- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Android Nougat Arrives on the Raspberry Pi
by Peter Reutemann 30 Aug '16

30 Aug '16

"As we've noted here before, when it comes to top open source stories of the past couple of years, it's clear that one of the biggest is the proliferation of tiny, inexpensive Linux-based computers at some of the smallest form factors ever seen. The diminutive, credit card-sized Raspberry Pi, which has been priced at only $25 and $35, has grabbed most of the headlines in this space. And, just a few months ago, code repositories started appearing online that showed that the Android operating system would be heading for the Pi. Now, Android 7.0 Nougat has been ported to the Pi, which potentially opens up a whole ecosystem of new apps and applications. Google's latest mobile OS is shown running on the $35 Pi in this YouTube video. " -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/android-nougat-arrives-on-the-raspberry-pi 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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Researching information on local body candidates
by Roderick Aldridge 30 Aug '16

30 Aug '16

Hi everybody I am researching information on local body election candidates, concentrating on sustainable environmental and social policies. I am particularly interested in the track record of councillors who are standing again. It is proving difficult to extract information from the Waikato Regional Council website, though the Hamilton City Council one is much better. Would anybody like to share their expertise on ferreting information from websites, and for gathering relevant information from public sources on websites, social media and anywhere. Or do you know anybody who ma be willing to share their skills. Any help much appreciated. Rod

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Fedora 24 review: The year’s best Linux distro is puzzlingly hard to recommend
by Peter Reutemann 30 Aug '16

30 Aug '16

"Fedora 24 is very near the best Linux distro release I've used, and certainly the best release I have tested this year. Considering 2016 has welcomed new offerings like Mint 18 and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, that says a great deal about the Fedora project's latest work. But like many Fedora releases before it, even Fedora 24 got off to a rocky start." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/08/fedora-24-review-the-… 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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Re: [wlug] Researching information on local body candidates
by Wayne Luxton 29 Aug '16

29 Aug '16

I would suggest the way forward is to get the list of key words that would capture the essence of the vision statement and maybe the converse "development" type phrases used in meeting or public announcements and try and list or count them in relation to the participant. This alone is a research project. Maybe government bodies could be encouraged to prepare minutes in ways to enable this? Wayne

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Linus Loves GPL, But Hates GPL Lawsuits
by Peter Reutemann 28 Aug '16

28 Aug '16

'During LinuxCon, Torvalds was full of praise for GNU GPL: "The GPL ensures that nobody is ever going to take advantage of your code. It will remain free and nobody can take that away from you. I think that's a big deal for community management... FSF [Free Software Foundation] and I don't have a loving relationship, but I love GPL v2. I really think the license has been one of the defining factors in the success of Linux because it enforced that you have to give back, which meant that the fragmentation has never been something that has been viable from a technical standpoint." And he thinks the BSD license is bad for everyone: "Over the years, I've become convinced that the BSD license is great for code you don't care about," Torvalds said. But Linus also addressed the issue of enforcing the GPL on the Linux foundation mailing list when someone proposed a discussion of it at Linuxcon. "I think the whole GPL enforcement issue is absolutely something that should be discussed, but it should be discussed with the working title 'Lawyers: poisonous to openness, poisonous to community, poisonous to projects'... quite apart from the risk of loss in a court, the real risk is something that happens whether you win or lose, and in fact whether you go to court or just threaten: the loss of community, and in particular exactly the kind of community that can (and does) help. You lose your friends."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/08/27/1943246 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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New SWEET32 Crypto Attacks Speed Up Deprecation of 3DES, Blowfish
by Peter Reutemann 27 Aug '16

27 Aug '16

"New attacks revealed today against 64-bit block ciphers push cryptographic ciphers such as Triple-DES (3DES) and Blowfish closer to extinction. The attacks, known as SWEET32, allow for the recovery of authentication cookies from HTTPS traffic protected by 3DES, and BasicAUTH credentials from OpenVPN traffic protected by default by Blowfish. In response, OpenSSL is expected to remove 3DES from its default bulid in 1.1.0, and lower its designation from High to Medium 1.0.2 and 1.0.1. OpenVPN, meanwhile, is expected to release a new version as well with a warning about Blowfish and new configuration advice protecting against the SWEET32 attacks. The researchers behind SWEET32 said this is a practical attack because collisions begin after a relatively short amount of data is introduced. By luring a victim to a malicious site, the attacker can inject JavaScript into the browser that forces the victim to connect over and over to a site they're authenticated to. The attacker can then collect enough of that traffic -- from a connection that is kept alive for a long period of time -- to recover the session cookie." -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/08/27/186213 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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ReactOS 0.4.2 Released: Supports Linux Filesystems, .NET Applications, and Doom 3
by Peter Reutemann 27 Aug '16

27 Aug '16

'Continuing its rapid release cycle, ReactOS has unveiled version 0.4.2 of its free "open-source binary-compatible Windows re-implementation." Slashdot reader jeditobe reports that this new version can now read and write various Linux/Unix file systems like Btrfs and ext (and can read ReiserFS and UFS), and also runs applications like Thunderbird and 7-Zip. ReactOS 0.4.2 also features Cygwin support, .NET 2.0 and 4.0 application support, among other updated packages and revised external dependencies such as Wine and UniATA. The team also worked to improve overall user experience... ReactOS is free. You can boot your desktop or laptop from it. It looks like Windows (a 10-year-old version, anyway), so you already know how to use it. And it'll run some Windows and DOS applications, maybe including DOS games that regular 64-bit Windows can no longer touch.' -- source: https://games.slashdot.org/story/16/08/27/1724217 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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Ubuntu Linux 16.10 'Yakkety Yak' Beta 1 Now Available For Download
by Peter Reutemann 27 Aug '16

27 Aug '16

'Today, the first beta of Ubuntu Linux 16.10 sees release. Once again, a silly animal name is assigned, this time being the letter "Y" for the horned mammal, "Yakkety Yak." This is also a play on the classic song "Yakety Yak" by The Coasters. Please be sure not to "talk back" while testing this beta operating system! "Pre-releases of the Yakkety Yak are not encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu flavor developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting and fixing bugs as we work towards getting this bos grunniens ready. Beta 1 includes a number of software updates that are ready for wider testing. These images are still under development, so you should expect some bugs," says Set Hallstrom, Ubuntu Studio project lead. He adds: "While these Beta 1 images have been tested and work, except as noted in the release notes, Ubuntu developers are continuing to improve the Yakkety Yak. In particular, once newer daily images are available, system installation bugs identified in the Beta 1 installer should be verified against the current daily image before being reported in Launchpad. Using an obsolete image to re-report bugs that have already been fixed wastes your time and the time of developers who are busy trying to make 16.10 the best Ubuntu release yet. Always ensure your system is up to date before reporting bugs."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/08/26/2318219 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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Has Science Become Infected With Microsoft Excel Syndrome?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 25 Aug '16

25 Aug '16

Seems like Microsoft Excel has become an accepted tool for researchers to crunch numbers with, in spite of its obvious pitfalls. I thought it was only economists who fell into this trap <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130417/02263922736/intellectual-bulwark…>. But it turns out other scientists do, too <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08/25/excel_hell_messes_up_20_per_cent_of…>. What’s worse is that this is hardly a new observation <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140727/03133828025/using-spreadsheets-b…>. I thought science was a process of learning from experience?

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PowerShell is Microsoft’s latest open source release, coming to Linux, OS X
by Peter Reutemann 23 Aug '16

23 Aug '16

"Microsoft today released its PowerShell scripting language and command-line shell as open source. The project joins .NET and the Chakra JavaScript engine as an MIT-licensed open source project hosted on GitHub." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/08/powershell-is-microso… 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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