into C++ with the final 10 percent converted manually in the widely popular C++ language. An early access program for the "Boltzmann Initiative" tools is planned for Q1 2016.' -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/12/15/1429257 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Collabora and OwnCloud Announce LibreOffice Online
by Peter Reutemann 15 Dec '15

15 Dec '15

'Collabora Productivity, a UK-based consulting company, has collaborated with ownCloud Inc. to release a developer edition of online LibreOffice, which they call CODE (Collabora Online Development Edition). "The office suite implementation runs on ownCloud server. That's where all the processing and heavy lifting is done. The rendering happens at the client side. Currently there are three apps: writer (equivalent to MS Word), spreadsheet (Excel) and presentation (PowerPoint). At the moment users can create new documents and edit them. Other functionality, such as collaborative editing, is in the pipeline."' -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/15/12/15/1849234 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Finding Differences Between Binary Files
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

Hi folks. As mentioned in passing last night, diff(1) isn’t much help for tracking down differences between two non-text files: all it will say is the files differ. However, there is a way to get detail on the differences, and that is to use a hex dump command like xxd(1) to produce text output from those binary files, and diff that text output instead. Thus, instead of diff binfile1 binfile2 you do diff <(xxd binfile1) <(xxd binfile2) This will quickly narrow down runs of changed bytes, and possibly even small sections of inserted or deleted bytes as well.

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Raspberry π As A Thin Client?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

Citrix has posted a demo of a Raspberry π giving smooth performance running a thin client OS. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/14/vdi_comes_to_the_raspberry_pi/> A game-changer for VDI?

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MIT Creates Tor Alternative That Floods Networks With Fake Data
by Peter Reutemann 13 Dec '15

13 Dec '15

"An anonymous reader writes with word that MIT researchers "created an alternative to Tor, a network messaging system called Vuvuzela that pollutes the network with dummy data so the NSA won't know who's talking to who." Initial tests show the systems overhead adding a 44-second delay, but the network can work fine and preserve anonymity even it has more than 50% of servers compromised." -- source: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/12/13/1522224 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

3 2

Firefox OS smartphones are dead
by Peter Reutemann 12 Dec '15

12 Dec '15

The phone ecosystem just got smaller: "Mozilla is ending its plan to build an OS for smartphones. Today at Mozilla's "Mozlando" developer event, the company announced that it would stop developing and selling Firefox OS smartphones. " -- source: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/12/firefox-os-smartphones-are-dead/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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How To Win Friends And Influence People
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Dec '15

12 Dec '15

And show your appreciation to open-source developers. <https://github.com/JuliaLang/IJulia.jl/issues/398> Or not...

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Is Your Son A Computer Hacker?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 10 Dec '15

10 Dec '15

A guide for the perplexed. As in, if you weren’t perplexed before reading this, you will be after <http://www.adequacy.org/stories/2001.12.2.42056.2147.html>. Watch out for that nasty Lunix and that devil incarnate, Linyos Torovoltos! Seems like there are some other similar gems to be found on that site, all dating from the early ’00s. Nice that they keep it online.

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Let's Encrypt Is Now In Public Beta
by Peter Reutemann 03 Dec '15

03 Dec '15

"As of today, Let's Encrypt is in Public Beta. If you're comfortable running beta software that may have a few bugs and rough edges, you can use it to instantly obtain and install certificates for any HTTPS website or TLS service." -- source: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/12/03/2016238 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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It’s Here: The Internet Of Wrongs
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Dec '15

03 Dec '15

One of the presentations at the upcoming Kiwicon in Wellington is going to be about a device built out of a Raspberry π Zero using “nothing more than off-the-shelf components and "questionable life choices"”. It looks for attempts to connect to Instagram and other “social-media vanity” sites (including rugby), and blocks them by returning bogus responses. Quote: “It is exceptionally effective at selfie-drenched "music" festivals and coffee shops”. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/02/british_hacker_turns_raspberry_pi_z…>

2 1

Why Algebraic Eraser may be the riskiest cryptosystem you’ve never heard of
by Peter Reutemann 30 Nov '15

30 Nov '15

"A potential standard for securing network-connected pacemakers, automobiles, and other lightweight devices has suffered a potentially game-over setback after researchers developed a practical attack that obtains its secret cryptographic key. Known as Algebraic Eraser, the scheme is a patented way to establish public encryption keys without overtaxing the limited amounts of memory and computational resources that often constrain so-called Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Developed by scientists from Shelton, Connecticut-based SecureRF, it's similar to the Diffie-Hellman key exchange in that it allows two parties who have never met to securely establish a key over an insecure channel." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/11/why-algebraic-eraser-may-be-the-mos… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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When Is “Free Software” Not Free?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Nov '15

30 Nov '15

Linux kernel developer Matthew Garrett has posted some criticisms of projects like Mozilla, Red Hat and Ubuntu that develop or redistribute Free software, but tack on an “intellectual property rights policy”. Basically that means they claim ownership of certain logos and trademarks, so if you want to fully exercise your Four Freedoms, you have to strip those out before you are allowed to redistribute what you receive from them. <http://lwn.net/Articles/665175/> One particularly worrying thing is this comment from Garrett (mjg59) on the above article: Canonical refuse to tell you what changes you need to make to the packages in order to do so.

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Pi Zero: A full Raspberry Pi for just $5
by Peter Reutemann 28 Nov '15

28 Nov '15

"Have you ever wanted a Raspberry Pi but thought that £16/$25—roughly three packs of cigarettes—was a little exorbitant for a complete computer capable of running Linux? Well, I have good news: the Raspberry Pi Foundation has just released the Pi Zero, a single-board computer that costs just £4/$5." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/11/pi-zero-a-full-raspberry-pi-for-just… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

3 4

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Will Ship With Linux Kernel 4.4 LTS
by Peter Reutemann 27 Nov '15

27 Nov '15

"The current daily build of the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) remains based on the Linux 4.2 kernel packages of the stable Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf) operating system, while the latest and most advanced Linux 4.3 kernel is tracked on the master-next branch of the upcoming operating system. In the meantime, the Ubuntu Kernel Team announced plans for moving to Linux kernel 4.4 for the final release of the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/15/11/26/1920204 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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20 Years of GIMP
by Peter Reutemann 24 Nov '15

24 Nov '15

'Back in 1995, University of California students Peter Mattis and Kimball Spencer were members of the eXperimental Computing Facility, a Berkeley campus organization. In June of that year, the two hinted at their intentions to write a free graphical image manipulation program as a means of giving back to the free software community. On November 21st, 20 years ago today, Peter Mattis announced the availability of the "General Image Manipulation Program" on Usenet (later "GNU Image Manipulation Program"). Over the years, GIMP amassed a huge amount of new features designed for all kinds of users and practical applications: general image editing, retouching and color grading, digital painting, graphic design, science imaging, and so on. To celebrate the 20th anniversary, there is an update of the current stable branch of GIMP. The newly released version 2.8.16 features support for layer groups in OpenRaster files, fixes for layer groups support in PSD, various user interface improvements, OSX build system fixes, translation updates, and more.' -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/15/11/22/2019259 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Fwd: [Roundcube Announce] Roundcube Webmail 1.2-beta out now
by Simon Green 23 Nov '15

23 Nov '15

Good morning all, Roundcube 1.2-beta has been released, Among other enhancements, this release supports either server side or client side PGP encryption. As far as I know, this is the first open source web based e-mail client that does so. -- Simon -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Roundcube Announce] Roundcube Webmail 1.2-beta out now Date: 24/11/2015 5:15 am From: Thomas Bruederli <thomas(a)roundcube.net> We're proud to announce that the beta release of the next major version 1.2 of Roundcube webmail is out now for download and testing. With this milestone we introduce new features primarily focusing on security and PGP encryption: * PHP7 compatibility * PGP encryption * Drag-n-drop attachments from mail preview to compose window * Mail messages searching with predefined date interval * Improved security measures to protect from brute-force attacks And of course plenty of small improvements and bug fixes. The PGP encryption support in Roundcube comes with two options: Mailvelope -------------- The integration of this browser plugin [1] for Firefox and Chrome comes out of the box in Roundcube 1.2 and is enabled if the Mailvelope API is detected in a user's browser. See the Mailvelope documentation [2] how to enable it for your site. Read more about the Mailvelope integration and how this looks like in Alec's blog [3]. Enigma plugin ------------------- This Roundcube plugin adds server-side PGP encryption features to Roundcube. Enabling this means that users need to fully trust the webmail server as encryption is done on the server GnuPG and private keys are also stored there. In order to activate server-side PGP encryption for all your users, the 'enigma' plugin, which is shipped with this package, has to be enabled in the Roundcube config. See the plugin's README for details. Also read Alec's blogpost about the Enigma plugin and how it works [4]. Both encryption features are pretty new and not yet perfectly documented. We'd much appreciate your feedback and your contribution to the end-user documentation [5] or our wiki page [6]. IMPORTANT: with this version, we finally deprecate some old Roundcube library functions [7]. Plugin developers, please test your plugins thoroughly and look for deprecation warnings in the logs. These function will be removed in the final 1.2.0 release and can therefore render plugins dysfunctional. See the full changelog on trac.roundcube.net [8] and download the new packages from https://roundcube.net/download Please note that this is a beta release and we recommend to test it on a separate environment. And don't forget to backup your data before installing it! Enjoy and please share your experience either through our mailing lists or as comments in the blog posts mentioned above. Kind regards, Thomas [1] https://www.mailvelope.com [2] https://www.mailvelope.com/en/help#watchlist [3] https://kolabian.wordpress.com/2015/10/10/mailvelope-integration-pgp-encryp… [4] https://kolabian.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/enigma-plugin-pgp-encryption/ [5] http://trac.roundcube.net/wiki/Online_Help [6] http://trac.roundcube.net/wiki/Dev_Encryption [7] https://github.com/roundcube/roundcubemail/blob/master/program/include/bc.p… [8] http://trac.roundcube.net/wiki/Changelog

2 1

Rebel Geeks: Meet Your Maker
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 20 Nov '15

20 Nov '15

Some on this list should be interested in this series on Al Jazeera called “Rebel Geeks”. The episode this week featured Massimo Banzi, one of the founders of Arduino, at the Maker Faire in Shenzhen, China. It also talks about the Safecast project, which was a volunteer group that came together in the wake of the Fukushima disaster to provide radiation data more extensive than anything the Government was able to offer. You can watch it on-line here <http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/rebelgeeks/2015/11/technology-maker-mov…>.

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Linux Mint 1.73 BETA
by Peter Reutemann 18 Nov '15

18 Nov '15

Linux Mint 17.3 "Rosa" BETA is out, using Cinnamon and MATE: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2937 http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2938 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Open source projects rely on donated time—what motivates participants?
by Peter Reutemann 18 Nov '15

18 Nov '15

"Open source software packages like WordPress and Firefox have been major influences on modern computing. In statistics, open source software known as “R” has become the most popular environment for statistical computation and data analysis. A recent paper in PNAS studied the developers who make this software so successful to understand what motivates them and why they find contributing satisfying." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/11/open-source-projects-rely-on-donated… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

The Dirk And Linus Show Comes To Seoul
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Nov '15

17 Nov '15

Snippets from <http://lwn.net/Articles/662106/>: Is there anybody out there who understands the entire kernel? Linus said that nobody does. There are some people who have a good overview of the whole kernel, and Linus, at least, generally knows who to blame for any specific problem. But with a project the size of the kernel it's not possible for anybody to have a deep understanding of the whole thing. ... With regard to how an aspiring kernel developer should start, Linus has always said the same thing: he can't tell developers what to do. It is important, instead, that developers work on things they *want* to do. ... How many kernel compiles has he done? It used to take about twelve minutes to compile a kernel; over time, the kernel has gotten bigger, but the hardware has gotten faster; the current time is about 22 minutes for an allmodconfig kernel. He does about ten builds per day during the merge window, a couple otherwise. Kernel development has been happening for about 8800 days; the bottom line, Linus guessed, was about 100,000 compiles. ... What about the Git project — what made that project successful? Linus gave a lot of credit to BitKeeper which, despite its licensing issues, changed how the kernel community did development. Git, of course, is an [Linus Torvalds] improvement on BitKeeper, but BitKeeper showed the benefits of distributed development when nobody else was working in that area. Once Git was around, its use by the kernel community helped it to spread quickly. Its immutable object model turned out to make it easy for service providers to use, enabling companies like GitHub. Ten years ago, developers were resistant to thinking about source-code management issues; Git forced them to look at it and to realize how much better distributed source-code management is. Git was not the first in this area, but it was the one that created wide awareness of a better way of doing things.

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WLUG AGM next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 17 Nov '15

17 Nov '15

Hi everyone Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is next week on Monday. Agenda (preliminary) - President's Report - Treasurer's Report - Election of 2016 Committee - Consumption of pizza http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/226192341/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Calibrate your Monitor with these Open Source Tools
by Peter Reutemann 17 Nov '15

17 Nov '15

"What is seen on your display and what the image should look like can be two quite different things. If you value image quality and accuracy, calibration of your monitor will be important. Anyone involved in digital photography, graphic design or artwork will recognise the importance that their monitor is producing the best results, showing true colors and black levels. The following open source tools are invaluable for anyone looking for accurate color reproduction." -- source: http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/calibrate-your-monitor-with-these-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

Sourceforge going mubar?!
by Ian Young 17 Nov '15

17 Nov '15

Anyone happen to know whether Sourceforge is more than usually impaired at the moment (messed up beyond all recognition)? Any download I attempt is extremely slow, this from two networks. And Australia seems to been excised from the map of mirrors. Don't even get me started on the wall to wall advertising, and the cumbersome process of displaying info on whatever project one is trying to d/l after a d/l has commenced.

2 1

Linux 4.4 Kernel To Bring Raspberry Pi Graphics Driver, Open-Channel SSD Support
by Peter Reutemann 16 Nov '15

16 Nov '15

"Linux 4.4-rc1 has been released. New features of Linux 4.4 include a Raspberry Pi kernel mode-setting driver, support for 3D acceleration by QEMU guest virtual machines, AMD Stoney APU support, Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 support, expanded eBPF virtual machine programs, new hardware peripheral support, file-system fixes, faster SHA crypto support on Intel hardware, and LightNVM / Open-Channel SSD support." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/15/11/16/0313205 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

SUSE LEAP 421 live versions
by Ian Young 16 Nov '15

16 Nov '15

This looks interesting and not a large download. http://geckolinux.github.io/ And the inimitable man from Sweden has been at it again in a break from brewing up his Android and Pi versions. http://opsus.exton.net/

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Non-Copyleft Licences “Put The FOSS Community At Risk Of Collapse”
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Nov '15

12 Nov '15

HP’s CTO Martin Fink gave the closing keynote at the recent LinuxCon Europe conference. He argued that the proliferation of open-source software licences is (once again) having a bad effect on the health of software projects <http://lwn.net/Articles/660428/>. That much would not be so controversial, except he also claims that the use of non-copyleft “permissive” licences is adding to the problem. He justifies his argument thus: The Apache 2.0 license is currently the most widely used "permissive" license. But the thing that developers overlook when adopting it, he said, is that by using Apache they are also making a choice about how much work they will have to put into building any sort of community around the project. If you look at Apache-licensed projects, he noted, "you'll find that they are very top-heavy with 'governance' structures." Technical committees, working groups, and various boards, he said, are needed to make such projects function. But if you look at copyleft projects, he added, you find that those structures simply are not needed. The difference stems from the fact that in Apache-licensed projects, "you've always got people who are trying to go off and do their own proprietary thing." That makes their contributions to the open-source project difficult to integrate and often at odds with other participants. In a copyleft project, such as the kernel, "there is no incentive to try and carve out your own little area." As a result, contributors just do their work and the project advances. Certainly this statement of his is beyond dispute: “Copyleft is a simple, good thing: share and share alike.”

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Multics vs Unix
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Nov '15

12 Nov '15

I’ve been reading the introductory “Multics Concepts and Utilization” book <http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/honeywell/multics/F01_multicsIntroCo…> over at Bitsavers. Multics (the “MULTiplexed Information and Computing Service”) was, for its time, an extremely ambitious operating system project. It was first introduced in 1965, in the form of a series of papers at the AFIPS Fall Joint Computer Conference of that year <http://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/afips/1965/5066/00/index.html>. Of course, it took far too long (7 years) to reach production quality. In that time, a small group of researchers at AT&T Bell Labs grew tired of waiting, and decided to create their own, less ambitious system, which they called “UNIX” as a tongue-in-cheek homage to “Multics”. And the rest, as they say, is history. But, nevertheless, Multics remained an influential system. There are even some present-day fans of it gathered at <http://multicians.org/>. Apparently they have got the OS booting on an emulator of the original GE 645 hardware. Though it was mostly written in a high-level language (PL/I), Multics was never a portable OS; to support its advanced virtual-memory and security features, it required special processor hardware support which was not common in those days. Even today, Multics has some features which can be considered innovative and uncommon. It may be true that, for example, SELinux can match all of its security capabilities and more. But some aspects of its file-protection system seem, to me, to make sharing of data between users a bit easier than your typical Linux/POSIX-type system. For a start, there seems to be no concept of file “ownership” as such. Or even of POSIX-style file protection modes (read/write/execute for owner/group/world). Instead, all file and directory access is controlled via access-control lists (ACLs). Directories have a permission called “modify”, which effectively gives a matching entity (user, group, process) owner-type rights over that directory; except that more than one entity can have that permission at once. Thus, a group of users working on a common project can all be given this “modify” access to a shared directory for that project, allowing them all to put data there, read it back again, control access to it, delete it etc on a completely equal basis. Contrast this with POSIX/Linux, where every file has to have exactly one owner; even if they create that file in a shared directory, it still gives the creating user a special status over that file, that others with write access to the containing directory do not have. (Multics also offers a separate “append” permission, that allows the possessor to create an item in a directory, without having the ability to remove an item once it’s there.) One radical idea introduced in Unix was its profligate use of multiple processes. Every new command you executed (except for the ones built into the shell) required the creation of a new process, often several processes. Other OSes tended to look askance at this; it seemed somehow wasteful, perhaps even sinful to spawn so many processes so readily and discard them so casually. The more conventional approach was to create a single process at user login, and execute nearly all commands within the context of that. There were special commands for explicitly creating additional processes (e.g. for background command execution), but such process creation did not simply happen as a matter of course. Gradually, over time, the limitations of the single-process approach became too much to ignore, and the versatility of the Unix approach won over (nearly) everybody. Multics, however, is of the old school. More than that, the process even preserves global state, including static storage, in-between runs of programs, and this applies across different programs, not just reruns of the same one. For example, in FORTRAN, there is the concept of a “common block”. If you run two different programs that both refer to the same common block, then the second one will see values left in the block by the first one. To completely reinitialize everything, you need to invoke the “new_proc” command, which effectively deletes your process and gives you a fresh one. One common irritation I find on POSIX/Linux systems is the convention that every directory has to have an entry called “.”, pointing to itself, and one called “..”, pointing to its parent. This way these names can be used in relative pathnames to reach any point in the directory hierarchy. But surely it is unnecessary to have explicit entries for these names cluttering up every directory; why not just build their recognition as a special case into the pathname-parsing logic in the kernel, once and for all? That way, directory-traversal routines in user programs don’t have to be specially coded to look for, and skip these entries, every single time. Multics doesn’t seem to have this problem. An absolute pathname begins with “>” (which is the separator for pathname components, equivalent to POSIX “/”), while a relative pathname doesn’t. Furthermore, a relative pathname can begin with one or more “<” characters, indicating the corresponding number of steps up from the current working directory. Unlike POSIX “..”, you can’t have “<” characters in the middle of the pathname, which is probably not a big loss. It is interesting to see other features which are nearly, but not quite, the same as, corresponding features in Unix. For example, there is a search path for executables, to save you typing the entire pathname to run the program. However, this does not seem as flexible as the $PATH environment-variable convention observed by Unix/POSIX shells. In particular, it does not seem possible to remove the current directory from the search path, which we now know can be a security risk. Another one is the concept of “active functions” and “active strings”. These allow you to perform substitutions of dynamically-computed values into a command line. However, they are not as general as the Unix/POSIX concept of “command substitution”, where an entire shell command can supply its output to be interpolated into another command. Instead of having a completely separate vocabulary of “active functions” which can only be used for such substitutions, Unix/POSIX unifies this with the standard set of commands, any of which can be used in this way. There are other features of Multics that others more familiar with it might want to see mentioned (the single-level store concept, where “everything is a memory segment”, versus Unix “everything is a file”? I/O redirection based on “switches”—symbolic references to files, versus Unix integer “file descriptors”?). But then, this long-winded essay would become even longer-winded :). So if you are interested in this particular piece of computing history, feel free to follow up the links above. In summary, Multics is very much a museum piece, not something you would want to use today for regular work—not in its original form. But I think there are still one or two ideas there that we could usefully copy and adapt to a present-day OS, particularly a versatile one like Linux.

1 1

Does The TPP Allow Prohibition Of The GPL?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Nov '15

12 Nov '15

Some are suggesting that article 14.17 of the TPP, which begins “No Party shall require the transfer of, or access to, source code of software owned by a person of another Party...”, could be interpreted to override the requirement of the GPL to provide source code. <http://lwn.net/Articles/663817/>

1 0

File-encrypting ransomware starts targeting Linux Web servers
by Peter Reutemann 12 Nov '15

12 Nov '15

"Malware researchers from Russian antivirus vendor Doctor Web have recently discovered a new malware program for Linux-based systems that they've dubbed Linux.Encoder.1." -- source: http://www.linuxtoday.com/security/file-encrypting-ransomware-starts-target… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

3 3

Unhashable: Why Fingerprints Are Weaker Security Than Passwords
by Peter Reutemann 11 Nov '15

11 Nov '15

"Fingerprints aren't terribly secure; you leave them on almost everything you touch. Many people won't realize that fingerprints can be captured and reproduced from casual photographs. It's actually worse than that. The very method with which fingerprints are stored is much weaker than passwords. Fingerprints cannot be hashed. By their very nature, each read of your fingerprint will be a little different, which breaks the hashing method. They can only be stored using encryption, which requires the same master password each time a new print read is compared to the stored key — a much weaker method than salted hashes. This more easily opens fingerprint credentials up to theft and brute forcing." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/15/11/10/228223 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

3 5

SUSE Leap reviewed
by Ian Young 10 Nov '15

10 Nov '15

Thanks for the interesting review. But you didn't say whether NetworkManager was functional. Just joshing :) I'm going to assume it does work because lightning couldn't strike twice right? And you didn't mention Fluxbox. I seem to recall it was once an option. Or am I thinking of FVWM?

1 0

OpenSUSE Leap 42.1 Released
by Peter Reutemann 09 Nov '15

09 Nov '15

"In what they're calling the first "hybrid" distribution release, the openSUSE project have announced the availability of openSUSE Leap 42.1. Built on a core of SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 SP1 packages but including an up-to-date userspace (KDE Plasma 5.4.2, GNOME 3.16, and many other DEs), Leap aims to provide a stable middle ground between enterprise releases which are quickly out of date, and the sometimes unstable community distros. DVD/USB or Network Install ISOs are available for download now. For those who do prefer the bleeding edge, the openSUSE Tumbleweed rolling-release distribution is also available." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/15/11/05/0246248 Sounds like an interesting concept... Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

Creative Commons case study on William Mckee
by William Mckee 06 Nov '15

06 Nov '15

Hello, Creative Commons NZ did a case study on me. It mentions my Linux usage for creating artwork. Here is the article: http://nzcommons.org.nz/artist-william-mckee-discusses-creative-commons-ope… Cheers, William.

2 1

Latest SUSE
by Ian Young 06 Nov '15

06 Nov '15

This sounds good -- but does NetworkManager work? It would be interesting to find out. I had problems with an earlier SUSE version as I mentioned at a LUG meeting. If anyone has an iso I would like a copy. ~ Ian Y

2 1

unbreakable encryption may be illegal
by Ian Young 03 Nov '15

03 Nov '15

Some may not have seen this, presumably by now as seen on TV and across the web. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11970391/Interne…

3 2

The World’s Most Frustrating Linux Install
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Nov '15

03 Nov '15

Following on from their attempt to crowdsource a Pokemon game session, video-streaming site Twitch has now tried the same for an installation of Arch Linux. Guess which was the most popular command people tried to enter? <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/02/crowdsourced_linux_installation_cri…>

1 0

Hacking tool swipes encrypted credentials from password manager
by Peter Reutemann 02 Nov '15

02 Nov '15

"Using a password manager is one of the biggest ways that average computer users can keep their online accounts secure, but their protection is pretty much meaningless when an end user's computer is compromised. Underscoring this often ignored truism is a recently released hacking tool that silently decrypts all user names, passwords, and notes stored by the KeePass password manager and writes them to a file. KeeFarce, as the tool has been dubbed, targets KeePass, but there's little stopping developers from designing similar apps that target virtually every other password manager available today. Hackers and professional penetration testers can run it on computers that they have already taken control of. When it runs on a computer where a logged in user has the KeePass database unlocked, KeeFarce decrypts the entire database and writes it to a file that the hacker can easily access." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/11/hacking-tool-swipes-encrypted-crede… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Linux 4.3 Released As Stable; Improves On Open-Source Graphics, SMP Performance
by Peter Reutemann 02 Nov '15

02 Nov '15

"The Linux 4.3 kernel was released as stable today. The Linux 4.3 kernel brings Intel Skylake support, reworked NVIDIA open-source graphics support, and many other changes with the code count hitting 20.6 million lines of code." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/15/11/02/0130233 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

EFF Asks Appeals Court To "Shut Down the Eastern District of Texas"
by Peter Reutemann 02 Nov '15

02 Nov '15

'The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge have asked a federal appeals court to make big changes to the rules governing venue in patent cases. The two public interest groups are seeking to file an amicus brief (PDF) which attacks the Eastern District of Texas as being one of the "most notorious situations of forum shopping in recent history."' -- source: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/11/01/0239203 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

GNU Hurd 0.7 and GNU Mach 1.6 Released
by Peter Reutemann 02 Nov '15

02 Nov '15

"Halloween brought us GNU Hurd 0.7, GNU Mach 1.6, and GNU MIG 1.6. The new Hurd comes with filesystem driver improvements, provides a new rpcscan utility, and the Hurd code has been ported to work with newer versions of GCC and GNU C Library. The Mach microkernel has updates for compiler compatibility, improvements to the lock debugging infrastructure, the kernel now lets non-privileged users write to a small amount of memory, timestamps are now kept relative to boot time, and there are various bugfixes. MIG 1.6 is a small update which improves compatibility with newer dialects of C programming language. Specific details on all of the updates can be found in the full release announcement." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/11/01/1333247 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

This 11-year-old is selling cryptographically secure passwords for $2 each
by Peter Reutemann 29 Oct '15

29 Oct '15

"We now live in a world where a New York City sixth grader is making money selling strong passwords. Earlier this month, Mira Modi, 11, began a small business at dicewarepasswords.com, where she generates six-word Diceware passphrases by hand." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/10/this-11-year-old-is-selling-cryptog… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Official, Customized Raspberry Pi Versions Coming Soon
by Peter Reutemann 27 Oct '15

27 Oct '15

"The immensely popular Raspberry Pi will soon be offered in customized versions, through an exclusive arrangement between Raspberry Pi Trading and Element14. According to the companies' announcement, Element14 will provide design and manufacturing services to OEM customers to create 'bespoke designs' based upon the Raspberry Pi technology platform. That's weird U.K. English for saying that contracts for creating customized Raspberry Pi SBCs will entail substantial NRE fees and 3,000 to 5,000 unit orders, depending on the nature of the customization. The tweaked Pi's are likely to have revised board layouts, additional or alternative functions, interfaces, connectors, and memory configurations, and more. A handful of unsanctioned Raspberry Pi knock-offs have already appeared over the past couple of years, including various Orange Pi and Banana Pi flavors, which certainly didn't involve any 'bespeaking.' More info is at Element14's CustomPi page." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/15/10/27/1211234 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

FSF-certified laptop
by Ian Young 27 Oct '15

27 Oct '15

This may be of interest to some. Not sure I want to try this at home except with a machine I don't mind turning into a brick. http://www.fsf.org/news/now-fsf-cerified-to-respect-your-freedom-taurinus-x…

2 1

Intel Develops Linux 'Software GPU' That's ~29-51x Faster
by Peter Reutemann 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

"Intel is open-sourcing their work on creating a high-performance graphics software rasterizer that originally was developed for scientific visualizations. Intel is planning to integrate this new OpenSWR project with Mesa to deploy it on the Linux desktop as a faster software rasterizer than what's currently available (LLVMpipe). OpenSWR should be ideal for cases where there isn't a discrete GPU available or the drivers fail to function. This software rasterizer implements OpenGL 3.2 on Intel/AMD CPUs supporting AVX(2) (Sandy Bridge / Bulldozer and newer) while being 29~51x faster than LLVMpipe and the code is MIT licensed. The code prior to being integrated in Mesa is offered on GitHub." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/10/20/2213215 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Use GNURoot to install a GNU/Linux distribution on your Android device
by Peter Reutemann 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

"How many times have you been on the go and discovered that you needed to pull off some Linux-fu, but the only piece of tech you had was an Android device? Imagine if you were able to fire up a Linux command prompt on that device and make use of apt-get to install whatever command line tool you needed. Wget? No problem. Traceroute? Yes. Ssh? Absolutely. Just about any tool you can install on Linux, you can install within Android. Even some graphical apps will work (even though command line tools work best)." -- source: http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/use-gnuroot-to-install-a-gnulinux-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Microsoft Publishes OpenSSH For Windows Code
by Peter Reutemann 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

"Microsoft has published early source code for its OpenSSH-for-Windows port for developers to pick apart and improve. In a blog post on Monday, Steve Lee – the PowerShell team's principal software engineer manager – said Redmond has finished early work on a Windows port of OpenSSH 7.1, built in a joint-effort with NoMachine. Their rough roadmap from here: 1) Leverage Windows crypto APIs instead of OpenSSL/LibreSSL and run as Windows Service. 2) Address POSIX compatibility concerns. 3) Stabilize the code and address reported issues. 4) Production quality release." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/10/20/1925226 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

AGM?
by Peter Reutemann 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

Hi everyone I'm proposing this year's AGM to take place on November 23rd, usual place at uni, MS4.G.02. Agenda: - President's Report - Treasurer's Report - Election of 2016 Committee - Consumption of pizza Any comments or things to add to the agenda? Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 1

meeting next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

Hi everyone Due to exams starting next week, we don't have access to our usual meeting room up at uni. Therefore we'll just meet at the The Cook for a drink next Monday to discuss all things Linux and Open-Source! More details here: http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/225544297/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Fwd: [NZLUG] Linux Lite banned from TradeMe
by Peter Reutemann 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

Apologies, if you've received this already. Cheers, Peter ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: philip Date: Tue, Oct 20, 2015 at 12:09 AM Subject: Re: [NZLUG] Linux Lite banned from TradeMe To: nzlug(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz On Wed, 2015-10-14 at 08:32 +1300, Volker Kuhlmann wrote: > In Europe there is a good chance that it would be recognised that a > business like trademe is practically a monopoly, and anti-competitive > behaviour does not go down well with authorities with company > policies > not carrying much weight. E.g. google is permanently under > investigation > for something. > > In New Zealand trademe is essentially a monopoly, and they are > hindering > legitimate local businesses. (Isn't Johnny keen on local business, or > is > that only when overseas companies grease him up first?) You could try > complaining on those grounds, but the commerce commission is not > often > useful. > > Until things change use a better trading platform than tardme, and > don't > waste your time discussing anything with them, their back pockets are > far too fat to need to pay attention to you. > > Volker >From Jerry. Got a call from TradeMe today and they are happy to allow linux distributions to be listed again. This of course goes hand in hand with a pending policy wording review/change. Phil. _______________________________________________ NZLUG mailing list NZLUG(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz http://lists.nzoss.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/nzlug -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Celebrating 20 Years of OpenBSD With Release 5.8
by Peter Reutemann 19 Oct '15

19 Oct '15

"20 years to the day after the OpenBSD source tree was created for the new project, the project has released OpenBSD 5.8, the 38th release on CD-ROM (and 39th via FTP/HTTP). This release comes with four release songs instead of the usual one, and a long list of improvements over the last releases." "(Probably a good time to donate to the project, too, even if you don't use it directly, because of all the security improvements that OpenBSD programmers contribute to the world.)" -- source: http://bsd.slashdot.org/story/15/10/18/1617256 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

GDrive - opens-source and command-line to the rescue
by Peter Reutemann 18 Oct '15

18 Oct '15

Hi everyone For some reason, my GDrive no longer allows me to download files, it simply doesn't do anything beyond the "scanning for viruses" screen. Fed up with that, I had a look around and came across the following open source project (Apache 2 licensed): https://github.com/odeke-em/drive There are instructions on how to install it straight from source: http://www.howopensource.com/2015/01/google-drive-for-ubuntu-linux/ But you can also install it from a repository, which I came across here: https://github.com/odeke-em/drive/wiki/PPA-Download-Stats Install ppa and tool: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:twodopeshaggy/drive sudo apt-get install drive One-off initialization of the synchronization directory (choose whatever location you like): drive init ~/gdrive cd gdrive gdrive pull Check out the command-line help: drive or drive help Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Pbtech selling intel compute stick with Ubuntu
by William Mckee 16 Oct '15

16 Oct '15

Today I recieved an email from pbtech and was happy to see an ad for an intel compute stick running Ubuntu. It's cheaper than the windows model! Here's a link to the product - http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=MBDINT10000&name=Intel-Compute-Stic… Of course the first thing I would do is remove Ubuntu and install Debian. Cheers, William

4 3

Comments On “Junk your IT. Now. Before it drags you under”
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 16 Oct '15

16 Oct '15

<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/15/junk_your_it_now_before_it_drags_yo…> says: “Our computers, he argued, have become more complex and less reliable.” Yes, they have become more complex, but no, they haven’t become less reliable. Consider this paper <https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/retro.ps> from 1977 by Dennis Ritchie, entitled “The UNIX Time-sharing System—A Retrospective”: it says “the typical period between software crashes (depending somewhat on how much tinkering with the system has been going on recently) is well over a fortnight of continuous operation”. Today, our Linux servers can have uptimes measured in months or even years. I can remember in the 1990s, there was a big gulf between the hardware reliability of commodity PCs and more expensive “workstations” or “servers”. Remember, those were the days when powerful, multitasking, multiuser OSes with proper memory protection, like Linux, the BSDs, the ones carrying the “Unix” brand, and Windows NT, were just starting to be able to run on commodity PC hardware. And the result was a lot of hardware crashes. Nowadays, there is no longer this great difference in hardware reliability. The main difference with servers is inclusion of management features (e.g. hot-swap bays, remote consoles), not the quality of the hardware.

1 0

Walmart To Open-Source Its Cloud-Portability Code
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 16 Oct '15

16 Oct '15

Walmart has developed a middleware layer, called “OneOps”, which apparently allows it to move its applications between different cloud service providers. It now says it is going to offer that software as Open Source <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/15/walmart_opensources_its_cloudhoppin…>. When? “before the end of the year”.

2 1

The Kool Desktop Environment (KDE) Turns 19, Happy Birthday!
by Peter Reutemann 15 Oct '15

15 Oct '15

"Believe it or not, the KDE desktop environment turned 19 years old on October 14, 2015. Yes, it has been 19 long years since Matthias Ettrich announced his new project, the Kool Desktop Environment (KDE)." -- source: http://linux.softpedia.com/blog/the-kool-desktop-environment-kde-turns-19-h… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

BeagleBoard-x15 to arrive in time for holiday hacking
by Peter Reutemann 15 Oct '15

15 Oct '15

"BeagleBoard.org has provided some new details, including PCIe support, for its dual-core Cortex-A15 BeagleBoard-X15 SBC, which is due by December for $239." -- source: http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/beagleboard-x15-to-arrive-in-time-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Is There Space For Open Hardware In Networking?
by Peter Reutemann 14 Oct '15

14 Oct '15

"Open hardware has got much attention with the advent of Raspberry Pi, Arduino and their respective clones. But most of the devices are focused either on tinkerers (Arduino) or most notably multimedia (Raspberry Pi). However, there is not much happening in other areas such as home routers where openness might help improve security and drive progress. Our company (non-profit) is trying to change this with Turris Omnia but we still wander if there is in fact demand for such devices. Is the market large enough and the area cool enough? Are there enough people who would value open hardware running open software even with a higher price tag? Any feedback would be most valued." -- source: http://ask.slashdot.org/story/15/10/13/191202 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

Geriatric Linux: How an 'old geezer' came to terms with computers
by Peter Reutemann 14 Oct '15

14 Oct '15

"I was born in 1933, so computers weren't something I grew up with. In fact, neither was TV, atomic energy, or even jet planes. For my first 70 years I had neither the need nor the desire to become involved with computers." -- source: http://opensource.com/life/15/9/my-linux-story-emery-fletcher Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Wayland Ported To DragonFlyBSD
by Peter Reutemann 13 Oct '15

13 Oct '15

"Wayland 1.9 and the reference Weston compositor have been ported to DragonFlyBSD. Significant changes were made to get Wayland/Weston running, and you must either already be running an X.Org Server or be using the Linux-ported Radeon and Intel kernel mode-setting drivers, plus jump through a few setup steps." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/15/10/13/1859232 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Fwd: [NZLUG] Linux Lite banned from TradeMe
by Peter Reutemann 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

Apologies, if you've received this already. Cheers, Peter ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: philip Date: Mon, Oct 12, 2015 at 6:31 PM Subject: [NZLUG] Linux Lite banned from TradeMe To: nzlug <nzlug(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz> Hi folks, Jerry Bezencon, the author of the Linux Lite distribution has had his distribution banned from TradeMe. Jerry has put the correspondence on the Linux Lite forums. https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/on-topic/linux-lite-banned-as-free-s oftware-from-trademe Jerry has been given the same run around that Copyleft was given a few years ago when it was thrown off TradeMe. I had explained about Free Software, Project Gutenberg, and that eBay allowing Linux sales. All I got was "it was against policy blah blah blah" – despite the fact that TradeMe's policy did not cover FLOSS. A burnt Official Debian Disc is the original disc. Or worse, in Jerry's case he is selling his own work and that he owns the original copyright on his work. Applying Hanlon's razor. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity". eBay.com.au runs Apache (FLOSS), so management has been educated by its techies about free software, how it works and the environment in which it works. So Linux sales are permitted. IMHO the root of the problem lies in the techie area of TradeMe. When I checked a few years ago I found that TradeMe was a Microsoft shop (os info is not available now). TradeMe has Microsoft techies and so management remains ignorant and open to FUD about FLOSS. OnOffer is also a Microsoft shop and has similar restrictions. Let's make waves. Phil. -- Philip Charles; 39a Paterson Street, Abbotsford, Dunedin, New Zealand +64 3 488 2818 Fax +64 3 488 2875 Mobile 027 663 4453 philipc(a)copyleft.co.nz - personal. info(a)copyleft.co.nz - business _______________________________________________ NZLUG mailing list NZLUG(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz http://lists.nzoss.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/nzlug -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

android-x86 marches onward in v5 alpha
by Ian Young 07 Oct '15

07 Oct '15

For anyone who may like this sort of thing and not seen this announcement. Sounds like some interesting progress. https://sites.google.com/a/android-x86.org/web/releases/releasenote-5-1-rc1 Key Features The 5.1-rc1 release is based on the Android 5.1.1_r24. We added many x86 specified code and fixed issues to let the system runs smoothly on x86 platforms, especially for netbooks or tablets. The key features contain Supports 64-bit kernel and userspace, as well as 32-bit system. Update kernel to 4.0.9. Enable OpenGL ES hardware acceleration for Intel/AMD(radeon/radeonsi)/Nvidia(nouveau) chipsets. Support booting from UEFI and installing to UEFI disk. Be able to install to ext4/ext3/ext2/ntfs/fat32 filesystems via a text based GUI installer. Support Multi-touch, Audio, Wifi, Bluetooth, Sensors, Camera and Ethernet (DHCP only). Auto-mount external usb drive and sdcard with filesystem vfat/ntfs/exfat/ext4. Support VM including Qemu, VirtualBox and VMware. Support foreign archs (arm / arm64) via the native bridge mechanism. (Settings -> Apps Compatibility)

1 0

Ubuntu Plans To Make ZFS File-System Support Standard On Linux
by Peter Reutemann 07 Oct '15

07 Oct '15

'Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth revealed today that they're planning to make ZFS standard on Ubuntu. They are planning to include ZFS file-system as "standard in due course," but no details were revealed beyond that. However, ZFS On Linux contributor Richard Yao has said they do plan on including it in their kernel for 16.04 LTS and the GPL vs. CDDL license worries aren't actually a problem. Many Linux users have been wanting ZFS on Linux, but aside from the out of tree module there hasn't been any luck in including it in the mainline kernel or with tier-one Linux distributions due to license differences.' -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/10/06/210202 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Matthew Garrett Forks the Linux Kernel
by Peter Reutemann 07 Oct '15

07 Oct '15

'Just like Sarah Sharp, Linux developer Matthew Garrett has gotten fed up with the unprofessional development culture surrounding the kernel. "I remember having to deal with interminable arguments over the naming of an interface because Linus has an undying hatred of BSD securelevel, or having my name forever associated with the deepthroating of Microsoft because Linus couldn't be bothered asking questions about the reasoning behind a design before trashing it," Garrett writes. He has chosen to go his own way, and has forked the Linux kernel and added patches that implement a BSD-style securelevel interface. Over time it is expected to pick up some of the power management code that Garrett is working on, and we shall see where it goes from there.' -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/15/10/06/1553233 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Ditch Linux For Windows 10 On Your Raspberry Pi With Microsoft's IoT Kit
by Peter Reutemann 29 Sep '15

29 Sep '15

'Partnering with Adafruit, Microsoft has announced the Windows IoT Core Starter Kit. The $75 kit comes comes with an SD card preloaded with Windows 10 IoT. According to the Raspberry Pi blog: "The pack is available with a Pi 2 for people who are are new to Raspberry Pi or who'd like a dedicated device for their projects, or without one for those who'll be using a Pi they already own. The box contains an SD card with Windows 10 Core and a case, power supply, wifi module and Ethernet cable for your Pi; a breadboard, jumper wires and components including LEDs, potentiometers and switches; and sensors for light, colour, temperature and pressure. There's everything you need to start building."' -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/15/09/28/1949211 Looks like it wasn't vaporware after all. But I'm not gonna replace the Linux on my RPis. Especially not since I can have a full-blown Linux OS on it rather than some stripped down Windows version. :-) Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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The Life And Death Of A Laptop Battery
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 27 Sep '15

27 Sep '15

<http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_life_and_death_of_a_laptop_batte…> “Why are my laptop batteries always dying in a year or two, while the batteries of space probes and satellites keep working year after year. If we are to believe Battery University, the cause is me charging the battery whenever I have a chance, and the fix is to not charge the Lithium-ion batteries to 100% all the time, but to stay below 90% of full charge most of the time.” ... “Is there a good and generic way with Linux to tell the battery to stop charging at 80%, unless requested to charge to 100% once in preparation for a longer trip?”

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LibreSSL Gets Rid Of SSL
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 25 Sep '15

25 Sep '15

LibreSSL (a fork of OpenSSL created after the security scandals over the latter) has now got rid of all versions of the protocol called “SSL” (“Secure Sockets Layer”) <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=LibreSSL-2.3-Released>. The official name of current versions of the protocol used for secure HTTP connections (among other things) is “TLS” (“Transport Layer Security”).

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Why Ad Blockers Could Be A Good Thing
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 25 Sep '15

25 Sep '15

A posting <https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/golden/has-apple-doomed-ads-on-the-web-w…> on “Freedom To Tinker”, which is part of my regular reading, talks about the potential implications of more widespread use of ad-blocker plugins in Web browsers. Not quite triggering an “arms race” of ad-blocker-blockers, and so on: If the use of these plugins becomes ubiquitous, only one thing would have to change – the publishers would have to insert the line of code in some way on the server side, and the ad would just look as though it came with the rest of the page. At that point, the browser plugin is useless. What would be the knock-on effects of this? The ad companies no longer have any way to track users as they move around the web. Absent some way on the ad companies’ part to implement a cross-site evercookie (which would be considered unethical and would quickly be blocked by browser authors if discovered), the ad companies will no longer have a way to connect users on one site to users on another. The ads you’d see on a given site could be based solely on the interactions you’ve had with that one site – which would be a boon to privacy. So rather than becoming worse, the ads would actually take on a less creepy form.

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