June 2012 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Skype 4.0 For Linux Now Available
by Peter Reutemann 14 Jun '12

14 Jun '12

"Anyone who uses Skype on Linux will be happy to hear that a new version has been made available today, bringing with it a host of essential updates and new features. Skype 4.0, codenamed "Four Rooms for Improvement," is long overdue, and Marco Cimmino makes a point of thanking Linux users for their patience on the Skype blog. The main improvements Skype is delivering include much improved audio call quality, better video support, and improved chat synchronization. For video specifically, Skype has spent time implementing support for a much wider range of webcams, so if your camera didn't work before today you might be surprised to find it does in Skype 4.0. Visually, Skype has received a new Conversations View, which brings all chats into a single, unified window (you can revert to the old view if you prefer). There's also a new Call View, presence and emoticons have been redesigned, and you can now store and view numbers within each Skype profile." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/12/06/14/223213/skype-40-for-linux-now-avai… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Ubuntu 12.04 Ported To the Allwinner A10 MK802 Mini PC
by Peter Reutemann 14 Jun '12

14 Jun '12

"Thanks to the strong ARM support in the Ubuntu repositories, Ubuntu, along with Lubuntu and others have been ported to work on the new MK802 mini PC. Performance is very impressive, especially given that Mali GPU driver support in Linux is still lacking features such as hardware video decoding." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/12/06/14/1343205/ubuntu-1204-ported-to-the-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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/usr/share/applications what am I doing wrong?
by Bruce Kingsbury 14 Jun '12

14 Jun '12

I've installed Padman and urban terror in /opt .. created scripts to launch them in /usr/games, put icons in /usr/share/pixmaps and created .desktop files in /usr/share/applications (by copying the one for openarena and just changing the names). So far so good, the games appear in the menu and I can play them. After a reboot they're gone from the menu for every user, but I can get them back in the menu by simply opening a root terminal, moving the two .desktop files from /usr/share/applications to another directory and then moving them back again. And nothing more than this is required. What is going on?!

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Re: [wlug] With Euro Zone Problems, Bitcoin Experiencing Boost In Legitimacy
by GJB 14 Jun '12

14 Jun '12

Open source currency ... I suppose you all already know about the NZ bitcoin exchange https://bitnz.com/ other than this though doesn't seem to be much else happening in NZ regards bitcoin/namecoin etc. > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [wlug] With Euro Zone Problems, Bitcoin Experiencing Boost In > Legitimacy > From: Peter Reutemann <fracpete(a)waikato.ac.nz> > Date: Wed, June 13, 2012 4:20 pm > To: wlug <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> > > > For the Bitcoiners among you, this might be interesting: > > "Despite being used for drugs and beef jerky, Bitcoin is finding > legitimate purposes. Bitcoin's decentralized convenience means > international efficiency, in areas where local restrictions on money > transfers to foreign companies make legal businesses cumbersome. 'I've > been able to have cash in my bank account in a matter of hours using > Bitcoin, rather than three days with traditional banking,' one British > businessman in China told Reuters. In embattled Europe, Bitcoin offers > some a viable alternative against central banks, said a Greek owner of > an island bar and restaurant who accepts payment in Bitcoin. 'I don't > put money in the banks. I trust the euro as a note, but I don't trust > banks. I don't want them making money out of my earnings.' Indeed, > Europe's financial woes are caused an unprecedented surge of interest > in the alternative currency, as the continent loses economic > credibility with each new bailout, according to a report by the > Financial Post." > > -- source: http://politics.slashdot.org/story/12/06/12/2351203/with-euro-zone-problems… > > Cheers, Peter > -- > Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ > http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174 > _______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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With Euro Zone Problems, Bitcoin Experiencing Boost In Legitimacy
by Peter Reutemann 13 Jun '12

13 Jun '12

For the Bitcoiners among you, this might be interesting: "Despite being used for drugs and beef jerky, Bitcoin is finding legitimate purposes. Bitcoin's decentralized convenience means international efficiency, in areas where local restrictions on money transfers to foreign companies make legal businesses cumbersome. 'I've been able to have cash in my bank account in a matter of hours using Bitcoin, rather than three days with traditional banking,' one British businessman in China told Reuters. In embattled Europe, Bitcoin offers some a viable alternative against central banks, said a Greek owner of an island bar and restaurant who accepts payment in Bitcoin. 'I don't put money in the banks. I trust the euro as a note, but I don't trust banks. I don't want them making money out of my earnings.' Indeed, Europe's financial woes are caused an unprecedented surge of interest in the alternative currency, as the continent loses economic credibility with each new bailout, according to a report by the Financial Post." -- source: http://politics.slashdot.org/story/12/06/12/2351203/with-euro-zone-problems… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Debian wheezy for Raspberry Pi goes into testing
by Peter Reutemann 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

'Developers working with the low cost ARM based mini-computer now have a new version of Debian GNU/Linux to test: "wheezy"' --source: http://h-online.com/-1615208 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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New Zealand Open Source Awards 2012
by Peter Reutemann 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

Hi everyone The New Zealand Open Source Awards are now open for nominations: http://www.nzosa.org.nz/ The categories this year don't just cover business and government software, but also include "Open Science Award" for science related software, "Open Source Use in The Arts", "Open Source Contributor" and "Open Source People's Choice Award" (for recognizing organizations/individuals). The full list is available here: http://www.nzosa.org.nz/categories If you think that a person or project from New Zealand should get nominated, then go ahead and do it: http://www.nzosa.org.nz/node/add/nomination Please feel free to forward this email. Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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REMINDER: WLUG meeting tonight!
by Meeting Reminder Bot 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

There's a WLUG meeting tonight: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- !!!WLUG LanParty Meet up at the university, usual meeting room for Monday meetings: MS4.G.02 (http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map?MS4) Time: 10am to 4pm Come along and bring your favourite free/ open source games or games that run on free operating systems. Suggestions include: * Bzflag * World of Padman * urban terror * Sauerbraten * More on WikiPedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_video_games) We'll have internet access (48Mbit/s). Entry is free for visitors and club members. However, if you, as a visitor, wish to connect your computer to the internet for more than a few minutes, a fee of $4 dollars to cover internet costs would be appreciated. We will accept membership applications on the day ($20). There are no kitchen facilities within the room. Toilets will be available around the campus, a couple of bakeries not far from campus.

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Re: [wlug] Snapshotting backup tool Obnam 1.0 released
by GJB 09 Jun '12

09 Jun '12

I wonder if the verb should be "Snapshooting" rather than Snapshotting. :) > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [wlug] Snapshotting backup tool Obnam 1.0 released > From: Peter Reutemann <fracpete(a)gmail.com> > Date: Wed, June 06, 2012 11:04 am > To: wlug <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> > > > 'Obnam, "a snapshotting, de-duplicating, encrypting backup program" > has been released by its developer, Lars Wirzenius. The application > has been in development since 2006 when Wirzenius decided that he > could not find a backup application which met all his demands, despite > finding various applications with one or two of his requirements.' > > -- source: http://h-online.com/-1605021 > > Cheers, Peter > -- > Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ > http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174 > _______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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MD5crypt Password Scrambler Is No Longer Considered Safe
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jun '12

07 Jun '12

In the light of the LinkedIn password hash leak: "Now, Poul-Henning Kamp a developer known for work on various projects and the author of the md5crypt password scrambler asks everybody to migrate to a stronger password scrambler without undue delay. From the blog post: 'New research has shown that it can be run at a rate close to 1 million checks per second on COTS GPU hardware, which means that it is as prone to brute-force attacks as the DES based UNIX crypt was back in 1995: Any 8 character password can be found in a couple of days. The default algorithm for storing password hashes in /etc/shadow is MD5. RHEL / CentOS / FreeBSD user can migrate to SHA-512 hashing algorithms.'" -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/06/07/1529252/md5crypt-password-scrambler… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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