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siduction and Wayland
by Ian Young 24 Dec '16

24 Dec '16

Merry Xmas all Just saw this. Wayland relevant. Not tested here. https://news.siduction.org/2016/12/release-notes-for-siduction-2016-1-patie… The released images are a snapshot of Debian unstable, that also goes by the name of Sid, from 2016-12-23. They are enhanced with some useful packages and scripts, our own installer and a custom patched version of the linux-kernel 4.9, accompanied by X-Server 1.19.0-3 and systemd 232-8. Changes that affect all flavours In the wake of the upcoming Wayland display server, that will replace the old Xorg-Server, the way input devices are handled, has changed. The new way to handle devices like Mice, Touchpads, Wacom Tablets, and the like was developed by Red Hat developer Peter Hutterer and is called libinput If you look into /etc/X11/xorgconf.d/60-libinput.conf, you will see that we implemented a basic config, that supports some touchpad actions, but not all. If you miss anything, look at the above link, that has ways to set up other actions. Another change over all flavours is the use of SDDM as Display- and Login-Manager, which is the new default for Plasma, but suits the other flavours fine as well.

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Google Researchers Recommend Security Keys
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 23 Dec '16

23 Dec '16

Google has been running a two-year internal trial of “Security Keys”, which are cheap, easy-to-use USB-pluggable devices for generating secure authentication tokens, based on the “Universal Second Factor” open standard. Verdict: they work really well, and are resistant to phishing attacks. The Chrome browser has already added support for them. <http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/12/this-low-cost-device-may-be-the-wor…>

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Signal Implements Domain Fronting
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 23 Dec '16

23 Dec '16

Signal, the secure communications application created by Moxie Marlinspike, has added another tool to its kit to evade Governments that want to block their subjects from using it: “domain fronting”. The technique requires routing through a content-delivery network, which typically is not available for free. But it does mean the only way to block the use of Signal is to block the user from the entire Internet. At least for now. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/23/signal_deploys_domain_deceit_to_den…>

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January meeting
by Ian Young 23 Dec '16

23 Dec '16

I have the most recent Zorin Core Edition. Version 12. This is available at no charge, they also have a offering that requires payment. I can try to find something to say if required. ~ Ian Y

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SGM and meeting in January
by Peter Reutemann 23 Dec '16

23 Dec '16

Hi everyone Just a quick email to announce the SGM in January. The agenda (so far): - Elect Vice president Since that is the only item and won't take very long, we will have a regular meeting as well. At this stage, it will be a Linux distro roundup. More details here: https://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/236393751/ 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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January meeting - ideas?
by Peter Reutemann 22 Dec '16

22 Dec '16

Hi everyone Apart from a very short SGM, we haven't got anything planned yet for our January meeting. How about roundup of some distros? Some ideas: http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=devuan http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=fedora http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=zorin And something a little different? ;-) http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=reactos 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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Firefox Takes the Next Step Towards Rolling Out Multi-Process To Everyone
by Peter Reutemann 22 Dec '16

22 Dec '16

'With Firefox 50, Mozilla has rolled out the first major piece of its new multi-process architecture. Edge, Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Safari all have a multiple process design that separates their rendering engine -- the part of the browser that reads and interprets HTML, CSS, and JavaScript -- from the browser frame. They do this for stability reasons (if the rendering process crashes, it doesn't kill the entire browser) and security reasons (the rendering process can be run in a low-privilege sandbox, so exploitable flaws in the rendering engine are harder to take advantage of). Moreover, these browsers can all create multiple rendering engine processes and use different processes for different tabs. This means that the scope of a crash is narrowed even further, typically to a single tab. Internet Explorer and Chrome both implemented this long ago, in 2009. Firefox, however, has not offered a similar design. Although work on a multi-process browser was started in 2009, under the codename Electrolysis, that work was suspended between 2011 and 2013 as priorities within the organization shifted. In response, Mozilla started switching to a new extension system in 2015 that opened the door to a multi-process design. The first stage of Firefox's move to multi-process involves separating the browser shell from a single rendering process that's used by every tab. In Firefox 48, that feature was enabled for a small number of users who used no extensions. Firefox 49 was rolled out to include users running a limited selection of extensions. Now, in Firefox 50, a separate renderer process is used for most users and most extensions. Developers are now able to mark their extensions as explicitly multi-process compatible. Firefox 51 will extend this even further to cover all extensions, except those that are explicitly marked as incompatible. Mozilla says that, even with the limited changes made in Firefox 50, responsiveness of the browser has improved by 400 percent due to the separation between the renderer and the browser shell. During page loads, responsiveness will increase to 700 percent.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/12/22/0120256 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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MUFFIN, a new tasty user interface concept for LibreOffice
by Peter Reutemann 21 Dec '16

21 Dec '16

'The Document Foundation announces the MUFFIN, a new tasty user interface concept for LibreOffice, based on the joint efforts of the development and the design teams, supported by the marketing team. MUFFIN is an acronym for My User Friendly & Flexible INterface, and focuses on the three areas suggested by LibreOffice users during the development of the concept: My: LibreOffice users want a “personal” UI, with different options capable of adapting to the user’s personal habits, and not a single UI without options. User Friendly: of course, any UI should be as user friendly as possible, but LibreOffice users have clearly asked for a “modular” UI, where they can set their own level of user friendliness, and not a single UI without options. Flexible: the increasing number of LibreOffice users deploying the software on different hardware platforms (for instance, a desktop and a laptop), each one with different characteristics and screen size and resolution, have asked for a UI that can be tweaked to leverage the screen real estate, and not a single UI without options. INterface: The MUFFIN concept is the combination of different UI elements, which are going to be available starting from LibreOffice 5.3 either as a standard or experimental feature: the Default UI (with toolbars), a Single Toolbar UI, the Sidebar with a Single Toolbar, and the new Notebook Bar (experimental). Each UI layout has been thought to serve a different cluster of LibreOffice users.' -- source: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2016/12/21/the-document-foundation… It's about choice, that's why I love open-source! :-) 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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Home routers under attack in ongoing malvertisement blitz
by Peter Reutemann 19 Dec '16

19 Dec '16

'As you read these words, malicious ads on legitimate websites are targeting visitors with malware. But that malware doesn't infect their computers, researchers said. Instead, it causes unsecured routers to connect to fraudulent domains. Using a technique known as steganography, the ads hide malicious code in image data. The hidden code then redirects targets to webpages hosting DNSChanger, an exploit kit that infects routers running unpatched firmware or are secured with weak administrative passwords. Once a router is compromised, DNSChanger configures it to use an attacker-controlled domain name system server. This causes most computers on the network to visit fraudulent servers, rather than the servers corresponding to their official domain.' -- source: http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/12/home-routers-under-attack-in-ongoin… 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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Old Masters Reinterpreted
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 16 Dec '16

16 Dec '16

“We Rolled Our Own Crypto”, by Peter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1562 <http://classicprogrammerpaintings.com/post/148027314949/we-rolled-our-own-c…>

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