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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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The World's First Blockchain Smartphone Is In Development
by Peter Reutemann 28 Sep '17

28 Sep '17

'A company called Sirin Labs is developing an open-source smartphone that runs on a fee-less blockchain. "The Finney -- named in honor of bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney -- will be the only smartphone in the world that's fully secure and safe enough to hold cryptographic coins," reports Engadget. The company is launching a crowdsale event this October (date to be confirmed) to support the phone's development. >From the report: According to Sirin, all Finney devices (there's an all-in-one PC coming, too) will form an independent blockchain network powered by IOTA's Tangle technology. The network will operate without centralized backbones or mining centers cluttering up the transaction process, using the SRN token as its default currency (only SRN token holders will be able to purchase the device). And it'll all run on a Sirin operating system specially designed to support blockchain applications such as crypto wallets and secure exchange access. The phone comes with all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a device with a $1,000 price tag, including a 256GB internal memory and 16MP camera, plus a hefty suite of security measures. ' -- source: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/17/09/27/0749240 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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Mozilla's 'Firefox Quantum' Browser Challenges Chrome In Speed
by Peter Reutemann 28 Sep '17

28 Sep '17

'The next version of Firefox, aptly named Firefox Quantum, is getting a big speed boost. "The idea, of course, is that the upcoming version 57 is a quantum leap over predecessors -- or, in the words of Mozilla CEO Chris Beard, a 'big bang,'" reports CNET. While Mozilla stopped short of declaring victory over Chrome, Nick Nguyen, vice president of Firefox product, said Firefox Quantum's page-load speed "is often perceivably faster" while using 30 percent less memory. From the report: The new Firefox revamp includes lots of under-the-covers improvements, like Quantum Flow, which stamps out dozens of performance bugs, and Quantum CSS, aka Stylo, which speeds up website formatting. More obvious from the outside is a new interface called Photon that wipes out Firefox's rounded tabs and adds a "page action" menu into the address bar. It also builds in the Pocket bookmarking service Mozilla acquired and uses it to recommend sites you might be interested in. A screenshot tool generates a website link so you can easily share what you see by email or Twitter. Mozilla even simplified the Firefox logo, a fox wrapping itself around the globe. More improvements are in the pipeline for later Firefox versions, too, including Quantum Render, which should speed up Firefox's ability to paint web pages onto your screen. ' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/09/27/0727226 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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Distrowatch opinion piece about DRM in browsers
by Ian Young 27 Sep '17

27 Sep '17

Some may not have seen an opinion piece in this week's Distrowatch Weekly. Link on front page to article by one Jesse Smith who does most of the reviews on DW. The W3C, encrypted media and software freedom ~ Ian Y

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Manjaro Linux Discontinues 32-bit Support
by Peter Reutemann 26 Sep '17

26 Sep '17

'Recently, Philip, the lead developer of Manjaro Linux, announced that the project would be dropping support for the 32-bit architecture. He said that the reason for the move was “due to the decreasing popularity of i686 among the developers and the community”. While Manjaro 17.0.3 is the last release to have a 32-bit ISO, current 32-bit installs will receive a short window of continued support. During September and October, 32-bit package will continue to be updated. However, starting in November, packages will be limited to 64-bit. After that period, 32-bit installs of Manjaro will essentially be unsupported.' -- source: https://itsfoss.com/manjaro-drops-32-bit-support/ 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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