- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Wayland-based Compositor With An Oculus Rift
by Peter Reutemann 27 Jun '14

27 Jun '14

"Developed as part of a university master thesis is this "truly 3D" windowing system environment. The 3D desktop was developed as a Qt Wayland compositor and output to an Oculus Rift display and then controlled using a high-precision Razer mouse. Overall, it's interesting research for bringing 2D windows into a 3D workspace using Wayland and the Oculus Rift. The code is hosted as the Motorcar Compositor. A video demonstration is on YouTube." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/06/19/139211 Bit wobbly, in my opinion... 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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Re: [wlug] A Linux distribution for science geeks - Warning!
by David McNab 25 Jun '14

25 Jun '14

On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 10:04 PM, Ian Stewart <ianstewart56(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > I suspect that the updating of Latex is a major contributor to the > 2.5GB's involved. > or a minor update to Emacs /ducks David

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A Linux distribution for science geeks
by Peter Reutemann 25 Jun '14

25 Jun '14

"Fedora Scientific is a Linux distribution specifically designed for enabling open science. It is a Fedora spin targeted at users whose work involves scientific and numerical computing. Perhaps like other Fedora spins, it was conceived out of a simple need: the need to avoid constantly installing the same software on a fresh Linux installation." >From a researcher's point of view, it's a good range of pre-installed tools (see packages list below). sources: http://opensource.com/life/14/6/linux-distribution-science-geeks https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Scientific_Packages_List 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 25 Jun '14

25 Jun '14

I'll be running another Saturday Linux Workshop this weekend; Saturday June 28th, 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

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Linux Mint 17 KDE Released
by Peter Reutemann 25 Jun '14

25 Jun '14

'The Linux Mint team has announced the release of Linux Mint 17 KDE codenamed Qiana. It's based on KDE Software Compilation 4.13.0. There are notable improvements in Mint Display Manager (MDM). The multi-monitor display has improved and it allows a user to “configure which of the monitors should be used as the primary monitory by MDM.” Users can also define a background color or a background picture no matter what greeter they are using.' -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/06/23/1451254 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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Linux.conf.au 2015 in Auckland - Call for Proposals
by Simon Lyall 24 Jun '14

24 Jun '14

=== linux.conf.au Call For Proposals === The call for proposals for linux.conf.au 2015 is now open! The conference is a meeting place for the free and open source software communities. It will be held in Auckland at the University of Auckland Business School from Monday 12 to Friday 16 January, 2015, and provides a unique opportunity for open source developers, students, users and hackers to come together, share new ideas and collaborate. === Important Dates === * Call for Proposals opens 9 June 2014 * Call for Proposals closes 13 July 2014 * Email acceptances start September 2014 * Early bird registrations open 23 September 2014 * Conference dates: Monday 12 January to Friday 16 January, 2015 === Information on Proposals === The linux.conf.au 2015 papers committee is looking for a broad range of proposals, and will consider submissions on anything from programming and software, to desktop, mobile, gaming, userspace, community, government, space, and education. There is only one rule: *Your proposal must be related to open source* This year, the papers committee is going to be focused on open source in education as well as our usual focus on deep technical content. The conference is to a large extent what the speakers make it: if we receive heaps of excellent submissions on a topic, then itâ€™s sure to be represented at the conference. Hereâ€™s a few ideas to get you started: * Clouds, data centers and scalability. * Community challenges; legal threats; education and outreach. * Documentation for open source projects. * HTML5; multimedia codecs. * Kernel developments; new architectures. * Open hardware; embedded systems; wearable computing. * Security; privacy; anonymity. * Networking; Software defined networking; bufferbloat; network function virtualization. * Software development; programming languages. * Sysadmin and automation. linux.conf.au is known for presentations and tutorials that are strongly technical in nature, but proposals for presentations on other aspects of free software and open culture, such as educational and cultural applications of open source, are welcome. === Code of Conduct === linux.conf.au welcomes first-time and seasoned speakers from all free and open communities: people of all ages, genders, nationalities, ethnicities, backgrounds, religions, abilities, and walks of life. We respect and encourage diversity at our conference. By agreeing to present at or attend the conference, you are agreeing to abide by the terms and conditions (http://lca2015.linux.org.au/cor/terms_and_conditions) We also expect all speakers and delegates to have read and understood our Code of Conduct (http://lca2015.linux.org.au/cor/code_of_conduct) === Format === There are three different ways that you can present your content: * Presentations * Tutorials * Mini conferences _Presentations_ Presentations are 45 minute slots that are generally presented in lecture format. These form the bulk of the available conference slots. _Tutorials_ Tutorials are 100 minutes long, and are generally presented in a classroom format. They should be interactive or hands-on in nature. Tutorials are expected to have a specific learning outcome for attendees. _Mini conferences_ Miniconfs are one or two day long sessions on a specific topic. A separate CFP form will be used to propose and select miniconfs, and is available at http://lca2015.linux.org.au/miniconf-cfp === Speaker Information === In recognition of the value that speakers bring to our conference, once a proposal is accepted a speaker is entitled to: * Free registration, which holds all of the benefits of a Professional Delegate Ticket * Exclusive tickets to the Speakers' Dinner for the speaker and their immediate family * One free family ticket to the Partners' Programme If your proposal includes more than one speaker, these additional speakers are not entitled to free registration or to any extra benefits. linux.conf.au does not and will not pay speakers to present at the conference. linux.conf.au is able to provide limited financial assistance for some speakers, for instance, where the cost of flights or accommodation might prohibit a speaker from attending. Please note, however, that there is a limited budget for travel assistance and that asking for assistance could affect your chances of acceptance. === Recording and Licensing === To increase the number of people that can view your presentation,linux.conf.au might record your talk and make it publicly available after the event. When submitting your proposal you will be asked to release materials relating to your presentation under a Creative Commons ShareAlike License. Additionally, if you are discussing software in your presentation, you must ensure the software has an appropriate open licence. All presentation material should be suitable for people aged 12 and above. All presentations are subject to Linux Australiaâ€™s code of conduct, including that they must not contain: sexual or violent imagery exclusionary language language which is not appropriate for an all-ages audience For more information, see: http://lca2015.linux.org.au/cfp === About Linux Australia === Linux Australia is the peak body for open source communities around Australia, and as such represents approximately 3500 Free and Open Source users and developers. Linux Australia supports the organisation of this international Free Software conference in a different Australasian city each year. For more information about Linux Australia see: http://www.linux.org.au/ === Papers Enquiries === For enquiries related to this CFP, or to presentations at linux.conf.au generally, contact the linux.conf.au 2015 Papers Committee by email: papers-chair at linux.org.au

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Opera Releases a New Version For Linux
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jun '14

24 Jun '14

"Opera released Opera 24 for Linux. Currently it is in testing (developer) mode, and only for 64-bit Ubuntu, but hey it's a start since everyone thought Linux support was abandoned. In my test it is pretty rough around the edges, only has ambiance theme as it has been hard coded, and all the window controls are on the right and not on the left like what Unity has. But it is a start." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/06/24/0130216 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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How to sync Microsoft OneDrive on Linux
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jun '14

24 Jun '14

'OneDrive (previously known as SkyDrive) is a popular cloud storage offering from Microsoft. Currently OneDrive offers 7GB free storage for every new signup. As you can imagine, OneDrive is well integrated with other Microsoft software products. Microsoft also offers a standalone OneDrive client which automatically backs up pictures and videos taken by a camera to OneDrive storage. But guess what. This client is available for all major PC/mobile platforms except Linux. "OneDrive on any device, any time"? Well, it is not there, yet. Don't get disappointed. The open-source community already has already come up with a solution for you. onedrive-d written by a Boilermaker in Lafayette can get the job done. Running as a monitoring daemon, onedrive-d can automatic sync a local folder with OneDrive cloud storage.' -- source: http://xmodulo.com/2014/06/sync-microsoft-onedrive-linux.html 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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Linux Deepin Brings Mac-Like Sensibility to the Linux Desktop
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jun '14

24 Jun '14

"When we consider the Linux desktop, most often GNOME 3, Ubuntu Unity, KDE, Cinnamon, and XFCE come to mind. Those desktops range from the old-school functional to the new-school modern. Each has its strengths and weaknesses along with a vocal following to give it a push into the eyes of the public. For the most part, we use one of those desktops with little thought to making a switch. That’s been my modus operandi for the longest time. Ubuntu Unity has been my desktop. I enjoy its combination of efficiency, powerhouse search, and modern flare. But then along comes Linux Deepin, a distribution from China that looks to upturn the Linux desktop with an almost Apple-like sensibility. Linux Deepin offers a keen UI design that outshines most every desktop you’ve experienced. Along with that total redesign of the UI, comes a few bonus apps that might easily steal the show from most default apps." -- source: http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/777661 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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WLUG meeting tomorrow
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jun '14

24 Jun '14

Hi there We have a meeting coming up tomorrow: "William McKee is demoing the Godot Game Engine, released under the MIT license. Similar to Unity3D in features, it provides tools to quickly create games under Linux, Mac OSX and Windows. Ian Young will give a quick run-down of the Manjaro distribution." http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/165977142/ 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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Why I Built OwnCloud and Made It Open Source
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jun '14

23 Jun '14

"There I was, 4 years ago (this past January) at CampKDE in San Diego, giving a talk on data privacy, warning the audience about the risks to their privacy from cloud vendors – in particular, Dropbox. So, build it yourself they said. Sure, I’ve built things in the past, so sure, I’ll do it. And there is where I started my odyssey, first, to protect myself, my friends and my colleagues from the snooping of governments, and other bad guys, and later – as I saw the worldwide interest grow – to build a real and successful project." -- source: http://www.linux.com/news/enterprise/cloud-computing/777158 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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Re: [wlug] A Linux distribution for science geeks
by Simon Green 23 Jun '14

23 Jun '14

Ubuntu tends to follow Debian (testing for LTS, unstable for other releases) for software they don't package themselves.

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Converting H.264 MPEG4 to TS with ffmpeg
by Peter Reutemann 22 Jun '14

22 Jun '14

Converting (re-muxing) a MPEG4 container H.264 + AAC file to a MPEG2 transport stream: http://www.shortword.net/blog/2009/12/18/converting-h-264-mpeg4-to-ts-with-… 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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Google unveils independent “fork” of OpenSSL called “BoringSSL”
by Peter Reutemann 21 Jun '14

21 Jun '14

"Google is releasing its own independently developed "fork" of OpenSSL, the widely used cryptography library that came to international attention following the Heartbleed vulnerability that threatened hundreds of thousands of websites with catastrophic attacks." -- source: http://bit.ly/1qzzkVz 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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The Ars NAS distribution shootout: FreeNAS vs NAS4Free
by Peter Reutemann 19 Jun '14

19 Jun '14

"If you've been following along with our earlier articles on next-gen filesystems like btrfs and zfs, but wanted an easy way to get started without having to learn anything on the command line (or need an easy way to take advantage even though you're a Windows-only user), you're in luck. Today, we're going to look at two ready-to-rock ZFS-enabled network attached storage distributions: FreeNAS and NAS4Free." -- source: http://bit.ly/1kPrkbc 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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Tizen Samsung WW9000 washing machine
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jun '14

16 Jun '14

"Tizen is being heralded as the “OS of Everything”, and you can really see it in action on the Samsung Gear 2, Smart camera’s, and Smart TV’s . We have previously mentioned the Tizen based Samsung WW9000 washing machine, but here are some more details regarding some of its features." -- source: http://www.tizenexperts.com/2014/06/samsungs-ww9000-5-inch-full-touch-scree… Not so sure about the "control your washing machine from anywhere" feature. Still a bit sceptical of the internet of things and how security will pan out... 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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WLUG meeting next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 15 Jun '14

15 Jun '14

Hi there We have a meeting coming up next Monday: "William McKee is demoing the Godot Game Engine, released under the MIT license. Similar to Unity3D in features, it provides tools to quickly create games under Linux, Mac OSX and Windows. Ian Young will give a quick run-down of the Manjaro distribution." http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/165977142/ 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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manjaro
by Ian Young 15 Jun '14

15 Jun '14

This mesage coming to you from the Manjaro 0.8.10 Openbox desktop in live mode, actually the first time I've run it. I have followed Manjaro pretty well since it began, and could run through my experiences if people are interested. I believe Rod has really really used it, ie had it installed and installed updates as they became available, whereas I have mainly dabbled on the live side. Arch users expect their systems to be broken at some time or other if I understand things correctly, the price of the leading edge. There is at least one other prepackaged Arch version, ie Archbang. Remind me when is the next meeting? ~ Ian Y

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Manjaro 0.8.10 released
by Peter Reutemann 12 Jun '14

12 Jun '14

"Manjaro is a user-friendly Linux distribution based on the independently developed Arch operating system. Within the Linux community, Arch itself is renowned for being an exceptionally fast, powerful, and lightweight distribution that provides access to the very latest cutting edge – and bleeding edge – software. However, Arch is also aimed at more experienced or technically-minded users. As such, it is generally considered to be beyond the reach of those who lack the technical expertise (or persistence) required to use it. For newcomers, a user-friendly installer is provided, and the system itself is designed to work fully ‘straight out of the box’ with features including: * Pre-installed desktop environments * Pre-installed graphical applications to easily install software and update your system, and * Pre-installed codecs to play multimedia files" -- source: http://manjaro.org/2014/06/09/manjaro-0-8-10-is-online/ Anybody feel like giving it a spin and report at the next meeting? 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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Ars tests Internet surveillance—by spying on an NPR reporter
by Peter Reutemann 12 Jun '14

12 Jun '14

"On a bright April morning in Menlo Park, California, I became an Internet spy. This was easier than it sounds because I had a willing target. I had partnered with National Public Radio (NPR) tech correspondent Steve Henn for an experiment in Internet surveillance. For one week, while Henn researched a story, he allowed himself to be watched—acting as a stand-in, in effect, for everyone who uses Internet-connected devices. How much of our lives do we really reveal simply by going online? Henn let me into his Silicon Valley home and ushered me into his office with a cup of coffee. Waiting for me there was the key tool of my new trade: a metal-and-plastic box that resembled nothing more threatening than an unlabeled Wi-Fi router. This was the PwnPlug R2, a piece of professional penetration testing gear designed by Pwnie Express CTO Dave Porcello and his team and on loan to us for this project." -- source: http://bit.ly/1qtDETw The "PwnPlug R2" device runs a custom Debian distro based on Kali Linux: https://www.pwnieexpress.com/penetration-testing-vulnerability-assessment-p… 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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Open source equivalent of Mail Marshall
by chris 11 Jun '14

11 Jun '14

Hi all, Is there an equivalent of 'Mail Marshall' for Linux/FOSS? I am aware of clamav and spamassasin but have never configured them. Anyone care to recommend a preconfigured server for a corporate network. Cheers, Chris

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Fwd: Last chance to register: Public lecture: Gaps and Opportunities in Cyber Security R&D
by Eric Light 11 Jun '14

11 Jun '14

Hi everyone, For those interested in the security space: The Institute of IT Professionals, in collaboration with The University of Waikato's Computer Science department and Fulbright, are hosting two international security experts for a pair of talks this month. Below is the summary of the first talk, happening next week - if you're keen for this please register ASAP! You can see the second talk, happening on the 24th, here: http://www.iitp.org.nz/events/waikato/943-Public_lecture_Tackling_cyber-sec… Eric -------------------------------------------- Q: Why is this email five sentences or less? A: http://five.sentenc.es ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: IITP Events <hello(a)iitp.org.nz> Date: Tue, Jun 10, 2014 at 1:49 PM Subject: Last chance to register: Public lecture: Gaps and Opportunities in Cyber Security R&D To: Eric Light <eric(a)ericlight.com> [image: IITP Header] <http://www.iitp.org.nz> Hi Eric, you're invited to the following IITP event: Public lecture: Gaps and Opportunities in Cyber Security R&D *Date:*June 17, 2014 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm*Venue:*The University of Waikato, Room S.1.02 (S Block, Room 1.02), Hamilton (Map to Venue <http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map/>)[ *More Info and Registration* <http://www.iitp.org.nz/events/waikato/942-Public_lecture_Gaps_and_Opportuni…> ] *Swords against Atomic Bombs - Fundamental Gaps and Opportunities in Cyber Security Research and Development* It is becoming clear that the cyber security industry is losing the battle against the deluge and sophistication of attacks. In the face of these challenges, few have considered the fundamental reasons why the cyber security industry is losing this battle. Even fewer have proposed game-changing solutions that address the key security gaps. In this talk, we take stock of what's the problem with the current cyber security landscape, and what we must urgently do to address them. The talk also introduces the Cyber Security Researchers of Waikato (CROW) and 'blue ocean' opportunities for both researchers and practitioners. About The Speaker *Dr Ryan Ko* is Head of the Cyber Security Researchers of Waikato (CROW) and Senior Lecturer with the Faculty of Computing and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. He established New Zealand's first Master of Cyber Security programme and dedicated academic cyber security research lab. He is also Advisory Board and Affiliate Faculty Member Informatics Research Institute (IRI)/ National Information Assurance Training and Education Center (NIATEC) Idaho State University, USA. Prior to joining the faculty he was a lead computer scientist with Hewlett-Packard Labs; his data security and data tracking inventions are implemented globally in HP security products and HP customers including the US Treasury, Singapore's G-Cloud and data centres in China and France. He also serves as Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)'s Asia Pacific Research Advisor and has been active with CSA since its beginning years and founded the CSA Cloud Vulnerabilities Working Group and the CSA Data Governance Working group - the first research working group led by an Asia Pacific chapter. IITP Public Lecture series in association with the University of Waikato This presentation is part of a free public lecture series from IITP and the University of Waikato. [image: Waik_Word_RGB_H.jpeg][image: CROW_header_logo.png] [image: 50th%20logo%20full%20colour%20white%20background.jpeg] Registration Details: IITP members and non-members may register for this event online below. Please register for catering purposes and to secure your place. ------------------------------ *Attendance Cost:* EveryoneFREE [ *More Info and Registration* <http://www.iitp.org.nz/events/waikato/942-Public_lecture_Gaps_and_Opportuni…> ] *To Unsubscribe: *You've been invited to this event because you're subscribed to one or more of IITP's Events Mailing Lists. If you'd prefer not to receive these notices please click here <http://www.iitp.org.nz/members/unsubscribe?7bdfbddbd9936b84559578b8ed9d0911…> to unsubscribe. © Copyright 2013, Institute of IT Professionals NZ Inc

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Released
by Peter Reutemann 10 Jun '14

10 Jun '14

"Today, Red Hat unveiled Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, with new features designed to meet both modern datacenter and next-generation IT requirements for cloud, Linux Containers, and big data. The new version includes Linux containers (LXC), which let Linux users easily create and manage system or application containers, improved MS Active Directory / Identity Management (IdM) integration, XFS as the default file system, scaling to 500 TB (additional file system choices such as btrfs, ext{3,4} and others are available), a new and improved installation experience, managing Linux servers with OpenLMI, enhancements to both NFS and GFS2, optimized network management, bandwidth, the use of KVM Virtualization technology and more. See the complete list of features here (PDF). CentOS 7 shouldn't be lagging too far behind due to recent cooperation between Red Hat and CentOS project." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/06/10/1815208 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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Mesa 10.2 Improves Linux's Open-Source Graphics Drivers
by Peter Reutemann 08 Jun '14

08 Jun '14

"Mesa 10.2 was introduced this week as the new shining example of what open source graphics (and open source projects in general) are capable of achieving. The latest release of this often underrepresented open source graphics driver project has many new OpenGL and driver features including a number of new OpenGL 4 extensions. The reverse-engineered Freedreno driver now poses serious competition to Qualcomm's Adreno driver, an OpenMAX implementation was added for Radeon video encoding support, Intel Broadwell support now works better, the software rasterizer supports OpenGL 3.3, and many other changes are present." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/06/07/2219247 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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New OpenSSL Man-in-the-Middle Flaw Affects All Clients
by Peter Reutemann 05 Jun '14

05 Jun '14

'There is a new, remotely exploitable vulnerability in OpenSSL that could enable an attacker to intercept and decrypt traffic between vulnerable clients and servers. The flaw affects all versions of the OpenSSL client and versions 1.0.1 and 1.0.2-beta1 of the server software. The new vulnerability could only be exploited to decrypt traffic between a vulnerable client and a vulnerable server, and the attacker would need to have a man-in-the-middle position on a network in order to do so. That's not an insignificant set of conditions that must be present for a successful attack, but in the current environment, where open wireless networks are everywhere and many users connect to them without a second thought, gaining a MITM position is not an insurmountable hurdle. Researchers who have looked at the vulnerable piece of code say that it appears to have existed, nearly unchanged, in the OpenSSL source since 1998.' -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/14/06/05/1359208 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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Testing 65 Different GPUs On Linux With Open Source Drivers
by Peter Reutemann 04 Jun '14

04 Jun '14

"How good are open source graphics drivers in 2014 given all the Linux gaming and desktop attention? Phoronix has tested 65 different GPUs using the latest open source drivers covering Intel HD Graphics, NVIDIA GeForce, AMD Radeon, and AMD FirePro hardware. Of the 65 GPUs tested, only 50 of them had good enough open source driver support for running OpenGL games and benchmarks. Across the NVIDIA and AMD hardware were several pages of caveats with different driver issues encountered on Linux 3.15 and Mesa 10.3 loaded on Ubuntu 14.04. Intel graphics on Linux were reliable but slow while AMD's open-source Linux support was recommended over the NVIDIA support that doesn't currently allow for suitable graphics card re-clocking. Similar tests are now being done with the proprietary Linux drivers." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/06/04/1822203 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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GnuTLS Flaw Leaves Many Linux Users Open To Attacks
by Peter Reutemann 03 Jun '14

03 Jun '14

'A new flaw has been discovered in the GnuTLS cryptographic library that ships with several popular Linux distributions and hundreds of software implementations. According to the bug report, "A malicious server could use this flaw to send an excessively long session id value and trigger a buffer overflow in a connecting TLS/SSL client using GnuTLS, causing it to crash or, possibly, execute arbitrary code." A patch is currently available, but it will take time for all of the software maintainers to implement it. A lengthy technical analysis is available. "There don't appear to be any obvious signs that an attack is under way, making it possible to exploit the vulnerability in surreptitious "drive-by" attacks. There are no reports that the vulnerability is actively being exploited in the wild."' -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/06/03/1829251 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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Linux Mint 17 “Qiana”
by Peter Reutemann 01 Jun '14

01 Jun '14

"The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 17 “Qiana” MATE/Cinnamon. Linux Mint 17 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2019." http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2627 http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2626 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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How To Install Linux On A MacBook Pro Retina
by Peter Reutemann 29 May '14

29 May '14

"MacBook Pros come with some very nice hardware, but some people want more. Some people want Linux. Whether you’d like a more open and customizable operating system or simply need to dual-boot in order to access certain software, you might want Linux on your MacBook. The thing is, MacBook Pros are also pretty closed-down pieces of hardware that make installing other operating systems difficult – Linux more so than Windows. Boot Camp won’t help you with Linux, even though it doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Here’s how to do it." -- source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-linux-macbook-pro/ 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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Leadwerks Game Engine on Ubuntu Software Center
by Peter Reutemann 29 May '14

29 May '14

http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/home?showbanner=0 However, it comes only with a royalty free license, not an open-source license. 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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China Looks To Linux As Windows Alternative
by Peter Reutemann 28 May '14

28 May '14

"Once again, after the Red Flag Linux effort that petered out this year, China is considering Linux to sort out its pressing Windows XP issue. The Windows 8 ban by China's government procurement agency and promises of official support may help." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/05/27/1916202 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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Bunnie Huang Shows Off His Open Source Laptop (Video)
by Peter Reutemann 28 May '14

28 May '14

"Bunnie Huang is both a hardware and software hacker, but that's greatly understating the case: renaissance man is more like it. Bunnie doesn't just tinker with one-off system modifications or console mods (though he's done that, too) -- he creates and repurposes at scale. (He's also an author, respected researcher with interesting thoughts on a wide range of topics, like how to think of the H1N1 flu from the point of view of a security researcher.) Bunnie's latest long-term project has been mentioned a few times on Slashdot: It's an open-source laptop computer that goes much farther than some other open-source hardware projects, and as a bonus includes an FPGA as well as a conventional -- but unusual -- processor. (Bunnie grants that there are still bits that aren't quite open source, but points out that we also don't have the software that runs the fabs; there's a point of diminishing returns.) A crowd funding campaign (via CrowdSupply) was successful enough to also fund several stretch goals, including a general purpose breakout board. I talked with Bunnie at the recent Bay Area Maker Faire. (Expect more from that show in coming weeks.) He walked us through the state of the hardware, and talked about some of the design decisions that go into making a computer that is of, by, and for hackers. (Alternate video link)" -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/05/28/209231 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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Re: [wlug] China Looks To Linux As Windows Alternative
by stephen pearce 28 May '14

28 May '14

Another alternative is Reactos. In fact I am surprised that more commercial money has not been put into developing this as an alternative to xp. The amount of waste that has been generated in just my own work place is scary .. with disposal of quite functional hardware purely because it wont run xp successors .. Most of it will run linux distros quite happily with most of the appearant functionality of windows 7 or 8 -- Stephen

2 1

Become a Linux Kernel Hacker and Write Your Own Module
by Peter Reutemann 27 May '14

27 May '14

"It might sound daunting, but kernel hacking isn't a mysterious black art reserved for the geekiest of programmers. With a bit of background knowledge, anyone with a grounding in C can implement a new kernel module and understand how the kernel works internally. Linux Voice explains how to write a module that creates a new device node, /dev/reverse, that reverses a string when it's written to it. Sure, it's not the most practical example in the world, but it's a good starting point for your own projects, and gives you an insight into how it all fits together." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/05/27/206217 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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WLUG meeting tomorrow
by Peter Reutemann 25 May '14

25 May '14

Hi everyone There is a WLUG meeting tomorrow: "William McKee is demoing the Godot Game Engine, released under the MIT license. Similar to Unity3D in features, it provides tools to quickly create games under Linux, Mac OSX and Windows." http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/165977142/ 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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Jono Bacon Leaves Canonical For XPRIZE
by Peter Reutemann 21 May '14

21 May '14

"Jono Bacon, who has been Ubuntu Community Manager for Canonical for nearly eight years is moving on to join the XPRIZE Foundation (known for incentivizing solving major issues, such as the Google Lunar and Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZES) to be Senior Director of Community." -- source: http://news-beta.slashdot.org/story/14/05/21/133243 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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Wayland 1.5 Released
by Peter Reutemann 21 May '14

21 May '14

"Wayland 1.5 has been released, along with Weston Compositor 1.5. Wayland/Weston 1.5 carry many new user features, with a new libinput back-end, XWayland support, a full-screen shell, and many other changes. This release is particularly important as Fedora 21 will run on GNOME Wayland and X.Org Server 1.16 will be released this summer with integrated XWayland support." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/05/21/0136212 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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Robyn Bergeron Stepping Down As Fedora Project Leader
by Peter Reutemann 21 May '14

21 May '14

"Red Hat's Fedora Linux Project Leader, Robyn Bergeron, has announced that she is leaving her role. Bergeron became Fedora Project Leader in February of 2012 and has presided over one of the busiest periods for Fedora ever. Fedora is now moving to a new model for Fedora 21, with separate desktop, cloud and server products. 'The community has now gotten to the point where it's not a one-size-fits-all product anymore,' Bergeron said." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/05/20/2318245 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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file managers
by Peter Reutemann 19 May '14

19 May '14

Hi there Just came across this post on Linux.com regarding file browsers: http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/773120-4-excellent-alternative-graphic… Personally, I didn't find any of the mentioned browsers very exciting, however, I stumbled across "sunflower" in the comments section: http://code.google.com/p/sunflower-fm/ Dual panel browser with multiple tabs per panel, you can run commands in a panel, pop up a terminal. Quite funky. :-) Here's an overview of file managers (alternatives for "sunflower"): http://alternativeto.net/software/sunflower/ 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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Linux Sucks (Video)
by Peter Reutemann 19 May '14

19 May '14

"How do we know Linux sucks? Because Bryan Lunduke says so. How did he become a Linux authority? By using Linux, of course. He has also written a kids Linux book, Linux for Hank, and a grown-up Linux book, Linux is Badass. But wait! That's not all! Bryan is also one of the people behind the infamous Bad Voltage podcast. And now, for something slightly different: In moments of weakness, Bryan admits that maybe Linux suckage isn't total, and Linux may have a good point or two and maybe some of the suckage could be removed. Zounds! Is that possible? Watch our video chat with Bryan (and/or read the transcript) and see. Or watch the entire 44 minute speech he gave at the 2014 LinuxFest Northwest, which was the 5th (or maybe 6th) "Linux Sucks" speech he's given at LFNW. That makes this a tradition, not just a speech. So if you find yourself in or near Bellingham, Washington, in 2039 you might want to pop in and see if Bryan is still updating his "Linux Sucks" speech. He'll be the geezer hobbling to the front of the room with help from his AutoCane, a device sure to be developed between now and then -- which will no doubt run Linux." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/05/19/1926213 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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WLUG meeting coming up next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 19 May '14

19 May '14

Hi there We have a WLUG meeting coming up next Monday: "William McKee is demoing the Godot Game Engine, released under the MIT license. Similar to Unity3D in features, it provides tools to quickly create games under Linux, Mac OSX and Windows." http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/165977142/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

2 1

30-Day Status Update On LibreSSL
by Peter Reutemann 18 May '14

18 May '14

"Bob Beck — OpenBSD, OpenSSH and LibreSSL developer and the director of Alberta-based non-profit OpenBSD Foundation — gave a talk earlier today at BSDCan 2014 in Ottawa, discussing and illustrating the OpenSSL problems that have led to the creation of a big fork of OpenSSL that is still API-compatible with the original, providing for a drop-in replacement, without the #ifdef spaghetti and without its own "OpenSSL C" dialect. Bob is claiming that the Maryland-incorporated OpenSSL Foundation is nothing but a for-profit front for FIPS consulting gigs, and that nobody at OpenSSL is actually interested in maintaining OpenSSL, but merely adding more and more features, with the existing bugs rotting in bug-tracking for a staggering 4 years (CVE-2010-5298 has been independently re-discovered by the OpenBSD team after having been quietly reported in OpenSSL's RT some 4 years prior). Bob reports that the bug-tracking system abandoned by OpenSSL has actually been very useful to the OpenBSD developers at finding and fixing even more of OpenSSL bugs in downstream LibreSSL, which still remain unfixed in upstream OpenSSL. It is revealed that a lot of crude cleaning has already been completed, and the process is still ongoing, but some new ciphers already saw their addition to LibreSSL — RFC 5639 EC Brainpool, ChaCha20,Poly1305, FRP256v1, and some derivatives based on the above, like ChaCha20-Poly1305 AEAD EVP from Adam Langley's Chromium OpenSSL patchset. To conclude, Bob warns against portable LibreSSL knockoffs, and asks the community for Funding Commitment — Linux Foundation is turning a blind eye to LibreSSL, and instead is only committed to funding OpenSSL directly, despite the apparent lack of security-oriented direction within the OpenSSL project upstream. Funding can be directed to the OpenBSD Foundation." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/14/05/17/2250242 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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Position Vacant - multi-disciplined hacker
by David McNab 17 May '14

17 May '14

Vadacom Ltd is a leading provider of OSS-based telephony integration solutions. Their flagship product, VadaXchange, is used by many large organisations throughout New Zealand, including Xero, the rock-star accounting firm. We are seeking an experienced and adaptable software developer to join our R&D team. A solid background in OSS-based operating systems such as Linux is a must, as well as experience in several different programming languages, plus the ability and willingness to pick up more languages and frameworks quickly as required. Our main product is comprised of a mainly python-based server-side software, built around the Asterisk PBX system, plus a sophisticated javascript-based client-side web application, as well as Android and iOS apps. Our team is unique in that we actually encourage working from diverse physical locations. This is important to us, because we are all about empowering business communications, so it's walking our talk to use our own technologies internally. If you are good at organising your time, and can create a space where you won't be disturbed, you will be welcome to work from home most of the time. This said, however, some trips to the Auckland head office will be needed from time to time, especially as you are first starting work with us. We have just recently opened an office on Garden Place in Hamilton, and can offer you the option to work from here. Hamilton's IT scene is heavily skewed towards the Redmond stack, so opportunities to work with leading-edge OSS tools and great people, while staying in Hamilton or the greater Waikato, are scarce. If this position interests you, please send me your CV and cover letter. Cheers David

1 0

Betty Is Like Siri Or Google Now For The Command Line (Translates Plain English Into Commands)
by Peter Reutemann 16 May '14

16 May '14

'Betty is like Siri or Google Now for the command line. Well, sort of. The tool translates plain English into commands: it displays the command it runs and obviously, the command output, in the terminal. Betty isn't voice controlled so you still have to type your (plain English) commands but if you want, it can speak the command output. Betty's mission is, according to its GitHub page, to "provide a way to use computers through natural language input"' -- source: http://www.webupd8.org/2014/05/betty-is-like-siri-or-google-now-for.html 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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5-Year-Old Linux Kernel Bug Fixed
by Peter Reutemann 14 May '14

14 May '14

"'The memory-corruption vulnerability, which was introduced in version 2.6.31-rc3, released no later than 2009, allows unprivileged users to crash or execute malicious code on vulnerable systems, according to the notes accompanying proof-of-concept code available here. The flaw resides in the n_tty_write function controlling the Linux pseudo tty device. 'This is the first serious privilege escalation vulnerability since the perf_events issue (CVE-2013-2049) in April 2013 that is potentially reliably exploitable, is not architecture or configuration dependent, and affects a wide range of Linux kernels (since 2.6.31),' Dan Rosenberg, a senior security researcher at Azimuth Security, told Ars in an e-mail. 'A bug this serious only comes out once every couple years.' ... While the vulnerability can be exploited only by someone with an existing account, the requirement may not be hard to satisfy in hosting facilities that provide shared servers, Rosenberg said." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/05/13/2039233 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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How To Approve the Use of Open Source On the Job
by Peter Reutemann 12 May '14

12 May '14

"If you work in an organization that isn't focused on development, where computer systems are used to support other core business functions, getting management buy-in for the use of open source can be tricky. Here's how an academic librarian negotiated with his management to get them to give open source software a try, and the four phrases he recommends you avoid using." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/05/12/2159234 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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Linux Video of the Week: Limit Theory Game Developer Switches to Linux
by Peter Reutemann 12 May '14

12 May '14

'Game developer Josh Parnell has released the latest development update on his open-world space simulation and strategy game, Limit Theory. While the graphics are beautiful, this release is particularly notable because Parnell has switched to developing on the native Linux client version from Windows (which he called “just annoying.”)' -- source: http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/200-libby-clark/772484 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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Valve Sponsors Work To Greatly Speed-Up Linux OpenGL Game Load Times
by Peter Reutemann 05 May '14

05 May '14

"Valve Software has sponsored some interesting improvements developed by LunarG for the Mesa OpenGL library on Linux for deferred and threaded GLSL shader compilation. What these changes mean for users of the open-source Linux graphics drivers when running their favorite games is that OpenGL games now load a lot faster. As an example, the time from starting Dota 2 until the time actually being within the game is reduced by about 20 seconds on an Intel system. While Direct3D has offered similar functionality for a while, OpenGL has not, which has given it a bad reputation with regard to game load times until all shaders are compiled and cached — fortunately it's now addressed for OpenGL if using the Mesa Linux graphics drivers on a supported game." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/05/05/0443238 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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OpenBSD 5.5 Released
by Peter Reutemann 05 May '14

05 May '14

"Just as per the schedule, OpenBSD 5.5 was released today, May 1, 2014. The theme of the 5.5 release is Wrap in Time, which represents a significant achievement of changing time_t to int64_t on all platforms, as well as ensuring that all of the 8k+ OpenBSD ports still continue to build and work properly, thus doing all the heavy lifting and paving the way for all other operating systems to make the transition to 64-bit time an easier task down the line. Signed releases and packages and the new signify utility are another big selling point of 5.5, as well as OpenSSH 6.6, which includes lots of DJB crypto like chacha20-poly1305, plus lots of other goodies." -- source: http://bsd.slashdot.org/story/14/05/01/1656209 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

2 2

Nasty Security Flaw In OAuth, OpenID
by Peter Reutemann 03 May '14

03 May '14

"A notable security vulnerability has been discovered which impacts both OAuth and OpenID, which are software packages that provide a secure delegated access to websites. Wang Jing, a Ph.D student at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, discovered that the 'Covert Redirect' flaw can masquerade as a login popup based on an affected site's domain. Covert Redirect is based on a well-known exploit parameter. For example, someone clicking on a malicious phishing link will get a popup window in Facebook, asking them to authorize the app. Instead of using a fake domain name that's similar to trick users, the Covert Redirect flaw uses the real site address for authentication. If a user chooses to authorize the login, personal data will be released to the attacker instead of to the legitimate website. Wang did already warn a handful of tech giants about the vulnerability, but they mostly dodged the issue. In all honesty, it is not trivial to fix, and any effective remedies would negatively impact the user experience. Users who wish to avoid any potential loss of data should be careful about clicking links that immediately ask you to log in to Facebook or Google, and be aware of this redirection attack." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/14/05/02/2015227 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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Canonical (Nearly) Halts Development of Ubuntu For Android
by Peter Reutemann 01 May '14

01 May '14

"In a since-removed bug report on Launchpad, Ubuntu's issue tracker, Canonical's Matthew Paul Thomas stated that Ubuntu for Android is no longer in active development. In a statement, Canonical stated that while the project is not completely dead, Canonical is currently focusing on pushing Ubuntu for Phones. The company is open to working with partners on Ubuntu for Android, but will not proceed with further U4A development unless they can form a partnership with an OEM partner to launch it. The Ubuntu for Android project was first announced in early 2012." -- source: http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/14/05/01/1822254 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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OpenSSH No Longer Has To Depend On OpenSSL
by Peter Reutemann 30 Apr '14

30 Apr '14

"What has been planned for a long time now, prior to the infamous heartbleed fiasco of OpenSSL (which does not affect SSH at all), is now officially a reality — with the help of some recently adopted crypto from DJ Bernstein, OpenSSH now finally has a compile-time option to no longer depend on OpenSSL. `make OPENSSL=no` has now been introduced for a reduced configuration OpenSSH to be built without OpenSSL, which would leave you with no legacy SSH-1 baggage at all, and on the SSH-2 front with only AES-CTR and chacha20+poly1305 ciphers, ECDH/curve25519 key exchange and Ed25519 public keys." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/14/04/30/1822209 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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LED and current limiting resistors
by chris 30 Apr '14

30 Apr '14

Following on from Monday nights discussion about LEDs and resistors. https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/219 BTW, I acquired a pad heater and a brewing container for my set up from a colleague and its now all wired in - regulating 15 litres of water nicely at the moment.

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Linux Mint 16
by Peter Reutemann 29 Apr '14

29 Apr '14

Hi there Just came across the following blog post of how to install Linux Mint 16 and what to do afterwards to fine-tune it. It also discusses in length all kinds of applications (and their Windows equivalent): http://debianhelp.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/to-do-list-after-installing-linu… 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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Talk Monday
by William Mckee 28 Apr '14

28 Apr '14

Hello wlug For her holidays im taking my sister down to wellington and going to miss the wlug meetup, where I am spose to be doing a talk on godotengine. I feel bad about pulling out so late, but im sure someone else will be able to step in and do a talk. If people are interested I could do my talk another month. Cheers, William

3 3

Man Builds DIY Cellphone Using Raspberry Pi
by Peter Reutemann 26 Apr '14

26 Apr '14

"Photographer and software engineer Dave Hunt has posted an article about his most recent project: a DIY cellphone based on a Raspberry Pi (he calls it a PiPhone). It has a touchscreen dialing interface for making calls, and it's built with off-the-shelf components. The total bill of materials clocks in at about $158: $40 for the rPi, $35 for the 320x240 touchscreen, $15 for the LiPo battery, $48 for the GSM module, and about $20 for miscellaneous other minor parts. Hunt says, '[The GSM/GPRS module] allow us to send standard AT commands to it to make calls, hang up, send texts, data etc. Overall a very clever module. Towards the bottom of the white PCB, you can see the SIM Card, which allows the module to associate with my local GSM network, and it’s using a regular prepaid SIM card, bought in my local phone store for €10. Below the GSM module, you can see the on.off switch and a DC-DC converter, which converts the 3.7volts from the LiPoly battery to 5volts needed by everything else.' He points out that the phone is not terribly practical, but it's a neat project. Hunt has done several others, including turning the Raspberry Pi into a controller for time-lapse photography. He'll be publishing the code he wrote for the PiPhone next week." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/04/25/2220250 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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Lumina: PC-BSD's Own Desktop Environment
by Peter Reutemann 24 Apr '14

24 Apr '14

"The PC-BSD project is developing a new open source (BSD license) desktop environment from scratch. The name of the project is Lumina and it will be based around the Qt toolkit. The ultimate goal is to replace KDE as the default desktop of PC-BSD. Lumina aims to be lightweight, stable, fast-running, and FreeDesktop.org/XDG compliant. Most of the Lumina work is being done by PC-BSD's Ken Moore. Even though Lumina is still in its early stages, it can be built and run successfully, and an alpha version can already be obtained from PC-BSD's ports/package repositories." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/04/24/1544216 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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OpenSSL Forked By OpenBSD Into LibreSSL
by Peter Reutemann 24 Apr '14

24 Apr '14

"LibreSSL is a FREE version of the SSL/TLS protocol forked from OpenSSL" -- source: http://www.libressl.org/ 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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Private Keys Stolen Within Hours From Heartbleed OpenSSL Site
by Peter Reutemann 20 Apr '14

20 Apr '14

"It was reported when heartbleed was discovered that only passwords would be at risk and private keys were still safe. Not anymore. Cloudfare launched the heartbleed challenge on a new server with the openSSL vulnerability and offered a prize to whoever could gain the private keys. Within hours several researchers and a hacker got in and got the private signing keys. Expect many forged certificates and other login attempts to banks and other popular websites in the coming weeks unless the browser makers and CA's revoke all the old keys and certificates." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/14/04/13/1553258 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

2 1

How To Reset A Forgotten Root Password With Knoppix
by Peter Reutemann 18 Apr '14

18 Apr '14

Today, I had the problem that I could no longer remember the user/password for one of my Xubuntu installations in Virtualbox. So I downloaded Knoppix 7.0 and had a look what the names of the installed users were. After that, I had to figure how to reset them. Here is the HOWTO that I used to reset my user's password (doesn't have to be "root"). It's scarily easy, to be honest... "This guide explains how you can reset a forgotten root password with the help of the Knoppix Linux Live-CD. Afterwards you can log in to your system as root again." -- source: http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-reset-a-forgotten-root-password-with-knopp… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

2 1

Ubuntu Linux 14.04 LTS Trusty Tahr Released
by Peter Reutemann 18 Apr '14

18 Apr '14

"Ubuntu Linux version 14.04 LTS (code named "Trusty Tahr") has been released and available for download. This updated version includes the Linux kernel v3.13.0-24.46, Python 3.4, Xen 4.4, Libreoffice 4.2.3, MySQL 5.6/MariaDB 5.5, Apache 2.4, PHP 5.5, improvements to AppArmor allow more fine-grained control over application, and more. The latest release of Ubuntu Server is heavily focused on supporting cloud and scale-out computing platforms such as OpenStack, Docker, and more. As part of the wider Ubuntu 14.04 release efforts the Ubuntu Touch team is proud to make the latest and greatest touch experience available to our enthusiast users and developers. You can install Ubuntu on Nexus 4 Phone (mako), Nexus 7 (2013) Tablet (flo), and Nexus 10 Tablet (manta) by following these instructions. On a hardware front, ARM multiplatform support has been added, enabling you to build a single ARM kernel image that can boot across multiple hardware platforms. Additionally, the ARM64 and Power architectures are now fully supported. See detailed release notes for more information. Aquick upgrade to a newer version of Ubuntu is possible over the network." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/04/17/1756254 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

The GNOME Foundation Is Running Out of Money
by Peter Reutemann 13 Apr '14

13 Apr '14

"The GNOME Foundation is running out of money. The foundation no longer has any cash reserves so they have voted to freeze non-essential funding for running the foundation. They are also hunting down sponsors and unpaid invoices to regain some delayed revenue. Those wishing to support the GNOME Foundation can become a friend of GNOME." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/04/13/1454215 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

2 1

The Ubuntu smartphone actually looks pretty great
by Peter Reutemann 13 Apr '14

13 Apr '14

"It has been a long time since Canonical announced the Ubuntu Edge smartphone campaign on Indiegogo. It raised an incredible $12 million dollars, but -- equally incredible -- it still fell around $20 million short of its lofty goals. However, that didn't derail Canonical's agenda of bringing its desktop Linux OS, Ubuntu, to mobile devices. In fact, judging by this video demo, the project is still going strong." -- source: http://bit.ly/1kIP1rU Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Linux 3.15 Will Suspend & Resume Much Faster
by Peter Reutemann 13 Apr '14

13 Apr '14

"The Linux 3.15 kernel now in its early life will be able to suspend and resume much faster than previous versions of the Linux kernel. A few days ago we saw ACPI and Power Management updates that enable asynchronous threads for more suspend and resume callbacks. Carrying out more async operations leads to reduced time for the system suspend and then resuming. According to one developer, it was about an 80% time savings within one of the phases. On Friday, work was merged that ensured the kernel is no longer blocked by waiting for ATA devices to resume. Multiple ATA devices can be woken up simultaneously, and any ATA commands for the device(s) will be queued until they have powered up. According to an 01.org blog post on the ATA/SCSI resume optimization patches, when tested on three Intel Linux systems the resume time was between 7x and 12x faster (not including the latest ACPI/PM S&R optimizations)." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/04/12/1833244 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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Princeton Students Develop Open Source Voice Control Platform For Any Device
by Peter Reutemann 09 Apr '14

09 Apr '14

"Two Princeton computer science students have created an open source platform for developing voice-controlled applications that are always on. Created by Shubhro Saha and Charlie Marsh, Jasper runs on the Raspberry Pi under Raspbian, using a collection of open source libraries to make up a development platform for building voice-controlled applications. Marsh and Saha demonstrate Jasper's capability to perform Internet searches, update social media, and control music players such as Spotify." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/04/09/1432244 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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Fwd: [NZOSS-Openchat] URGENT ALERT: *CRITICAL* OpenSSL vulnerability - heartbleed
by Peter Reutemann 08 Apr '14

08 Apr '14

Apologies if you've received this already. Cheers, Peter ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jaco ... Date: Wed, Apr 9, 2014 at 10:42 AM Subject: [NZOSS-Openchat] URGENT ALERT: *CRITICAL* OpenSSL vulnerability - heartbleed To: ... Hi boys & girls, In case you've not quite caught onto this yet - it's pretty damn bad. heartbleed.com go forth & patch/update ASAP - Jaco (been a pretty rough month) _______________________________________________ Openchat mailing list Openchat(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz http://lists.nzoss.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/openchat -- 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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Hands-on with AVLinux: Crammed with multimedia goodies
by Peter Reutemann 08 Apr '14

08 Apr '14

AVLinux "is specifically intended for creating, editing and playing multimedia content," explains ZDNet.com's Jamie Watson. He says it is "crammed with multimedia goodies." During testing Jamie found that the whole system was geared towards that purpose. In conclusion, Watson said, "Besides being jam-packed with goodies, it is a very good Linux distribution to boot!" -- source: www.zdnet.com/7000028016/ 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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Dyn.com Ends Free Dynamic DNS
by Peter Reutemann 07 Apr '14

07 Apr '14

"For the last 15 years, all of us at Dyn have taken pride in offering a free version of our Dynamic DNS Pro product. What was originally a product built for a small group of users has blossomed into an exciting technology used around the world. That is why with mixed emotions we announced the end of that free hostname program today, officially turning down on May 7th." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/04/07/1450222 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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Raspberry Pi Compute Module Release
by Peter Reutemann 07 Apr '14

07 Apr '14

"The Raspberry Pi Foundation has developed a new product. It is basically a Raspberry Pi model A processor memory and flash memory on a DDR2 style SODIMM connector. Also available will be a development board that breaks out all the internal connections. The board design will be open sourced so you can develop your own devices using the BCM2835 processor. No network, but support for 2 HDMI displays and 2 cameras, so 3D TV is a possibility." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/04/07/1637249 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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Nautilus Terminal: An Embedded Terminal for Nautilus File Browser in GNOME
by Peter Reutemann 07 Apr '14

07 Apr '14

"Nautilus Terminal is a Nautilus file browser embedded terminal, which follows your movement and automatically cd to your current directory. Nautilus Terminal makes it possible to work in command line while navigating in Real GUI." -- source: http://bit.ly/1mSdyYs 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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Three Alternatives to Ubuntu One Cloud Service
by Peter Reutemann 07 Apr '14

07 Apr '14

"Many of us had hoped it was an April Fool's prank. But Ubuntu One will, in fact, no longer be available as of June 1, 2014 and all data will be wiped July 31, 2014. This will leave a great number of Ubuntu users without a cloud service. Fear not, intrepid users, there are plenty of cloud services and tools available - each with native Linux clients - ready and willing to take your Ubuntu One data and keep it in the cloud." -- source: http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/769023 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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Linux Developers Consider On-Screen QR Codes For Kernel Panics
by Peter Reutemann 05 Apr '14

05 Apr '14

"Linux kernel developers are currently evaluating the possibility of using QR codes to display kernel oops/panic messages. Right now a lot of text is dumped to the screen when a kernel oops occurs, most of which isn't easily archivable by normal Linux end-users. With QR codes as Linux oops messages, a smart-phone could capture the display and either report the error string or redirect them to an error page on Kernel.org. The idea of using QR codes within the Linux kernel is still being discussed by upstream developers." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/04/05/2228251 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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NYU Group Says Its Scheme Makes Cracking Individual Passwords Impossible
by Peter Reutemann 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

"Researchers at New York University have devised a new scheme called PolyPassHash for storing password hash data so that passwords cannot be individually cracked by an attacker. Instead of a password hash being stored directly in the database, the information is used to encode a share in a Shamir Secret Store (technical details PDF). This means that a password cannot be validated without recovering a threshold of shares, thus an attacker must crack groups of passwords together. The solution is fast, easy to implement (with C and Python implementations available), requires no changes to clients, and makes a huge difference in practice. To put the security difference into perspective, three random 6 character passwords that are stored using standard salted secure hashes can be cracked by a laptop in an hour. With a PolyPassHash store, it would take every computer on the planet longer to crack these passwords than the universe is estimated to exist. With this new technique, HoneyWords, and hardware solutions all available, does an organization have any excuse if their password database is disclosed and user passwords are cracked?." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/14/04/03/1440211 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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Brendan Eich Steps Down As Mozilla CEO
by Peter Reutemann 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

"Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He's made this decision for Mozilla and our community. Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard ..." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/04/03/1924250 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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Canonical Shutting Down Ubuntu One File Services
by Peter Reutemann 02 Apr '14

02 Apr '14

"Wanting to focus their efforts on their most important strategic initiatives and ensuring that the company is not spread too thin, Canonical is shutting down Ubuntu One file services. With other services now regularly offering from 25 GB to 50 GB of free storage, the personal cloud storage space wasn't a sustainable place for Canonical. As of today, it will no longer be possible to purchase storage or music from the Ubuntu One store. The Ubuntu One software will not be included in the upcoming Ubuntu 14.04 LTS release, and the Ubuntu One apps in older versions of Ubuntu and in the Ubuntu, Google, and Apple stores will be updated appropriately. The current services will be unavailable from 1 June 2014; user content will remain available for download until 31 July, at which time it will be deleted. For a spark of solace, the company promises to open source the backend code." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/04/02/1355244 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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New Apache Allura Project For Project Development Hosting
by Peter Reutemann 01 Apr '14

01 Apr '14

"Today the Apache Software Foundation announced the Allura project for hosting software development projects. Think GitHub or SourceForge on your own servers -- Allura has git, svn, hg, wiki, tickets, forums, news, etc. It's written in python and has a modular and extensible platform so you can write your own tools and extensions. It's already used by SourceForge, DARPA, German Aerospace Center, and Open Source Projects Europe. Allura is open source; available under the Apache License v2.0. When you don't want all your project resources in the cloud on somebody else's walled garden, you can run Allura on your own servers and have full control and full data access." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/04/01/213243 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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Why Arguing That Windows is Better Than Linux Makes You Look Silly
by Peter Reutemann 31 Mar '14

31 Mar '14

'It seems as though you can't throw a rock on the internet without hitting an article which argues for the superiority of Windows over Linux. With titles like "Five reasons I'd rather run Windows 8 than Linux", these articles are a dime a dozen. ... Are these sorts of articles a wee bit pointless? Sure. It's really just preaching to the choir, so to speak. But they're fun to read. They're almost like the tech-nerd equivalent of a gossip rag.' Read Bryan Lunduke's full article, it's quite funny... -- source: http://www.linux.com/news/software/applications/768257 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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How to Create and Manage Btrfs Snapshots and Rollbacks on Linux
by Peter Reutemann 31 Mar '14

31 Mar '14

"Btrfs is the next-generation Linux filesystem all cram-full of advanced features designed for maximum data protection and massive scalability such as copy-on-write, storage pools, checksums, support for 16, count 'em, 16-exabyte filesystems, journaling, online grow and shrink, and space-efficient live snapshots. If you're accustomed to using LVM and RAID to manage your data storage, Btrfs can replace these. A snapshot is a copy of a Btrfs subvolume at a particular point in time. It's many times faster than making a traditional backup, and incurs no downtime. You can make snapshots of a filesystem whenever you want, and then quickly roll back to any of them." Articles: - http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/767332 - http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/767683 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 To Offer Rolling Release KDE Experience
by Peter Reutemann 31 Mar '14

31 Mar '14

"openSUSE and KDE teams are working on creating four KDE SC repositories for openSUSE which will enable users to get the the kind of experience they want. Users can stick to the default repos that come with openSUSE if they want to use what openSUSE offers. Those users who want to stay updated with the latest KDE SC releases can use the "KDE:Current" repository which will always remain updated. 3rd repo "KDE:Distro:Factory" will offer KDE packages which are being tested and prepared before they are pushed to the 'Current' repo. The fourth repo "KDE:Unstable:SC" will offer early builds as they are being devloped." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/03/30/2258202 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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git and executable files
by Peter Reutemann 29 Mar '14

29 Mar '14

Hi there During the Android talk at our last meeting, Lawrence encountered the problem that his scripts weren't executable. Maybe the following stackoverflow thread fixes this ("git update-index ..."): http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7048763 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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Facebook To Begin Deploying Btrfs
by Peter Reutemann 27 Mar '14

27 Mar '14

"After hiring the lead Btrfs developers and Linux kernel block maintainers last year, Facebook is beginning trial deployments of Btrfs. Facebook will start using the next-generation file-system within their web-tier and they will be among the first major public deployments of Btrfs." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/03/27/1726202 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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creating your own live CD
by Peter Reutemann 27 Mar '14

27 Mar '14

Hi there At the last meeting, a question came up on how to convince businesses to switch to Linux. Live CDs are nice, however, they might not contain all the software that a particular company might need (for a test drive). Creating a custom Live CD - and on USB drives with a persistence partition - would be a good way of giving them something to have a play with. I had a quick look around and came across the following tools: - Ubuntu Customization Kit http://www.howtogeek.com/109736/how-to-create-a-custom-ubuntu-live-cd-or-us… https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/precise/uck/ - SuSE Studio https://susestudio.com/ HTH 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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GNOME 3.12 Released
by Peter Reutemann 26 Mar '14

26 Mar '14

"Like clockwork, the next version of GNOME has been released with updated applications, bugfixes, and so forth. People can look forward to faster loading times and a little better performance than before. A video has been created to highlight the release! Check it out!" -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/03/26/2114244 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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XWayland Aiming For Glamor Support, Merge Next X.Org Release
by Peter Reutemann 26 Mar '14

26 Mar '14

"X.Org Server 1.16 this summer should support XWayland, the means of allowing X11 applications to run atop Wayland-based compositors without the need for any application/game changes. With the revised design, XWayland has generic 2D acceleration over OpenGL and a cleaner design compared to earlier revisions. With GNOME 3.12 having better Wayland support and Plasma Next around the corner, it looks like 2014 could be the year of Wayland's take-off!" -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/03/26/1648235 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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Neovim: Rebuilding Vim For the 21st Century
by Peter Reutemann 22 Mar '14

22 Mar '14

"Neovim is a major overhaul of the vim editor to provide better scripting, cleaner support for plugins and integration with modern graphical interfaces. Modernising the large and complex codebase of Vim is a formidable task, but the developer has a clear plan, and has already begun work. There's a Bountysource fundraiser running to support the effort. If Vim is your editor of choice, check it out." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/03/22/147222 Really looking forward to that overhaul! :-) 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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Speedy Attack Targets Web Servers With Outdated Linux Kernels
by Peter Reutemann 21 Mar '14

21 Mar '14

"Web servers running a long-outdated version of the Linux kernel were attacked with dramatic speed over two days last week, according to Cisco Systems. All the affected servers were running the 2.6 version, first released in December 2003. 'When attackers discover a vulnerability in the system, they can exploit it at their whim without fear of it being remedied,' Cisco said. After the Web server has been compromised, the attackers slip in a line of JavaScript to other JavaScript files within the website. That code bounces the website's visitors to a second compromised host. 'The two-stage process allows attackers to serve up a variety of malicious content to the visitor,' according to Cisco." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/03/21/1913207 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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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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Google To Replace GTK+ With Its Own Aura In Chrome
by Peter Reutemann 12 Mar '14

12 Mar '14

"Google's Chromium team is working on an alternative of Gtk+ for the browser, called Aura. Elliot Glaysher, a Google developer explains, 'We aim to launch the Aura graphics stack on Linux in M35. Aura is a cross-platform graphics system, and the Aura frontend will replace the current GTK+ frontend.' The Free Software community is debating: is Google trying to do Canonical? Couldn't Google just switch to Qt, which is becoming an industry standard?" -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/03/12/0147256 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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$2, 400 'Introduction To Linux' Course Will Be Free and Online This Summer
by Peter Reutemann 09 Mar '14

09 Mar '14

"Earlier this week, The Linux Foundation announced that it would be working with edX, a non-profit online learning site governed by Harvard and MIT, to make its "Introduction to Linux" course free and open to all. The Linux Foundation has long offered a wide variety of training courses through its website, but those can generally cost upwards of $2,000. This introductory class, which usually costs $2,400, will be the first from the Linux Foundation to run as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/03/08/2258208 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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KDE Releases Calligra Suite 2.8
by Peter Reutemann 08 Mar '14

08 Mar '14

"The Calligra team is proud and pleased to announce the release of version 2.8 of the Calligra Suite, Calligra Active and the Calligra Office Engine. Major new features in this release are comments support in Author and Words, improved Pivot tables in Sheets, improved stability and the ability to open hyperlinks in Kexi. Flow introduces SVG based stencils and as usual there are many new features in Krita including touch screens support and a wraparound painting mode for the creation of textures and tiles." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/03/08/0454245 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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New attack on HTTPS crypto might reveal if you're pregnant or have cancer
by Peter Reutemann 07 Mar '14

07 Mar '14

"As the most widely used technology to prevent eavesdropping on the Internet, HTTPS encryption has seen its share of attacks, most of which work by exploiting weaknesses that allow snoops to decode cryptographically scrambled traffic. Now there's a novel technique that can pluck out details as personal as someone's sexual orientation or a contemplation of suicide, even when the protection remains intact." -- source: http://bit.ly/1czsdHI 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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