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Computer Security And The Ford Pinto Formula
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 24 Sep '16

24 Sep '16

With security breaches of company data happening so often nowadays, why aren’t these companies taking more effort to defend themselves? Could it be because the cost of doing so outweighs the cost of simply putting up with these breaches? <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/23/if_your_company_has_terrible_it_sec…>

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double commander
by Peter Reutemann 23 Sep '16

23 Sep '16

Hi everyone Since I'm quite often dealing with 100s of thousands of files in single directories, I've always been on the lookout for a file manager that can handle that properly. The Midnight Commander, which is cross-platform, works perfectly. However, if your users aren't well accustomed to file manager that runs within a terminal, then you might want to give "Double Commander" a whirl: http://doublecmd.sourceforge.net/ Don't mind the slightly dated looking website. The file manager is where they spend their time on! ;-) Not as fast as the Midnight Commander, but when you turn off some eye candy (namely icons), you get pretty close. It also offers multiple tabs for each half of the dual pane setup, which is quite nice. And it beats Nautilus, Caja and Sunflower FM in performance by a few magnitudes. But wait! What about Gnome Commander? Well, it doesn't integrate that nicely into MATE (I'm running Linux Mint/MATE). Double Commander does a much better job at this. You can install the Commander's GTK interface like this on a Debian/Ubuntu system: sudo apt-get install doublecmd-gtk Or, if you prefer the QT interface: sudo apt-get install doublecmd-qt 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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SolidRun x86 Braswell MicroSoM Runs Linux and Full Windows 10, Destroys Raspberry Pi
by Peter Reutemann 23 Sep '16

23 Sep '16

'BetaNews has a report today about a company called SolidRun, which has announced an Intel Braswell-based MicroSoM. Unlike the ARM-powered Raspberry Pi, this is x86 compatible, meaning it can run full Windows 10. Plus, if you install a Linux distro, there will be far more packages available, such as Google Chrome, which is not available for Pi. Heck, it can probably serve as a secondary desktop, Brian with the site writes. From the report: At 53mm by 40mm, these new MicroSoMs provide unheard of design flexibility while also eliminating the headache of having to design complicated power-delivery subsystems thanks to its single power input rail design. SolidRun's Braswell MicroSoM also offers flexibility in RAM options, ranging from 1GB to 8GB configurations, and offers on-board support of eMMC storage up to 128GB. Its robust design and unsurpassed HD Edge surveillance, event detection, and statistical data-extraction capabilities makes it the platform of choice for mission-critical applications requiring guaranteed reliability," says Solidrun. It starts at $117, the website has more details on specifications.' -- source: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/09/22/2044237 It's also a bit pricier... 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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Yahoo Confirms Massive Data Breach, 500 Million Users Impacted [Updated]
by Peter Reutemann 22 Sep '16

22 Sep '16

'Update: 09/22 18:47 GMT by M :Yahoo has confirmed the data breach, adding that about 500 million users are impacted. Yahoo said "a copy of certain user account information was stolen from the company's network in late 2014 by what it believes is a state-sponsored actor." As Business Insider reports, this could be the largest data breach of all time. In a blog post, the company said: Yahoo is notifying potentially affected users and has taken steps to secure their accounts. These steps include invalidating unencrypted security questions and answers so that they cannot be used to access an account and asking potentially affected users to change their passwords. Yahoo is also recommending that users who haven't changed their passwords since 2014 do so. The Intercept reporter Sam Biddle commented, "It took Yahoo two years to announce that info on half a billion user accounts was stolen." Amid its talks with Verizon for a possible acquisition -- which did happen -- Yahoo knew about the attack, but didn't inform Verizon about it, Business Insider reports. Original story, from earlier today, follows. Last month, it was reported that a hacker was selling account details of at least 200 million Yahoo users. The company's service had apparently been hacked, putting several hundred million users accounts at risk. Since then Yahoo has remained tight-lipped on the matter, but that could change very soon. Kara Swisher of Recode is reporting that Yahoo is poised to confirm that massive data breach of its service. >From the report: While sources were unspecific about the extent of the incursion, since there is the likelihood of government investigations and legal action related to the breach, they noted that it is widespread and serious. Earlier this summer, Yahoo said it was investigating a data breach in which hackers claimed to have access to 200 million user accounts and was selling them online. "It's as bad as that," said one source. "Worse, really." The announcement, which is expected to come this week, also possible larger implications on the $4.8 billion sale of Yahoo's core business -- which is at the core of this hack -- to Verizon. The scale of the liability could be large and bring untold headaches to the new owners. Shareholders are likely to worry that it could lead to an adjustment in the price of the transaction.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/16/09/22/095255 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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Some Lenovo laptops won't install Linux it seems
by Ian Young 22 Sep '16

22 Sep '16

Maybe don't buy that shiny laptop from Lenovo just yet .... http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37431299

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The Wheel Of Reincarnation Spins Again
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 22 Sep '16

22 Sep '16

This article <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/22/the_evolution_of_moores_law_suggest…> says that the end of Moore’s Law has not meant a let-up in improving hardware performance. Instead, the high-performance hardware is becoming ever more specialized, the example offered being Apple’s particular flavours of ARM processors. This oscillation between general-purpose versus special-purpose hardware is not a new phenomenon: it was observed as long ago as 1968 <http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/W/wheel-of-reincarnation.html> (you can read the original paper here <http://cva.stanford.edu/classes/cs99s/papers/myer-sutherland-design-of-disp…>). But is this the end of the cycles, now that Moore’s Law has hit its limits? Time will tell...

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GNOME 3.22 Desktop Environment Officially Released
by Peter Reutemann 22 Sep '16

22 Sep '16

'Today, September 21, is a big day for Linux users, especially those who love the GNOME desktop environment, as the next major release is now officially available. Yes, that's right, we're talking about GNOME 3.22, dubbed Karlsruhe after the German host city of the annual GUADEC (GNOME Users And Developers European Conference) event, which took place last month between August 12-14, 2016. Prominent features of the GNOME 3.22 desktop environment include batch rename functionality and support for integration of compressed files built directly into the Nautilus file manager, a new Week View, support for alarms, and the ability to drag and drop events to the GNOME Calendar, as well as an updated GNOME Music app that supports handling of music libraries with thousands of tracks. There are lots of improvements for the GNOME Games app as well, as it now offers support for numerous retro gaming consoles. Among other improvements, we can mention Flatpak integration, photo sharing, revamped GNOME Software app with support for firmware updates, redesigned keyboard settings and a brand new GNOME Control Center panel, and a redesigned dconf Editor. A video overview of the new features of GNOME 3.22 is available on the official website.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/09/21/1726230 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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Lenovo Denies Claims It Plotted With Microsoft To Block Linux Installs
by Peter Reutemann 22 Sep '16

22 Sep '16

'Several users noted certain new Lenovo machines' SSDs are locked in a RAID mode, with AHCI removed from the BIOS. Windows is able to see the SSD while in RAID mode due to a proprietary driver, but the SSD is hidden from Linux installations -- for which such a driver is unavailable. Speaking to The Register today, a Lenovo spokesperson claimed the Chinese giant "does not intentionally block customers using other operating systems on its devices and is fully committed to providing Linux certifications and installation guidance on a wide range of products." Complaints on Lenovo's forums suggest that users have been unable to install GNU/Linux operating systems on models from the Yoga 900S to the Ideapad 710S, with one 19-page thread going into detail about the BIOS issue and users' attempts to work around it.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/09/21/1838252 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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Inkscape/sozi/scribus talk Monday
by William Mckee 21 Sep '16

21 Sep '16

Hello, I'm doing a talk on Monday on creating slide deck with Inkscape/Sozi and book design with Scribus. Slides for my talk can be found at http://artctrl.me/sozi.svg It will be great meeting for any art/design people to attend, if you know any let them know. The meeting details: https://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/233952289/ Cheers, William.

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Emacs 25.1 Released With Tons Of New Features
by rowan schischka 20 Sep '16

20 Sep '16

Can someone demonstrate the web/youtube viewing capabilities of emacs at the next meeting? i guess its true when people say emacs is my favourite operating system -- Kind Regards Rowan Schischka

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