January 2017 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Code-Signing Vs Software Developers
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Jan '17

26 Jan '17

This item <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/26/windows_code_signing_changes/> is about Microsoft adopting some recommendations from the “Certificate Authority Security Council” that code-signing keys should be embedded in special hardware devices, not simply kept as files on a regular computer. Apparently they are also suggesting some yet-to-be-defined “cloud-based service” as an alternative, which raises some questions. One of the commenters linked this article <http://www.pcworld.com/article/2846653/storage-for-spies-how-the-fips-stand…> which gives a good overview of hardware signing key devices that are certified to the various levels of the FIPS 140-2 standard. The idea is not a new one. But like most security techniques that are worth a darn, it can cause all kinds of irritations in practical use.

1 0

KDE-Branded Laptop
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Jan '17

26 Jan '17

Announcing ... the KDE Slimbook <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=KDE-Slimbook-Laptop>.

2 1

why ifconfig may not work these days
by Ian Young 26 Jan '17

26 Jan '17

>From time to time I find myself wondering where *ifconfig* has gone. This article may provide the answer. https://lwn.net/Articles/710533/ See also: http://baturin.org/docs/iproute2/

2 1

Mossberg: What?s up with Firefox, the browser that time forgot?
by rowan schischka 26 Jan '17

26 Jan '17

Happy new year everybody. Somehow i missed the first meeting. For the next one could we do a live benchmark of web browsers available on linux? Theres a couple of things to consider such as: how quickly new browser versions are available - security updates accuracy of rendering - i have found Midori feels fast but does not display some web pages the same as others Theres also flash and HTML5 we could look into. A few years ago (around 2010/2011) I made a simple HTML5 canvas with some animations that looked like a space invaders game, from memory, on debian i had the following results: IE, can't remember version, got around 20 fps chrome scored 120 something fps firefox received around 12 fps I dont know what benchmarks are available for us to use but it would be interesting, it would also be interesting to look at comparing browsers on fedora and ubuntu -- Kind Regards Rowan Schischka

2 1

Mossberg: What’s up with Firefox, the browser that time forgot?
by Peter Reutemann 25 Jan '17

25 Jan '17

'Until about five years ago, techies and others who wanted a speedier, extensible, more privacy-oriented web browser on their desktops often immediately downloaded Mozilla's Firefox to use instead of Internet Explorer on Windows or Safari on the Mac. But those days seem long ago. Firefox is hardly discussed today, and its usage has cratered from a high of over 30 percent of the desktop browser market in 2010 to about 12 percent today, according to Mozilla, citing stats from NetMarketShare. (Various other analytics firms put the share as low as 10 percent or as high as 15 percent.) And Firefox’s share on mobile devices is even worse, at under 1 percent, according to the same firm. Today, the go-to-browser is Google’s Chrome, which has over a 50 percent share on both desktop and mobile, according to NetMarketShare.' -- source: http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/25/14376710/walt-mossberg-mozilla-firefox-br… 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

AdNauseam, Google, And The Myth Of The “Acceptable Ad”
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 24 Jan '17

24 Jan '17

[AdNauseam 3.0] contains some new features we’ve been excited to discuss with users and critics, but the discussion was quickly derailed when we learned that Google had banned AdNauseam from its store, where it had been available for the past year. We also learned that Google has disallowed users from manually installing or updating AdNauseam on Chrome, effectively locking them out of their own saved data, all without prior notice or warning. <http://freedom-to-tinker.com/2017/01/24/adnauseam-google-and-the-myth-of-th…>

1 0

Zorin distro reviewed on Distrowatch
by Ian Young 24 Jan '17

24 Jan '17

For a more detailed appraisal of Zorin than was possible at the last meeting see issue 695 of Distrowatch Weekly. http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20170116#zorin See also with reference to Fedora a derivative called Korora bubbling under at 49 on Distrowatch. Tracks Fedora releases without much delay. Korora is a little blue penguin. 'Korora was born out of a desire to make Linux easier for new users, while still being useful for experts. The main goal of Korora is to provide a complete, easy-to-use system for general computing. Originally based on Gentoo Linux in 2005, Korora was re-born in 2010 as a Fedora Remix with tweaks and extras to make the system "just work" out of the box.'

1 0

Asus Tinker Board
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 23 Jan '17

23 Jan '17

Quad-core ARM-based board with more powerful GPU with 4K video capability, also 24-bit audio, and the site linked to quotes a price of about £46+VAT, so not too far off competing with the Raspberry π. Except it’s 32-bit only. <http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/01/asus-tinker-board-price-specs-releas…>

1 0

Already on probation, Symantec issues more illegit HTTPS certificates
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jan '17

23 Jan '17

'A security researcher has unearthed evidence showing that three browser-trusted certificate authorities (CAs) owned and operated by Symantec improperly issued more than 100 unvalidated transport layer security certificates. In some cases, those certificates made it possible to spoof HTTPS-protected websites.' -- source: http://arstechnica.com/security/2017/01/already-on-probation-symantec-issue… 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

Learn-To-Code Site Code.org Loses Student Work Due To Index Bug
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 23 Jan '17

23 Jan '17

For your revision this week: understanding integer overflow. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/22/code_dot_org_index_bug_wiped_studen…>

1 0