- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Re: [wlug] With Euro Zone Problems, Bitcoin Experiencing Boost In Legitimacy
by GJB 14 Jun '12

14 Jun '12

Open source currency ... I suppose you all already know about the NZ bitcoin exchange https://bitnz.com/ other than this though doesn't seem to be much else happening in NZ regards bitcoin/namecoin etc. > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [wlug] With Euro Zone Problems, Bitcoin Experiencing Boost In > Legitimacy > From: Peter Reutemann <fracpete(a)waikato.ac.nz> > Date: Wed, June 13, 2012 4:20 pm > To: wlug <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> > > > For the Bitcoiners among you, this might be interesting: > > "Despite being used for drugs and beef jerky, Bitcoin is finding > legitimate purposes. Bitcoin's decentralized convenience means > international efficiency, in areas where local restrictions on money > transfers to foreign companies make legal businesses cumbersome. 'I've > been able to have cash in my bank account in a matter of hours using > Bitcoin, rather than three days with traditional banking,' one British > businessman in China told Reuters. In embattled Europe, Bitcoin offers > some a viable alternative against central banks, said a Greek owner of > an island bar and restaurant who accepts payment in Bitcoin. 'I don't > put money in the banks. I trust the euro as a note, but I don't trust > banks. I don't want them making money out of my earnings.' Indeed, > Europe's financial woes are caused an unprecedented surge of interest > in the alternative currency, as the continent loses economic > credibility with each new bailout, according to a report by the > Financial Post." > > -- source: http://politics.slashdot.org/story/12/06/12/2351203/with-euro-zone-problems… > > Cheers, Peter > -- > Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ > http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174 > _______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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With Euro Zone Problems, Bitcoin Experiencing Boost In Legitimacy
by Peter Reutemann 13 Jun '12

13 Jun '12

For the Bitcoiners among you, this might be interesting: "Despite being used for drugs and beef jerky, Bitcoin is finding legitimate purposes. Bitcoin's decentralized convenience means international efficiency, in areas where local restrictions on money transfers to foreign companies make legal businesses cumbersome. 'I've been able to have cash in my bank account in a matter of hours using Bitcoin, rather than three days with traditional banking,' one British businessman in China told Reuters. In embattled Europe, Bitcoin offers some a viable alternative against central banks, said a Greek owner of an island bar and restaurant who accepts payment in Bitcoin. 'I don't put money in the banks. I trust the euro as a note, but I don't trust banks. I don't want them making money out of my earnings.' Indeed, Europe's financial woes are caused an unprecedented surge of interest in the alternative currency, as the continent loses economic credibility with each new bailout, according to a report by the Financial Post." -- source: http://politics.slashdot.org/story/12/06/12/2351203/with-euro-zone-problems… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Debian wheezy for Raspberry Pi goes into testing
by Peter Reutemann 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

'Developers working with the low cost ARM based mini-computer now have a new version of Debian GNU/Linux to test: "wheezy"' --source: http://h-online.com/-1615208 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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New Zealand Open Source Awards 2012
by Peter Reutemann 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

Hi everyone The New Zealand Open Source Awards are now open for nominations: http://www.nzosa.org.nz/ The categories this year don't just cover business and government software, but also include "Open Science Award" for science related software, "Open Source Use in The Arts", "Open Source Contributor" and "Open Source People's Choice Award" (for recognizing organizations/individuals). The full list is available here: http://www.nzosa.org.nz/categories If you think that a person or project from New Zealand should get nominated, then go ahead and do it: http://www.nzosa.org.nz/node/add/nomination Please feel free to forward this email. Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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REMINDER: WLUG meeting tonight!
by Meeting Reminder Bot 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

There's a WLUG meeting tonight: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- !!!WLUG LanParty Meet up at the university, usual meeting room for Monday meetings: MS4.G.02 (http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map?MS4) Time: 10am to 4pm Come along and bring your favourite free/ open source games or games that run on free operating systems. Suggestions include: * Bzflag * World of Padman * urban terror * Sauerbraten * More on WikiPedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_video_games) We'll have internet access (48Mbit/s). Entry is free for visitors and club members. However, if you, as a visitor, wish to connect your computer to the internet for more than a few minutes, a fee of $4 dollars to cover internet costs would be appreciated. We will accept membership applications on the day ($20). There are no kitchen facilities within the room. Toilets will be available around the campus, a couple of bakeries not far from campus.

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Re: [wlug] Snapshotting backup tool Obnam 1.0 released
by GJB 09 Jun '12

09 Jun '12

I wonder if the verb should be "Snapshooting" rather than Snapshotting. :) > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [wlug] Snapshotting backup tool Obnam 1.0 released > From: Peter Reutemann <fracpete(a)gmail.com> > Date: Wed, June 06, 2012 11:04 am > To: wlug <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> > > > 'Obnam, "a snapshotting, de-duplicating, encrypting backup program" > has been released by its developer, Lars Wirzenius. The application > has been in development since 2006 when Wirzenius decided that he > could not find a backup application which met all his demands, despite > finding various applications with one or two of his requirements.' > > -- source: http://h-online.com/-1605021 > > Cheers, Peter > -- > Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ > http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174 > _______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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MD5crypt Password Scrambler Is No Longer Considered Safe
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jun '12

07 Jun '12

In the light of the LinkedIn password hash leak: "Now, Poul-Henning Kamp a developer known for work on various projects and the author of the md5crypt password scrambler asks everybody to migrate to a stronger password scrambler without undue delay. From the blog post: 'New research has shown that it can be run at a rate close to 1 million checks per second on COTS GPU hardware, which means that it is as prone to brute-force attacks as the DES based UNIX crypt was back in 1995: Any 8 character password can be found in a couple of days. The default algorithm for storing password hashes in /etc/shadow is MD5. RHEL / CentOS / FreeBSD user can migrate to SHA-512 hashing algorithms.'" -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/06/07/1529252/md5crypt-password-scrambler… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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REMINDER: WLUG meeting is tomorrow!
by Meeting Reminder Bot 07 Jun '12

07 Jun '12

There is a Waikato Linux Users Group meeting tomorrow: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- !!!WLUG LanParty Meet up at the university, usual meeting room for Monday meetings: MS4.G.02 (http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map?MS4) Time: 10am to 4pm Come along and bring your favourite free/ open source games or games that run on free operating systems. Suggestions include: * Bzflag * World of Padman * urban terror * Sauerbraten * More on WikiPedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_video_games) We'll have internet access (48Mbit/s). Entry is free for visitors and club members. However, if you, as a visitor, wish to connect your computer to the internet for more than a few minutes, a fee of $4 dollars to cover internet costs would be appreciated. We will accept membership applications on the day ($20). There are no kitchen facilities within the room. Toilets will be available around the campus, a couple of bakeries not far from campus.

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Microsoft To Run Linux On Azure
by Peter Reutemann 06 Jun '12

06 Jun '12

"After years of battling Linux as a competitive threat, Microsoft is now offering Linux-based operating systems on its Windows Azure cloud service. The Linux services will go live on Azure at 4 a.m. EDT on Thursday. At that time, the Azure portal will offer a number of Linux distributions, including Suse Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2, OpenSuse 12.01, CentOS 6.2 and Canonical Ubuntu 12.04. Azure users will be able to choose and deploy a Linux distribution from the Microsoft Windows Azure Image Gallery and be charged on an hourly pay-as-you-go basis." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/06/06/2150202/microsoft-to-run-linux-on-a… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Snapshotting backup tool Obnam 1.0 released
by Peter Reutemann 05 Jun '12

05 Jun '12

'Obnam, "a snapshotting, de-duplicating, encrypting backup program" has been released by its developer, Lars Wirzenius. The application has been in development since 2006 when Wirzenius decided that he could not find a backup application which met all his demands, despite finding various applications with one or two of his requirements.' -- source: http://h-online.com/-1605021 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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