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Timeshift A System Restore Utility Tool Review
by Peter Reutemann 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

'TimeShift is a system restore tool for Linux. It provides functionality that is quite similar to the System Restore feature in Windows or the Time Machine tool in MacOS. TimeShift protects your system by making incremental snapshots of the file system manually or at regular automated intervals. These snapshots can then be restored at a later point to undo all changes to the system and restore it to the previous state. Snapshots are made using rsync and hard-links and the tool shares common files amongst snapshots in order to save disk space' -- source: http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/home/timeshift-a-system-restore-utility-tool-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Quote Of The Week From UK Home Sec Amber Rudd
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

"I don't need to understand how encryption works to understand how it's helping – end-to-end encryption – the criminals. I will engage with the security services to find the best way to combat that." <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/03/amber_rudd_still_does_not_understan…>

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Asciinema – Record Terminal Sessions And Share Them On The Web
by Peter Reutemann 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

'I already know about recording the Terminal activities using “script” command in Unix-like systems. Today, I found out yet another similar utility called “asciinema” that can used to record Terminal sessions. Forget about the heavy screen-recording tools and/or apps. Asciinema is a fast, light-weight and open source Terminal recording tool. Unlike “script” command, Asciinema not just records our Terminal activities, but also helps us to share them on the web if necessary. You can share the recordings by copying its URL and sending it to a friend or posting it on a social network. It supports Linux, Mac OS X and *BSD.' -- source: https://www.ostechnix.com/asciinema-record-terminal-sessions-share-web/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Android users rejoice! Linux kernel LTS releases are now good for 6 years
by Peter Reutemann 02 Oct '17

02 Oct '17

'A major change in the maintenance lifecycle of Linux kernels is coming. During a Linaro Connect 2017 presentation on Android's Project Treble, Googler Iliyan Malchev announced that Linux LTS (Long Term Support) kernels were switching from a two-year lifecycle to a whopping six years of support. The free and open source Linux kernel powers most of the devices around us. It's not only present in computers and servers, it also powers most of the ARM devices on earth, so it's present in Android devices, the Internet of things, and almost anything else you can call "smart." Major new versions of the Linux kernel arrive about every 70 days. Not everyone wants to upend their existing system every 70 days to upgrade to the new kernel, though, so to help with this, the Linux kernel has traditionally had a "Long Term Support (LTS)" kernel, which is supported for two years. Rather than do a major kernel bump, devices can keep running an LTS kernel and regularly get bug and security fixes, which aren't as disruptive as full releases.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/09/android-users-rejoice-linux-kernel-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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An Ordinary User’s Adventures In Linux
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Sep '17

30 Sep '17

I helped an elderly friend set up his new PC yesterday. His previous machine, over a decade old, was running Windows XP. I had set up an Ubuntu dual-boot a few years back, and he liked playing the games. But then the Linux boot stopped working--there was a message to the effect “hd0 out of disk”, which sounded like a GRUB problem (“hd0” being a GRUB disk name, not a Linux disk name). I booted up SystemRescueCD, and found that disk space was ample. I did an fsck on the Linux volume, and found no filesystem problems. I ran a badblocks scan, and it reported several bad sectors, though oddly they only seemed to be in the Windows partition (if I interpreted the numbers correctly). Naturally I searched online, but the hits I found for that error message didn’t seem very helpful. Reinstalling GRUB didn’t help, so I concluded there were likely other hardware problems, so time for a new machine. He got an entry-level dual-core AMD box from PBTech--their own house build, in a CoolerMaster case--for well under a grand. Nothing fancy, but good enough for his needs--mainly Web browsing, e-mail, a little bit of word processing, and those games. The PBTech box came without an OS. He could have got Windows 10 for it, but considering he would be facing a learning curve coming from XP regardless, I suggested going 100% Linux for all his daily needs, to see if that would work. He could always spend the $160-odd extra on Windows later if need be. So I set it up with Linux Mint, since that seems to be everybody’s favourite :). He was already using Firefox on Windows, so moving all his Web bookmarks across was easy. The Mint install put an icon for Thunderbird on the desktop by default, so I decided to try that for e-mail. Getting his address book across from Outlook Express was fairly straightforward, once I figured out how to map the exported CSV field names correctly. The mail messages were slightly more fiddly, but I found this extension <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/> which directly loads Microsoft’s .dbx files, and that seemed to work OK. Then he wanted to play CDs. When we put in an audio CD, it came up with options to run Banshee (media player) or Brasero (disc burner). The Banshee media player wouldn’t play the CD directly, it insisted on ripping it to the hard drive first. This was not really what he wanted. I had a look round, and found KsCD, which will indeed play audio CDs without trying to rip them to audio files first. As far as I know, this is the only GUI Linux app that can do so. So, day 1 ended on a reasonably successful note. He was already noticing how much faster the new machine was. So we’ll see how it goes from here...

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Well, That’s One Way For A Site To Make Money ...
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Sep '17

30 Sep '17

Would you let a website run a Bitcoin miner in your browser? <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170928/11262538304/showtime-wont-explai…>

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Java Security Plagued By Crappy Docs, Complex APIs, Bad Advice
by rowan schischka 29 Sep '17

29 Sep '17

>Does a system of assigning point scores to people make things better ... or worse? Gamifying an internet forum/social media; My experience with stackoverflow is it really rewards people who have a lot of spare time. The problem of measuring work is, the work will be moulded by your method of measurement. Any point/scoring/KPI system results in cheating & corner cutting in some way.

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Java Security Plagued By Crappy Docs, Complex APIs, Bad Advice
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 29 Sep '17

29 Sep '17

... researchers from Virginia Tech contend more care needs to be taken when copying code from accepted Stack Overflow answers, at least in the context of Java. ... they found that many of the answers endorsed by the Stack Overflow community led to insecure code. For example, accepted answers often recommended the use of MD5 and SHA-1 crypto algorithms – despite the fact that they're insecure and should not be used. ... They also observed that in some instances, the higher social reputation of Stack Overflow respondents led to incorrect answers being accepted over more correct fixes offered by individuals with lesser reputation scores. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/29/java_security_plagued_stack_overflo…>

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Internet Explorer Bug Leaks Whatever You Type In the Address Bar
by Peter Reutemann 28 Sep '17

28 Sep '17

'The latest version of Internet Explorer has a bug that leaks the addresses, search terms, or any other text typed into the address bar. The flaw was disclosed Tuesday by security researcher Manual Caballero. Ars Technica reports: The bug allows any currently visited website to view any text entered into the address bar as soon as the user hits enter. The technique can expose sensitive information a user didn't intend to be viewed by remote websites, including the Web address the user is about to visit. The hack can also expose search queries, since IE allows them to be typed into the address bar and then retrieved from Bing or other search services. The proof-of-concept makes it transparent that the attacking website is viewing the entered text. The hack, however can easily be modified to make the information theft completely stealthy. A proof-of-concept site shows the exploit in action.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/09/28/0245228 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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System76 Pop!_OS Beta Ubuntu-based Linux Distribution Now Available To Download
by Peter Reutemann 28 Sep '17

28 Sep '17

'Next month, a new era of Ubuntu begins. Unity is dead, and GNOME 3 takes over as the default desktop environment. While this change was for the best, it was still shocking for many. For a company like System76, for instance, that sells computers pre-loaded with Ubuntu, this was problematic. Why? Well, the company essentially lost control of the overall user experience by relying on vanilla Ubuntu. It was being forced to follow Canonical's path. To solve this, and regain some control, System76 has been developing its own operating system called 'Pop!_OS.' No, it is not reinventing the wheel here -- it will still use Ubuntu as a base, and GNOME will be the desktop environment. The company is customizing the operating system, however, with things like fonts, themes, and icons, to create something truly unique. This could lead to an improved user experience. Today, the first official beta of the operating system becomes available for download.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/09/28/190247 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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