Anti-Vista Article

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Installing linux on an ibook

My sister used to have an old, clamshell ibook before she got her new computer. I had had my eye on it for linux instalation. At the last lug, I installed Xubuntu. After getting a few things working, and learning how to change the dns servers from the command line, I installed several windowmanagers: blackbox, fluxbox, and openbox. After trying each of them, I settled on fluxbox as the main window manager. I fixed a small empty menu problem (My menu was empty, so I copied one of the example ones and off I went), and noting the one second start time, I got down to building my menu. After reading up on fluxbox menu syntax, I added a few submenus, and some items. Fun. Everything is working fine!

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DNS Problem and Solution

For some time, I have had a problem. My computer has failed, for some time, to aquire the proper DNS server from the wireless router. However, it only happens on some wireless networks. So, I signed up for OpenDNS, and I use it frequently. However, whenever my computer suspends, I lose my dns settings on these networks. So, I wrote a shell script to add OpenDNS to my DNS settings. The Script:

#!/bin/bash
echo Contents of /etc/resolv.conf:
cat /etc/resolv.conf
echo Replace dns with open dns, press enter. Otherwise, press ^C.
read $LFJLKJLKJSF
echo nameserver 208.67.222.222 > /etc/resolv.conf
echo nameserver 208.67.220.220 >> /etc/resolv.conf
echo Done. New contents of /etc/resolv.conf
cat /etc/resolv.conf
echo Happy?

The first few lines prints out /etc/resolv.conf, and asks whether the file has open dns or not. If you press enter, it is given to a junk variable, and it continues. ^C to cancel. It then replaces /etc/resolv.conf with te first OpenDNS server, then adds the second. It then prints out the file to make sure, then exits. Rather useful.

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“Why I use Linux”

http://www.pcworld.com/article/163552/why_i_use_linux.html

A great article about why people use linux. I personally agree with most of his points.

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APG

APG is really quite an interesting program. It randomly generates passwords. Big deal, I can write a ruby program that does that in one line. However, APG makes passwords that can be pronounced. This is amazingly usefull. This means that you can chooe a good, strong password, that you can easily remember.  In Ubuntu, you can install it with sudo apt-get install apg. It’s quite usefull.

-Indigo

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Orion’s Arm

Orion’s Arm is a massive universe created by volunteers, based on science. It has a detailed history, and has some pretty cool tech. Not many people know about this site, so I wanted to post the link here. Thats all!

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the BOFH

The BOFH stands for something I am not able to print. Suffice to sa that there are 2 different swearwords in the title. It is located here. I think you need to read it. There are a lot of them though.

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Update

So, there has been some descussionn on the interblag (yes, I read xkcd) about KDE 4. Some people love it, some people hate it, and I don’t like it. It might be the wierd start menu, or the inability to change mouse settings, or the fact that my heart is one size too small. What ever it is, it doesn’t fit.

I went on a window manager rampage, as soon as I learned how to choose the window manager from the login screen. I also install xfce, and decided not to use it, also for the inability to change mouse settings. On all linuxes except ones specialy configured, the mouse on my Acer moves at blinding speed, making the laptop unusable for about 15 minutes, after which I have sort of agusted to it, and it now only over shoots buttons half of the time, as oposed to 90 percent of the time. This also happens in puppy linux.

Windows is completely broken. It is unable to resist suspending the laptop for 3 seconds. I believe is is something to do with the LCD cable, the part the acer people replaced in Texas. So, now I hate windows. Bad windows, BAD!

-Indigo

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.bin files on Linux

Merry Christmas!

As you  may know, I got the acer back today, and I instaled linux, ubuntu to be exact, and I needed to install java. It came in .bin file type, and ubuntu hadn’t a clue what to do with it. Now, once, when I was downloading java, i accidentaly viewed it as a text file instead of downloading it. Well, the first part I recognized as a bash script. Following the bash script, was some inane giberish. Now, what do you do to this? Well, first, we know it’s a script, but it doesn’t have the permissions to run it. So, we have to use chmod. It doesn’t matter what the permissions you put on it, as long as you can exicute it. My favorite is:

chmod 711 ...

This enables you to read write, and exicute, but everybody else can only read. Next, we have to go into the terminal. Navigate to where you have the .bin file, and type:

./[the .bin file]

In the case of the java file, you are presented with a long license. You should probbly read this. After that, the ask you to agree to the liscense. After that, when you say yes, it will do what it takes to place the archive in the folder. Done

-Indigo

edit: it turns out that these are called “self extracting archives.” I didn’t know this at the creation of the article/

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SQL Injection Video

this is asome! it makes you want to be a hacker! totaly insane!

Video of an SQL Injection attack on an unsecured site. This is why you don’t rely soley on client side validation techniques, among other things.

read more | digg story

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