March 2014 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Linux May Succeed Windows XP As OS of Choice For ATMs
by Peter Reutemann 21 Mar '14

21 Mar '14

"Some financial services companies are looking to migrate their ATM fleets from Windows to Linux in a bid to have better control over hardware and software upgrade cycles. Pushing them in that direction apparently is Microsoft's decision to end support for Windows XP on April 8, said David Tente, executive director, USA, of the ATM Industry Association. 'There is some heartburn in the industry' over Microsoft's end-of-support decision, Tente said. ATM operators would like to be able to synchronize their hardware and software upgrade cycles. But that's hard to do with Microsoft dictating the software upgrade timetable. As a result, 'some are looking at the possibility of using a non-Microsoft operating system to synch up their hardware and software upgrades,' Tente said." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/03/21/1512220 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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7 favorite Raspberry Pi projects
by Peter Reutemann 20 Mar '14

20 Mar '14

"Originally designed for education, the Raspberry Pi was inspired by 1981's BBC Micro, also created for education. But when it was released, what makers saw was a very small computer, perfect for putting in all kinds of projects due to the abilities it has crammed into such a small space. Here are a few of my favorites..." -- source: http://opensource.com/life/14/3/favorite-raspberry-pi-projects 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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Data Recovery From Accidentally Deleted Files or Crashed Drives in Ubuntu
by Peter Reutemann 20 Mar '14

20 Mar '14

"This tutorial will help you to recover data from accidentally deleted data from Linux-file systems. This is a very drastic mistake by any user/admin which costs for huge penalties. This script will be a boon for newbies/expert for data management. I will be using TestDisk for data-recovery. Here I have simplified the task with the help of a script." -- source: http://bit.ly/1d1I6GT Testdisk itself actually runs on many operating systems (DOS, Windows, Linux, Mac): http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk 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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OpenSUSE 13.2 To Use Btrfs By Default
by Peter Reutemann 19 Mar '14

19 Mar '14

"OpenSUSE has shared features coming to their 13.2 release in November. The big feature is using Btrfs by default instead of EXT4. OpenSUSE is committed to Btrfs and, surprisingly, they are the first major Linux distribution to use it by default. But then again, they were also big ReiserFS fans. Other planned OpenSUSE 13.2 features are Wayland 1.4, KDE Frameworks 5, and a new Qt5 front-end to YaST." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/03/19/2125243 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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Enlightenment E19 To Have Full Wayland Support
by Peter Reutemann 19 Mar '14

19 Mar '14

"Full Wayland support has been added to Enlightenment 0.19. Building upon earlier Wayland support, Enlightenment can now act as its own Wayland compositor by communicating directly with the kernel's DRM drivers instead of having to rely upon Weston. The Wayland support is still considered experimental but it's now the first Linux desktop with full Wayland support." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/03/19/1344224 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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Malware Attack Infected 25,000 Linux/UNIX Servers
by Peter Reutemann 19 Mar '14

19 Mar '14

"Security researchers from ESET have uncovered a widespread attack campaign that has infected more than 25,000 Linux and UNIX servers around the world. The servers are being hijacked by a backdoor Trojan as part of a campaign the researchers are calling 'Operation Windigo.' Once infected, victimized systems are leveraged to steal credentials, redirected web traffic to malicious sites and send as many as 35 million spam messages a day. 'Windigo has been gathering strength, largely unnoticed by the security community, for more than two and a half years and currently has 10,000 servers under its control,' said Pierre-Marc Bureau, security intelligence program manager at ESET, in a statement. There are many misconceptions around Linux security, and attacks are not something only Windows users need to worry about. The main threats facing Linux systems aren't zero-day vulnerabilities or malware, but things such as Trojanized applications, PHP backdoors, and malicious login attempts over SSH. ESET recommends webmasters and system administrators check their systems to see if they are compromised, and has published a detailed report presenting the findings and instructions on how to remove the malicious code if it is present." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/14/03/18/2218237 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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Saturday Linux workshop
by Bruce Kingsbury 18 Mar '14

18 Mar '14

I'll be running another Saturday Linux Workshop this weekend; March 22nd, 2014 10:00 am - 2:00 pm *Te Whare O Te Ata* 60a Sare Cres Hamilton, 3214 07 8557804 This is a GNU/Linux-focused workshop where people can bring their PCs, Laptops, Pi's, Android devices etc for trouble-shooting and to learn or try out new skills. All visitors welcome - light lunch provided - gold coin donation appreciated *NEW: the community house has upgraded to UFB. Now you can download your favorite distro faster than ever!*

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meeting next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 18 Mar '14

18 Mar '14

Hi everyone We have a WLUG meeting next week on Monday and Lawrence D'Oliveiro will talk about: - Using Android: UI conventions, vendor customization - Structure of Android: Linux kernel, use of processes and user IDs, Toolbox Shell - Programming Android: app (APK) structure, Java & Dalvik, Bionic runtime, privilege model, SDK, NDK (for C/C++ code), platform APIs, OpenGL-ES - Hacking Android: AOSP, alternative ROMs http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/161631632/ 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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HamPUG: Hamilton Python User Group
by Peter Reutemann 18 Mar '14

18 Mar '14

Hi everyone For more local Python stuff in and around Hamilton (and the Waikato), we've set up a mailing list called "HamPUG": http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/hampug Scheduled meetings will appear on meetup.com and on this mailing list. Feel free to subscribe! :-) 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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CASE STUDY: NZ fruit distributor freshens up with Linux
by Peter Reutemann 14 Mar '14

14 Mar '14

"Turners&Growers made the move to Suse Linux and IBM's DB2, while converting to Unicode, inside a short timeframe, but have no regrets to date." -- source: http://www.computerworld.co.nz/article/540412 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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