May 2020 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

OT: NZ COVID Tracer app
by Peter Reutemann 20 May '20

20 May '20

Hi everyone Just came through on my twitter feed: the NZ COVID Traver app is ready: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-… 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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Microsoft Launches Windows Terminal 1.0, Unveils GPU Support and Linux GUI Apps in WSL
by Peter Reutemann 20 May '20

20 May '20

'At Build 2020 today, Microsoft gave developers a slew of new tools to coax them into using Windows over macOS or Linux. From a report: Windows Terminal is now out of preview for enterprises, and Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2 is getting support for GPUs, Linux GUI apps, and a simplified install experience. Microsoft even released a Windows Package Manager in preview. Windows 10 runs on 1 billion monthly active devices (PCs, Xbox One consoles, and HoloLens devices), making it a massive platform for developers to target. [...] Microsoft today released Windows Terminal 1.0, which means it is stable for enterprise use. The open source application features multiple tabs, panes, tear-away windows, shortcuts, Unicode and UTF-8 character support, emojis, ligatures, extensions, GPU-accelerated text rendering engine, and custom themes, styles, and configurations. Windows Terminal is for users of PowerShell, Cmd, WSL, and other command-line tools. Microsoft also unveiled WSL improvements today, including support for GPUs, Linux GUI apps, and a simplified install experience. WSL is a compatibility layer for running Linux binary executables natively on Windows. Microsoft first shared it was working on WSL 2 a year ago at Build 2019. WSL 2 is slated to arrive in the next major Windows 10 update coming later this month (brilliantly called the Windows 10 May 2020 Update), but it won't have these new features. In the second half of the year, WSL 2 will get support for GPU compute workflows. ' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/05/19/163224 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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Chrome 83 Released With Enhanced Privacy Controls, Tab Groups Feature
by Peter Reutemann 20 May '20

20 May '20

'Google has released today version 83 of its Chrome web browser, one of the most feature-packed Chrome updates released since the browser's initial launch back in 2009. From a report: Today's v83 release includes a slew of new features. These include enhanced privacy controls, new settings for managing cookie files, a new Safety Check option, support for tab groups, new graphics for web form elements, a new API for detecting barcodes, and a new anti-XSS security feature, among many many others. The reason why Chrome 83 includes so many features is because Google canceled the Chrome 82 release due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As a result, some of the Chrome 82 features were pushed into Chrome 83, while others were rescheduled for later this year.' -- source: https://slashdot.org/story/20/05/19/185244 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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OpenBSD 6.7 Released
by Peter Reutemann 20 May '20

20 May '20

'New OpenBSD version. String of good news. Some of the new changes, as highlighted by Phoronix, include: - FFS2 file-system improvements including using 64-bit timestamps and block numbers by default for new installs. - Support for the Raspberry Pi 4 on ARM64 while improving the Raspberry Pi 3 support too. Raspberry Pi 2/3 support has also improved for OpenBSD ARMv7. - Better support for Rockchip systems like the Pinebook Pro. - Various SMP improvements including better AMD SMT/Core/Package detection. - A wide variety of different hardware driver improvements, including Intel AX200 WiFi device support. - A FIDO driver introduced for FIDO/U2F security keys support. - Fixed handling of USB 2.0 devices when in use on different USB 3.0 controllers. - The PowerPC OpenBSD build switched over to Clang as its default code compiler. - Various dhclient fixes. - Various security improvements. ' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/05/19/1935202 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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meeting next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 20 May '20

20 May '20

Hi everyone For the meeting next week, the idea was to have a distro showdown. Since not everyone had experience yet with BigBlueButton, I would like to offer a trial run on Sunday night 8pm for the presenters. That should give them a chance to sort out video and audio. I'll send out a test link to the presenters off-list later on in the week. So far, I've got: - Ian - Ubuntu 20.04 - Tom - GhostBSD - Peter - Manjaro (never used it, but we can explore it together) Anyone else wanting to demo a distro? 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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ZFS versus RAID: Eight Ironwolf disks, two filesystems, one winner
by Peter Reutemann 19 May '20

19 May '20

'This has been a long while in the making—it's test results time. To truly understand the fundamentals of computer storage, it's important to explore the impact of various conventional RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) topologies on performance. It's also important to understand what ZFS is and how it works. But at some point, people (particularly computer enthusiasts on the Internet) want numbers. First, a quick note: This testing, naturally, builds on those fundamentals. We're going to draw heavily on lessons learned as we explore ZFS topologies here. If you aren't yet entirely solid on the difference between pools and vdevs or what ashift and recordsize mean, we strongly recommend you revisit those explainers before diving into testing and results. And although everybody loves to see raw numbers, we urge an additional focus on how these figures relate to one another. All of our charts relate the performance of ZFS pool topologies at sizes from two to eight disks to the performance of a single disk. If you change the model of disk, your raw numbers will change accordingly—but for the most part, their relation to a single disk's performance will not.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/05/zfs-versus-raid-eight-ironwolf-disk… 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 Digest, Vol 347, Issue 17 - DishTV Box
by tom butz 19 May '20

19 May '20

Hi John, I've been using the cheap one (99 dollars) and it works well. They expect the hard-disk/memory stick to be formatted FAT32. The system could do that for you. The recording format is proprietary: it's .mpg, but if you play it back, there is an enormous amount of jitter every 5 seconds or so. There is no documentation, maybe because FreeView told them to keep it secret. The USB-connection is USB2 and supplies 500 mA of power: that should be enough for a memory stick but not an ordinary HD (they usually draw about 1000 mA). I've kept an old HD out of a notebook and use it with an adapter. It's slow but I've never lost anything. Maybe there are Y-connectors around that would bump the HD's power to 1000 mA, but I've not managed to find one. The system records in ordinary density and doesn't use a lot of space. As everything is so proprietary I haven't found a way to transfer/add parts to another HD/stick. Everything sits in 1 directory with a few subdirectories. Transferring the stuff to a computer would work if you filmed the TV-screen. You would then also be able to cut out the ads. I've read somewhere that there are devices that would record HDMI-output (which the DishTV provides) on a USB-device, so that should do the job. Gameplayers use something like that to record their moves... Just an aside: recording OnDemand movies: easy if you use 'simplescreenrecorder' (Windows and Linux). It creates an MKV-file you can edit. Tom.

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dish tv
by john 18 May '20

18 May '20

Hi all' Does anyone know the file format for the Dish TV sat box?? I have a replacement empty drive. No File allocation and wonder if the Dish box will format the disk to it's own system? Cheers John.

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Slack Now Strips Location Data From Images
by Peter Reutemann 16 May '20

16 May '20

'Slack has started to strip uploaded photos of their metadata. What may seem like an inconsequential change to how the tech giant handles storing files on its servers, it will make it far more difficult to trace photos back to their original owners. From a report: Almost every digital file -- from documents on your computer to photos taken on your phone -- contains metadata. That's data about the file itself, such as how big the file is, when it was created, and by whom. Photos and videos often include the precise coordinates of where they were taken. But that can be a problem for higher-risk Slack users, like journalists and activists, who have to take greater security precautions to keep their sources safe. The metadata inside photos can out sources, deanonymize whistleblowers, or otherwise make it easier for unfriendly governments to target individuals. Even if a journalist removes the metadata from a photo before publishing, a copy of the photo -- with its metadata -- may remain on Slack's servers. Whether a hacker breaks in or a government demands the data, it can put sources at risk' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/20/05/11/2051209 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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ddr2 ram
by john 16 May '20

16 May '20

Some years ago, Windows Vista offered users who plugged in a USB flash drive the option of using the device as extra ram. I never actually tried this due to large amount of doubt about the functional ability of the claim. However I now have a number of Linux machines with DDR2 that I am unable to increase the physical memory of and wonder if this is a feasible option for these machines. Cheers John

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