- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Fedora To Get a New Partition Manager
by Peter Reutemann 07 Sep '14

07 Sep '14

"Developer Vratislav Podzimek has announced the next-gen partition manager for Fedora, blivet-gui. It is eventually going to replace GParted, the most popular GUI based partition manager, found in all major distros. The new tool is named blivet-gui after the blivet python library (originally Anaconda's storage management and configuration tool). The need of a new partition manager stems from the fact that none of the existing GUI partitioning tools supports all modern storage technologies. Fedora's Anaconda base supports all, though, and is hence chosen as the back-end for this new tool. The application is only a few months old but is already looking nice and useful. Features like RAID and BTRFS support are being worked on. Vojtech Trefny is the other developer working with Vratislav on blivet-gui." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/09/07/2218229 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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Mozilla 1024-Bit Cert Deprecation Leaves 107, 000 Sites Untrusted
by Peter Reutemann 05 Sep '14

05 Sep '14

"Mozilla has deprecated 1024-bit RSA certificate authority certificates in Firefox 32 and Thunderbird. While there are pluses to the move such as a requirement for longer, stronger keys, at least 107,000 websites will no longer be trusted by Mozilla. Data from HD Moore's Project Sonar, which indexes more than 20 million websites, found 107,535 sites using a cert signed by what will soon be an untrusted CA certificate. Grouping those 107,000-plus sites by certificate expiration date, the results show that 76,185 certificates had expired as of Aug. 25; of the 65 million certificates in the total scan, 845,599 had expired but were still in use as of Aug. 25, Moore said." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/14/09/05/2120246 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 Munich Will Stick With Linux
by Peter Reutemann 05 Sep '14

05 Sep '14

"There are many solved problems in open source. Groupware is not one of them," Georg Greve, co-founder and CEO of Kolab System starts off his post highlighting recent features of the latest release of the Kolab groupware project. He calls out a few newly elected politicians that don't like the current set-up, but says that thousands of users don't have the same experience. "Until today, the city of Munich is using the same stand-alone calendaring and email systems it had used when it was still fully operating on Windows. Updating these systems had a lower priority than the migration to LiMux then. But an upgrade is underway now. And, the solution they chose is agnostic to the desktop platform and will service LiMux and Windows alike. The primary difference made by another migration would likely be due to the perils that come with any migration, such as additional costs and delays. In other words: The very problem used to criticize the LiMux desktop is already being solved." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/09/05/1711243 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 limit CPU usage with CPULimit on Ubuntu Linux
by Peter Reutemann 03 Sep '14

03 Sep '14

"This document describes how to limit CPU usage in Ubuntu 14.04. I will use CPU-limit utilty for this purpose. Cpulimit is a tool which limits the CPU usage of a process (expressed in percentage, not in CPU time). It is useful to control batch jobs, when you don't want them to eat too many CPU cycles. The goal of cpulimit is to prevent a process from running for more than a specified time ratio. It does not change the nice value or other scheduling priority settings, but the real CPU usage." -- source: http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-limit-cpu-usage-with-cpulimit-on-ubuntu-li… 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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Akamai Warns: Linux Systems Infiltrated and Controlled In a DDoS Botnet
by Peter Reutemann 03 Sep '14

03 Sep '14

"Akamai Technologies is alerting enterprises to a high-risk threat of IptabLes and IptabLex infections on Linux systems. Malicious actors may use infected Linux systems to launch DDoS attacks against the entertainment industry and other verticals. The mass infestation of IptabLes and IptabLex seems to have been driven by a large number of Linux-based web servers being compromised, mainly by exploits of Apache Struts, Tomcat and Elasticsearch vulnerabilities. Attackers have used the Linux vulnerabilities on unmaintained servers to gain access, escalate privileges to allow remote control of the machine, and then drop malicious code into the system and run it. As a result, a system could then be controlled remotely as part of a DDoS botnet." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/14/09/03/164225 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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You Got Your Windows In My Linux
by Peter Reutemann 02 Sep '14

02 Sep '14

'Ultimately, the schism over systemd could lead to a separation of desktop and server distros, or Linux server admins moving to FreeBSD, writes Deep End's Paul Venezia. "Although there are those who think the systemd debate has been decided in favor of systemd, the exceedingly loud protests on message boards, forums, and the posts I wrote over the past two weeks would indicate otherwise. I've seen many declarations of victory for systemd, now that Red Hat has forced it into the enterprise with the release of RHEL 7. I don't think it's that easy. ... Go ahead, kids, spackle over all of that unsightly runlevel stuff. Paint over init and cron, pam and login. Put all of that into PID1 along with dbus. Make it all pretty and whisper sweet nothings about how it's all taken care of and you won't have to read a manual or learn any silly command-line stuff. Tune your distribution for desktop workloads. Go reinvent Windows."' -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/09/02/2037251 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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Tox, a Skype Replacement Built On 'Privacy First'
by Peter Reutemann 02 Sep '14

02 Sep '14

'Rumors of back door access to Skype have plagued the communication software for the better part of a decade. Even if it's not true, Skype is owned by Microsoft, which is beholden to data requests from law enforcement. Because of these issues, a group of developers started work on Tox, which aims to rebuild the functionality of Skype with an emphasis on privacy. "The main thing the Tox team is trying to do, besides provide encryption, is create a tool that requires no central servers whatsoever—not even ones that you would host yourself. It relies on the same technology that BitTorrent uses to provide direct connections between users, so there's no central hub to snoop on or take down."' -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/09/01/2210246 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 Gets a Brand New Browser
by Peter Reutemann 02 Sep '14

02 Sep '14

'The Raspberry Pi team has announced a new browser for Raspberry Pi. They had worked with Collabora to create an HTML5-capable, modern browser for Pi users. While announcing the new browser, Eben Upton said, "Eight months and a lot of hard work later, we're finally ready. Epiphany on Pi is now a plausible alternative to a desktop browser for all but the most JavaScript-heavy sites."' -- source: http://build.slashdot.org/story/14/09/01/1918211 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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Docker news
by Peter Reutemann 01 Sep '14

01 Sep '14

Containers vs Hypervisors: The Battle Has Just Begun -- source: http://www.linux.com/news/enterprise/cloud-computing/785769 SUSE's Flavio Castelli on Docker's Rise Among Linux Distros -- source: http://www.linux.com/news/enterprise/cloud-computing/785551 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-Compatible Development Board Cancelled
by Peter Reutemann 01 Sep '14

01 Sep '14

"Anyone who might have been interested in the miniature Raspberry Pi compatible board mentioned here a month ago should know the board has been cancelled due to problems sourcing the Broadcom SoC. Given the less than welcoming response from the rpi community to the board's release, there is speculation as to why Hardkernel is having trouble buying the chip." -- source: http://build.slashdot.org/story/14/08/31/147211 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 3.17-rc2 Release Marks 23 Years of the Linux Kernel
by Peter Reutemann 26 Aug '14

26 Aug '14

"Linus Torvalds released Linux 3.17-rc2 today in commemoration of the 23rd anniversary of the original kernel announcement. It was on 25 August 1991 that he announced his new OS project to the Minix users list." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/08/25/2325239 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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Choose Your Side On the Linux Divide
by Peter Reutemann 25 Aug '14

25 Aug '14

'The battle over systemd exposes a fundamental gap between the old Unix guard and a new guard of Linux developers and admins, writes Deep End's Paul Venezia. "Last week I posted about the schism brewing over systemd and the curiously fast adoption of this massive change to many Linux distributions. If there's one thing that systemd does extremely well, it is to spark heated discussions that devolve into wild, teeth-gnashing rants from both sides. Clearly, systemd is a polarizing subject. If nothing else, that very fact should give one pause. Fundamental changes in the structure of most Linux distributions should not be met with such fervent opposition. It indicates that no matter how reasonable a change may seem, if enough established and learned folks disagree with the change, then perhaps it bears further inspection before going to production. Clearly, that hasn't happened with systemd."' -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/08/25/1730245 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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Munich Council Say Talk of LiMux Demise Is Greatly Exaggerated
by Peter Reutemann 25 Aug '14

25 Aug '14

"The rumors of Munich's city government going back to Microsoft seem to have been greatly exaggerated. There was a review of the city's IT systems that was called for by the mayor, but it wasn't solely just to decide on whether to move back to Microsoft. And while there have been complaints about LiMux, they mostly seem to concern compatibility with OpenOffice.org, which may well be resolved by switching to LibreOffice." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/08/24/194208 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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Meeting tonight - apology
by Michael Ryan 25 Aug '14

25 Aug '14

I'm not able to get to tonight's meeting; the Green Party have decided to make an appearance in TeA tonight and I want to go to it. -- Regards Michael Ryan Partner Ryan Law Solicitors ph (07) 889 8041 fax (07) 889 8709 DX GA24027 P.O. Box 104 Morrinsville, New Zealand ph (07) 884 0002 fax (07) 884 0039 DX GA24502 P.O. Box 77 Te Aroha, New Zealand This communication is confidential and may contain privileged or copyright material. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not use, disclose, copy or retain it. If you have received it in error, we apologise and would appreciate your advising us by return email and your deleting the email and any printed form you may have made of it. We do not guarantee the integrity of this communication, or that it is free from errors, viruses, or interference arising from its method of transmission.

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It's Elementary, with Sparks, and Unity
by Peter Reutemann 25 Aug '14

25 Aug '14

"In today's Linux news Jack Wallen review Elementary OS and says it's not just the poor man's Apple. Jack Germain reviewed SparkyLinux GameOver yesterday and said it's a win-win. Linux Tycoon Bryan Lunduke testdrives Ubuntu's Unity today in the latest entry in his desktop-a-week series. And finally tonight, just what the heck is this Docker thing everybody keeps talking about?" -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/its-elementary-with-sparks-and-unity 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 Aug '14

24 Aug '14

Hi there There is a WLUG meeting tomorrow: "3D animations (or CGI) are everywhere nowadays. You don't need deep pockets for purchasing good software, the FLOSS world has its own package for creating first-class animations:Blender. Lawrence D'Oliveiro will give a hands-on demonstration on how to use Blender, introduce you to the basics and show how to create simple animations. He will also present some of the animations that he created over the years." http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/197651342 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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Qt Upgrades From LGPLv2.1 to LGPLv3
by Peter Reutemann 20 Aug '14

20 Aug '14

"Digia has announced that existing Qt modules will now be covered under the LGPLv3 in addition to the LGPLv2.1, GPLv3, and the enterprise (proprietary) license. New modules will be dropping LGPLv2.1 and GPLv3+ and be released under the LGPLv3 and GPLv2+ instead. This should be a good move: new Qt modules will be Apache license compatible, LGPLv3 code can trivially be converted to GPLv3, and Digia is even releasing a few modules it intended to make proprietary as Free Software. The KDE Free Qt Foundation is on board. The move was made because of device vendors exploiting a loophole in the GPLv2/LGPLv2.1 that denied users the right to modify Qt or write their own applications. Digia has some self-interest as well, since those vendors were exploiting the tivoization loophole to avoid buying enterprise licenses." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/08/20/1446240 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 19 Aug '14

19 Aug '14

Hi there There is a WLUG meeting coming up next Monday: "3D animations (or CGI) are everywhere nowadays. You don't need deep pockets for purchasing good software, the FLOSS world has its own package for creating first-class animations:Blender. Lawrence D'Oliveiro will give a hands-on demonstration on how to use Blender, introduce you to the basics and show how to create simple animations. He will also present some of the animations that he created over the years." http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/197651342 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-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows
by Peter Reutemann 18 Aug '14

18 Aug '14

"The world is still waiting for the year of Linux on the desktop, but in 2003 it looked as if that goal was within reach. Back then, the city of Munich announced plans to switch from Microsoft technology to Linux on 14,000 PCs belonging to the city's municipal government. While the scheme suffered delays, it was completed in December 2013. There's only been one small problem: users aren't happy with the software, and the government isn't happy with the price." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/08/linux-on-the-desktop-pioneer-munich… 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 Kernel Git Repositories Add 2-Factor Authentication
by Peter Reutemann 18 Aug '14

18 Aug '14

yubikeys in the news: "For a few years now Linux kernel developers have followed a fairly strict authentication policy for those who commit directly to the git repositories housing the Linux kernel. Each is issued their own ssh private key, which then becomes the sole way for them to push code changes to the git repositories hosted at kernel.org. While using ssh keys is much more secure than just passwords, there are still a number of ways for ssh private keys to fall into malicious hands. So they've further tightened access requirements with two-factor authentication using yubikeys." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/08/18/191251 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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Turin To Be The First Italian Open Source City
by Peter Reutemann 12 Aug '14

12 Aug '14

"Turin’s local authorities have decided to switch to open source and entirely ditch all the Microsoft products, saving alot of money to the local government. The mission of this move is to get rid of proprietary software, make Turin one of the first Italian open source city and save six million euros. [...] According to republica.it 8300 computers of the local administration will soon be powered by Ubuntu, shipped with Mozilla Firefox web browser and Open Office. No more Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer." -- source: http://www.unixmen.com/turin-first-italian-open-source-city/ 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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Free Intro to Linux Online Course Starts Today (ie 1st August 2014)
by Peter Reutemann 03 Aug '14

03 Aug '14

"The Linux Foundation's free online course, Introduction to Linux, started today on the edX website. Students have already begun to take the course, which covers the basic tools and techniques commonly used by Linux programmers, system administrators and end users. It's not too late to sign up! You can complete the lessons, interact with students and instructors on the message board, and take the tests at your own pace. The first thing you'll do is install Linux – instructions are available in a PDF sent to all students enrolled in the course. Topics covered during the course include:" -- source: http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/200-libby-clark/782685 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 Art of Failure 2014
by chris 31 Jul '14

31 Jul '14

http://spectrum.ieee.org/slideshow/semiconductors/materials/the-art-of-failu re-2014/ The Art of Failure 2014 <http://www.mmsend10.com/link.cfm?r=788576329&sid=47555527&m=5637048&u=IEEEN Y&j=20644385&s=http://spectrum.ieee.org/slideshow/semiconductors/materials/t he-art-of-failure-2014/?utm_source=techalert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=0 73114> When chipmakers examine failed semiconductors for clues regarding why they went kaput, they sometimes discover beauty amid the ashes. We've collated some of the more spectacular happy accidents from factories and labs around the world for this year's showcase.

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LibreOffice 4.3 upgrades spreadsheets, brings 3D models to presentations
by Peter Reutemann 31 Jul '14

31 Jul '14

"LibreOffice's latest release provides easier ways of working with spreadsheets and the ability to insert 3D models into presentations, along with dozens of other changes." -- source: http://bit.ly/1tvDM9e 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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Old Apache Code At Root of Android FakeID Mess
by Peter Reutemann 30 Jul '14

30 Jul '14

'A four-year-old vulnerability in an open source component that is a critical part of Android leaves hundreds of millions of mobile devices susceptible to silent malware infections. The vulnerability affects devices running Android versions 2.1 to 4.4 ("KitKat"), according to a statement released by Bluebox. The vulnerability was found in a package installer in affected versions of Android. The installer doesn't attempt to determine the authenticity of certificate chains that are used to vouch for new digital identity certificates. In short, Bluebox writes, "an identity can claim to be issued by another identity, and the Android cryptographic code will not verify the claim." The security implications of this are vast. Malicious actors could create a malicious mobile application with a digital identity certificate that claims to be issued by Adobe Systems. Once installed, vulnerable versions of Android will treat the application as if it was actually signed by Adobe and give it access to local resources, like the special webview plugin privilege, that can be used to sidestep security controls and virtual 'sandbox' environments that keep malicious programs from accessing sensitive data and other applications running on the Android device. The flaw appears to have been introduced to Android through an open source component, Apache Harmony. Google turned to Harmony as an alternative means of supporting Java in the absence of a deal with Oracle to license Java directly. Work on Harmony was discontinued in November, 2011. However, Google has continued using native Android libraries that are based on Harmony code. The vulnerability concerning certificate validation in the package installer module persisted even as the two codebases diverged.' -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/07/29/2230242 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 great Ars experiment—free and open source software on a smartphone?!
by Peter Reutemann 29 Jul '14

29 Jul '14

"Android is a Google product—it's designed and built from the ground up to integrate with Google services and be a cloud-powered OS. A lot of Android is open source, though, and there's nothing that says you have to use it the way that Google would prefer. With some work, it’s possible to turn a modern Android smartphone into a Google-less, completely open device—so we wanted to try just that. After dusting off the Nexus 4 and grabbing a copy of the open source parts of Android, we jumped off the grid and dumped all the proprietary Google and cloud-based services you'd normally use on Android. Instead, this experiment runs entirely on open source alternatives. FOSS or bust!" -- source: http://bit.ly/1ppiC8V First time that I came across F-Droid, the FLOSS app catalogue: https://f-droid.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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15 alternatives to your default image viewer on Fedora
by Peter Reutemann 29 Jul '14

29 Jul '14

"Is the default image viewer in your desktop environment just not working the way you want? need more features (or maybe something simpler) from an image viewer? Well, you are in luck, as there is no shortage of choices when looking at alternative image viewers in Fedora. This article covers 17 image viewers in Fedora." -- source: http://fedoramagazine.org/15-alternatives-to-your-default-image-viewer-on-f… And most likely not limited to Fedora. 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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seL4 Verified Microkernel Now Open Source
by Peter Reutemann 29 Jul '14

29 Jul '14

'Back in 2009, OKLabs/NICTA announced the first formally verified microkernel, seL4 (a member of the L4 family). Alas, it was proprietary software. Today, that's no longer the case: seL4 has been released under the GPLv2 (only, no "or later versions clause" unfortunately). An anonymous reader writes OSnews is reporting that the formally verified sel4 microkernel is now open source: "General Dynamics C4 Systems and NICTA are pleased to announce the open sourcing of seL4, the world's first operating-system kernel with an end-to-end proof of implementation correctness and security enforcement. It is still the world's most highly assured OS." Source is over at Github. It supports ARM and x86 (including the popular Beaglebone ARM board). If you have an x86 with the VT-x and Extended Page Table extensions you can even run Linux atop seL4 (and the seL4 website is served by Linux on seL4).' -- source: http://developers.slashdot.org/story/14/07/29/1913259 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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Valencia Linux School Distro Saves 36 Million Euro
by Peter Reutemann 27 Jul '14

27 Jul '14

"The government of the autonomous region of Valencia (Spain) earlier this month made available the next version of Lliurex, a customisation of the Edubuntu Linux distribution. The distro is used on over 110,000 PCs in schools in the Valencia region, saving some 36 million euro over the past nine years, the government says." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/07/27/223220 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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Linus Torvalds: "GCC 4.9.0 Seems To Be Terminally Broken"
by Peter Reutemann 27 Jul '14

27 Jul '14

'A pointed critique from Linus Torvalds of GCC 4.9.0. after a random panic was discovered in a load balance function in Linux 3.16-rc6. in an email to the Linux kernel mailing list outlining two separate but possibly related bugs, Linus describes the compiler as "terminally broken," and worse ("pure and utter sh*t," only with no asterisk). A slice: "Lookie here, your compiler does some absolutely insane things with the spilling, including spilling a *constant*. For chrissake, that compiler shouldn't have been allowed to graduate from kindergarten. We're talking "sloth that was dropped on the head as a baby" level retardation levels here .... Anyway, this is not a kernel bug. This is your compiler creating completely broken code. We may need to add a warning to make sure nobody compiles with gcc-4.9.0, and the Debian people should probably downgrate their shiny new compiler."' -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/07/27/1838219 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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GOG.com Announces Linux Support
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jul '14

24 Jul '14

"We've put much time and effort into this project and now we've found ourselves with over 50 titles, classic and new, prepared for distribution, site infrastructure ready, support team trained and standing by ... We're still aiming to have at least 100 Linux games in the coming months, but we've decided not to delay the launch just for the sake of having a nice-looking number to show off to the press. ... Note that we've got many classic titles coming officially to Linux for the very first time, thanks to the custom builds prepared by our dedicated team of penguin tamers. ... For both native Linux versions, as well as special builds prepared by our team, GOG.com will provide distro-independent tar.gz archives and support convenient DEB installers for the two most popular Linux distributions: Ubuntu and Mint, in their current and future LTS editions." -- source: http://games.slashdot.org/story/14/07/24/1438211 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 Gameboy
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jul '14

23 Jul '14

'An enterprising hacker took on a project to rebuild a broken Gameboy using emulation software, a Raspberry Pi, and a few other easily-obtainable parts. The result: success! The hacker has posted a detailed walkthrough explaining all of the challenges and how they were solved. "Using a Dremel, I cut out a most of the battery compartment as well as some posts that on the case for the LCD that would no longer be needed. Doing so, the Pi sits flush with the back of the DMG case. ... The screen was the first challenge. The screen runs off 12V out of the box which wouldn't work with the USB battery pack. The USB battery pack is rated at 5V, 1000mAH so the goal was go modify the screen to allow it to run at 5V. ... I finally got it to work by removing the power converter chip as well as soldering a jumper between the + power in and the resister on the top right."' -- source: http://build.slashdot.org/story/14/07/23/2138217 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 Blu-Ray Library Now Supports BD-J Java
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jul '14

23 Jul '14

"Updates to the open-source libbluray, libaacs, and libbdplus libraries have improved the open-source Blu-ray disc support to now enable the Blu-ray Java interactivity layer (BD-J). The Blu-ray Java code is in turn executed by OpenJDK or the Oracle JDK and is working well enough to play a Blu-ray disc on the Raspberry Pi when paired with the VLC media player." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/07/23/0016245 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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Exodus Intelligence Details Zero-Day Vulnerabilities In Tails OS
by Peter Reutemann 22 Jul '14

22 Jul '14

"Tails OS, the Tor-reliant privacy-focused operating system made famous by Edward Snowden, contains a number of zero-day vulnerabilities that could be used to take control of the OS and execute code remotely. At least that's according to zero-day exploit seller Exodus Intelligence, which counts DARPA amongst its customer base. The company plans to tell the Tails team about the issues "in due time", said Aaron Portnoy, co-founder and vice president of Exodus, but it isn't giving any information on a disclosure timeline. This means users of Tails are in danger of being de-anonymised. Even version 1.1, which hit public release today (22 July 2014), is affected. Snowden famously used Tails to manage the NSA files. The OS can be held on a USB stick and leaves no trace once removed from the drive. It uses the Tor network to avoid identification of the user, but such protections may be undone by the zero-day exploits Exodus holds." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/07/22/165231 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 Saturday Workshop
by Bruce Kingsbury 22 Jul '14

22 Jul '14

I'll be running another Saturday Linux Workshop this weekend; Saturday July 26th, 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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The "Rickmote Controller" Can Hijack Any Google Chromecast
by Peter Reutemann 21 Jul '14

21 Jul '14

'Dan Petro, a security analyst for the Bishop Fox IT consulting firm, built a proof of concept device that's able to hack into any Google Chromecasts nearby to project Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up," or any other video a prankster might choose. The "Rickmote," which is built on top of the $35 Raspberry Pi single board computer, finds a local Chromecast device, boots it off the network, and then takes over the screen with multimedia of one's choosing. But it gets worse for the victims: If the hacker leaves the range of the device, there's no way to regain control of the Chromecast. Unfortunately for Google, this is a rather serious issue with the Chromecast device that's not too easy to fix, as the configuration process is an essential part of the Chromecast experience.' -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/07/21/1956258 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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meeting next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 21 Jul '14

21 Jul '14

Hi there We have a meeting coming up next Monday: "The Yubikey is one time password generator that conveniently connects a USB keyboard to your PC. It is port powered and small enough to kept on your keyring. The Yubikey uses Yubico's authentication server and can be used conveniently with Lastpass.com to provide two factor authentication to your online password vault. Third parties have written yubikey authentication mechanisms to secure restricted access to Apache webservers. There are many other applications and there are alternative hardware yubikeys capable of connection to smart phones. The authentication server technology is open source allowing users to create their own authentication servers. Yubico provides their service for free. At roughly $US25 a key, the technology is very competitively priced (cf RSA tokens) and well within the price range of most enthusiasts. Unfortunately, Google doesn't (yet) provide it as an option for their two factor authentication. The presenter will talk about lastpass.com and apache authentication." http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/185499622/ 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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Slackware Turns 21 Years Old
by Peter Reutemann 21 Jul '14

21 Jul '14

"It was on this day in 1993 that Patrick Volkerding announced the Slackware 1.00 release that was inspired by the Softlanding Linux System. Slackware remains kicking after 21 years of guidance by its leader Patrick Volkerding. The most recent release of Slackware is version 14.1 that took place late last year with the Linux 3.10 kernel -- a long way from the initial Slackware 1.00 release that used the pre-1.0 Linux kernel (0.99.11). " -- source: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTc0Mzc 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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MicroxWin Creates Linux Distribution That Runs Debian/Ubuntu & Android Apps
by Peter Reutemann 21 Jul '14

21 Jul '14

"VolksPC who developed MicroXwin as a lightweight X Window Server has come up with their own Linux distribution. Setting apart VolksPC's distribution from others is that it's based on both Debian and Android and has the capability to run Debian/Ubuntu/Android apps together in a native ARM experience. The implementation doesn't depend on VNC or other similar solutions of the past that have tried to join desktop apps with mobile Android apps. This distribution is also reportedly compatible with all Android applications. The distribution is expected to begin shipping on an ARM mini-PC stick." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/07/20/1218256 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 Needs Resource Management For Complex Workloads
by Peter Reutemann 21 Jul '14

21 Jul '14

'Resource management and allocation for complex workloads has been a need for some time in open systems, but no one has ever followed through on making open systems look and behave like an IBM mainframe, writes Henry Newman at Enterprise Storage Forum. Throwing more hardware at the problem is a costly solution that won't work forever, he notes. Newman writes: "With next-generation technology like non-volatile memories and PCIe SSDs, there are going to be more resources in addition to the CPU that need to be scheduled to make sure everything fits in memory and does not overflow. I think the time has come for Linux – and likely other operating systems – to develop a more robust framework that can address the needs of future hardware and meet the requirements for scheduling resources. This framework is not going to be easy to develop, but it is needed by everything from databases and MapReduce to simple web queries."' -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/07/20/0317216 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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FreeBSD 9.3 Released
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jul '14

16 Jul '14

"The FreeBSD Release Engineering Team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 9.3-RELEASE. This is the fourth release of the stable/9 branch, which improves on the stability of FreeBSD 9.2-RELEASE and introduces some new features. Some of the highlights: ZFS bookmarks, OpenSSL 0.9.8za, OpenSSH 6.6p1, SNI, BIND 9.9.5. For a complete list of new features and known problems, please see the online release notes and errata list." -- source: http://bsd.slashdot.org/story/14/07/16/2227253 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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LibreSSL PRNG Vulnerability Patched
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jul '14

16 Jul '14

'The OpenBSD project late last night rushed out a patch for a vulnerability in the LibreSSL pseudo random number generator (PRNG). The flaw was disclosed two days ago by the founder of secure backup company Opsmate, Andrew Ayer, who said the vulnerability was a "catastrophic failure of the PRNG." OpenBSD founder Theo de Raadt and developer Bob Beck, however, countered saying that the issue is "overblown" because Ayer's test program is unrealistic. Ayer's test program, when linked to LibreSSL and made two different calls to the PRNG, returned the exact same data both times. "It is actually only a problem with the author's contrived test program," Beck said. "While it's a real issue, it's actually a fairly minor one, because real applications don't work the way the author describes, both because the PID (process identification number) issue would be very difficult to have become a real issue in real software, and nobody writes real software with OpenSSL the way the author has set this test up in the article."' -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/07/16/1950235 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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Only a few days old, OpenSSL fork LibreSSL is declared “unsafe for Linux”
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jul '14

16 Jul '14

'The first "preview" release of OpenSSL alternative LibreSSL is out, and already a researcher says he has found a "catastrophic failure" in the version for Linux. Update: A few hours after this article was published, OpenBSD founder Theo de Raadt emailed Ars and wrote: "It is way overblown. This will never happen in real code." The vulnerability, cataloged as CVE-2014-2970, already has been patched, with modified code located here.' -- source: http://bit.ly/WgjO57 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 Raspberry Pi “B+” uses less power, has more USB ports
by Peter Reutemann 15 Jul '14

15 Jul '14

"The updated "B+" model has the same Broadcom BCM2835 processor as the original and still has 512MB RAM, but it uses less power, has more connectivity options, and features other upgrades over the previous Raspberry Pi Model B." -- source: http://bit.ly/1mcQvoS 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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WebODF: JavaScript Open Document Format Editor Deemed Stable
by Peter Reutemann 02 Jul '14

02 Jul '14

"WebODF (an Open Document Format editor written entirely using Javascript and natively rendering the XML document using CSS) 0.5.0 has been released, and the developers are declaring this release stable enough for every day use." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/07/02/1349208 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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Automotive Grade Linux Released For Open Source Cars
by Peter Reutemann 01 Jul '14

01 Jul '14

'The Linux Foundation and its partners have released the first version of Automotive Grade Linux, the open source platform for use inside connected cars. "AGL is building the industry’s only fully open automotive platform, allowing automakers to leverage a growing software stack based on Linux while retaining the ability to create their own branded user experience. Standardizing on a single platform means the industry can rapidly innovate where it counts to create a safe and reliable connected car experience. Open collaboration within the AGL community means support for multi-architectures and features to bolster the in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) experience." Further details and source code are available from the official website.' -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/07/01/1929217 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: [NZLUG] Computer whiz whips Windows - Technology - NZ Herald News
by Peter Reutemann 01 Jul '14

01 Jul '14

Apologies for cross-posting. The correct project URL is http://www.nos.net.nz/. Cheers, Peter ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: DL Neil <...> Date: Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 6:49 PM Subject: [NZLUG] Computer whiz whips Windows - Technology - NZ Herald News To: NZ Linux Users Group <nzlug(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz> Computer whiz whips Windows By Vaimoana Tapaleao 5:00 AM Tuesday Jul 1, 2014 A love of computer gadgets and being overly curious about how things work have proven to be a winning recipe for one Auckland teenager. Isaac Mercer, 14, has been shortlisted in the Google Science Fair 2014 competition. ... http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=11284… I think it is less a "computer operating system" and more a Windows-alike distro, but haven't seen it in-the-wild. If http://www.nos.co.nz/ is the correct web site, there's only an index page. However there is a project in SourceForge: nOS | Free software downloads at SourceForge.net The Fast and Easy to Use Operating System That Can Run on Any Computer Brought to you by: nosadmin http://sourceforge.net/projects/nos/ Hope he does well! -- Regards, =dn _______________________________________________ NZLUG mailing list NZLUG(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz http://lists.nzoss.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/nzlug -- 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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Tools for diagramming in Fedora
by Peter Reutemann 01 Jul '14

01 Jul '14

"If you're a big-time open source fanatic like me, you probably get questions about open source alternatives to proprietary tools rather frequently. From the 'Alternatives to Microsoft® Visio®' department, here are three tips that should help designers who use Visio in an open source environment. If you need an open source option for opening Visio files, a revived open source application for creating diagrams, or a lesser-known open source tool for converting Visio® stencils, these tips are for you." -- source: http://opensource.com/life/14/6/tools-diagramming-fedora 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 access popular search engines from the command line on Linux
by Peter Reutemann 30 Jun '14

30 Jun '14

"Why would anyone want to search things on the Internet via a terminal? I don't know. There are probably a lot of reasons. But since an answer that no one asked for is always less frustrating than a question that no one can answer, here is a list of popular search engines with the command-line tools that allow you to access them from a Linux terminal." -- source: http://bit.ly/1qcan0V 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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Meet Carla Shroder's New Favorite GUI-Textmode Hybrid Shell, Xiki
by Peter Reutemann 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

'Command-line lovers, allow me to introduce you to Xiki, the incredibly interactive, flexible, and revolutionary command shell. I do not use the word "revolutionary" lightly. The command shell has not advanced all that much since the ancient days of Unix. Xiki is a giant leap forward. If you're looking for the Next Big Thing in FOSS, Xiki is it.' -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/06/27/2220248 The screencast is quite funky. 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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