Re: [Hampshire] Code base and Emergency Data Laws
On Thu, 2014-07-17 at 09:07 +0100, James Courtier-Dutton wrote: Hi, I have a friend who is in the Police and they explained to me what DRIP/RIPA is. 1) There are no triggers. 2) Police make a request to the phone company with a search key of say phone number. They can then get a report of all the calls that user has made within a small time period. They can also obtain details of where the phone was used during that time period. There are various other request types they can make, all listed in the RIPA documents. Also only a select few police people are allowed to make such requests. These are ones with the rank superintendent. Normally these requests also need to be supported by court authorizations. 3) DRIP is much the same as RIPA, and RIPA has been around since at least the year 2000. 4) The requests are definitely aimed at being of use to police investigating a crime. For example, they can search by a fraudulent bank account number. If that bank account number paid a phone bill, they can then obtain the phone number of that phone, and then request the location of that phone. If you are particularly interested in what they can ask for, google for RDHI (Retained Data Handover Interface) , it is an ETSI standard and lists all the request types used by RIPA. Summary: I don't think anything has changed since the year 2000. Thank you for sharing James. Without question, the police need some data. Clearly, DRIP is not fully understood from multiple perspectives. Echoing the House of Lords concerns yesterday, there has not been enough time for discussion. In my opinion, discussion is essential. Critically, international communities will take DRIP headlines at face value (or dig deeper) and won't feel as confident working with the UK. One of the worst headlines, is the speed at which the legislation is being pushed through parliament. Many long-term effects are, or seem to be, left in lap of the gods. Best regards Damian -- Area25-5, free Android arcade game port: http://goo.gl/qMziKk -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] Code base and Emergency Data Laws
Hi Emergency data laws, when I upload new code to open source game codebase i.e. file bombs.c will it trigger an alert? I recently updated and added quite a lot of new code to http://sourceforge.net/p/dspaceinvadors/code/HEAD/tree/dsi/ I sent some of the below to my local (Labour) MP asking about the effect on the Data Protection Act and Safeguarding consumers. I received a prompt and authentic response - but no detail other than available on-line. There is very little detail. House of Commons is about to enter summer recess. I hope others do the same and send a letter or email to their MP with technical or other concerns. After all, the changed EU directive that triggered these Emergency Data Laws, retracted privatised data retention. --- snip --- I believe the emergency data retention and investigation powers, internet data laws (DRIP) are unfair to consumers. The two areas of greatest concern are Data Protection and Safeguarding. Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) - Part IV Exemptions, Section 28 --- DRIP, as it stands in context with DPA, will surely effectively render itemised phone usage information, currently readily available, inaccessible to consumers - the data will be kept in the interest of national security. If access to phone usage is retained, will access to internet browsing meta data, email meta data be allowed (by default non exempt)? Safeguarding consumers against side effects of DRIP --- How will users protect themselves against faulty data? Identity mix-ups by ISP staff is [very] common. [think of moving house] --- snip --- Damian -- Area25-5, free Android arcade game port: http://goo.gl/qMziKk -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] C development
On Sun, 2014-06-22 at 16:04 +0100, Roger Munford wrote: On 13/06/14 08:34, James Courtier-Dutton wrote: Then, if you wish to re-implement your program natively, then some things I would do: 1) You won't need assembler any more. 2) Separate out data collection and data visualization into two separate programs. Maybe use a database in between, or it the data rates are too high, use CSV files. 3) There are many data visualization programs already out there, you might not have to do any work in this area. If you choose to use DOSBOX, http://www.dosbox.com I have some patches that make it work better with data logging applications. My patches make the timestamps use the linux system clock, instead of DOS ticks which can be out by about 10 minutes each day. If you instead choose to re-write the application, you might wish to consider displaying the output in a web browser, ie. write a web app, or provide the output via the REST web services protocol. You could then display the output on a smart phone, tablet or any other web based device. Kind Regards James Thank you very much for the suggestions. Sadly I threw away the floppies with the compiled version of the programme but kept the source so I can't try it with DOSBOX. I very much like the idea of splitting the data acquisition and displaying via a web browser for the reasons outlined. I can imagine that something like sqlite would do for storing the data because my sampling period will be a few seconds and it would be easier to manipulate the data. I am also thinking of using Arduinos for remote data acquisition so that would fit in nicely. Roger, James, do either of you use Doxygen, or similar? Can you recommend an efficient way to use such a tool? I want to maintain some documentation; graphical visualisation to present the C code base structure and runtime flow. Thank you Damian -- Area25-5, free Android arcade game port: http://goo.gl/qMziKk -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] Kit for sale
Hi Two items in an EBay lot, strictly auction only, you might be interested in: - Mini ITX Case and Gigabyte Motherboard, Onboard Intel Atom 1.8GHz, 2GB RAM, starting @ £24.99 item No. 161328137144 http://goo.gl/IlJh6J - Cisco Linksys Wireless-N Home ADSL2+ Modem Router, starting @ £5.25 item No. 161327353399 http://goo.gl/Bmbmxy Sorry, no collection option. I'm selling things on EBay quite regularly. I took some time off sick, had a clear out, this helped improve my EBay seller reputation. Selling gets a bit easier and simpler still, using the App, then printing pre-paid postage. (As for health, enjoying working again) Best regards Damian -- Free Simple Game - Android: http://goo.gl/Ywb9My Free Social Media EBook - Android: http://goo.gl/tUD29W ... and, The Internet of Things: http://goo.gl/4xzRs9 An OSS Archiving Project - Linux: http://diaser.org -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Dropbox alternative
On Thu, 2012-12-20 at 14:44 +, Andy Smith wrote: Hello, On Thu, Dec 20, 2012 at 12:47:55PM +, Simon Whitehead wrote: Isnt this a job for FTP for example Filezilla?? Only if you live in 1996. :) I tried an experimental community project in 2001 and it felt outdated. SFTP or FTP-SSL arguably more acceptable, though what people tend to want from cloud storage is good OS and mobile device integration. They want to be able to just drop files into a folder or make a change to a file and know it will be distributed out without them having to trigger that. I wouldn't say that SFTP provides that. No, but using other back-end replication will. Yes you can lash something together using scripts and inotify. This is not what most cloud storage users are thinking of. Bespoke, pretty, drop and drag requires extra effort. But folders are universal. Unison is a bit better because it will satisfy the encryption angle and has pretty good merging support, i.e. if file has changed on both sides it will do its best to resolve that without having to ask you which version you want to keep. Still not really there from the usability angle, given user expectations. I have made no recommendation because I don't currently use cloud storage. Unison and rsync do fit my needs right now. Not so for the OP I feel. I'm about to go with this hardware to make a prototype work for 3 x Windows, Mac and Andriod users http://twitter.com/interlinux/status/269156443247214592/photo/1 Q1 2013 has to have a maintenance release window which will go to SourceForge and Fedora18. The project software may not be of interest to you, the manual contents might be http://diaser.org So Samba share without a Domain controller and a folder that's called archive_me. Contents of this folder enters the back-end replication. Not cloud, but it could be. How the contents of the folder change, the report back to users and retrieval is tunable. SSHFS is a way. Disaster planning fans should bear in mind that multiple storage clouds are backed onto lower level providers such as Amazon S3, e.g. both UbuntuOne and Dropbox are on S3. So if S3 is crippled, so are at least two major storage clouds that some people may think are independent. ...and Amazon Glacier is a almost a direct competitor of the little Foundation I created and run. I was approached on LinkedIn by one of their technical Directors a few weeks ago. I dropped the connection after a few days, there was no reason given to me for the invite. Shared fate; no longer just for romance novels. Cheers, Andy ... it's for poetry, code and knowing systems will sometimes bite us hard and it will hurt;) Best Regards Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 0xAE355435 signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Feel the Heat from Fedora 17b
On Mon, 2012-05-28 at 09:42 +0100, Alan Pope wrote: -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 On 27/05/12 21:45, Damian L Brasher wrote: Side note: A you can alien the rpm for Debian based distros. Here is one ready rolled - not recently tested http://sourceforge.net/projects/dspaceinvadors/ If you'd like it packages properly in Ubuntu Software Centre (and potentially derivatives) you could use our app developer portal. http://developer.ubuntu.com/ There's a publish link at the top which takes you through the steps to get your app in our repository nice and easily. You don't have to package as a deb, and whilst the site mentions pricing £0 is a valid price :) That's interesting. Cross-pollination creates a more detailed higher res range of alien icons in my mind :) Alternative publication types, i.e. journals is sits nicely. Tweet log: - Great results testing a random joystick | #Logitech Attack 3 | with #dsihiscore | Absolutely zero config required #Fedora #Linux #Arcade Apart from adding some more action during the code re-factoring, joystick support is standard. As you can see above. Left, right and the fire button. Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 945F8E45 signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] Feel the Heat from Fedora 17b
Evening I have been working with a sponsor from Germany to get this game into Fedora. It's a 5 minute fix - fast paced arcade game. Here is the recent tweet log: - Successful testing of Space Invader #Game DSI #Fedora 17b by the developer maintainer. Screenshot http://goo.gl/0K58m #Arcade #Linux #OSS - Used yum -y install dsi --enablerepo=updates-testing - to test Space Invader #Game in #Fedora 15, 16 17b. Run DSI -? for options #Arcade - To use High Scores remember to add yourself to the games group; usermod -G games Guest, replace Guest with your #Linux account name #Fedora - I'm out of practice! use #dsihiscore tag your score :~} Best today 3360 #Fedora #Game #Arcade #Linux http://twitpic.com/9q0obl Maybe see your scores on #dsihiscore ! Side note: A you can alien the rpm for Debian based distros. Here is one ready rolled - not recently tested http://sourceforge.net/projects/dspaceinvadors/ The stable DSI for supported versions and platforms will probably be pushed in a couple of days. F17 - 2 days and counting... :~} Best Regards Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 945F8E45 signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] NetBook repairs - workshop for BaB 5th May?
Hi List I am trying to repair my Acer One Aspire - ZG5. I think is is worth repairing; the screen is nice and with an extra long life battery it provides up to 8 hours wireless browsing. The Intel PATA SSD 8GB hard drive stopped working, the memory would no longer hold data reliably. I did some research and found that it might be possible to replace the drive with a compact flash to 1.8 ZIF adapter. I took a risk and purchased one from LinITX. https://linitx.com/product/11676 I also purchased a piece of Kingston 16GB 266X compact flash. Total cost of £34.85. These are reusable if the fix does not work. I dissembled the netbook with the assistance of a video from YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lyKE7NoTiI this took two hours including research and part acquisition :-/ The adapter fits inside the space where the Intel SSD was, with some experimentation, not coaxing - there may have be a little tension upon tightening the MB screw. This would be resolved by shaving some height from one of the redundant risers with a small file. I re-assembled the netbook - this took two hours :-/ and there are two screws unaccounted for. The flash does not work, the green hdd LED is permanently on and ubuntu-11.10-desktop-i386.iso on a USB stick cannot see a new physical volume. The BIOS does not display a new bootable drive. I have also either lost the BIOS password or IIRC, one may not have been supplied. The possible causes for this failed fix are: - CF drive is incompatible with the on-board storage controller - CF drive is not compatible with the current BIOS - ZIF cable is torn - ZIF cable is in the wrong way round - I've damaged the MB during disassemble - screws not inside the box are responsible an electronic connection - the on-board storage controller is broken - tension on MB due to misplacement of the ZIF adapter upon re-assembly Philosophically - the netbook is still worth another attempt. If this fails altogether; the knowledge gained is worth having and sharing. The ZIF adapter and CF will be used with one of my MiniITX boxes. Any experience, ideas or suggestions are very welcome. If other readers and possible meeting attendees, I'm referring to the BaB on the 5th May, would like to join in - sit in a 'worried netbook corner' - I'll make every effort be there with the AAO ZG5. All failing, we could join all the carcasses together and make a Beowulf? I also found the slot where a memory upgrade could be installed - worth exploring too. Best Regards Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 945F8E45 signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Looking for a Perl IDE
On Thu, 2012-03-08 at 19:26 +, Anton Piatek wrote: EPIC for eclipse can do the perl debugger, however I have never done much with it. ... and Perl::Critic to measure code against Perl Best Practices (Standards and Styles for Developing Maintainable Code) by Damian Conway, published by O'Reilly. Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 945F8E45 signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] [OT] A parody of a popular office cartoon
A parody of a popular office cartoon - probably a 'bit niche' ;~} http://goo.gl/Sv7s0 Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 945F8E45 signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] HantsLUG Website
On Mon, 2012-02-20 at 18:58 +, Tim Brocklehurst wrote: (*) Not FAT, but you should be able to see that it's sitting down because it's really too stuffed to stand up. Think bean bag here. A beard (trimmed) wouldn't hurt :~} A slight smile, or even deadpan, might be nice. Some relation to Hampshire will enhance reference of locality. These artefacts will surely be of general use!? Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 945F8E45 signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Dying HDDs
On Mon, 2012-02-06 at 20:13 +, Anton Piatek wrote: I have never had a PSU fail, but mine are all branded and not on the cheap end. Probably for the best, in general. Disks die often, motherboards occasionally but mostly fatally and are normally pretty obvious. And the price of disks is currently, disappointingly, high. But the cause is pretty horrific. Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 945F8E45 signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] [OT] Funny ...
A marvellous quote from television this evening - ... and then the human race invented the visibility jacket ! Damian -- Social Networking Without The Need For Time Travel Public domain ebook - no registration required. Please 'Like' if you like ... DamiansSocialNetworkingRuleBook attachment: damiansrules-cute-cover-very-small.jpg signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Anyone familiar with Grub2?
Hi Vic On Sat, 2012-01-21 at 18:07 +, Vic wrote: I've just had a rather problematic upgrade to Fedora 16 on a test machine. Now I can't boot it. Do you mind describing in a little more detail, the other issues? I'm planning some Fedora upgrades myself. Thank you, Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 945F8E45 signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] Open source communities survival during economic change
Hi Community I have become increasingly aware during the past three years, how the existence of open source software is being taken for granted - on a number of levels. Many industry sectors are turning to open source as a cheap alternative to proprietary solutions. This makes a huge amount of sense. The financial benefits can be felt very quickly. Unfortunately - not many people; business CEO's, consultants, heads of departments, understand where this software comes from. For the most part, not through fault of their own. Simply due to a lack of education. Sometimes, the ruthless minds and pressured souls of the business person, or project manager - can not see past the latest deadline - ever! This is not sustainable. Such are pressured organisations, that the communication is often broken at the best of times. Training is a luxury. Easy to see, yes, some huge corporations provide popular open source products, as in the case of Oracle. But the bulk originates from ordinary individuals - volunteers. Small community groups. Not so easy to see. I have seen significant degradation in support of open source community developers by organisations. That does not necessarily mean coders or distribution maintainers. Currently I am in the fortunate position where listening helps. I have also been in hugely closed mind set places. This is where the myopic standpoint completely precludes the logical, sustainable model, where communities and individuals within them, are supported. I work with open source every day and have done for over 11 years. I am contributing because this model pays my wages - and most of the time I love it. But when I see business abusing open source in so many terrible ways, I imagine their business will probably die. The engineers are abused, the architects, coders and so on. This doesn't make sense. An organisation can easily gain credibility by supporting staff that have an interest in community development. Not only credibility, other issues can be solved by the collaborative nature of open source community involvement; that is capitalising on normal human behaviour. Staffing issues, publicity, creating contacts, staff stress amongst other pressures, can be eased. Really, many people can't get past the idea that mention of communities means communism. This frightens me. I sincerely hope, as I am very concerned, that for the sake of the industries using open source, that, if they are not putting something back, they do soon. The education must be put in place. It must have a place, a time and a plan. Economic change is not a reason to put this off, it is a reason to make this a priority. Best Regards Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 945F8E45 signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [ADMIN] December Meeting and AGM
Hi Andy, On Wed, 2011-11-16 at 19:28 +, Andy Smith wrote: On Sun, Nov 13, 2011 at 04:50:28PM +, Adam John Trickett wrote: Chris Denis and Damian Brasher volunteered them selves and Ian Brazier is willing remain Treasurer. I am therefore asking them if they are willing to remain standing and asking for additional volunteers to complete the committee. Do any of the volunteers require seconding, or can that be dispensed with? Like many, I've been experiencing a year full of change. I've been fortunate to find a new role in the media industry - Linux systems BAU (business as usual). Time spent with OSS community maintenance and dev is now restricted to existing projects and very basic small biz maintenance. I retract this offer. Best Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 945F8E45 signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Gnome 3
Hi John On Tue, 2011-10-18 at 14:57 +0100, john lewis wrote: I logged out and restarted with gnome 3, First impressions - UGH! I guess I can get used to the changes but I'm not a happy bunny ;-( I started using Fedora 15 in June, with Gnome 3. The visual appeal is immediate. Very clean looks and clear views. I think the adage less is more motivates the design. I too, found it hard to use, initially. Modification / customisation is not easy either. Tools and information reside in unexpected places. Minimisation and window management has changed significantly enough, so that without enough time to adjust - the interface feels cumbersome. After a few weeks, speed of desktop use was improving and beginning to overtake that of a traditional layout. Or to put it another way, the less is more approach streamlines the user experience where the computer does more of the operating, than it used to. For example; the ability to read partial amounts of information in all windows, at the same time, equals less time using the 'Alt-Tab' key combination. The interface attempts to capitalise on the current location of your 'workflow', so that you are closest to the most recent thought pattern locality. For example mouse travel distances can be shorter. Over time, the computer is working harder for the user, with Gnome 3. The interface is still new and there are plenty of bugs to iron out. Best Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Chaos is here! - Mira fractal generator for Linux (C and SDL)
On Mon, 2011-10-17 at 18:29 +0100, Damian L Brasher wrote: Displays a selection of pretty dust type mira fractals one after the other in colour rather like a slide show; 800x600. This simple fractal demonstration uses the SDL graphics library and the dust type fractal algorithm, mira. I created a short screencast of mira evolving into a kaleidoscopic cloud burst, if you like fractals... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llD-PqZ3-64 signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] Chaos is here! - Mira fractal generator for Linux (C and SDL)
Hi Group Back in the days, yet another little project I have unearthed for IEF consolidation and marketing multiplier purposes - here is a little mira fractal generator for Linux (C and SDL, 300 lines). It's only rough but works well and is pretty. Recently modernised and licensed and available on SourceForge (a warm up exercise). Displays a selection of pretty dust type mira fractals one after the other in colour rather like a slide show; 800x600. This simple fractal demonstration uses the SDL graphics library and the dust type fractal algorithm, mira. F(x) = ax +(1-a)2x^2/1+x^2 The README contains an introduction and maths; based on an algorithm from FRACTALS - Images of chaos - Hans Lauwerier. You can also modify line 244 for different effects, apart from other vars. Building is simple: #gcc fractal.c -L -lSDL_image -lSDL -o fractal #./fractal It's now a SourceForge project, where you can the code and view some screenshots: http://sourceforge.net/projects/iefmirashow Best Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] [OT] In memory of Dennis Ritchie
Dennis Ritchie, dies aged 70 True vision, really amazing. I would like to have met Dennis Ritchie. He has left the human race with a lot of good stuff to use :) http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/10/13/0328230/dennis-ritchie-creator-of-c-programming-language-passed-away http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15287391 Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] In memory of Steve Jobs
Hi John On Sun, 2011-10-09 at 19:51 +0100, john lewis wrote: On Sun, 09 Oct 2011 16:39:10 +0100 Damian L Brasher l...@interlinux.org.uk wrote: Thank you for some fun, a few years ago, playing with a Mac Mini for a few months until it found a more appreciative home. It seems I am going to be given a Mac Mini soon, apparently it can't be upgraded enough to run the latest version of OS/X. Not sure what is in it but the owner has had it for several years and I benefited by getting the Mac G3 it replaced at the time. I didn't keep that for long but provided the Mac Mini is an Intel based box I think the it could make a nice (Debian based) Geneweb server to replace the ageing Celeron 1100 MHz box I use now, it will at least be somewhat quieter. That sounds like a good plan. They are quiet and great for a small server. I had to advise someone, that in order to run an essential training application, they needed to upgrade OSX @ a relatively hefty £120 price tag. This was considered a major setback. We managed raised the cash. Best Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] getting organised for a mac mini: was [OT] In memory of Steve Jobs
Hi John On Wed, 2011-10-12 at 13:13 +0100, john lewis wrote: On Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:36:54 +0100 Damian L Brasher l...@interlinux.org.uk wrote: That sounds like a good plan. They are quiet and great for a small server. Well almost the EeePC is fine but the Vaio is running Squeeze and LXDE and there seems to be no way to search for wireless networks as there is in Gnome. I have network-manager-gnome installed so get an icon in the panel showing wlan0 is connected with a good signal but when I try to connect to the internet get 'network unavailable' /etc/network/interfaces has this auto wlan0 iface wlan0 inet dhcp wpa-ssid my network name wpa-psk my password iwconfig shows ESSID:my network name is as set in /etc/network/interfaces but it looks like wpa-psk is not the correct config as I'm getting the following from iwconfig Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx Invalid crypt:0 RX invalid frag:0 suggestions please ;-) This line: Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx Invalid crypt:0 RX invalid frag:0 does not necessary mean that wlan connection is not working properly. does #ip addr show an ip address for wlan, inet? If so, what is the ping response to the router from the Vaio? One of the things I sometimes miss is DNS configuration, check /etc/resolv.conf. To search for wireless networks, try #iwlist wlan0 scanning|grep ESSID Hope this gets you part way there... Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] [OT] In memory of Steve Jobs
Dear Macintosh Thank you for some fun, a few years ago, playing with a Mac Mini for a few months until it found a more appreciative home. I have no connection to the design, performance or culture value of Macintosh products. The sustainability reality of such a market driver, remains to be seen in the new economy. The aesthetic component value, for me, can be achieved with photographs or paintings. I feel locally connected to people suffering very real health problems; family, friends and community. I can't connect to an abstract being in the same way. Aspirational ownership is not for everyone and not the only market driver, as we have seen with the steady growth of Linux on the desktop and explosion in the hosting and embedded market environments. Your hardware is overpriced and most people bought out of vanity. So many individuals, projects and businesses will suffer due to over indulgence the past few years. The interest re-payments alone will long out-last the kit. My 5 1/2 year old Dell casing is as dull as it was 6 years ago, no duller. I am guilty of over indulging in cake. My doctor has reeled me in and I have lost well over a stone and have started exercising more regularly. This was partly due to long hours coding more lines than I ought to have done. But I have slowed down now. I have also cut out cheese, butter and chocolate. Good luck - and I hope you replace your figure head soon, otherwise you will lose business. Kind Regards Damian L Brasher -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Data Destruction
Good morning group, On Fri, 2011-10-07 at 09:05 +0100, James Courtier-Dutton wrote: On 6 October 2011 18:46, Rob Malpass li...@getiton.myzen.co.uk wrote: Hi all Yes this old chestnut again. Like most of us I guess, I have quite a few old hdds and we're now in chuck away mood. Physically I'll be disposing of these in as environmentally friendly a way as I can but destroying data is, as I remember, a bit tricky. I know data can be recovered even if you wipe the partition etc so here's my plan - any ideas how robust this is?? If you really have to erase all trace of the data, you should really have thought about that before writing it to the HD. Normal practice now is to use whole disk encryption. Then, to erase the whole disk, just erase the key. Despite the popular media connotations and mention of TLA organisations, with regards to spurious data stored on hard disk drives, this issue shouldn't be marred. What is very valuable in this new economy, is BI - business intelligence. An obvious example of BI is customer data. Less obvious is evidence of marketing objectives. For example, after I have been on contract, during which, if my own hardware was used to undertake tasks - then the hardware gets wiped or stronger, depending on agreed or implied NDA levels. Insurance is also a consideration. Best Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] remote assistance software for blind users.
Hi On Fri, 2011-10-07 at 11:28 +0100, Alan Pope wrote: My mum phones me when she needs help. I just go to my computer and do this:- vncviewer -via mumsmachine.dyndns.org localhost This sets up an SSH tunnel to her computer and then connects to the vnc server on her pc and prompts me for the vnc password. I type that and instantly see her desktop. Easy peasy. Neat, funny enough, my Mum wants to invest in the internet. As a brand new user she is not addicted to the the Windows OS. She will probably hesitate if offered a dead man's tablet, OSX (my Dell ceasing is a dull as it was 5 years ago, no duller), she will probably love Ubuntu. Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Data Destruction
On Thu, 2011-10-06 at 18:46 +0100, Rob Malpass wrote: Essentially without a safe data shredding program, I'm going to use truecrypt to create an encrypted partition over whatever data was there beforehand. AFAIK this must overwrite what was there with a blank drive (not just a new partition table) which could only be accessed if they guessed my truecrypt encrypted password. So at best, someone could only ever get back to the blank encrypted drive - not the ntfs partition that was there before I formatted it with truecrypt. I guess anything's possible but how decent a solution is this? Try #shred --help after booting from some kind of SA distro, like GRML. Increasing the number iterations then using the -z option to zero is thorough. Modern hard drive IDE's map logical sectors to physical sectors and can make adjustments automatically. I don't know to what extent this affects data destruction using operating system level tools. Linux LUKS is a oss way to encrypt partitions. Have not attempted to shred a LUKS protected partition yet, I do know encrypted partitions need to be cloned at a byte level. Magnets and heat will distort the magnetic orientation of the disk platter which constitute the bits of storage. Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Pointing device for arthritic hands
On Tue, 2011-09-27 at 14:08 +0100, Vic wrote: Seems like I am going to be suffering with Arthritic hands from here on in. Yay! :-( Don't sweat it too much. I went round the Beaulieu Auto Jumble the other week. A full day of walking around on uneven ground. My hips complained mightily the following day. Ibuprofen helps, as does scotch. A family member recently underwent two sequential hip replacements - after ten years of steadily degrading mobility, which crescendoed into a serious heart attack. The transformation is remarkable and the recovery rapid. Good luck if the necessary needs to happen. Philip - I tend to use a variety of pointing devices so different muscles are regularly exercised. My absolute favourite, in terms of comfort and accuracy, is the USB Logitech Marble Mouse T-BC21. A superb device! I also cycle, saw and chop large amounts of wood for our wood stove and swim. This keeps my wrists strong and in good condition. I also practice intermediate Tia Chi once a week - this is highly recommended to help 'iron out' tired or stagnant muscle states. Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] [OT] Test message
Test message - To check a resolved issue with TLS and authentication with SMTP server which caused duplicates to be sent from mailclient. (Eliminated: replaced hard drive and upgraded evolution). Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Committee Elections 2011
On Sun, 2011-09-18 at 13:55 +0100, Hants LUG Chairman wrote: Hi, It's that time of year again, when we must elect a new committee. At the moment Adrian has indicated his intention to stand down from the LUG committee and I also wish to stand down as Chair though I'm willing to remain on the committee. We need a committee so that the LUG can function, so please consider volunteering or nominating someone. The elections will take place at the next meeting that is quorate. Volunteering myself as a GO, if I will be seconded. Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Committee Elections 2011
On Sun, 2011-09-18 at 13:55 +0100, Hants LUG Chairman wrote: Hi, It's that time of year again, when we must elect a new committee. At the moment Adrian has indicated his intention to stand down from the LUG committee and I also wish to stand down as Chair though I'm willing to remain on the committee. We need a committee so that the LUG can function, so please consider volunteering or nominating someone. The elections will take place at the next meeting that is quorate. (Volunteering myself as a GO, if I will be seconded.) Or hostmaster... Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Committee Elections 2011
(Apologies for duplicates - I think either my Evolution mail client is broken or my hard-drive is about to fail, it's a bit louder than usual). Damian On Thu, 2011-09-22 at 12:29 +0100, Damian L Brasher wrote: On Sun, 2011-09-18 at 13:55 +0100, Hants LUG Chairman wrote: Hi, It's that time of year again, when we must elect a new committee. At the moment Adrian has indicated his intention to stand down from the LUG committee and I also wish to stand down as Chair though I'm willing to remain on the committee. We need a committee so that the LUG can function, so please consider volunteering or nominating someone. The elections will take place at the next meeting that is quorate. (Volunteering myself as a GO, if I will be seconded.) Or hostmaster... Damian -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Committee Elections 2011
On Thu, 2011-09-22 at 13:01 +0100, Tony Whitmore wrote: On 22.09.2011 12:58, Damian L Brasher wrote: (Apologies for duplicates - I think either my Evolution mail client is broken or my hard-drive is about to fail, it's a bit louder than usual). It's because you had the LUG's mailman address in both the To and CC fields. Your loud hard disk didn't contribute to that! None of the sent items have a CC field with the mailman address. Evolution is not sending properly, emails stick in the outbox and I need to restart. The hard drive maybe too slow and not responding as it should. I'll fix it. Damian signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] DDoS survival strategies
On Wed, 2011-09-07 at 03:57 +, Andy Smith wrote: On Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 04:11:39PM +0100, Damian L Brasher wrote: As a sys admin, depending on the scope of your responsibilities, it is sometimes necessary to diagnose DDoS - distributed denial of service - attacks and attempt resolve them. The episode of the podcast linked from http://twitpic.com/6h0l3s may be relevant to your interest. Very good, some nicely explained parts. The point made about 'filtering engineering objectives through key business objective check lists' is essential to the decision making process. Back to the emphasis made earlier on good collaborative working practices. Best Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] DDoS survival strategies
On Mon, 2011-09-05 at 19:26 +0100, Freaky Clown wrote: fact I was present only the other day during a conference where such a new tool was demonstrated to effectively take down a powerful webserver with a single IP with a 3g dongle, thankfully as yet this tool remains in teh hands of professionals and not the public domain. If this technology is released into the wild without appropriate licensing or governance, which often happens - or sold as a weapon in lawless countries; open source professionals will be there to release to the public domain:- relevant, properly licensed, fixes and patches to mitigate the risk to ordinary users. Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] New Member
On Fri, 2011-09-02 at 19:57 +0100, James Bensley wrote: Hi Luggers, I'm new to HantsLUG ... Welcome! Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] DDoS survival strategies
Hi List
As a sys admin, depending on the scope of your responsibilities, it is
sometimes necessary to diagnose DDoS - distributed denial of service -
attacks and attempt resolve them.
This is a simple script I use to check apache logs for signs of website
DDoS, [1]walk-through below:
#!/bin/bash
FILE=access_log;
for ip in `cat $FILE |cut -d ' ' -f 1 |sort |uniq`;
do { COUNT=`grep ^$ip $FILE |wc -l`;
if [[ $COUNT -gt 10 ]]; then echo $COUNT: $ip;
fi }; done
Some general questions to discuss, I have reserved thoughts and
knowledge, but would like to read other peoples comments too:
What general growing problems do systems engineers face in the future?
Will IPv6reduce DDoS attack success or enhance the attacker's tool kits?
Can we reassure customers that they will not lose business to DDoS
without investing large amounts capital in security technologies?
What do you think? - is DDoS a global or local problem; or both?
Is anyone able to share scripts like the one above?
Damian
[1] Simple script I use to check apache logs for signs of website DDoS
walk-through (can be copied and pasted into a text file and renamed
'ddos_check.sh' then chmod +x ddos_check.sh):
(invoke the bash interpreter)
#!/bin/bash
(access_log can be replaced with any apache log file name
FILE=access_log;
(cat concatenates the log file, then cut takes the first field - which
is the hit IP address. This could be a visitor, bot or malicious IP. The
IP addresses are sorted for clarity, only a unique is IP moved on for
processing)
for ip in `cat $FILE |cut -d ' ' -f 1 |sort |uniq`;
(the variable COUNT is filled with the resulting IP address from the
processed log file output and the number of IP instances calculated)
do { COUNT=`grep ^$ip $FILE |wc -l`;
(if the number of IP instances is over 10 - this will normally be set to
1000's - then the IP address and number of instances in the log file is
printed to standard output)
if [[ $COUNT -gt 10 ]]; then echo $COUNT: $ip;
(end of script)
fi }; done
You can see IP's that are hammering your web-site:- use whois to glean
more information, then check for repetition patterns. For Linux use
firewall and/or tcpwrappers to block.
--
Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk
Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of
foundation intellectual property and know-how.
GPG 8A7E551C
signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part
--
Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk
Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire
LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk
--
[Hampshire] DDoS survival strategies
Hi List
As a sys admin, depending on the scope of your responsibilities, it is
sometimes necessary to diagnose DDoS - distributed denial of service -
attacks and attempt resolve them.
This is a simple script I use to check apache logs for signs of website
DDoS, [1]walk-through below:
#!/bin/bash
FILE=access_log;
for ip in `cat $FILE |cut -d ' ' -f 1 |sort |uniq`;
do { COUNT=`grep ^$ip $FILE |wc -l`;
if [[ $COUNT -gt 10 ]]; then echo $COUNT: $ip;
fi }; done
Some general questions to discuss, I have reserved thoughts and
knowledge, but would like to read other peoples comments too:
What general growing problems do systems engineers face in the future?
Will IPv6reduce DDoS attack success or enhance the attacker's tool kits?
Can we reassure customers that they will not lose business to DDoS
without investing large amounts capital in security technologies?
What do you think? - is DDoS a global or local problem; or both?
Is anyone able to share scripts like the one above?
Damian
[1] Simple script I use to check apache logs for signs of website DDoS
walk-through (can be copied and pasted into a text file and renamed
'ddos_check.sh' then chmod +x ddos_check.sh):
(invoke the bash interpreter)
#!/bin/bash
(access_log can be replaced with any apache log file name
FILE=access_log;
(cat concatenates the log file, then cut takes the first field - which
is the hit IP address. This could be a visitor, bot or malicious IP. The
IP addresses are sorted for clarity, only a unique is IP moved on for
processing)
for ip in `cat $FILE |cut -d ' ' -f 1 |sort |uniq`;
(the variable COUNT is filled with the resulting IP address from the
processed log file output and the number of IP instances calculated)
do { COUNT=`grep ^$ip $FILE |wc -l`;
(if the number of IP instances is over 10 - this will normally be set to
1000's - then the IP address and number of instances in the log file is
printed to standard output)
if [[ $COUNT -gt 10 ]]; then echo $COUNT: $ip;
(end of script)
fi }; done
You can see IP's that are hammering your web-site:- use whois to glean
more information, then check for repetition patterns. For Linux use
firewall and/or tcpwrappers to block.
--
Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk
Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of
foundation intellectual property and know-how.
GPG 8A7E551C
signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part
--
Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk
Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire
LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk
--
Re: [Hampshire] DDoS survival strategies
On Mon, 2011-09-05 at 15:40 +, Andy Smith wrote: Hello, On Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 04:11:39PM +0100, Damian L Brasher wrote: What general growing problems do systems engineers face in the future? I think that there are a lot more options for scaling these days, but the challenges are also different. As ever we must do more with less, which means actively working with other disciplines instead of treating it as an us and them situation. So that would be the devops movement - developers and operators need to understand each other and work together better if decent scaling is to be achieved, as it has to be done at both the application and system layer. Yes, to adopt more collaborative way of working will help. Often in organisations you get the impression that the expense of devops 'cross-pollination' is perceived to outweigh the benefits. Cloud is not something to be afraid of, but not something to be complacent about either. There is going to be a balance between owning your own hardware platform versus renting bits of someone else's platform as a service. Trying to balance the complexity and cost of implementation with the benefits of fast/easy end-user adoption and continued use. The margins are hard to calculate. Will IPv6reduce DDoS attack success or enhance the attacker's tool kits? There are a couple of new abuse angles with IPv6 but I expect that the old favourite of massive amounts of small UDP packets from a botnet will remain the big killer for many years to come, whether over IPv4 or v6. Hmmm, I'll try to find a paper regarding this area for background study. It's probably well documented somewhere. What do you think? - is DDoS a global or local problem; or both? It is local to this Internet (I don't understand the question). Well, indeed... the politics regarding geographical, attack source reference, are probably beyond the scope of this discussion. Best Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] DDoS survival strategies
On Mon, 2011-09-05 at 16:58 +0100, James Bensley wrote: Hi Damian, I like your script for pulling out IPs and counting their entries, works just fine on my dev machine, but I don't see how it could be practically used. Looking at the number of times alone one IP has accesses your site is not a good measurement of being DDoS'ed. It just means someone loves your site. True, designed as a tool for checking for signs. The actual figures are subjective. I guess it would be obvious if you have say 1000 hits a day total aggregate on average, and you see one single IP access your site 10,000 in the last ten minutes. Before that can happen though you need to add some date functionality in there otherwise the data is meaningless; you have nothing to reference it against, presumably it needs to be at least 'hits per IP over X time period'. Sames as above really. Your suggestions will be worth thinking about incorporating though. Also, I think if your script passed those IPs to iptables as rules that would be awesome! In fact now that I think about it, maybe you could just do this all in IP tables without a script? /sbin/iptables -N HTTPHITS /sbin/iptables -A HTTPHITS -p tcp -m state --state NEW -m tcp --dport 80 -m recent --set --name HTTP --rsource /sbin/iptables -A HTTPHITS -p tcp -m state --state NEW -m tcp --dport 80 -m recent --update --seconds 180 --hitcount 1000 --name HTTP --rsource -j DROP So these rules will essentials drop traffic from an IP that has already made 1000 requests to your server within the last 3 minutes, something like that perhaps? Like your script though, just going on numbers of hits is a dangerous method. Not sure about dangerous, but some thought needs to go into interpreting the output. The script is just a quick measuring stick:) Best Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] error competition
On Fri, 2011-08-19 at 10:21 +0100, Edward Beckmann wrote: Hi All As it's friday and I have just caused my longsuffering sysadmin to moan at my stupidity yet again , I thought I would offer a challenge for amusing typos or human errors. Examples could be: No systems administrators should be long-suffering - that's why mistakes are made:) who can do the most damage to a system with the fewest number of keystrokes? The Boss when he attempts to test the UPS as you walk out of the office to go home for the weekend. what duff error gives the most spectacular failure? Kernel maintainers latest un-bootable kernel. what error can trigger the longest chain of disasters? The one that ends up with a series of sales people being fired. I am sure you get the gist If I didn't I'd be deca thousands of pounds better off. Bonus marks for anyone brave / foolhardy enough to say I did ... as opposed to I knew someone who did ... I don't do bonuses, only sell them;) Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Zentyal Manuals for sale
Bumping this one with some qualifying information as I didn't have time before: On Mon, 2011-08-08 at 21:25 +0100, Damian L Brasher wrote: Hi Group I am selling Zentyal manuals on EBay. I have nine of them and selling in auction sequentially, so if you are interested in a few weeks there is likely to be one for sale. May 2011 English edition - unused and in perfect condition. I assisted with the translation proof of this release, so the English was ironed out somewhat. I like the platform a great deal and think it may be better than Plesk in some ways. It will be interesting to see what happens with Zentyal over the coming years. I use the command line almost exclusively for work and development and Plesk requires Linux administrators to work around the proprietary hooks and structural modifications into standard Linux. Zentyal is a much kinder from that perspective and is open source. From a users point of view there are obvious limitations over Plesk, but not that many. (Please discuss). http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemitem=160637844985 Much easier if I send the manuals by post if you do buy, arranging a collection may not be as reliable. I'm now working with a hosting company full time and Interlinux products in my spare time. Take pot luck:) I updated the rolling sale to include a collection option. BTW - This is a tweet from Saturday: # Submitted #Fedora F14,15 16 updates-testing, DIASER Wan vault for long term archiving use #yum --enablerepo=updates-testing install diaser — Sat, 08/06/2011 - 18:49 This update has been pushed to the stable update repository for f14 and f15. It is available for all users to install via the standard update mechanisms, i.e. $yum -y install diaser This is hoped to generate more widespread feedback and maybe inspire any sort of development contributions. The next IEF publication will be a quality DIASER manual (both printed and digital). I still haven't figured out the best automatic delivery mechanism for commercial pdf documents - but have had plenty of fun researching this. I think the best delivery mechanism for low demand electronic publications is by simple email request. Cheers -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] [OT] Free kit
Hi For Oct or Nov (AGM?) meeting I have some kit to distribute: *Cisco 1701 DSL route 10/100 Ethernet - fully working order *Belkin UPS F6C350uSER-SB (will probably need a new battery) *Belkin Ethernet Bridge F5D7330 *Cisco 1548M router *Vanilla colored PS2 keyboard *Odds and ends - whatnot Bags on/off-list (I'll run an email search before the meeting) Damian -- Interlinux Engineering Foundation http://www.interlinux.org.uk Central, non-trading, administration, governance and dissemination of foundation intellectual property and know-how. GPG 8A7E551C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] Zentyal Manuals for sale
Hi Group I am selling Zentyal manuals on EBay. I have nine of them and selling in auction sequentially, so if you are interested in a few weeks there is likely to be one for sale. May 2011 English edition - unused and in perfect condition. Besides being a full guide to learn Linux-based network management based on Zentyal 2.0, the Zentyal for Network Administrators book is written with the aim of serving as a study material for the certified Zentyal courses. My experience with Zentyal was positive, but not profitable. I can say with certainty, I gained deeper insight into small business, sales and marketing. The Mad Men [1] of the world are what they are and make business happen. Open Source manifests business in a mixture of ways. I like the platform a great deal and think it may be better than Plesk in some ways. It will be interesting to see what happens with Zentyal over the coming years. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zentyal-Network-Administrators-Book-English-/160631406186?pt=Non_Fictionhash=item256660be6a Much easier if I send the manuals by post if you do buy, arranging a collection may not be as reliable. I'm now working with a hosting company full time and Interlinux products in my spare time. BTW - This is a tweet from Saturday: # Submitted #Fedora F14,15 16 updates-testing, DIASER Wan vault for long term archiving use #yum --enablerepo=updates-testing install diaser — Sat, 08/06/2011 - 18:49 Fedora 15 is in testing, 14 16 are still pending in the queue (a few days or a week and they should be available depending on the availability of Fedora community release engineer time). Best Regards Damian [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Men signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Small biz lunch or coffee
On 16/11/10 13:11, Jacqui Caren-home wrote: FSB and others do organise this sort of event - I live way too far away to be able to make it but the boss lives in fittleworth - much closer to you. Thanks, noted. Damian -- DIASER-Pro EBBS-Programme http://bit.ly/aZKlgX -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Hants LUG meet - 11th Sept - Hursley
On 11/09/10 23:44, Damian L Brasher wrote: I'll make them available to the talkers tomorrow night converted from the JVC 'mpeg' proprietary format to an AVI container using the MPEG-4 ASP (Xvid) and MP3 codecs. Change in format - ready in a few hours and I have setup SFTP accounts to retrieve. Xvid MP4 using mpeg (!h.264 avc codec). lame MP3, container MP4. -- Damian -- http://interlinux.co.uk - Zentyal bronze partners DIASER RoadMap http://bit.ly/1Vtdp5 -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [ADMIN] Meetings
On 12/09/10 13:02, Hants LUG Chairman wrote: Hi, I'd like to thank the Anton and the other IBMers for hosting us yesterday. I'd next like to thank all our speakers for their efforts. Finally I'd like to thank the people who made it to the meeting! Ashwin has arranged our next meeting at Southampton 2 October. Which should be our AGM - if you want a committee position now is your opportunity! I need to say that I won't stand this year for the committee. As some of you know I now have new business commitments and therefore additional responsibilities to prioritise; not too mention some critical project and coding deadlines the next two quarters. I have enjoyed the role, although was unable to achieve all I had hoped, also appreciated Adam's strong presence as Hants Lug chair. I'll still be knocking around on list and will attend meetings when possible:) Best Regards Damian -- http://interlinux.co.uk - Zentyal bronze partners DIASER RoadMap http://bit.ly/1Vtdp5 -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Camcorder stand for BaB tomorrow
On 10/09/10 20:04, Tony Whitmore wrote: Laura is one of the on duty IBMers tomorrow, so I'll give her a tripod to bring along. I don't have a pan and tilt head, only stills ones, but it'll do. Thanks Tony. -- http://interlinux.co.uk - Zentyal bronze partners DIASER RoadMap http://bit.ly/1Vtdp5 -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Camcorder stand for BaB tomorrow
On 10/09/10 18:52, Tim Brocklehurst wrote: I can't supply any kit, but am happy to be videoed giving the talk. If I could have a copy of the video for my site that would be great! Sure:) -- http://interlinux.co.uk - Zentyal bronze partners DIASER RoadMap http://bit.ly/1Vtdp5 -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Hants LUG meet - 11th Sept - Hursley
On 11/09/10 18:44, Anton Piatek wrote: Thanks to all that came today, and a special thanks to all those that presented. If I could ask those who presenter to add a link to their slides on the wiki page as several people who couldn't make it have already asked about the talks http://www.hantslug.org.uk/wiki/11September2010 Thanks Anton (and your colleagues) for use of the facility today. !Videos! - the quality is very reasonable. I'll make them available to the talkers tomorrow night converted from the JVC 'mpeg' proprietary format to an AVI container using the MPEG-4 ASP (Xvid) and MP3 codecs. Then talkers can run additional conversions later over the file. Overnight run and I'm glad I upgraded my workstation recently, now a Dual-Core E5300 @ 2.60GHz. I'll make the Zentyal talk video available next week at some point. I am able to de-noise the Zentyal talk to reduce the background buzzing which was later switched off, not sure what it was. Back to the other film and pizza:) -- Damian -- http://interlinux.co.uk - Zentyal bronze partners DIASER RoadMap http://bit.ly/1Vtdp5 -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Hants LUG meet - 11th Sept - Hursley
On 03/09/10 17:36, Anton Piatek1 wrote: Hi all, As you know the next Hants LUG meeting is at IBM Hursley Labs on Sat the 11th Sept. Details of the day (times to arrive) and how to get there are being put up at http://www.hantslug.org.uk/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?HursleyLabs but are also below for your information. Hi I'd like to offer a talk too Introducing Zentyal v2 Also: I have space for three people if anyone needs a lift: I noticed Tim Retout and Lisi posted lift requests. Contact me off-list for details. -- Damian -- http://interlinux.co.uk - Zentyal bronze partners DIASER RoadMap http://bit.ly/1Vtdp5 -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Scanner recommendations
On 30/08/10 12:07, Keith Edmunds wrote: Thanks everyone: plenty of food for thought there, and hopefully Mummy will soon have a scanner. Recommended if you like folk/fusion type music are Mumford and Sons http://www.mumfordandsons.com -- Damian -- http://interlinux.co.uk - Zentyal bronze partners DIASER RoadMap http://bit.ly/1Vtdp5 -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Scanner recommendations
On 03/09/10 15:20, Lisi wrote: Damian, I'm sorry to be thick, but what is the connection between folk/fusion type music and makes of scanner?? Well there isn't much of one except the word Mum. Just an obtuse, Friday, friendly music recommendation:) I'm not trying to be clever or catch anyone out. -- Damian -- http://interlinux.co.uk - Zentyal bronze partners DIASER RoadMap http://bit.ly/1Vtdp5 -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
