lunes, 31 de diciembre de 2007

FreeBSD 6.3-RC2 Available

Sorry for the delay with this phase of the 6.3 release. A few glitches were found during testing of the 6.3-RC2 ISOs that included pre-built packages.

The 6.3-RC2 builds for amd64 and i386 should now be available on the majority of the FreeBSD mirror sites. I just finished loading the sparc64 build so that will take a little while to propagate to the mirrors. This is the last planned RC for 6.3. Unless a major show-stopper problem is found the release of 6.3 should happen in about two weeks.

(more...)

domingo, 30 de diciembre de 2007

FreeBSD 7.0-RC1 Available

Sorry for the delay with this next phase of the release process. The ports team has gotten the release package sets built for most of the architectures (sparc64 is still a long way off) so we have begun including the pre-built packages on the ISOs. Even a very basic post-build test turned up one latent bug in sysinstall, and once that was fixed a more extensive test (load both kde and gnome) turned up two more latent bugs. Releases are the only time sysinstall/package stuff ever gets tested so ...

viernes, 28 de diciembre de 2007

Flashboot 4.2 released

"Flashboot is a system built by Damien Miller and others as an adaptation of OpenBSD that's more suited for small flash-based hardware. For most applications you don't have to compile it on you own, you just put the binary release on a flashcard and you're set (somewhat simplified)."

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C# 3.0 Features

The C# language is getting more good looking than ever before. C# 3.0 is simple the definition of beauty. The new C# compiler is doing a lot of work for us so let us see how we can use it start using these beautiful features.

Debian GNU/Linux Etch 4.0 Updated

"The Debian project is pleased to announce the second update of its stable distribution Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (codename etch). This update mainly adds corrections for security problems to the stable release, along with a few adjustment to serious problems."

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sábado, 22 de diciembre de 2007

Iptables 1.4.0 Released

The netfilter core team has released iptables-1.4.0. This is the first final release of the new iptables branch 1.4.

How To Masquerade On Linux (Internet Connection Sharing)

It's very simple to masquerade (internet connection sharing in Windows language ) on Linux with a few lines of iptables and ip_forward commands.

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Configuring SendMail To Act As A SmartHost & To Rewrite From-Address

This tutorial explains how to configure a sendmail server to forward all mails generated from localhost to another SMTP server for sending mails to remote recipients. Also it explains how to rewrite the from address of user@localhost.localdomain to user@example.com.

RELENG_7_0 created

In preparation for 7.0-RC1 the release branch, RELENG_7_0, has been created.

viernes, 21 de diciembre de 2007

NetBSD 4: A Force to Be Reckoned With?

NetBSD 4 is finally out, boasting a long list of feature and speed improvements in the open source operating system. The NetBSD 4.0 comes nearly two years after NetBSD 3.0 was released. As with earlier versions, NetBSD 4 continues to competitively position its BSD variant against its BSD, Linux and Unix peers.

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Security Researcher Promotes Concept of 'Safe' and 'Promiscuous' Web Browsers

But Jeremiah Grossman, CTO at Whitehat Security and one of the country’s most prominent application security researchers, has a workaround he uses to protect himself online. It involves having two browsers: One, which he calls the “promiscuous” browser, is the one he uses for ordinary browsing. A second browser is used only for security-critical tasks such as online banking. When Grossman wants to do online banking, he closes his promiscous browser, opens the more prudish one, and does only what he has to do before closing it and going back to his insecure browser.

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miércoles, 19 de diciembre de 2007

The crossover LAN

You have probably heard that a two-node LAN can be configured by stringing a crossover cable between the network ports on two systems. Not only is this true, but it's not all that hard to do provided you have a few tools, a length of CAT 5 cable and a couple RJ45 connectors. Using a crossover cable has one decided advantage over a traditional network hookup -- it avoids the requirement that a hub be used to connect the two systems, saving both money and rack space.

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Using a guardian to ensure your lamp site is always up

"to guarantee maximum uptime for your site, it's a good idea to periodically check the health of your system and restart failing components. you can use a simple program to do this automatically. i like to call this type of program, a "guardian"."

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NetBSD 4.0 Released

The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce that release 4.0 of the NetBSD operating system is now available. NetBSD is a free, secure, and highly portable Unix-like Open Source operating system available for many platforms, from 64-bit Opteron machines and desktop systems to handheld and embedded devices. Its clean design and advanced features make it excellent in both production and research environments, and it is user-supported with complete source. Many applications are easily available through pkgsrc, the NetBSD Packages Collection.

martes, 18 de diciembre de 2007

Perl 5.10.0 is now available

Perl 5.10.0 is now out, the first in the 5.10.x major version series, after a five year long development process. It's currently being mirrored on CPAN.

The FreeBSD Foundation Semi-Annual Newsletter Announcement

Dear FreeBSD Community,

I am pleased to announce the publication of The FreeBSD Foundation's
Semi-Annual Newsletter. Go to
http://www.freebsdfoundation.org/press/2007Dec-newsletter.shtml
to find out what we've been doing to help the FreeBSD project and community.

(more...)

lunes, 17 de diciembre de 2007

PC-BSD

PC-BSD is based on FreeBSD. It is an easy to use solution which saves time and energy. Think of PC-BSD as a port. Someone made a port for FreeBSD, KDE, mail, IRC, office suite, and scores of other applications. If you want FreeBSD and lots of extras, it is available as a nice little package in the form of PC-BSD. They've figured out all the dependencies, twists, and turns, and packaged it all up for you in one easy ISO. Well, two ISO actually, but you get my point. But it's not a port. Included is a fantastic installer. Time to upgrade? PC-BSD will download the upgrade and install it for you.

It all just works.

You might call PC-BSD a distro of FreeBSD. I call it a big time saver. Plus, it solved a couple of problems for me and allowed me to get on to solving bigger and more important problems.

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IMAP - getting Dovecot running

If you're reading this, you use email. You probably have more than one email address. I do. I have many. I run 13 domains, plus some more for friends off my two mail servers. If you're like me, you use POP to download your mail to your computer and read it there. POP works best when you use just one computer.

In this article, I will show you how I installed Dovecot and configured it so I could securely get my email. This involves setting up the certificates and configuring Dovecot.

PC-BSD Version 1.4 to be carried in all Micro Center stores

iXsystems announced today a distribution agreement with Micro Center, a leading edge provider of computer products, whereby all Micro Center stores nationwide will carry PC-BSD Version 1.4, Da Vinci Edition. The agreement marks the first time that the PC-BSD operating system is made available for purchase at Micro Center.

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Access Linux Files from Windows with Linux Reader

Dual-booters have long been able to get at their Windows-formatted files, but Windows certainly doesn't make it easy to go the other way 'round. Enter Linux Reader, a free Windows application that emulates the look and feel of the Windows XP Explorer and allows read-only access to ext2 and ext3-formatted drives, the most common formats for Linux installations.

(more...)

domingo, 16 de diciembre de 2007

Choosing Optimal MySQL Data Types

It is too often that web developers use the wrong data types in their databases. I have compiled a list of tips to make sure you choose the optimal MySQL Data Types.

viernes, 14 de diciembre de 2007

My Top 5 Favorite New C# 3.0/.NET 3.5 Framework Features

Partial Methods, Automatic Properties, Extension Methods, Object Initializers and System.TimeZoneInfo Class.

(more...)

Vista SP1 Release Candidate Available

Informationweek points out white papers telling business users that if they were waiting for SP1 to solve application compatibility issues, they needn't bother waiting: SP1 won't solve them, and in fact might cause applications to break that were running under Vista.

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FreeBSD with MySQL 6.0

I have been wanting to run MySQL 6.0 on my FreeBSD System, since I read about the new Falcon engine to see how well it works on FreeBSD when compared to other Systems. I will be running benchmark testing in the next few days so say tuned. For now I'm going to explain how I setup MySQL 6.0 on FreeBSD.

jueves, 13 de diciembre de 2007

Mono 1.2.6 released, supports Silverlight 1.1 development

The Mono development team has announced the official release of Mono 1.2.6, the latest version of Novell's open source .NET implementation. Mono 1.2.6 includes numerous improvements to both the Mono runtime engine and development components.

miércoles, 12 de diciembre de 2007

Top 15 Things to love about Visual Studio 2008 Express

"My top 15 things to love about Visual Studio Express."

Using a Bluetooth phone with Linux

My old mobile phone, which was held together with duct tape for the last few months of its sad existence, has finally been replaced with something more modern. I wanted to pick up a programmable, Linux-based phone like the RAZR2V8 or the FIC Neo1973, but I'm unfortunately a Verizon customer, which means that my options are currently very, very limited—at least until Verizon follows through with its open network plans. I ended up grabbing a vx8550, which is Verizon's rebranded (and, of course, crippled) LG Chocolate. This is the first phone I have ever owned that actually has Bluetooth support, so I spent some time yesterday learning how to use Bluetooth on Linux. This is a short overview of what I discovered.

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Local company develops FreeBSD-based radars

Being freely available, easy to develop for, secure, and stable made FreeBSD the operating system of choice for Adelaide company Genesis Software’s radar systems which are now being exported around the world.

Genesis software and network engineer Daniel O’Connor said FreeBSD was the best choice when research and development on the radars began eight years ago.

“Some systems rely on modem access for connectivity and FreeBSD allows us to log in remotely,” O’Connor said. “It’s very stable and we’ve had boxes up for more than two years. It’s free so you can experiment with it and it’s easy to develop for. We’ve used FreeBSD from the beginning since about 1996 and it has served us well.”

(more...)

martes, 11 de diciembre de 2007

Cadenas de conexion desde .NET para SQL Server 2005

"si es que estamos usando SQLExpress, y estamos creando una aplicación .NET para el acceso a datos, hay que tener algunas consideraciones adicionales a la hora de conectarnos a la base de datos."

(más...)

Validacion de datos en ASP.NET y algo más...

Interesante artículo que expone algunos de los controles para validar ingreso de datos por parte de un usuario. Además sirve de guía para agregar nuevas expresiones regulares a través del repositorio regexlib.com.

KDE 4 'consumes 39% less memory than its predecessor'

"... showing exactly how the RAM consumption of comparable KDE4 and KDE3 sessions measure up. The result is a mindblowing 39% smaller memory footprint in KDE 4. This just goes to show, that it's worth making large-scale changes to your desktop environment to get the fruit hanging on the higher branches. Wait for the mini- and micro-optimisations"

(more...)

Google SketchUp 6 on Linux and FreeBSD with Wine

This should work in both Linux and FreeBSD, though I've only tested this on FreeBSD...

FreeBSD 7 Footshooters

This page will contain a list of (relatively) small annoyances and issues present in FreeBSD 7 (and possibly earlier versions), with the purpose of forewarning and helping others that have stumbled on the same problems as I have. These are nothing special and some of them may be documented elsewhere.

sábado, 8 de diciembre de 2007

NetBSD 4.0 RC5 available for download

The fifth release candidate for NetBSD 4.0 has been released.

miércoles, 5 de diciembre de 2007

FreeBSD 7.0-BETA4 Available

The 7.0-BETA4 builds are now available. If you would like to download an ISO image to install from they are available here:

ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases//ISO-IMAGES/7.0/

If you would like to use cvsup to update an older machine the branch tag to use is still RELENG_7.

For users of FreeBSD Update due to some last-minute bumps in system libraries, installed third-party applications must be recompiled as per normal for a "major" upgrade, even if upgrading from an earlier 7.0 BETA.

(more...)

martes, 4 de diciembre de 2007

LINQ's relationship to the new C#3 and VB9 features

The Language Integrated Query (LINQ) is the headline feature of the Visual Studio 2008 release. Most of LINQ is based on the new C#3 and VB9 language features. In this video, I demonstrate the association between the compiler features and LINQ.

(more...)

lunes, 3 de diciembre de 2007

Six CHM viewers for Linux

Even if you work only in Linux, you'll likely have to use Microsoft Compiled HTML Help (CHM) files at one time or another. Several open source projects use this common format, including Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Python, and PHP.

(more...)

Questionable Data Mining Concerns IRC Community

Two days ago an article on TechCrunch about IRSeeK revealed to the community that a service logs conversations of public IRC channels and put them into a public searchable database. What is especially shocking for the community is that the logging bots are very hard to identify. They have human-like nicks, connect via anonymous Tor nodes and authenticate as mIRC clients. IRSeeK never asked for permission and violates the privacy terms of networks and users.

(more...)

procstat(1) committed to CVS HEAD

Dear all, (and FYI to hackers@ where I previousl sought feedback):

I've now committed procstat(1) to CVS. I've found it to be quite a helpful debugging tool, am particularly pleased with -k/-kk, and would welcome feedback and ideas on further improving it.

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domingo, 2 de diciembre de 2007

Developing a grid application with open source tools

Using open source tools for developing grid applications opens up a wealth of possibilities. The first is a very rapid development process, especially if you take advantage of script languages like Perl or Python and deployment environments like Apache. There is also a wealth of examples available that can help you. Examine the advantages and disadvantages of developing a grid solution using open source technology.

(more...)

Firefox 2.0.0.11 Released

Release Notes.

viernes, 30 de noviembre de 2007

FreeBSD 6.3-RC1 Available

The first of the Release Candidate builds for FreeBSD 6.3 is now available. There is one more Release Candidate planned, which will be followed by the release unless a major show-stopper issue crops up during testing.

(more...)

.NET 3.5 Language Enhancements

While Visual Studio 2008, the several variations of LINQ, and the ADO.NET Entity Framework are getting a lot of attention in the upcoming .NET Framework 3.5, there are also several key language enhancements on the near horizon. Many of the language enhancements (which will be found in VB 9 and C# 3.0) are the foundation of these more prominent new technologies.

This article is a primer for some of the key enhancements that will be introduced with the .NET Framework 3.5 and how they relate to each other.

Upgrade Your Hackintosh to OS X 10.5.1

A couple of weeks ago, I detailed how I built a Hackintosh Mac on the cheap from start to finish. The build benchmarked incredibly well, and I've been using it as my main PC every day since. A few days ago, I decided it was time to upgrade my Hackintosh to Mac OS X 10.5.1, the first update for Leopard. Here's how it works.

Hot Image Your PC's Hard Drive with DriveImage XML

You don't need a complicated boot CD or expensive software to create a restorable system disk image for your PC: free utility DriveImage XML can save a full, working snapshot of your Windows hard drive while you work on it. (That's hot.) When your PC crashes and burns or just slows down over time, the best insurance you can have is a mirror image of your operating system, complete with drivers, user settings, software applications, and documents in one place.

With DiskImage XML, imaging your PC's hard drive is a matter of a few clicks, no reboots required. Let's check it out.

BackTrack 3 Teaser Video

Most of you by now have heard of BackTrack, the highly popular and regarded Linux Security Distro for ethical hackers. Straight from the project's developers come this teaser video. With several examples of what the new version can do and a running time of 6:16, we hope to have you on the edge of your seat in anticipation.

(more...)

jueves, 29 de noviembre de 2007

martes, 27 de noviembre de 2007

Seven Different Linux/BSD Firewalls Reviewed

Did you know more than 500 million computers in the United States have been disposed of in the last 10 years?

That’s approximately 2 computers per person! One of the best ways to re-purpose an old computer is to install a Linux or FreeBSD firewall distribution, and use it to run your personal, home office, or small office network is one way to keep “obsolete” technology from ever reaching a landfill.

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Using GPG with Gmail to Become an Ubuntero

Encrypting and signing email has its advantages. Linux has one of the best digital encrypter/signer. It's called GPG (Gnu Privacy Guard) and is solely text based, though like apt-get, there are front-ends which aren't entirely necessary (including SeaHorse). GPG can be used to encrypt files, emails, and text. It can also be used to sign documents, that is to show that the email, document, file, or whatever did actually originate from yourself and was not tampered with before the recipient received it. How does that sound?

More Evidence That XP is Vista's Main Competitor

"Computerworld is reporting that Windows XP Service Pack 3 runs MS Office 10% faster than XP SP2 — and is 'considerably faster' than Vista SP1."

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New NetBSD Core Team announced

After more than 2 years work in the NetBSD core team, Valeriy Ushakov (uwe@NetBSD.org) has decided that he would like to devote more time to other areas within the NetBSD project. Valeriy remains as port-hpcsh maintainer, and my resident guru on English literature. I know this has been a difficult decision for Valeriy to make, but he would not be talked out of it. We would like to thank him profusely for all the time he has spent on core, and for all the excellent work he has done in guiding NetBSD over the last few years - it wouldn't be the same product without him.

(more...)

domingo, 25 de noviembre de 2007

A Linux User's Look at FreeBSD - Part 1 - Package Management

I've been using various Linux flavors for years, on my servers, desktops, and laptops, but they have usually been some sort of Gentoo- or Debian-based distribution, more recently settling with my current favorite, Ubuntu. However, I've also been using a special BSD-derived distribution for my router PC called pfSense. It's based on the rock-solid m0n0wall distribution, but it includes many more features, packages, and options, including the ability to set up an Atheros chipset WiFi card to act as a wireless access point. I've been very happy with pfSense, and it's been running fairly stable for the past six months, with only occasional reboots needed, more to fix problems from my cable modem than due to pfSense itself.

(more...)

viernes, 23 de noviembre de 2007

Create Slick DVD Menus with ManDVD

Give your home-brewed DVDs a polished finish with ManDVD, a free software package for GNOME and KDE-based systems. ManDVD may not have as many encoding and burning options as K3b, DeVeDe, or other Linux DVD creators, but the front ends it creates look a good deal nicer. Grab frames or clips to create menus and video buttons, add custom text and tweak the layout to your heart's content. If you want to give your holiday videos a nice front-end (and make them a bit less confusing) for your relatives, ManDVD could fit the bill nicely.

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DesktopBSD 1.6RC3 for AMD64 Released

DesktopBSD 1.6RC3 for AMD64 is now available for download via BitTorrent and from our mirror sites. It includes several improvements made since the release of 1.6RC3 for i386, including:

-- Better performance by disabling SMP on single core/processor computers

-- Fixed installation on disks with special partition names

-- Inclusion of the FreeBSD ports collection on the DVD

(more...)

martes, 20 de noviembre de 2007

Boost Your Wi-Fi Antenna for Less than a Dollar

"After taking apart a $30 "extender" Wi-Fi router antenna, one intrepid video blogger posted a guide to making the same thing with remarkably cheap stuff."

(more...)

First look at Firefox 3.0 Beta 1

I noticed that the Beta 1 for Firefox 3.0 was made available sometime yesterday. I’ve been curious as to whether the Firefox dev team would do a serious revamp for this release or just concentrate on bug fixes and performance improvements. Early indications seem to suggest that it is indeed a major revamp of both the core and the UI, and that Firefox will be a much better browser for it.

(more...)

Learn More about the ASP.NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008

ASP.NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008 bring great new functionality around Web development and design that makes building standards based, next generation Web sites easier than ever. From the inclusion of ASP.NET AJAX into the runtime, to new controls, the new LINQ data capabilities, to improved support for CSS, JavaScript and others, Web development has taken a significant step forward.

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Link to Specific Content in Gmail

Google has made their web-based email client Gmail more accessible in their recent update. Now, the URL on top will change with your actions – meaning that if you switch to a certain conversation thread, or you switch to a label, or you perform a search, you can then actually copy the address on top as a kind of permalink.

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Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 Released

Today we shipped Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5. You can download the final release using one of the links below:

* If you are a MSDN subscriber, you can download your copy from the MSDN subscription site (note: some of the builds are just finishing being uploaded now - so check back later during the day if you don't see it yet).

* If you are a non-MSDN subscriber, you can download a 90-day free trial edition of Visual Studio 2008 Team Suite here. A 90-day trial edition of Visual Studio 2008 Professional (which will be a slightly smaller download) will be available next week. A 90-day free trial edition of Team Foundation Server can also be downloaded here.

* If you want to use the free Visual Studio 2008 Express editions (which are much smaller and totally free), you can download them here.

* If you want to just install the .NET Framework 3.5 runtime, you can download it here.

(more...)

Find files on your computer with find

A standard Linux system has an incredible amount of files installed. Looking for a file location can be a painful task to do though a file browser.

Fortunately, there is a nifty command line available by default on any Linux distribution: find.

Firefox 3 Beta 1 Now Available

Firefox 3, the next version of everyone's favorite cross-platform browser, has released a public beta for early adopters, web developers and other curious souls. New features include a Places Organizer for bookmarks and saved searches, a plug-in manager for the likes of Flash, Java and other helpers, and many more improvements and changes.

FreeBSD 7.0-BETA3 Available

The third beta of FreeBSD 7.0 has been released.

sábado, 17 de noviembre de 2007

OpenBSD: Actualización por CVSUP

"Anunciamos que hay un nuevo instructivo en el wiki, esta ves es sobre como mantener actualizado nuestro sistema OpenBSD, sistema base, kernel, ports y xenocara."

(más...)

Quickly Setting Up and Securing an Ubuntu Server

I'm setting up an old desktop as a server at school. I was going to post details about it later, but after seeing this article claiming that there are hundreds of thousands of unsecured databases out there, I thought I'd go ahead and post some of the basics on installing and securing a server running Ubuntu Linux (7.10 "Gutsy" version).

I'm assuming Ubuntu is already installed. In my case, the desktop version (not the server version which already has most of this pre-installed). I want to quickly convert it to a server to use for some research.

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PC-BSD 1.4.1 Available

A update to PC-BSD has been released today, version 1.4.1. This new version may be obtained from our download page , additionally users who are running version 1.4 may download a patch to upgrade.

(more...)

High-Quality YouTube Videos within three months

"The need to buffer the video before it starts playing will change the experience. Hence the experiment, rather than just a rapid rollout of this technology. On stage, he said the current resolution of YouTube videos has been "good enough" for the site until now. Chen told me he expects that high-quality YouTube videos will be available to everyone within three months."

(more...)

miércoles, 14 de noviembre de 2007

ZoneAlarm: firewall y Anti-Spyware Disponible gratis sólo por hoy

A través de de lifehacker me entero que ZoneAlarm está ofreciendo de forma gratuita la descarga de su firewall (básico) con un Anti-Spyware con un año de actualizaciones gratis.

Read It Later

Hay momentos que navegamos por internet y encontramos muchas páginas de gran interés y que deseamos leer en otra ocasión. Read it Later es un plugin para firefox que nos permite almacenar todas aquellas páginas que deseemos mirar más adelante con solo cliquear un botón. Una vez que tengamos el tiempo para leer, simplemente accesamos a nuestra lista de páginas guardadas y seleccionamos aquella que nos interese ver primero ;). Además de ser bastante sencillo de utilizar presenta una gran utilidad.

Secure PHP installation on unix/linux systems

With the growing concerns regarding comment SPAM, XSS attacks, security breaches, etc, we should spend some time learning how to defend ourselves against such threats.
We already know everything about input validation, code and SQL injection attacks, error logging, vulnerability scanning, etc., don't we? ;-) So, let's focus on securing our PHP server, thus barring most of the attacks from the start.

Build a Hackintosh Mac for Under $800

If the high price tag for Apple hardware has kept you from buying a Mac but you're willing to roll up your sleeves and get adventurous, you can build your own "Hackintosh"—a PC that runs a patched version of OS X Leopard. What?!, you say. Apple's move to Intel processors in 2006 meant that running OS X on non-Apple hardware is possible, and a community hacking project called OSx86 launched with that goal in mind. Since then, OSx86 has covered major ground, making it possible for civilians—like you and me!—to put together their own Hackintosh running Mac OS 10.5. Today, I'll show you how to build your own high end computer running Leopard from start to finish for under $800.

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Use the Gimp to make an Animated Gif

This HowTo shows the user how to use the Gimp to create an animated gif graphic.

martes, 13 de noviembre de 2007

Linux Vs BSD - a comparison

BSD family of Unix systems is based upon the source code of real Unix developed in Bell Labs, which was later purchased by the University of California - “Berkeley Software Distribution”. The contemporary BSD systems stand on the source code that was released in the beginning of 1990’s (Net/2 Lite and 386/BSD release).

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Remove Adware, Spyware, Trojans, Viruses and Rootkits with FreeFixer

FreeFixer is a general purpose removal tool which will help you to delete potentially unwanted software, such as adware, spyware, trojans, viruses and rootkits. FreeFixer works by scanning a large number of locations where unwanted software has a known record of appearing or leaving traces. The scan locations include the programs that run on your computer, the programs that starts when you reboot your computer, your browser's plug-ins, your home page setting, etc.

Smoothwall vs M0n0wall: A comparison

When it comes to a firewall, most people are fine with a consumer grade solution like a Linksys, Netgear or D-Link “router,” but I find these devices lacking in features that I want and speed that I need. Instead, I use a retired server that my boss gave me. With a Pentium II 200MHz processor and 1GB of RAM, this machine is way more powerful than the standard cable/dsl router you might pick up from Circuit City or Best Buy, and thanks to Free software, has features those other devices can only dream about. Here, I’ll look at two prominent solutions, Smoothwall Express 3.0 and M0n0wall 1.231.

MIT Releases Source of MULTICS

This is extraordinary news for all nerds, computer scientists and the Open Source community: the source code of the MULTICS operating system (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service), the father of UNIX and all modern OSes, has finally been opened.

PDF Viewers for Linux Compared

PDF documents are at present the most popular form of distributing documents throughout the Internet and a presentation tool at the same time. They owe their popularity not only to well defined standard embracing text, pictures and hyperlinks, but foremost to the fact that once created they can be read under nearly every operating system and its underlying platform. Of course, to open a PDF document one has to have an appropriate application.

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sábado, 10 de noviembre de 2007

Software RAID on OpenBSD using RAIDFRAME

Some time earlier I was finding it difficult to get Software RAID [using RAIDFRAME] setup on OpenBSD with just the man pages [raidctl(8)], mailing list archives and few tutorials on the Internet. The concept of boot partition being different from the root partition appeared a bit confusing in the beginning. Then Vijay Shanker gave me this step by step guide which he posted to misc@.

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jueves, 8 de noviembre de 2007

Grid Computing Saves Cancer Researchers Decades

Canadian researchers have promised to squeeze "decades" of cancer research into just two years by harnessing the power of a global PC grid. The scientists are the first from Canada to use IBM's World Community Grid network of PCs and laptops with the power equivalent to one of the globe's top five fastest supercomputers.

(more...)

miércoles, 7 de noviembre de 2007

How to use GMail as hosted spam filter

Using Gmail as Hosted Spam Filter is the simple and free solution for companies, organizations and individuals who want to get rid of spam without buying and maintaining their own anti spam server.

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OpenBSD 4.2 review

As usual, OpenBSD 4.2 offers a large collection of intelligent changes to an already great operating environment...

Using OpenBSD 4.2

If you're a software enthusiast who has never used OpenBSD before, you might enjoy installing it by yourself and figuring it out as you go. If, however, you're looking for a more practical approach to using OpenBSD 4.2 on a desktop or server machine, here's a quick guide to get you started in this spectacular operating system.

DHCP Failover on OpenBSD

"You need ISC's DHCP server (at least version 3), to do DHCP failover. As of OpenBSD 4.1, they ship version 2 by default. You can get version 3 out of the packages tree by installing isc-dhcp-server-3.0.4p0.tgz."

(more...)

lunes, 5 de noviembre de 2007

Review: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

The latest version of Apple's operating system, Mac OS X, is here and it's arguably the most significant revamp since X replaced 9. Leopard brings a new look to Mac OS X GUI, and a wealth of new features, some innovations other merely tweaks to old apps. In the first of a series looking at Leopard in depth, we go straight for Leopard's soul: the Finder.

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Another Web Based Multi Engine Virus Scanner

VirSCAN.org is a FREE service for online scanning suspicious files using several antivirus engines and you can find the result and the degree of suspicious files. VirSCAN can only help you scan the suspicious files, but VirSCAN is not responsible for the scan result from antivirus engines. If all of the engines cannot detect the file you uploaded as a malware, it can't say it isn't a new malware. If the file you uploaded detected as suspicious, VirSCAN will send the file and report to the antivirus vendors who provided engines for analyzing and they will update the signatures if it is a malware.

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Upgrade Mac OS X to Leopard

The time has come. You've been salivating for months over all the exciting goodies Apple has promised to deliver with Leopard, and now that you've got your install DVD, you're ready to make the upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5. Presumably you've already prepared your Mac for Leopard, so all that's left is the upgrade. Here's how it works.

Try Out openSUSE on a Live CD

Linux distribution openSUSE has released its first-ever live CDs for its latest version, 10.3. That means those curious to see what the lizardly Linux variant would run like on their systems can do so without messing up anything, and those who enjoy openSUSE's notable features—like the Slab application menu and built-in MP3 support—can use it as a rescue disc, show it off to their friends, or install from the desktop.

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Set Up IPsec Under Linux

The most popular way of configuring IPsec connections under Linux is by using the Openswan (http://www.openswan.org) package. Openswan is made up of two components: pluto and, optionally, KerneL IP Security (KLIPS). As of Version 2.6, the Linux kernel includes support for IPsec, but KLIPS can be used instead for some additional features. pluto is the user-land daemon that controls Internet Key Exchange (IKE) negotiation.

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domingo, 4 de noviembre de 2007

FreeBSD 7.0-BETA2 Available

The 7.0-BETA2 builds have completed and are on many of the FreeBSD mirror sites. If you want to update an existing machine using cvsup use RELENG_7 as the branch tag. Instructions on using FreeBSD Update to perform a binary upgrade from FreeBSD 6.x to 7.0-BETA2 will be provided via the freebsd-stable list when available.

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jueves, 1 de noviembre de 2007

Foundation Auction Ending Soon!

As of this writing, there is 22 hours and 10 minutes left for bidding on the first copy of the book Absolute FreeBSD! We've been so pleased with the response we've received from the FreeBSD community on this auction.

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What's New in OpenBSD 4.2

Even though security is still there, this release comes with some amazing performance improvements: basic benchmarks showed PF being twice as fast, a rewrite of the TLB shootdown code for i386 and amd64 cut the time to do a full package build by 20 percent (mostly because all the forks in configure scripts have become much cheaper), and the improved frequency scaling on MP systems can help save nearly 20 percent of battery power.

And then the new features: FFS2, support for the Advanced Host Controller Interface, IP balancing in CARP, layer 7 manipulation with hoststated, Xenocara, and more!

Desktop FreeBSD Part 9: FreeBSD and Broadband

Of all the tasks in FreeBSD, setting up a broadband connection is probably one of the easiest. All the various BSDs are built around networking, and most broadband connections operate pretty much like an extended LAN, using the same hardware, often called an "ethernet" connection: something that looks like fat phone lines, which plug into similarly fat-looking sockets which resemble telephone jacks.

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Simplify backups with Synbak

Synbak brings together several different backup methods and provides a powerful reports system that provides details about all the work it does. Synbak can use rsync over Secure Shell (SSH), Server Message Block (SMB), or Common Internet File System (CIFS) and either create tar archives or burn CDs and DVDs (quaintly called laserdiscs in a throwback to old times). It can also access and back up MySQL and Oracle databases and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) servers. Finally, it can send you an email message with the backup details and create an HTML plus RSS Web page with the same information.

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OpenBSD 4.2 Released

"We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 4.2. This is our 22nd release on CD-ROM (and 23rd via FTP). We remain proud of OpenBSD's record of more than ten years with only two remote holes in the default install," Theo de Raadt announced. In addition to a lengthy list of new features and improvements, the release announcement includes a dedication:

"We dedicate this release to the memory of long-time developer Jun-ichiro 'itojun' Itoh Hagino, who focused his life on IPv6 deployment for everyone. Without his BSD and IETF participation, IPv6 would not be where it is today. Only now people are becoming aware of his numerous contributions because he took credit for much less than he accomplished. The developers in our project will all miss him."

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miércoles, 31 de octubre de 2007

BSD, the More Unix-like OS

The computer industry can be a scary place. Products try to evolve carefully, but get caught in the publicity machine and quickly grow out of control. This year’s poster child for too-fast growth is Linux. While many network managers have found Linux to be more stable and reliable than Windows 2000, they also have begun to worry about whether the hype machine will destabilize Linux. Into this picture steps Linux’s lesser-known cousins, the Berkeley Software Distribution-based operating systems - FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and BSDI.

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Creating Local SVN Repository (Home Repository)

In this tutorial I will explain how to create a local Subversion (SVN) repository, intended for a single user. I assume that you already know the benefits of keeping track of old revision of projects or important documents such as a resume or a thesis you have been writing. Subversion offers you a very convenient yet strong method to do so, and the easiest way to do so with Subversion (SVN) is to create a local, home, repository intended for a single user - you.

Oracle Instant Client for PHP & Linux

Linux + Oracle + PHP

konang.blogspot.com

Apache authentication and authorization using LDAP

Network administrators frequently use the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) to implement a centralized directory server. You can use LDAP to authenticate users in Apache. Two popular open source LDAP solutions are OpenLDAP and Red Hat Directory Server. According to the Apache documentation, Novell LDAP and iPlanet Directory Server are also supported. This article focuses on OpenLDAP, but the concepts and examples should be applicable to the others.

The Uncertain Future of BitTorrent

The people behind the popular BitTorrent tracker are working on a new version of the BitTorrent protocol that could become the successor to the current one, maintained by BitTorrent Inc. The company founded by Bram Cohen — original author of this protocol — now has decided to close the source for several new features in the BitTorrent protocol, and this "gives them too much power and influence".

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FreeBSD 7.0 beats Linux in multi-core systems

Two years have past since FreeBSD came out with a new version, but don’t think that the development has halted just because of this long period. Soon it’s time for the launch of FreeBSD 7.0 which offers ton of new things. According to tests performed by FreeBSD, the new version will beat Linux when it comes to multi-core systems.

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Create A Backup Image of Your System with DriveImage

Freeware application DriveImage XML creates and restores images of any drive or partition on your system. That means that next time you freshly install Windows on your computer (whether XP or Vista), you can back up that clean and sparkling system state with DriveImage XML.

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Cracking Windows passwords with Linux

If you lose a Windows password, or you buy a system that has an OS on it, but you don't know the password, what are you to do? The best thing to do would be to throw in a Linux CD, format the drive, and install the Distro. But, what if you want to boot to the system and see what's on there, and get data off?

Well, we have quite a few options. I'm going to cover two of them.

martes, 30 de octubre de 2007

BSD, The Humble UNIX Family

Back in the beginning of the operating systems history, UNIX was the king of the scene. For the general public, UNIX might be the best known from Jurassic Park (“It’s a UNIX system! I know this!”). Although many use and know only Microsoft’s Windows operating system, UNIX (and alike) operating systems are still alive and well, and many might not realize they actually use UNIX systems every day - Internet literally runs on UNIX(-alike) systems. BSD is one operating system family that originates from the original UNIX source code.

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GIMP: Liquid rescaling by example

Have you ever taken a picture which would be just great only if you could remove that strange unwanted object that showed up in the middle of nowhere and now kills the whole effect? Or perhaps you just want to get rid of your ex-girlfriend and keep the photo with a fantastic landscape alone? Whatever your secret plans are, GIMP Liquid rescale plugin is there for you. Just use it!

No more TextMaker for FreeBSD

According to SoftMaker president Martin Kotulla, the only commercial word processor available as a native FreeBSD application, TextMaker, will no longer support that platform as of the upcoming 2008 edition. There will of course be a Windows edition, and a native Linux edition (which should be able to run through the Linux binary compatibility software in FreeBSD), but the FreeBSD edition will not grow beyond TextMaker (and the full SoftMaker Office suite) 2006 unless there is more demand from FreeBSD users, and the operating system itself becomes easier to develop for.

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Introducing FreeBSD 7.0

FreeBSD 7.0 will be the next release of FreeBSD, and is the first major release in 2 years. It's due out some time later this year (currently in pre-release and available for testing). FreeBSD 7.0 brings major changes to the BSD and open source operating system landscape.

(more...)

domingo, 28 de octubre de 2007

JDK 1.6.0 patchset 2 "Mestengo"

On behalf of the BSD Java Porting team, I'm pleased to announce the availability of Patchset 2 "Mestengo" for JDK 1.6, based on the JDK 1.6.0 Update 2 JRL source code.

This patchset includes bug fixes and updates the code base to use the 1.6.0 Update 2 source code. However, the most exciting part of this patchset is that the browser plugin code now fully supports amd64. This is the first such support of any operating system that I'm aware of and I'd like to specially thank Jung-uk Kim and Kurt Miller for their work on this.

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sábado, 27 de octubre de 2007

Using daemontools (supervise) on FreeBSD

daemontools is a collection of tools for managing UNIX services.

supervise monitors a service. It starts the service and restarts the service if it dies. Setting up a new service is easy: all supervise needs is a directory with a run script that runs the service.

At first when I was introduced to this tool at work, I thought “What a typical Linux-admin. FreeBSD’s rc. system is superior.” Despite my personal preferences, whatever software is used at work is what I have to use and learn to use, too. After getting a little more familiar with supervise, and installing it on a FreeBSD server, I was finally convinced that this may also have a place on FreeBSD machines.

viernes, 26 de octubre de 2007

Formateando una unidad de disquete en FreeBSD

Para esto se usará el comando fdformat(1) de la siguiente forma:

1) /usr/sbin/fdformat fd0 (Formateo a bajo nivel)
2) /sbin/bsdlabel -B -w /dev/fd0 fd1440 (Etiquetado)
3) /sbin/newfs_msdos /dev/fd0 (Formateo a alto nivel)

Con el paso 3 aplicamos un sistema de archivos fat.

fácil, no?

Ajax for media

With the advent of widely available broadband, media, movies, images, and sound drive the Web 2.0 revolution. Learn to combine media with technologies such as PHP and Asynchronous JavaScript™ + XML (Ajax) to create a compelling experience for your customers.

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OpenBSD diskless install

Here is a recipe to boot OpenBSD (4.1) from an OpenBSD (4.1) box. This can be used to boot any machine that has no disks and supports pxeboot. The advantage is you save a little money on not buying hard-disks, but on the other hand, the "server" that serves everything must be always on.

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jueves, 25 de octubre de 2007

GNOME 2.20.1 available for FreeBSD

On behalf of the FreeBSD GNOME team, it is my great pleasure to announce that GNOME 2.20.1 has been merged into the FreeBSD ports tree. The official GNOME 2.20 release notes can be found at http://www.gnome.org/start/2.20/notes/en/ .

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miércoles, 24 de octubre de 2007

GIMP 2.4 Released!

General Improvements:

  1. Refreshed Look
  2. Scalable Brushes
  3. Selection Tools
  4. Foreground Select Tool
  5. Align Tool
  6. Changes in menus
  7. Improved display when zooming in or out
  8. Support for file formats

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The BSD Community Compared to the Linux Community

I'll tell you the number one thing right off that I like better about BSD than Linux: the peace and quiet.

Update on The FreeBSD Foundation's Auction

Dear FreeBSD Community,

I'm so excited about the response we have received regarding the auction. So far, the bidding is up to $345!

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Foundation auctioning off First Copy of Absolute FreeBSD

The FreeBSD Foundation is pleased to announce we're kicking off our 2007 Fall Fundraising campaign by auctioning off the first copy of the book Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd Edition. You can be the first one to own this book, while helping the FreeBSD Project and community. This book was generously donated by the author himself and he will include a signed authentic laser-printed Certificate of Authenticity, and a signed bookplate.

(more...)

martes, 23 de octubre de 2007

7.0-BETA1 Available, 6.3-BETA1 coming soon...

We have entered the final phases of the FreeBSD-7.0 Release cycle which also means the beginning of the FreeBSD-6.3 Release cycle. Because the people who support the ports for FreeBSD also need to go through a freeze cycle as part of releases we had decided to combine the two releases to try and minimize the impact on the ports maintainers.

(more...)

8-CURRENT, RELENG_7 and RELENG_6 have gotten latest unionfs improvements

Hi unionfs folks

It is my pleasure and honor to announce the commitment of
latest unionfs improvements for 8-current, RELENG_7 and
RELENG_6. Now you can get more stable operation using
unionfs on latest 8/7/6.

(more...)

viernes, 19 de octubre de 2007

Ten Years of pkgsrc

10 years ago - on October 3rd 1997 - the pkgsrc software management system was created by Alistair Crooks and Hubert Feyrer. pkgsrc, the NetBSD Packages Collection, was intended primarily as a packaging system for NetBSD. Derived from the FreeBSD Ports system, pkgsrc became a success story. Today, pkgsrc is a cross-platform framework, running on the BSDs, Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, many Unix derivatives, and even on QNX and Windows.

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Secure a Wireless LAN

Take your mouse and hover it over the Wifi icon in the bottom right of your computer screen. Go ahead, do it. It will show you the name of your wireless network. If you're like 80% of Wifi users, the wireless network you are connected to is titled something like, "Linksys (Unsecured)" or "Default (Unsecured)".

An unsecured wireless network is an open invitation to hackers to walk right in to your computer and steal your personal information, upload malware onto your computer, and otherwise terrorize you. Thankfully, securing your Wifi connection is extraordinarily simple to do. In this article we cover 10 simple steps that will take your wireless network from being a welcome beacon to hackers to the wi-fi equivalent of Fort Knox. So let's get started…

Aprende a "photoshopear" con Gimp

Te presentamos tres técnicas para que te inicies en el programa elegido por las huestes "libertarias", cuando se trata de editar imágenes. Conoce la forma de retocar fotografías, quitar ojos rojos, usar filtros y poner atractivos efectos con esta herramienta 100% gratuita y en español. Porque Gimp, señores, alcanza para todos.

FreeBSD 6.2 EoL =~ s/January/May/

Hello Everyone,

In light of the longer-than-expected window between 6.3-RELEASE and 6.2-RELEASE, the End-of-Life date for FreeBSD 6.2 has been adjusted from January 31st, 2008 to May 31st, 2008. As a result, FreeBSD 5.5, FreeBSD 6.1, and FreeBSD 6.2 will all cease to be supported at the end of May 2008.

(more...)

Creating and Managing A Jailed Virtual Host in FreeBSD

This Howto article is intended to be a practical example, and I will start my host system with FreeBSD 6.2-RELEASE. The Install will be of the "minimal" variety, and for the first part of this document, we will not update the system with buildworld. After a jail is created, we will then update the host, and then update the jail. This will demonstrate a practical example of how to build, and then maintain a jail thru critical security releases.

Managing Multiple FreeBSD Systems

It is quite simple to manage multiple FreeBSD systems on your network, and to keep them maintained to the same revision level. The buildworld process can be quite long, but luckily, you only need to do it once, no matter how many FreeBSD machines you operate. In this document, I will describe how to keep multiple machines updated from only one copy of the ports tree, and one copy of the system sources.

PHP Access To An MSSQL Database From Debian Etch With ODBC And FreeTDS

This assumes you already have Apache2 and PHP5 set up properly on your system. My efforts to get this connection working were compiled from information found at www.unixodbc.org and www.freetds.org. These steps worked for me with an Apache2 web server with php5 running on Debian Etch stable in October of 2007. The SQL server is running Microsoft SQL 2005 on a Windows 2003 Server OS.

Using Remote Modem

Sometimes we need to use a modem or some other serial device connected to another computer. And occasionally, we have access to the device itself. So, here is an example of how it can be accomplished.

Unofficial Patch For Windows URI Hole

The latest Microsoft patches published on October's Patch Tuesday did not include a solution, so hackers have taken on the problem themselves. One, KJK::Hyperion, has published (as open source) an unofficial patch that cleans up the critical parameters of URI system calls before calling the vulnerable Windows system function.

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Share Files on Usenet

The main advantage of Usenet is speed. P2P networks like BitTorrent and Kazaa depend on peers for download speed and reliability. Usenet, on the other hand, depends largely on the speed of your connection. There's no slow peer connection to choke your downloads. Combine those advantages with the fact that Usenet files are generally posted by trusted members, and thus less likely to contain malicious code and you begin to see why its popularity is growing.

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martes, 16 de octubre de 2007

FreeBSD: The best server OS.

I've configured and maintained over 100 UNIX-based servers over the years starting with Slackware Linux 2.0 back in 1995. Over all course of all the deployments I've become very biased about my operating systems. Linux clearly has a solid lead with desktop applications, but for server deployments and maintainability, I believe firmly in FreeBSD.

DenyHosts on FreeBSD 6.2

If you run a nix server for a little while, you’ll notice that bots will try to gain illegitimate access to your server through ssh. While this unsettles a lot of people, there’s really nothing to worry about as long as you don’t permit root logins (Many Linux distributions allow direct root login via ssh by default) and have a strong password policy.

Nonetheless, taking just an extra measure of security is a good idea, and this is where DenyHosts comes into the picture. DenyHosts is a small Python script which makes password-guessing on your OpenSSH deployments virtually impossible, by allowing only a limited number of login attempts to your sshd. After a set number of tries, DenyHosts simply denies the given IP further attempts. What’s even cooler about DenyHosts, is that the most recent version (2.0) allows you to benefit from over 23.400 other peoples ban lists, thus meaning you’re saving yourself a lot of worrying about those pesky login attempts. An added bonus is that you’ll save yourself a few kB’s of network traffic and a few CPU cycles by straight-out denying any previous offenders a connection to your server. :)

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Stepping out of Linux and into BSD: A first look at PC-BSD

Is BSD ready for prime-time? PC-BSD 1.4, a desktop-centered, FreeBSD based operating system has just been released and is looking to attract attention from the growing throngs of Linux users. But how well does it stack up to popular and easy to use Linux distributions like Ubuntu? Why should anyone care about BSD, isn't it dead? Read on for more about the latest release of this up-and-coming desktop BSD, including installation and desktop screenshots.

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KDE 3.5.8 Released

The KDE Project today announced the immediate availability of KDE 3.5.8, a maintenance release for the latest generation of the most advanced and powerful free desktop for GNU/Linux and other UNIXes. KDE now supports 65 languages, making it available to more people than most non-free software and can be easily extended to support others by communities who wish to contribute to the open source project.

The main focus of improvements for KDE 3.5.8 is

* Improvements in Konqueror and its web browsing component KHTML. Bugs in handling HTTP connections have been fixed, KHTML has improved support of some CSS features for more standards compliance.

* In the kdegraphics package, lots of fixes in KDE's PDF viewer and Kolourpaint, a painting application, went into this release.

* The KDE PIM suite has, as usual, seen numerous stability fixes, covering KDE's email client KMail, the organizer application KOrganizer and various other bits and pieces.

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More on OpenBSD's new compiler

A few weeks ago, the OpenBSD Project announced that the Portable C Compiler (PCC) had been added to the OpenBSD source tree. There has already been some explanation of why the traditional GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is troublesome and why a new compiler is needed, but there are still some details left uncovered. In this interview, Theo de Raadt and Otto Moerbeek of the OpenBSD Project offer more information about PCC and GCC and where they are headed within the project.

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domingo, 14 de octubre de 2007

a basic FreeBSD server install part 2 - Apache, PHP, and MySQL

These articles are being written in order to try and clear up the misconception that FreeBSD is difficult to install and use. With the proper documentation and information, FreeBSD can be just as easy to use as any other Linux- or UNIX-type operating system. In this part of the basic FreeBSD server tutorial, we will be discussing installing Apache, PHP, and MySQL from the ports collection as well as a number of other topics. The following is a list of everything this article will cover:

* Installing Apache 2.2.x from ports
* Installing PHP 5.2.4 and mod_php from ports
* Installing MySQL and php5-mysql (MySQL extension for PHP 5)
* Setting up per-user web directories
* Setting up Virtual Hosts for your domains
* Setting up phpMyAdmin on a Virtual Host for easy administration of MySQL databases
* Various other tips & tricks

Demystifying the Linux start-up processes

Linux users can boast long times between reboots, but even so, the startup screens will grace your display at some time. Here’s just what your computer is doing during this process, the several important steps that occur and the order they take place, and how you can take control.

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Configuring WCCP2 on a Cisco 3620/7206 router with Squid-2.6.16 running on FreeBSD-6.x

This How-To details the steps required to configure WCCP version 2 with a Cisco 3620 or 7206 router together with Squid-2.6.STABLE16 running on FreeBSD-6.2.

MySQL performance tuning

This document serves as a starting point for MySQL performance tuning. This document is a combination of research and experience. When I started this document, I utilized a great Google video [1] as a reference for the document structure and many bullet items. I would suggest watching this video. I then filled in a few blanks, and combined a few other articles into this overview.

viernes, 12 de octubre de 2007

How to Protect Your Web Server from Attacks

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released a new publication that provides detailed tips on how to make web servers more resistant to potential attacks. Called “Guidelines on Securing Public Web Servers,” the publication covers some of the latest threats to web security, while reflecting general changes in web technology that have taken place since the first version of the guide was published 5 years ago.

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10 tips for securing Apache

In this article, I will provide you with 10 tips that will help you keep your Apache Web server protected from predators. Bear in mind that you need to carefully evaluate each of these tips to make sure that they are right for your organization.

'Hybrid' HDD Technology To Allow Data Access Without Booting

You've got a file on your laptop that you need to access — but you don't want to wait for your laptop to boot up to get at it. New technology from the company Silicon Storage Technology will make the contents of a hard drive accessible via a computer's USB port even when the computer is powered down.

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AsiaBSDCon 2008 Call for Papers

AsiaBSDCon is a conference for users and developers on BSD based systems. The next conference will be held in Tokyo, in March of 2008. The conference is for anyone developing, deploying and using systems based on FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, DragonFlyBSD, Darwin and MacOS X. AsiaBSDCon is a technical conference and aims to collect the best technical papers and presentations available to ensure that the latest developments in our open source community are shared with the widest possible audience.

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Threading Benchmarks, NetBSD versus FreeBSD

Andrew Doran posted some threading benchmark results to NetBSD's tech-kern mailing list, following up to some benchmarks he'd posted earlier. The results compared NetBSD -current with FreeBSD -current, and the Linux 2.6.21 kernel. Kris Kennaway was surprised by the results, and ran his own benchmarks with minimal configuration changes, summarizing, "this measurement shows that FreeBSD is performing 70-80% better than NetBSD in this 4 CPU configuration. This is in contrast to Andrew's findings which seem to show NetBSD performing 10% better than FreeBSD on a 4 CPU system (a very old one though)." He added, "the drop-off above 8 threads on FreeBSD is due to non-scalability of mysql itself. i.e. it comes from pthread mutex contention in userland."

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miércoles, 10 de octubre de 2007

FreeBSD Status Reports for the Third Quarter of 2007

This report covers FreeBSD related projects between July and October 2007. The sixth EuroBSDCon was held in Denmark in September. The Google Summer of Code project came to a close and lots of participants are working getting their code merged back into FreeBSD.

martes, 9 de octubre de 2007

How to keep your old PC alive

Windows and most of the proprietary software requires more and more computer power as it's version increases. This results to new hardware all the time for us. But what about our old abandoned PCs? Should we throw them away?
Of course not! Linux gives us many opportunities to use our old hardware and keep it alive while saving money.

OpenOffice.org 2.3 Review

Unlike previous 2.x releases, OpenOffice.org 2.3 is a new and enhanced feature release rather than a bug fix. There are several smart changes, a whole new approach to adding new features and of course the much anticipated new charting tool. This is definitely a release to get to know.

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Fluxbox 1.0 Released

Fluxbox 1.0 has been released.

Linux Kernel 2.6.23 Released

After 3 months, Linus has released Linux 2.6.23.

(more...)

lunes, 8 de octubre de 2007

PostgreSQL 8.2 LiveCD

Pg_live es una distribución en formato LiveCD basada en Xubuntu creada por el Grupo de Usuarios *BSD de Nueva York "diseñada y optimizada expresamente para el administrador y el entusiasta de la base de datos PostgreSQL". El CD de Pg_live arranca con un servidor web Apache con PHP, SSH y, por supuesto, PosgreSQL compilado con los siguientes lenguajes procedurales: plpgsql, plperl, pltcl, plpython, plruby, pljava y plr. Se incluyen también 3 clientes de PostgreSQL (psql, PgAdmin3 y phpPgAdmin) y replicación con Slony, además de miles de páginas de documentación y hasta el todavía vigente libro Practical PostgreSQL.

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Windows XP SP3 Build 3205 Released w/ New Features

"Windows XP SP3 build 3205 is the first official & authorized release of the next Windows XP service pack; and has been made available to testers as a part of the Windows Server 2008/Windows Vista SP1 beta program."

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domingo, 7 de octubre de 2007

Desktop FreeBSD Part 8: Updating the Core System

So, how are you liking FreeBSD? Do you believe it's something you work with, live with day after day? If you find you've gotten used to it, maybe the time has come to get more acquainted with one of the best features of FreeBSD: It's relatively painless to update the entire system by rebuilding it from code. The emphasis is not so much slavishly chasing the cutting edge of BSD technology. Instead, our focus will be on security updates and optimization.

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4.2 Release Song - 100001 1010101

Theo de Raadt announces the song for OpenBSD 4.2:

Just back from my (hiking) trip, I am happy to announce the 4.2 song has been added to the lyrics page at

http://www.openbsd.org/lyrics.html

Yes, it is designed to sound like a mid-era Rush song, ie. something from Grace Under Pressure or such. And there's a few easter eggs hidden in the song as well. It also explains the inside sleeve image...

(more...)

viernes, 5 de octubre de 2007

Minimal FreeBSD Installation

This article shows you how to install one of the most stable OS in a virtual environment using the VMWare virtualization server. This however should not frighten or disappoint you, as the technique is pretty much the same for non-virtual environment.

Secure remote access to your desktop

Accessing your home server safely can be problematic, especially if you don't have a fixed IP address, but with Linux, DynDNS, PAM, and NX Free you can create a safe remote access path to your machine.

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PostgreSQL Replication with Slony-I

"In this post, we look at another replication mechanism available for PostgreSQL, Slony-I. Slony-I is an asynchronous, master-slave replication system. With PGCluster, we had the ability to load balance connections to the PostgreSQL database, knowing that data that is modified in one server will be replicated across to the other server. Additionally, its synchronous nature gave us confidence that, in the event of a failure, all completed transactions will be accounted for. With Slony-I, we run into a very different type of replication. Slony-I is a master-slave system, designed to utilize one master database, and one or more slaves. Data is replicated in a one-way fashion, from the master to the slave(s). It does not include a built-in load balancing feature like PGCluster, and there is no automatic failover from a failed master to one of the slaves. Failover must be manually configured using a third-party utility, such as heartbeat. Slony-I's asynchronous nature means that, in the event of a database failure, there may be uncommitted transactions that have not been replicated across. Slony-I performs batching of transaction replication in order to improve performance. However, if the master fails prior to a batch of transactions being replicated, those transactions are lost."

PostgreSQL Replication with PGCluster

"In an earlier post, I briefly mentioned the PGCluster project. PGCluster is an extension of the PostgreSQL database, designed to give it synchronous, multi-master replication. Replication is one of the areas in which PostgreSQL is lacking in comparison to other proprietary databases, such as Oracle or MS SQL Server. However, after playing around with PGCluster, I have become very impressed with its capabilities. If development continues, PGCluster could offer a sound solution to a very important problem that large enterprises will encounter if they wish to role out PostgreSQL in a high-availability situation."

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Install SNMP on Debian

In this tutorial I’m going to teach you how to install SNMP on Debian and configure it for local or remote use. Simple Network Management Protocol is a widely used protocol for monitoring the health and welfare of network equipment, computer equipment and even devices like UPS’s. Net-SNMP is a suite of applications used to implement SNMP v1, SNMP v2c and SNMP v3 using both IPv4 and IPv6. In my case I’m using snmp to monitor the status of my servers, both linux and windows. I use Cacti to graph all this information. (I will cover cacti installation on Debian in a future post).

jueves, 4 de octubre de 2007

NetBSD 4.0 Release Candidate 2 available for download

on behalf of the NetBSD Release Engineering team, I am happy to announce the availability of NetBSD 4.0 Release Candidate 2.

Binaries and ISOs are available from

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-4.0_RC2

The list of changes from the 3.0 release is available in the release
notes, online at
ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-4.0_RC2/i386/INSTALL.html#Changes%20Between%20T...

There have been many fixes since the previous release candidate, RC1.

The most important ones are:

- ICH9 support in wm(4).
- Enhanced Speedstep support for VIA C7/Eden and amd64.
- many bugfixes for IPF.
- FAST_IPSEC fixes.
- wpi(4) bugfix.
- proplib local DoS fix.
- fix procfs exposing the real path of an executable inside chroot.
- msdosfs bugfix.
- fix of crash dumps on sparc64.
- ACPI SCI (system control interrupt) bug fix, addresses interrupt storms seen on some machines.

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Flash on FreeBSD/PC-BSD/DBSD

"Previously we reported Matteo’s suggestion on how to get Flash and YouTube/Google Video to work on FreeBSD, but now that gnash-0.8.1 is in the ports tree (and hence avilable for FreeBSD, PC-BSD and DesktopBSD), the greasemonkey+mplayer hack is no longer needed to watch these videos."

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ComixWall ISG 4.1b released

The first public release of ComixWall ISG 4.1b is ready for download.

ComixWall is developed on OpenBSD using ports/packages and other software, and uses only free/open source software licensed under either BSD or GPL. ComixWall is freely available for all. The project goal is to have all the advanced features of many commercial and closed-source (some half open source) ISGs. This is a very serious undertaking, because most of the free and open source firewalls available on the Internet fail to support many of the features available on those commercial and closed-source ISGs.

(more...)

miércoles, 3 de octubre de 2007

FreeBSD-SA-07:08.openssl

http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-announce/

Open Journal Systems on FreeBSD

As the name suggests, Open Journal Systems is an open source system for publishing and managing online journals. I'm currently evaluating its indexing, email notification, and reader comment features to see if they are suited to the collaborative features we wish to add to the OSBR.

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PC-BSD 1.4

Two reviews of PC-BSD 1.4.

martes, 2 de octubre de 2007

Resize Images without Sacrificing Content with GIMP

Ever have to crop or resize a picture to fit it better on a web site but end up disappointed with the content you have to lose from the photo? Using a method called liquid rescaling, your pics can be rescaled while retaining almost all of the pertinent content, so you can get the best of both worlds—a smaller image that retains everything you want. If it still sounds a little unclear, check out the video to see this brilliant idea in action.

If you're a fan of the open source image editor GIMP, you can download and install the Liquid Rescale GIMP plug-in to get liquid rescaling results (after you install it by moving the downloaded files into your GIMP directory, you'll see the Liquid Rescale option under the Layer menu).

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First look at PC-BSD 1.4

PC-BSD 1.4 was released last week and I was quite anxious to test it. I had looked at a couple of earlier versions and I was always quite impressed at the work this small development team was doing. PC-BSD is based on FreeBSD and this release is built using 6.2-STABLE. FreeBSD can still be a bit intimidating to some users, but PC-BSD works to eliminate that. In fact, PC-BSD is so user-friendly it might be considered the Ubuntu of free BSDs.

lunes, 1 de octubre de 2007

serving more UNIX GUIs with VNC at the same time

There is an easy way to access your Linux's GUI: VNC.

Flash Player 9 Update

This update, codenamed “Moviestar,” includes new features, enhancements and bug fixes for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux versions of Flash Player 9, including:

* Support for H.264 video and HE-AAC audio codecs.
* Multi-core support for vector rendering.
* Full screen mode with hardware scaling.
* Flash Player cache for common platform components, such as the Flex framework.
* Support for Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) in the Windows plug-in.

sábado, 29 de septiembre de 2007

Snooker ball as a pseudo 3d object

I don’t really remeber when and where, but once I have read that GIMP isn’t suitable for pseudo 3D graphics. Nothing more fallible! I will try to prove it wrong.

(more...)

viernes, 28 de septiembre de 2007

Setting Up .screenrc

Messing with screen, making it work for you!

Software Freedom Law Center resolves BSD-GPL wireless code dispute

The Software Freedom Law Center, provider of pro bono legal services to protect and advance free and open-source software, announced on Sept. 27 that it has carefully reviewed the lineage of the open-source Atheros wireless driver for Linux and determined that portions of it can be distributed under the ISC license (also known as the two-clause BSD license).

What ordinarily might have been an issue barely worth noticing became a loud, public dispute in Linux and BSD circles. The conflict began when some Linux developers proposed on the Linux Kernel mailing list that some Atheros wireless device drivers -- some of which were already licensed under a dual-BSD/GPL license, while the rest were covered by a modified BSD license -- be re-licensed under a pure GPLv2 license.

(more...)

jueves, 27 de septiembre de 2007

Latest OS Version a Free Masterpiece?

Latest desktop BSD release is code-named da Vinci, but will it advance BSD into the desktop mainstream?

Introduction to Backups with Rsync

Rsync can be used to copy files and full paths from one place to another while preserving permissions and ownerships. For this reason, Rsync is my preferred backup tool. Although all Linux distributions come with countless tools to copy, move and transfer data bits, Rsync is your one stop shop for secure data backup and synchronization. I'll outline some key, introductory features below.

(more...)

miércoles, 26 de septiembre de 2007

Top 10 Ways to Put Your Remote Server to Good Use

An always-on server can come in all kinds of handy for running automated tasks, syncing your data, remote controlling downloads and acting as a proxy.

Check out our top 10 ways to put your remote server to best use.

Linux Load Balancing Cluster

Linux Load Balancing Cluster HowTo is a document that describes how you can create a failover cluster of Linux machines that acts as a load balancing mechanism between the real network and groups of other machines (real servers).

This setup will help someone to achieve high availability in many services plus the ability and flexibility to add / remove servers when needed.

The Perfect Server - Gentoo 2007.0

This tutorial shows how to set up a Gentoo 2007.0 based server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters: Apache web server (SSL-capable), Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server, Courier POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc. This tutorial is written for the x86 version of Gentoo 2007.0, but should apply to other architectures with very little modification.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OPENSSH!

Eight years ago today, Sept 26 1999, Theo de Raadt committed the initial source code for OpenSSH to the OpenBSD repository. The code was a fork of Björn Grönvall's OSSH, which was derived from an early version of the increasingly "less free" ssh from Tatu Ylönen. With only two months until the 2.6 release, the team moved quickly to remove code covered by restrictive licenses, push patent encumbered features to external libraries, and add important features such as 1.5 protocol support.

(more...)

martes, 25 de septiembre de 2007

Firefox 3 Antiphishing Sends Your URLs To Google

As we were discussing, Gran Paradiso — the latest version of Firefox — is nearing release. Gran Paradiso includes a form of malware protection that checks every URL against a known list of sites. It does so by sending each URL to Google.

(more...)

lunes, 24 de septiembre de 2007

Setting up a Soekris 5501 with OpenBSD 4.2

I recently purchased a new Soekris net5501 to replace my beige box firewall. I had previously set up a net4501 but I wasn't happy with it and sold it to a friend. Large file transfers would grind it to a halt and the performance wasn't as good as my beige box. The net5501 has increased horsepower (faster processor, more memory) and a better network chipset (vr(4)). And, most of all, because there are 4 network ports! At my house I have 3 network + my FiOS connection. I have my internal LAN (wired with full access to everything), my wireless network (requires authentication and has limited access to the LAN) and my DMZ (for my web server; no access to the LAN or wireless networks).

For my installation, I use Yaifo so I don't have to deal with a serial console or setting up pxeboot. (I actually did hook up a serial console to update the bios, which I'll discuss later). Also, I use a custom rc and a flashdist-like system so I can mount my CF read-only. My "fdlite" script doesn't rely on a customized install like flashdist. It does use some of the device modifications Chris uses to make the read-only / work properly, though.

(more...)

PC-BSD 1.4 Released

The PC-BSD team is pleased to announce the availability of PC-BSD 1.4 (da Vinci edition)! This release is made available via the efforts of many developers and testers, who have spent the past months refining and improving upon the core PC-BSD experience.

This release of PC-BSD includes several notable highlights, including:

* Moving the FreeBSD base version to 6-STABLE
* Xorg 7.2
* KDE 3.5.7
* Compiz-Fusion 0.5.2
* Support for Flash7 in native BSD browsers. (Konq, Opera, FireFox)
* Official NVIDIA drivers to simplify activating Hardware acceleration.

(more...)

domingo, 23 de septiembre de 2007

New Firefox 3.0 alpha blocks malware, secures plug-in updates

Among the security provisions debuting in the new alpha of "Gran Paradiso," the code name for Firefox 3.0, are built-in anti-malware warnings and protection against rogue extension updates, according to documentation Mozilla posted to its Web site.

The malware blocker, which was first mocked up in June, will block Web sites thought to contain malicious downloads. The feature, a companion to the phishing site alert system in the current Firefox 2.0, will use information provided by Google Inc. to flag potentially-dangerous sites, warn anyone trying to reach those URLs with Firefox and automatically block access to the site.

(more...)

Coming Soon: Automatic Linux driver Upgrades

Linux users want two things for their hardware: drivers; and easy access to those drivers. The first is finally happening; and now, thanks to a Dell Linux project called DKMS (Dynamic Kernel Module Support), the other is on its way.

(more...)

FreeBSD 6.2 + KDE 3.5.7 + Xorg 7.3 (From Scratch)

Aburrido del apt-get/aptitude de Debian y de los famosos repositorios, decidí instalar mi propio escritorio con FreeBSD y eliminar la falsa creencia que los BSD no son para escritorio.

A continuación explicaré como realicé la instalación de kde 3.5.7 y Xorg 7.3 desde cero.

Pasos:

1) Instalar FreeBSD 6.2. (Instalación Minima)
2) Actualizar el árbol de Ports.
3) mkdir /usr/X11R6
4) sh /usr/ports/Tools/scripts/mergebase.sh
5) cd /usr/ports/x11/xorg/ && make install clean
6) cd /usr/ports/x11/kdebase3/ && make install clean
7) cd /usr/ports/misc/kde3-i18n-es/ && make install clean
8) Crear el archivo /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

Con los pasos anteriores ya se tendrá una instalación básica de kde con la ultima versión de Xorg.

Si se desea comenzar a usar kde con el comando 'startx', se debe ejecutar el siguiente comando:

echo "exec startkde" >> ~/.xinitrc

si se desea comenzar kde a través de kdm se debe editar /etc/ttys y reemplazar la linea:

ttyv8 "/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon" xterm off secure

por:

ttyv8 "/usr/local/bin/kdm -nodaemon" xterm on secure


Todo esto, además de otros paquetes instalados (gimp, amsn, firefox, xmms, etc), me instaló aproximadamente 350 ports. Se debe tener en cuenta que Xorg por si solo instala aproximadamente unos 250 ports (bastante livianos muchos de ellos).

Por último, debo decir que estas instalaciones se hicieron en un pentium 4 a 1.70GHz y en una slice de 13GB. EL proceso completo tomó aproximadamente 16 horas.



Espero les sea de utilidad.

sábado, 22 de septiembre de 2007

Zero-day Exploit in PDF With Adobe Reader

Security researcher Petko Petkov, who is known for his recent discovery of a vulnerability with Quicktime in Firefox, claims to have discovered an exploit that allows arbitrary code execution when a maliciously crafted PDF document is opened in any version of Adobe Reader.

(more...)

Microsoft to Allow PC Makers to Downgrade to XP

mytrip pointed out a News.com story about a new Microsoft program to allow PC makers to downgrade from Vista to XP if they so choose. They're still pushing the new version of Windows very hard, but the option now exists for PC resellers to offer the now venerable OS.

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Less Than 2 Percent of UK Companies Have Upgraded Windows

Computer Business Review is reporting that less than 2% of UK-based firms have already upgraded all their desktops to Windows Vista. Just shy of 5% said that they have begun a Windows Vista desktop upgrade program. 6.5% said they will upgrade in the next 6 months; 12.6% in the next 12 months; 13% in the next 18 months; and 18% in the next two years. That means that within two years from now, only 56% of survey respondents say they will have upgraded their firm's desktops to Windows Vista.

(more...)

viernes, 21 de septiembre de 2007

Got more than a gig of RAM and 32-bit Linux?

Nowadays, many machines are running with 2-4 gigabytes of RAM, and their owners are discovering a problem: When they run 32-bit GNU/Linux distributions, their extra RAM is not being used. Fortunately, correcting the problem is only a matter of installing or building a kernel with a few specific parameters enabled or disabled.

The problem exists because 32-bit Linux kernels are designed to access only 1GB of RAM by default. The workaround for this limitation is vaguely reminiscent of the virtual memory solution once used by DOS, with a high memory area of virtual memory being constantly mapped to physical addresses. This high memory can be enabled for up to 4GB by one kernel parameter, or up to 64GB on a Pentium Pro or higher processor with another parameter. However, since these parameters have not been needed on most machines until recently, the standard kernels in many distributions have not enabled them.

Increasingly, many distributions are enabling high memory for 4GB. Ubuntu default kernels have been enabling this process at least since version 6.10, and so have Fedora 7's. By contrast, Debian's default 486 kernels do not. Few distros, if any, enable 64GB by default.

(more...)

jueves, 20 de septiembre de 2007

Updates from FreeBSD

FreeBSD mentored 25 students this year, achieving a fantastic final success rate of 92%. Murray Stokely, one of their organization administrators, has written a more detailed summary of FreeBSD's 2007 Summer of Code experience, but here are a few highlights.

miércoles, 19 de septiembre de 2007

GNOME 2.20 Released

GNOME 2.20 has been officially released. There are a number of enhancements and improvements to things such as power management, Evince (the GNOME document view), Totem (the video player), and note-taking application Tomboy. There are also some changes to GNOME's configuration utilities with an eye towards streamlining them.

(more...)

FreeBSD: Another successful Summer of Code

Congratulations to the successful students and their FreeBSD Project mentors for participating in another productive Google Summer of Code. This program encourages students to contribute to an open source project over the summer break with generous funding from Google. We have had a total of over 50 successful students working on FreeBSD as part of this program in 2005, 2006, and 2007. These student projects included security research, improved installation tools, filesystems work, new utilities, and more. Many of the students have continued working on their FreeBSD projects even after the official close of the program. We have gained many new FreeBSD committers from previous summer of code projects already, and more are in the process.

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Setup a DNS server with bind

After looking on Ubuntu forum for an easy step-by-step howto for instaling a DNS server, I decided the best idea would probably be to write this howto myself.... So, here it is!

What to do if Linux refuses to boot after a power failure?

here are a few things that you can try to get Linux back on track..

Hoist your applications with petardfs

The petard filesystem is designed to produce only errors -- but you can stipulate what conditions generate the errors and what those errors should be. That makes petardfs useful for system and unit testing -- for example, making sure that an application gives a sane error message if it fails to open a file, or if there is a read error at byte 5000 of a file.

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USB 3 in 2008, 10 Times as Fast

"Intel and others plan to release a new version of the ubiquitous Universal Serial Bus technology in the first half of 2008, a revamp the chipmaker said will make data transfer rates more than 10 times as fast by adding fiber-optic links alongside the traditional copper wires."

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Firefox 2.0.0.7 now available

Firefox 2.0.0.7 was released this afternoon (18 September) to patch the QuickTime issue. This will protect Firefox users from the public critical security vulnerability until a patch is available from Apple. I would like to personally thank the individuals at Apple who worked with us and the engineers at Mozilla that work so hard to get security updates out so quickly.

(more...)

lunes, 17 de septiembre de 2007

Installing Vista Fonts in Ubuntu

Microsoft’s new ClearType fonts for Vista are great. The fonts include Constantia, Corbel, Calibri, Cambria, Candara and Consolas.

Getting them installed in Ubuntu is a breeze, thanks to a script I found. To install the Vista ClearType fonts in Ubuntu, you need to install cabextract first...

The Open Source Challenge. How to replace Windows completely with Ubuntu

"In the first of this multi-part series we send in Ashton Mills to take on the challenge of using nothing but Linux and open source software... for absolutely everything. Will he find nirvana in the process, or lose all his hair in frustration?" Follow him in and find out.

Linux or UNIX password protect files

using mcrypt or openssl commands.

What Kind of Memory Does My Computer Have Installed?

If you are looking to upgrade the memory in your computer, you are probably wondering how many open slots you have, what type of memory is already installed, and what you need to buy for an upgrade… without having to open your computer.

Since you shouldn't have to open up the computer just to figure out what you have installed, here's a couple of options for detecting the type of memory already installed in your system.

domingo, 16 de septiembre de 2007

Defend your network from idle scanning

Black hats employ several stealth scanning techniques, and one of those threats is the idle scan. Find out more about idle scanning, and learn best practices for protecting your network from this threat.

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Xen Cluster Management With Ganeti On Debian Etch

Ganeti is a cluster virtualization management system based on Xen. In this tutorial I will explain how to create one virtual Xen machine (called an instance) on a cluster of two physical nodes, and how to manage and failover this instance between the two physical nodes.

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Tor Anonymity Server Admin Arrested

In a recent blog posting, a German operator of a Tor anonymous proxy server revealed that he was arrested by German police officers at the end of July. Although he was released shortly afterwards, information about the arrest had been kept quiet until his lawyers were able to get the charges dropped.

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Changing distribution remotely

How to completely change your distribution on a remote box without a boot disk, with only ssh access, using only one partition, and with only one reboot at the very end of the conversion process.

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