June 2016 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Attention: HAL 9000 Owners
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Jun '16

11 Jun '16

We have just received word of an important new book: *Programming Instructions for the HAL 9000 Computer*, revised edition. The new edition of the HAL 9000 handbook has been updated to incorporate improvements suggested by this versatile machine’s surviving users. In particular, the manufacturers suggest that priority be given to the retrofitting of small explosive charges at strategic points in the central memory unit. Authorized by Arthur C Clarke Chief Semantic Controls Engineer Colombo SRI LANKA (Found in the December 1978 issue of BYTE Magazine, downloaded from archive.org.)

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Firefox Finally Confirms 'Largest Change Ever' Featuring Electrolysis In v48
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jun '16

09 Jun '16

'With Electrolysis, Firefox can use child processes for content (tabs), media playback and legacy plug-ins. This is some way short of Google Chrome, which uses a different process for each tab. However, the result is that Chrome is a huge resource hog: Chrome uses roughly twice as much memory as Firefox on Windows and Linux. Eric Rahm has run some browser tests with Electrolysis, and says: "Overall we see a 10-20 percent increase in memory usage for the 1 content process case (which is what we plan on shipping initially). This seems like a fair trade-off for potential security and performance benefits." With 8 content processes, Rahm says: "we see roughly a doubling of memory usage on the TabsOpenSettled measurement. It's a bit worse on Windows, a bit better on OS X, but it's not 8 times worse."' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/06/08/1635231 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 Web's Creator Thinks We Need a New One That Governments Can't Control
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jun '16

09 Jun '16

'The web has created millions of jobs, impacted nearly every industry, connected people, and arguably made the world a better place. But the person who started it all isn't exactly pleased with the way things have turned out to be. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web, believes that the way it works in the present day "completely undermines the spirit of helping people create." The Next Web reports: "Edward Snowden showed we've inadvertently built the world's largest surveillance network with the web," said Brewster Kahle, who heads up Internet Archive. And he's not wrong: governments across the globe keep an eye on what their citizens are accessing online and some censor content on the Web in an effort to control what they think. To that end, Berners-Lee, Kahle and other pioneers of the modern Web are brainstorming ideas for a new kind of information network that can't be controlled by governments or powered by megacorporations like Amazon and Google.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/06/08/196225 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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Re: [wlug] TRIMMING POSTS -- PLEASE ???!!!
by Eric Light 07 Jun '16

07 Jun '16

(Michelle you sent this to me directly, but I believe you intended to send it to the whole mailing list, so I'll include that here. I've left the history included, in spite of Ian's entreaties otherwise, for the benefit of those who want to see what I'm replying to) Ah, I understand a bit better now. By and large, Linux is relatively untouched by garden variety malware. However, your browser (cross-platform, JavaScripty, etc) can still fall prey to security issues, which sounds the case here. I note you said you were running NoScript, so it comes as a surprise, but I suppose they're always thinking up new avenues. That said, I don't think the Oprah thing is related to your missing files! I can't say what happened, but its vanishingly unlikely that a browser hijack could have deleted files on a LINUX system... On Windows, sure, but to perform that action on a Linux pc, the malware would need to be designed FOR Linux - and that's particularly unlikely. Okay so we've established that you want privacy, but overall you want a system where you can easily recover from corruption... Is that correct? I'm sticking with my recommendation for Debian - probably Linux Mint Debian Edition, because it's:- got a solid base (Debian) - got a wide user base (thus lots of testing) - got a lovely UI (Cinnamon) - specifically designed to be easy to use On top of this, you can install Sophos Antivirus for Linux... It's free, and it has some of the highest detection rates in the industry (note, solving a problem that barely even exists in a Linux environment, but which you may have encountered nonetheless). Since your threat profile sounds like browser-based malware, it might be worth looking into specifically sandboxing your browser. I know Chrome already does sandboxing between tabs and threads, so that might already be in place, but it sounds plausible. Alternatively, putting your /home partition on a filesystem that supports snapshots might be a good idea... Maybe ZFS? That sounds like a good solution to me, but I'll have to defer to the wizards in the group. ☺ Good luck!Eric -- Securely sent with Tutanota. It's good, you should try it: https://tutanota.com 7. Jun 2016 20:08 by michelle400(a)orcon.net.nz: > > Woops. Sorry. I used the wrong term, I used BUG when I should have used > MALWARE. Biological viruses are bugs and so instead of the term malware, > I've used bug for viruses, trojans etc.....So in other words I think I > caught some malware on my Toshiba despite those safety measures. And I > think the safest thing for a non computer expert like myself to do to keep > it from happening again is to install the safest and secure distros that > I've heard of. (I'm now not sure whether that person I mentioned was > talking about bug(s) or malware). > > William, thanks for looking out for me back there. > > Eric, thank you for going out of your way to make me feel better. You're a > clss act. I couldn't figure out why you were recommending a very stable > distro, and then I got it - I used the wrong term. Thanks again for your > input. > > > > On 2016-06-07 16:25, Eric Light wrote: >> Hi Michelle, >> >> I'm sorry that you feel you've been maligned and attacked. We do try >> hard to make this a safe forum for everyone. For what it's worth, most >> of us here ARE a bit batty, each in our own way. >> >> Security and safety, along with reliability and usability, are also >> the reasons I use Linux. You're in good company there. >> >> I feel that Whonix+Qubes is over-engineering. I haven't had any >> responses to my email last night re TAILS+grsecurity (ALSO >> over-engineering), but TAILS' lack of persistence makes it a drag for >> day-to-day use; Whonix sacrifices some security for usability there. >> >> What problem are you trying to solve? What is your threat profile that >> you're trying to defend yourself against? If you're just trying to >> avoid bugs in your distro, you could just go with Debian Stable, which >> will give you a reliable, secure, and well-known system, with very few >> "tricky bits". >> >> E >> >> -- >> Securely sent with Tutanota. It's good, you should try it: >> https://tutanota.com>> [1] >> >> 7. Jun 2016 15:43 by >> michelle400(a)orcon.net.nz>> : >> >>> Well when I looked at the mailing list page today I was totally >>> shocked to find I'd been maligned and attacked. I know that that >>> happens on other forums (yes I realize this is a mailing list) but I >>> didn't think it would happen here. I guess that I just got schooled. >>> >>> Perhaps I should say a few things. The only reason for me choosing >>> Linux over windows is security and safety. It may be different for >>> computer experts, but that's it for me. >>> >>> So anyway I have Mint on my Toshiba and some months back I clicked >>> to a page with info on Oprah Winfrey. The site then clicked on and >>> off and on and off etc. I closed the page and opened history. Here >>> the site was listed maybe 25 to 50 times. Then say that day or the >>> next, my most used folder disappeared from it's space. I found it in >>> the thrash. And that happened with maybe another couple of folders. >>> Someone said that Mint had had problems with a bug/bugs this >>> year/last year? >>> >>> So anyway I presume that I caught a bug and that it's still there. >>> (Don't worry,the emails I send on this phone and not the Toshiba). >>> This happened inspite of the fact that I use Mozilla, adblock and >>> NoScript, although they may not have been up to date. Computer >>> experts, if their machine gets infected may be able to debug it and >>> be confident that it's clear, but I can't. I figure the best way to >>> protect myself from now on is to have the safest set up from the >>> start. And from a bit of research I did on the net it appears that >>> that maybe Whonix and Qubes. >>> >>> On 2016-06-07 06:53, Paul Wilson wrote:I would be trending to a tent >>> inside a faraday cage, at least 50kms >>> from the nearest populated town. :p >>> >>> Sent from my iPhone >>> >>> On 6/06/2016, at 11:41 PM, Eric Light <>>> eric(a)ericlight.com>>> > wrote: >>> YES I FIND THIS MUCH LESS ANNOYING, THANKS WILLIAM �� >>> >>> Battiness aside, I suspect the answer to Michelle's problem isn't >>> Whonix on Qubes on an old laptop. It sounds like excessive >>> engineering for no good reason. Did anyone else have similar >>> thoughts? >>> >>> If I were going full-on paranoia mode, I'd be running TAILS, >>> probably with a grsecurity-patched kernel, and probably through an >>> offshore VPN. What do you guys think? >>> >>> E >>> >>> -- >>> Securely sent with Tutanota. It's good, you should try it: >>> https://tutanota.com>>> [1] [2] >>> >>> 6. Jun 2016 23:32 by >>> will(a)artcontrol.me>>> : >>> IS THIS BETTER? >>> _______________________________________________ >>> wlug mailing list | >>> wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz >>> Unsubscribe: >>> https://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug>>> [2] >>> [1] >>> _______________________________________________ >>> wlug mailing list | >>> wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz >>> Unsubscribe: >>> https://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug>>> [2] >>> [1] >> >> Links: >> ------ >> [1] >> https://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug>> [2] >> [2] >> https://tutanota.com>> [1] >> >> _______________________________________________ >> wlug mailing list | >> wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz >> Unsubscribe: >> https://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug>> [2] >> _______________________________________________ >> wlug mailing list | >> wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz >> Unsubscribe: >> https://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug>> [2] >> >> Links: >> ------ >> [1] >> https://tutanota.com >> [2] >> https://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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TRIMMING POSTS -- PLEASE ???!!!
by Ian Young 07 Jun '16

07 Jun '16

The saga of 'Michelle' (iirc) and her Linux problems is no doubt fascinating but could we possibly stop wasting bandwidth by broadcasting the entire sorry saga time and time again ... just asking. Aside from any other considerations it makes it difficult to determine whether there is any new data on the case. Far be it from me to speculate on whether the poster is just a wee bit batty .....

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I can pay 150 if somone is willing to help me out with setting up a computer
by Michelle 05 Jun '16

05 Jun '16

Hi, My name's Michelle. I've been using Linux on and off for the last few years. I'm looking for someone who would help me set up a computer with linux on it. I rang round all? or most the PB tech stores, they didn't have anyone who was up to the task. I rang a store where a guy was into Linux but they're too busy. I sent an email to a guy involved with one of the distros I want but even though it's on the web to contact him to pay for help he hasn't got back to me. A man kindly pointed out to me two computers from PB tech that he says will work but as you can see from the post I've had some trouble with computers not working or not working properly and I want to pay some money for someone to try the distros and experience that it works on a computer for sure. 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 USB drive 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 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: - I'm up for paying up to 700 but would prefer to just pay say 400 or 500. - 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. So to prevent two or more different people working on it at the same time, if you are willing to help me out could you please let me know and I could post a message just asking that no one else start working on it. It would be nice to have a choice of say two or three computers. So perhaps someone could say there is this computer or that one and I could ask you to try installing Whonix and Qubes on one of them. Or maybe there was a choice of two computers in parts and I could be told the parts of one computer and the other and I could choose the parts for one. It doesn't have to be brand new. As long as I can still buy it or the parts new it could be up to two years old. Thank you to anyone willing to help Michelle Gorringe.

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Op-ed: Oracle attorney says Google’s court victory might kill the GPL
by Peter Reutemann 03 Jun '16

03 Jun '16

"The developer community may be celebrating today what it perceives as a victory in Oracle v. Google. Google won a verdict that an unauthorized, commercial, competitive, harmful use of software in billions of products is fair use. No copyright expert would have ever predicted such a use would be considered fair. Before celebrating, developers should take a closer look. Not only will creators everywhere suffer from this decision if it remains intact, but the free software movement itself now faces substantial jeopardy." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/05/op-ed-oracle-attorney-says-googl… Interesting article, I have to say. The verdict might throw a spanner in what is considered "derivative work" in terms of GPL code. Companies using GPL libraries will no longer have to open-source their code, as it is simple considered fair use? 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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Linux Kernel 4.6.1 Released; Some Users Report Boot Issue
by Peter Reutemann 02 Jun '16

02 Jun '16

'Linux kernel 4.6.1 is already here, only two weeks after the official launch of the Linux 4.6 kernel series. For those not in the loop, Linux 4.6 branch is the latest and most advanced kernel branch available right now for GNU/Linux operating systems, but it looks like its adoption is a little slow at the moment. "I'm announcing the release of the 4.6.1 kernel. All users of the 4.6 kernel series must upgrade," says Greg Kroah-Hartman. "The updated 4.6.y git tree can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser."' 'Several folks on the web have reported a regression in the latest Linux kernels, starting with 4.6.1 and including the 4.7 beta that prevents booting and drops to busybox, at least the one supplied by the Ubuntu PPA. The boot sequence ends with "address family not supported by protocol: error getting socket" and then, "error initializing udev control socket" (screenshot here).' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/06/02/1717235 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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BBC Micro:Bit Learn-To-Code Device Up For Public Pre-Order In UK
by Peter Reutemann 02 Jun '16

02 Jun '16

'A tiny programmable board designed as part of an educational initiative for UK kids to learn programming skills and originally distributed by the public service broadcaster, the BBC, to one million schoolchildren is now up for public pre-order. The micro:bit is available for public pre-order in the UK, via Element14's website, with delivery slated for July. Although at this point it's being sold in minimum quantities of 90 for resellers (such as Microsoft) to then sell on to individuals. So consumers will have a bit longer to wait to be able to buy a device just for themselves. Prices start at 12.99 Pound ($19) for a single BBC micro:bit; 14.99 Pound for a starter kit which includes a BBC micro:bit, mini USB, battery pack and four project ideas; and 140 Pound for a 'BBC micro:bit Club' pack, which includes 10 devices and "everything needed to get a coding club started". The intention with the micro:bit project -- part of the BBC's wider 'Make it Digital' initiative to inspire "a new generation to get creative with coding, programming and digital technology" -- was always to open up the distribution of the device after the initial giveaway.' -- source: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/06/01/1548252 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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