July 2017 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Sysadmin position
by Stuart Inglis 20 Jul '17

20 Jul '17

We are looking for an experienced Linux Administrator to join our team. Being one of the larger website hosting providers in New Zealand our ideal candidate would come from an ISP or web hosting background. To be successful in this role, you would ideally have: - 3+ Years practical experience in the administration of Linux servers - Great multi-tasking skills - Ability to troubleshoot complex problems, software faults, and operational issues and take appropriate corrective action personally and by interacting with other members of the systems team. - Strong technical knowledge - Experience in setting up high-load, high-availability, multi-data centre environments - Experience in supporting MySQL - Configuring and fine-tuning Apache - Knowledge of web architecture - Disaster recovery management - Experience with KVM or other Virtualisation platforms - Excellent communication skills are essential In return we can offer you the chance to work for a leading organisation, work on some exciting projects and deliver key solutions to a variety of clients. This position is based in our office in Hamilton, no teleworking. Applications must be able to attend interviews in Hamilton, NZ. If this sounds like you please don't hesitate to send in your CV today. kind regards Stuart Inglis, Ph.D. | Chief Technology Officer Director NetValue Limited Level 1, SouthBloc, 19 Knox Street, Hamilton M +64 (0) 21 907 532 E stuart.inglis(a)netvalue.nz | W netvalue.nz

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4 lightweight image viewers for the Linux desktop
by Peter Reutemann 18 Jul '17

18 Jul '17

'Like most people, you probably have more than a few photos and other images on your computer. And, like most people, you probably like to take a peek at those images and photos every so often. Firing up an editor like GIMP or Pinta is overkill for simply viewing images. On the other hand, the basic image viewer included with most Linux desktop environments might not be enough for your needs. If you want something with a few more features, but still want it to be lightweight, then take a closer look at these four image viewers for the Linux desktop, plus a handful of bonus options if they don't meet your needs.' -- source: https://opensource.com/article/17/7/4-lightweight-image-viewers-linux-deskt… I've just switched to Nomacs as my default viewer. Fast and displays the EXIF information in a separate pane, which is rather handy for my work. 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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Bruce Schneier’s Book Review: “Twitter And Tear Gas”
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Jul '17

14 Jul '17

There are two opposing models of how the Internet has changed protest movements. The first is that the Internet has made protesters mightier than ever. ... The second is that it has made them more ineffectual. Derided as "slacktivism" or "clicktivism," the ease of action without commitment can result in movements like Occupy petering out in the US without any obvious effects. Of course, the reality is more nuanced ... <https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/07/book_review_twi.html>

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PC Sales Still In Decline
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Jul '17

14 Jul '17

Looks like world PC shipments are now down to about 240 million a year <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/13/pc_sales_still_slumping_but_more_s…>. I think the peak, maybe ten years ago, was a million a day.

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Looking for something to celebrate today?
by Ian Stewart 14 Jul '17

14 Jul '17

Hi, If you are looking for something to celebrate today, the 14th July 2017, then there's always the storming of La Bastille<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storming_of_the_Bastille>. If this doesn't appeal, and you are looking for something a little more global, then there is a minor milestone in Unix epoch time<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time>. For NZ this will occur today at 14:40. It is when Unix time ticks over the 1.5 billion seconds mark. $ date --date="@1500000000" Fri Jul 14 14:40:00 NZST 2017 If you can't think of anything else to do then you can watch it happen here... https://www.epochconverter.com/ ...or repeatedly enter this on your console... $ echo "How many seconds to go:" $((1500000000 - $(date +%s))) If this event is a little low key, and you'd rather wait for it to tick over the 2 billion mark, then you'll have to hold off with the celebrations for another 16 years... $ date --date="@2000000000" Wed May 18 15:33:20 NZST 2033 Cheers to another 1.5 billion seconds and many more. Ian.

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Tim Berners-Lee Approves Web DRM, But W3C Members Have Two Weeks To Appeal
by Peter Reutemann 12 Jul '17

12 Jul '17

'der Atticus Rex writes: A high controversial Web standard has received a seal of approval from Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web and its chief technical decision-maker. Opponents like the Free Software Foundation and Electronic Frontier Foundation say that the standard, Encrypted Media Extensions, is a step backwards for freedom, privacy, and a host of other rights on the Web. There's still a two-week window in which members of the W3C can appeal the decision, and the Free Software Foundation is asking people to email and encourage them to do so.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/07/08/0147206 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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net neutrality article on BBC
by Ian Young 12 Jul '17

12 Jul '17

Some may not have seen this. I thought it a useful summary of the current state of play around this issue. http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-40494909

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Fedora 26 Linux Distro Released
by Peter Reutemann 12 Jul '17

12 Jul '17

'Today, Fedora 26 sheds its pre-release status and becomes available for download as a stable release. GNOME fans are in for a big treat, as version 3.24 is default. If you stick to stable Fedora releases, this will be your first time experiencing that version of the desktop environment since it was released in March. Also new is LibreOffice 5.3, which is an indispensable suite for productivity. If you still use mp3 music files I've moved onto streaming), support should be baked in for both encoding and decoding. "The latest version of Fedora's desktop-focused edition provides new tools and features for general users as well as developers. GNOME 3.24 is offered with Fedora 26 Workstation, which includes a host of updated functionality including Night Light, an application that subtly changes screen color based on time of day to reduce effect on sleep patterns, and LibreOffice 5.3, the latest update to the popular open source office productivity suite. For developers, GNOME 3.24 provides matured versions of Builder and Flatpak to make application development for a variety of systems, including Rust and Meson, easier across the board," says the Fedora Project.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/07/11/1722202 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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Ubuntu Is Now Available On the Windows Store
by Peter Reutemann 11 Jul '17

11 Jul '17

'Ubuntu is now available for download on the Windows Store. "Initially spotted by Rafael Rivera and Necrosoft Core on Twitter, Ubuntu on the Windows Store will let you install and run the Ubuntu terminal on Windows next to your other apps," reports Windows Central. From the report: Ubuntu's arrival, and that of SUSE, are part of a recent push by Microsoft to embrace Linux and the open source community more broadly. This began with the arrival of the Windows Subsystem for Linux in 2016, allowing users to use the Bash shell from within Windows. Keep in mind that this is limited to the Fall Creators Update, which isn't set for a public release until later this year. If you're running a PC testing the Fall Creators Update through the Windows Insider Program, however, you should be able to download and try Ubuntu from the Windows Store just fine. ' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/07/10/202218 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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Multics Lives!
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 10 Jul '17

10 Jul '17

I previously mentioned <https://list.waikato.ac.nz/pipermail/wlug/2015-August/013714.html> the old Multics OS, which was so complex and so delayed in its development that a group of folks at AT&T Bell Labs decided not to wait and created their own, less ambitious OS instead, deciding to call it “UNIX” as a sort of pun on “Multics”. Well, at long last <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/10/multics_resurrected_in_new_simulat…>, you can now run Multics for yourself. The original mainframe hardware is long gone, but today’s PCs can easily support a suitable software emulation without breaking too much of a sweat--even a Raspberry π 2, it seems, can run the emulation at something close to the speed of the early mainframe units. All it took was some suitably dedicated people to build such an emulator. And now you can download their work and try it out for yourself.

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