- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

OpenSSH Has a New Cipher — Chacha20-poly1305 — from D.J. Bernstein
by Peter Reutemann 11 Dec '13

11 Dec '13

"Inspired by a recent Google initiative to adopt ChaCha20 and Poly1305 for TLS, OpenSSH developer Damien Miller has added a similar protocol to ssh, chacha20-poly1305(a)openssh.com, which is based on D. J. Bernstein algorithms that are specifically optimised to provide the highest security at the lowest computational cost, and not require any special hardware at doing so. Some further details are in his blog, and at undeadly. The source code of the protocol is remarkably simple — less than 100 lines of code!" -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/13/12/11/173213 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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Proprietary Unix Continues to Fall
by Peter Reutemann 10 Dec '13

10 Dec '13

"Analysts at International Data Corporation (IDC) posted a press release Wednesday highlighting the rapid decline of IBM's AIX and P-Series hardware. Along side the drop in proprietary Unix systems is an associated rise in sales of X86 servers running Linux. IBM has clearly identified this as a long term trend, investing $1 billion dollars in Linux development on Power systems. With the reported 20% drop in sales, the writing my finally be on the wall for AIX." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/proprietary-unix-continues-to-fall Did a syadmin course back at uni using AIX (yes, it was way back in the late 90s). The IBM guy running parts of the course mentioned how they'd be investing lots of money in Linux over the next few years. I wonder whether they were already developing an exit strategy back then. 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 on meetup.com
by Peter Reutemann 10 Dec '13

10 Dec '13

Hi everyone Just to let you know that WLUG is now also on meetup.com: http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/ 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 FLOSS 2013 survey
by Peter Reutemann 04 Dec '13

04 Dec '13

"In 2002, the first FLOSS survey was launched. With over 2500 participants, it was the first large survey of Free/Libre/Open Source developers around the world. This survey had major impact in the community, academia and politics. 10 years later we would like to replicate the survey in order to see how the community has changed." -- source: http://floss2013.libresoft.es/ 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 Worst Linux Idea Yet
by Peter Reutemann 04 Dec '13

04 Dec '13

"Linux Journal's Readers' Choice Awards 2013 found that GNOME 3 was the Best "Worst" Linux/Open Source Idea to come down the pike. Of course the other categories may be of interest as well. These include Best Distribution, Best Linux Tablet, and Best Linux Server Vendor." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/gnome-3-worst-linux-idea-yet 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 16 Released
by Peter Reutemann 02 Dec '13

02 Dec '13

'Clement Lefebvre, founder of Mint, today announced the releases of Linux Mint 16 Cinnamon and MATE editions. In separate announcements Lefebvre said, "Linux Mint 16 is the result of 6 months of incremental development on top of stable and reliable technologies. This new release comes with updated software and brings refinements and new features to make your desktop even more comfortable to use." * The boot and login sequence no longer scan your system for btrfs partitions. * The MDM display manager no longer listens or communicates over the network. * The Update Manager is now started with a delay to make it faster for the session to load. * The Software Manager features significant speed improvements. * The Linux Mint 16 ISO images are easier on the system and faster to decompress during the live session. * Safer kernel updates. * Faster boot sequence and faster login. * Better EFI support. * Better support for Steam and added to repositories * Better colors in terminal * Better help support.' -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/linux-mint-16-released Just started downloading the MATE version... 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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f.lux
by mailinglist 02 Dec '13

02 Dec '13

Hi all, I came across this on National Radio over the weekend. There is a linux version too. f.lux is a bit of software that subtly changes the colour of your computer, tablet and phone screen to help you sleep well. With Michael Herf of f.lux. http://justgetflux.com/linux.html http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thiswayup/audio/2578136/f-lux

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New Linux worm targets routers, cameras, “Internet of things” devices
by Peter Reutemann 28 Nov '13

28 Nov '13

"Researchers have discovered a Linux worm capable of infecting a wide range of home routers, set-top boxes, security cameras, and other consumer devices that are increasingly equipped with an Internet connection." -- source: http://bit.ly/17VaXYG 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 Burning Bridges of Ubuntu
by Peter Reutemann 27 Nov '13

27 Nov '13

"According to this article, 'Whether Ubuntu is declining is still debatable. However, in the last couple of months, one thing is clear: internally and externally, its commercial arm Canonical appears to be throwing the idea of community overboard as though it was ballast in a balloon about to crash.' The author points out instances of community discontent and apparent ham-handedness on Mark Shuttleworth's part. Yet isn't this just routine kvetching in the open source community?" -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/11/27/1955239 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 Remote Control Your Camera with Darktable on Linux
by Peter Reutemann 27 Nov '13

27 Nov '13

"We've talked about Darktable before, because it is a wonderful advanced RAW photo editor and workflow manager. My current favorite feature is tethered shooting, which is connecting a camera to your computer and controlling it with Darktable. Obviously this is not very convenient for hiking or street photography, but for studio and tripod work it's the bee's knees." -- source: http://bit.ly/1jK1fdy 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
by Peter Reutemann 25 Nov '13

25 Nov '13

Hi everyone Just a reminder that we have a WLUG meeting tonight. Elroy will be talking about Asterisk and Raspberry Pi. The committee will meet prior to that at 6.30pm. Hope to see you there. 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 24 Nov '13

24 Nov '13

Hi everyone There is a WLUG meeting coming up next Monday: Elroy will be talking about his adventures with Asterisk and VOIP. http://www.wlug.org.nz/event_calendar/view/743/meeting Prior to that, at 6.30pm, a committee meeting has been scheduled. For details, please see: http://www.wlug.org.nz/event_calendar/view/3476/committee-meeting Hope to see you there. 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 Workshop Nov 23
by Bruce Kingsbury 20 Nov '13

20 Nov '13

Just a reminder to all; I'm running my own independent Saturday Workshops. November 23, 2013 10:00 am – 2:00 pm *Te Whare O Te Ata* 60a Sare Cres Hamilton, 3214 07 8557804 A Linux-focused workshop where people can bring their PCs 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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Canonical Developer Warns About Banking With Linux Mint
by Peter Reutemann 18 Nov '13

18 Nov '13

"Ubuntu developer Oliver Grawert does not prefer to do online banking with Linux Mint. In the official mailing list of the distribution, Ubuntu developers stated that the popular Ubuntu derivative is a vulnerable system and people shouldn't go for online banking on it. One of the Ubuntu developers, Oliver Grawert, originally pointed out that it is not necessary that security updates from Ubuntu get down to Linux Mint users since changes from X.Org, the kernel, Firefox, the boot-loader, and other core components are blocked from being automatically upgraded." 'Clement Lefebvre, the Linux Mint project founder, has since made a statement and confirmed that Oliver Grawert seems "more opinionated than knowledgeable" adding "the press blew what he said out of proportion." ' -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/11/18/2046208 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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Yearly FreeBSD Foundation Fundraising Campaign Is On
by Peter Reutemann 17 Nov '13

17 Nov '13

"The FreeBSD Foundation's annual year-end fundraising drive is currently running. Their goal this year is US$ 1M, and they're currently at US$ 427K. In 2013, the efforts that were funded were from the last drive were: Native iSCSI kernel stack, Updated Intel graphics chipset support, Integration of Newcons, UTF-8 console support, Superpages for ARM architecture, and Layer 2 networking updates. Also various conferences and summit sponsorships, as well as hardware purchases for the Project. The Foundation is a US 501(c)3 non-profit, so your donations (if in the US) are tax-deductible. Some of the larger 2013 (corporate?) sponsors so far are NetApp, LineRate, WhatsApp, and Tarsnap." -- source: http://bsd.slashdot.org/story/13/11/17/0046224 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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Dell's New Sputnik 3 Mates Touchscreen With Ubuntu
by Peter Reutemann 17 Nov '13

17 Nov '13

"I find it interesting that Dell has started selling a thin and light touchscreen laptop called the XPS 13 Developer Edition, which will have Ubuntu Linux OS and Intel's fourth-generation Core processors, code-named Haswell. The laptop, code-named Sputnik, has a 13.3-inch touchscreen and will run on Ubuntu 12.04 OS. It is priced starting at $1,250 and is available in the U.S." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/11/16/2329230 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 tonight
by Peter Reutemann 17 Nov '13

17 Nov '13

Hi everyone There is a WLUG meeting tonight: Elroy Liddington: Raspberry Pi, Asterisk Chris O'Halloran: LaTeX http://www.wlug.org.nz/event_calendar/view/741/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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Pear OS 8 Released – Review and Installation Guide with Screenshots
by Peter Reutemann 14 Nov '13

14 Nov '13

"Pear OS 8 was released recently. Pear OS main goal is to be an Ubuntu/Debian based Linux Operating System for Desktop, Notebook, Phones and Tablets. Pear OS 8 is based on GNOME but look and feel is similar and inspired from newly released Apple iOS7. Pear Cloud is the newly included feature in Pear OS 8 to backup and sync data over the internet." -- source: http://www.tecmint.com/pear-os-8-released-review-and-installation-guide-wit… 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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Article: "Why I love OwnCloud: answer to Dropbox lock-in"
by Peter Reutemann 11 Nov '13

11 Nov '13

We covered OwnCloud in the past on the mailing list. Below is an article on how to install it on Redhat: http://opensource.com/business/13/11/owncloud-answer-dropbox-lock The repos list mainly RPM based distros, but also Xubuntu a debian-based system: http://download.owncloud.com/download/repositories/ 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 font library
by Peter Reutemann 11 Nov '13

11 Nov '13

One problem that I quite often faced on Linux, was finding nice (free) fonts. Looks like the Open Font Library is a good place to look for them now: http://openfontlibrary.org/ How to install TTF/OTF fonts: - http://xmodulo.com/2013/07/how-to-install-custom-fonts-in-linux-desktop.html - http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/installing-fonts-linux 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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GIMP, Citing Ad Policies, Moves to FTP Rather Than SourceForge Downloads
by Peter Reutemann 08 Nov '13

08 Nov '13

"GIMP, a free and open source alternative to image manipulation software like Photoshop, recently announced that it will no longer be distributing their program through SourceForge. Citing some of the ads as reasons, they say that the tipping point was 'the introduction of their own SourceForge Installer software, which bundles third-party offers with Free Software packages. We do not want to support this kind of behavior, and have thus decided to abandon SourceForge.' The policy changes were reported back in August by Gluster. GIMP is now distributing their software via their own FTP page instead." -- source: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/11/07/2328228 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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10 Years of Fedora According to the FPLs (Fedora Magazine)
by Peter Reutemann 07 Nov '13

07 Nov '13

Fedora Magazine looks at ten years of Fedora history by talking with former project leaders. "In the early days, Fedora was not as you see it today. The community didn’t have the ability to contribute directly to Fedora as they do today – hence the 'Core' naming. The community worked on the 'extras' repositories, but the core of Fedora was developed by Red Hat without direct access to the community. This put the FPL in an uncomfortable spot. [Michael K.] Johnson says he pushed for a source code control system that the community would have access to, but was unable to get the green light. Calling it a 'failure to take Fedora seriously as important to Red Hat’s future,' Johnson says he felt he’d lost credibility with the community and 'whoever replaced me would have one short opportunity to fix this, or the community would fail.'" -- source: http://www.linux.com/news/software/applications/747271-10-years-of-fedora-a… 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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OpenPhoenux Neo900 Bills Itself As Successor To Nokia's N900
by Peter Reutemann 02 Nov '13

02 Nov '13

"The latest device in the OpenPhoenux open hardware family is the Neo900, the first true successor to the Nokia N900. The Neo900 is a joint project of the Openmoko veteran Jörg Reisenweber and the creators of the GTA04/Letux2804 open hardware smartphone at Golden Delicious Computers. Furthermore, it is supported by the N900 Maemo5/Fremantle community, the Openmoko community and the OpenPhoenux community, who are working together to get closer to their common goal of providing an open hardware smartphone, which is able to run 100% free and open source software, while being independet of any big hardware manufacturer." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/11/02/1637236 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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ATM machine
by Ian Stewart 30 Oct '13

30 Oct '13

For those who remember the Bitkoin presentation at wlug a couple of years ago... It seems to be a currency that continues to develop. If you are in Vancouver you can now use the worlds first Bitkoin ATM. According to an article in today's The Guardian newspaper... "With the Bitkoin ATM, users scan their hand to confirm identity, then funds move to or from a virtual wallet on their smartphone." "The system limits transfers to $1,000 a day, in an effort to curb money laundering and other fraud." "Bitkoin is not a recognised currency in Canada, so Ottawa's anti-money laundering watchdog, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre, does not monitor its trade." ... I don't know if Bitkoins are recognised as a currency in NZ, but I do know that the Waikato Uni's mail system that we are using currently blocks e-mails in which the word "Bitkoin" is spelt correctly! cheers, Ian.

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Ubuntu's Mark Shuttleworth Wins Austria's Big Brother Award
by Peter Reutemann 28 Oct '13

28 Oct '13

"Austria's Big Brother Awards awarded the coveted Big Brother Award to Ubuntu's founder Mark Shuttleworth for Ubuntu Dash's privacy reducing online extensions to local searches." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/10/28/2210220 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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Debian To Replace SysVinit, Switch To Systemd Or Upstart
by Peter Reutemann 28 Oct '13

28 Oct '13

"Debian has been one of the last holdouts using SysVinit over a modern init system, but now after much discussion amongst Debian developers, they are deciding whether to support systemd or Upstart as their default init system. The Debian technical committee has been asked to vote on which init system to use, which could swing in favor of using Upstart due to the Canonical bias present on the committee." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/10/28/1621219 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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Using DSH (Distributed Shell) to Run Linux Commands Across Multiple Machines
by Peter Reutemann 25 Oct '13

25 Oct '13

"Systems Administrators know all too well the importance of being able to monitor and administer numerous machines in a short time, and preferably, with as little running around as possible. Whether it is a small cloud environment, or an enormous server cluster, the ability to centrally manage computers is essential. To partly accomplish this, I am going to show you how to use a nifty little tool called DSH that allows a user to run commands over multiple machines." -- source: http://www.tecmint.com/using-dsh-distributed-shell-to-run-linux-commands-ac… 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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xen 4.2 on ubuntu 13.04
by Jonathan Wood 25 Oct '13

25 Oct '13

Hi all I am trying to get my xen machine to pass through the usb devices to a windows vm and now I keep getting pt_pci_read_config: [00:05:0] Error: Failed to read register with invalid access size alignment. [Offset:0eh][Length:4] in my vm log can anyone please help

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Te Whare o Te Ata Monthly Linux Workshop
by Bruce Kingsbury 25 Oct '13

25 Oct '13

Just a reminder to all; I'm running my own independent Saturday Workshops. October 26, 2013 10:00 am – 2:00 pm *Te Whare O Te Ata* 60a Sare Cres Hamilton, 3214 07 8557804 A Linux-focused workshop where people can bring their PCs 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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Torvalds: Free OS X Is No Threat To Linux
by Peter Reutemann 24 Oct '13

24 Oct '13

"Apple is now offering upgrades to the latest version of OS X for free. When Linux inventor Linus Torvalds was asked whether this threatened Linux (presumably by someone who had only a passing knowledge of all the things 'free' can mean when applied to software) it gave him an opportunity for a passionate defense of open source. Torvalds also says that he'll keep programming until it gets 'not interesting,' which hasn't happened yet." -- source: http://apple.slashdot.org/story/13/10/24/1324234 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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PHP.net Compromised
by Peter Reutemann 24 Oct '13

24 Oct '13

"The open source PHP project site was compromised earlier today. The site appears to have been compromised and had some of its Javascript altered to exploit vulnerable systems visiting the website. Google's stop-badware system caught this as well and flagged php.net as distributing malware, warning users whose browsers support it not to visit the site. The comment by a Google employee over the hacker news thread (official Google webmaster forum thread) seems to suggest that php.net wasn't incorrectly flagged." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/13/10/24/1858200 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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Torvalds: SteamOS Will 'Really Help' Linux On the Desktop
by Peter Reutemann 23 Oct '13

23 Oct '13

"Linus Torvalds has welcomed the arrival of Valve's Linux-based platform, SteamOS, and said it could boost Linux on desktops. The Linux creator praised Valve's 'vision' and suggested its momentum would force other manufacturers to take Linux seriously — especially if game developers start to ditch Windows. Should SteamOS gain traction among gamers and developers, that could force more hardware manufacturers to extend driver support beyond Windows. That's a sore point for Torvalds, who slammed Nvidia last year for failing to support open-source driver development for its graphics chips. Now that SteamOS is on the way, Nvidia has opened up to the Linux community, something Torvalds predicts is a sign of things to come. 'I'm not just saying it'll help us get traction with the graphics guys,' he said. 'It'll also force different distributors to realize if this is how Steam is going, they need to do the same thing because they can't afford to be different in this respect. They want people to play games on their platform too.'" -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/10/23/184236 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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Ubuntu Touch On a Nexus 7: "Almost Awesome"
by Peter Reutemann 23 Oct '13

23 Oct '13

"I installed Ubuntu Touch "1.0" on my first-generation Nexus 7 tablet and have been using it as my main tablet system for the last four days. Here's how it went. First off, the installation was surprisingly painless. I followed the official instructions and didn't encounter a single problem. That being said, the installation is really geared toward software developers, power users or people already comfortable on a Linux command line. If you're not in one of those categories, I recommend holding off for the time being. Once installed, Ubuntu Touch booted up rather quickly — in only just a few seconds (a fair bit faster than Android 4.x on the same tablet). And, immediately, I was presented with a short tutorial that appears the first time the system is booted, which, I might add, has got to be one of the slickest, least annoying tutorials I've seen. But... there were problems. The battery life was, to put it mildly, terrible. Performance has been mixed, and the OS was prone to what I call 'The Pulsating Seizure Feature' a few dozen times over the weekend. In a nutshell: launching apps (and, occasionally, moving between apps) can cause the device to freeze and begin flashing the screen rapidly." -- source: http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/13/10/22/1344209 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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Crunchbang DDoS attack
by Peter Reutemann 21 Oct '13

21 Oct '13

Been trying to update my #! laptop and it continuously failed doing so. Then I found out that #! has been hit by a DDoS attack, unfortunately: "DDoS Attack 2013-10-17 (ongoing) It saddens me to report that the repo and torrent server are experiencing another DDoS attack. As with the previous attack, I do not have much information to share, but I will try and keep everyone informed as to what is happening. When I find out, you'll find out. Apologies for the disruption." http://crunchbang.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=29646 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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Ubuntu 13.10 has arrived
by Peter Reutemann 21 Oct '13

21 Oct '13

Get it from here: http://www.ubuntu.com/ Would love to have a play around with the phone version: http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/install But, I don't have a spare Galaxy Nexus or Nexus 4. :-) 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 Navy’s newest warship is powered by Linux
by Peter Reutemann 20 Oct '13

20 Oct '13

"When the USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) puts to sea later this year, it will be different from any other ship in the Navy's fleet in many ways. The $3.5 billon ship is designed for stealth, survivability, and firepower, and it's packed with advanced technology. And at the heart of its operations is a virtual data center powered by off-the-shelf server hardware, various flavors of Linux, and over 6 million lines of software code." -- source: http://bit.ly/1aX0Ktb I always have mixed feelings when FLOSS is used by the military... Cheers, Peer -- 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 night
by Peter Reutemann 20 Oct '13

20 Oct '13

Hi everyone There is a WLUG meeting on tomorrow night: Elroy Liddington: Raspberry Pi, Asterisk Chris O'Halloran: LaTeX http://www.wlug.org.nz/event_calendar/view/741/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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How to mount Google Drive on Linux
by Peter Reutemann 20 Oct '13

20 Oct '13

"As I speak, more than 22,000 people signed up for a petition, desperately wanting to have an official native Linux client for Google Drive, and yet their voice is still being ignored by Google. Perhaps when it comes to boosting their bottom line, Linux desktop market is not a priority for Google. They can ignore Linux desktop market all they want, but they cannot ignore the power of FOSS. Faced with the frustration, the open-source community responded, producing unofficial Google Drive clients such as Grive or SyncDrive. These clients are file synchronization tools which sync files and folders between local file system and remote Google Drive. As such, you cannot mount Google Drive using these tools. If you want to mount Google Drive on Linux, you can try google-drive-ocamlfuse, which is a FUSE-based file system backed by Google Drive. Using this user-space file system, you can mount your Google Drive account on Linux, and have full read/write access to files/folders in Google Drive as if they were local files/folders." -- source: http://xmodulo.com/2013/10/mount-google-drive-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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NFTables To Replace iptables In the Linux Kernel
by Peter Reutemann 20 Oct '13

20 Oct '13

"NFTables is queued up for merging into the Linux 3.13 kernel. NFTables is a four-year-old project by the creators of Netfilter to write a new packet filtering / firewall engine for the Linux kernel to deprecate iptables (though it now offers an iptables compatibility layer too). NFTables promises to be more powerful, simpler, reduce code complication, improve error reporting, and provide more efficient handling of packet filter rules. The code was merged into net-next for the Linux 3.13 kernel. Iptables will still be present until NFTables is finished, but it is possible to try it out now. LWN also has a writeup on NFTables." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/10/19/2118247 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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Cinnamon 2.0 now officially available
by Peter Reutemann 17 Oct '13

17 Oct '13

"Prior to version 2.0, and similar to Shell or Unity, Cinnamon was a frontend on top of the GNOME desktop. In version 2.0, and similar to MATE or Xfce, Cinnamon is an entire desktop environment built on GNOME technologies. It still uses toolkits and libraries such as GTK or Clutter and it is still compatible with all GNOME applications, but it no longer requires GNOME itself to be installed. It now communicates directly with its own backend services, libraries and daemons: cinnamon-desktop, cinnamon-session and cinnamon-settings-daemon." -- source: http://www.muktware.com/2013/10/cinnamon-2-0-now-officially-available 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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Python classes?
by Bruce Kingsbury 17 Oct '13

17 Oct '13

We've had discussions in the past about running classes in python and/or basic Linux know-how. I'm interested in running a weekly python class at the community center either during the day or after 5pm. Facilities available are ten reasonable computers running Debian 6.0 and I can easily install any IDE or libraries required. Uncapped internet is also available. Unfortunately I don't know python beyond having written a few trivial programs so I'd be learning at the same time, hopefully at least a week ahead of what I'm teaching. If anyone else is interested in running classes and already knows Python that would be much better and I'd come along to those instead. So; discussion about who else would like to attend such classes and/or if anyone would be interested in teaching them?

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https://www.writelatex.com/about
by mailinglist 17 Oct '13

17 Oct '13

If you are into Latex, I was amazed at this site! https://www.writelatex.com/about The above reads like a dodgy spam message I know. But seriously if you're looking to use a text/code based document tool, Latex is pretty cool. I'm just amazed at what people have managed to put together. A web based front end for Latex. Probably heaps more. I haven't started exploring it yet. Cheers, Chris

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Oracle Attacks Open Source; Says Community-Developed Code Is Inferior
by Peter Reutemann 15 Oct '13

15 Oct '13

"Oracle has a love-hate relationship with open source technologies. In a whitepaper (PDF) for the Deparment of Defense, Oracle claims that TCO (total cost of ownership) goes up with the use of open source. They're essentially trying to build a case for the use of their own products within the government. 'The skill required to successfully and economically blend source code into a commercially viable product is relatively scarce. It should not be done directly at government expense.' Oracle also attacks the community-based development model, calling it more insecure than company developed products. 'Government-sponsored community development approaches to software creation lack the financial incentives of commercial companies to produce low-defect, well-documented code.'" -- source: http://developers.slashdot.org/story/13/10/15/1828211 Funny, considering that they have multiple open-source projects... Oracle Linux, MySQL, ... 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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advanced copy
by Peter Reutemann 13 Oct '13

13 Oct '13

Just came across this article on an "advanced copy" command: http://www.tecmint.com/advanced-copy-command-shows-progress-bar-while-copyi… Wasn't to keen on recompiling from source etc. However, when looking through my Linux Mint's Synaptic, I came across "gcp": "gcp is an advanced command line file copy system with an interface similar to that of cp. It features: - transfer progression indication - continuous copying on error (skip to next file) - copy status logging - name mangling to handle target filesystem limitations - forced copy serialization - transfer lists management" Here is an example output: mymachine:[110]~/media>gcp -r maps/ maps.bak Copying 2.26 GiB 100% |##############################| 148.01 M/s Time: 00:00:16 Quite funky for large copy-operations on the command-line, where you'd like to have some kind of progress indicator. 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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What is a good file manager for Linux?
by Peter Reutemann 08 Oct '13

08 Oct '13

"One of must-have utilities on Linux desktop is file manager (or file browser). A typical file manager can not only handle common file management operations, but also offer advanced functionality that differentiates itself with others. If you are not happy with a default file manager that comes with the Linux desktop you are using, don’t worry. There are plenty of other file managers to choose from. In this post, I will showcase 13 popular file managers available on Linux. For each file manager, I am going to briefly mention its notable features." -- source: http://xmodulo.com/2013/10/good-file-manager-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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Chromium To Support Wayland
by Peter Reutemann 08 Oct '13

08 Oct '13

"Chromium developers have started porting Chromium to X11 alternatives such as Wayland. Tiago Vignatti sent a message to the freedesktop mailing list, 'Today we are launching publicly Ozone-Wayland, which is the implementation of Chromium's Ozone for supporting Wayland graphics system. Different projects based on Chromium/Blink like the Chrome browser, ChromeOS, among others can be enabled now using Wayland.'" -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/10/07/2212245 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 as PVR
by Peter Reutemann 06 Oct '13

06 Oct '13

Hi there Came across this post regarding the Raspberry Pi as PVR: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=18090 The tutorial is for the "Digital Now TinyUSB2 DVB-T" card. However, further down in that thread, it is also mentioned that the "Hauppauge WinTV MiniStick (DVB-T tuner)" can be used as well: http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=8604 I might look into this at some stage, as recording TV is currently the only feature that I miss from my Raspberry Media Center. :-) 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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Scrambled Code Keeps Software Safe
by mailinglist 04 Oct '13

04 Oct '13

Scrambled Code Keeps Software Safe A new form of encryption could make practically unhackable code http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/scrambled-code-keeps-software-s…

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French Police To Switch 72,000 Desktop PCs To Linux
by Peter Reutemann 03 Oct '13

03 Oct '13

"France's National Gendarmerie — the national law enforcement agency — is now running 37,000 desktop PCs with a custom distribution of Linux, and by summer of 2014, the agency plans to switch over all 72,000 of its desktop machines. The agency claims that the TCO of open source software is about 40 percent less than proprietary software from Microsoft, referring to their article published by EU's Interoperability Solutions for Public Administrations. Initially Gendarmerie has moved to Windows versions of cross-platform OSS applications such as OpenOffice, Firefox, and Thunderbird. Now they are completing the process by changing the OS. This is one of the largest known government deployments of Linux on the desktop." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/10/03/185235 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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Puppy Project in Peril as Founder Retires
by Peter Reutemann 01 Oct '13

01 Oct '13

"It's been over a week since Barry Kauler announced his retirement (again) and the Puppy project's future is now very unclear. Saying Woof and Puppy are now in "maintenance mode," where essential fixes are made, Kauler stated no new features or releases will be planned. Instead, he'd like to develop for the Ubuntu phone." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/puppy-project-in-peril-as-founder-retires 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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