Jun
30
Gaim encryption
Filed Under Instant Messenger | 1 Comment
I’ve been doing a lot of research this week on encryption. GPG, PGP, RSA, DSA.. all that good stuff. I’ll admit I don’t understand the extent of HOW it works. I’m mainly looking at ways to implement it without completely changing the way I interact with my machine & others.
If you and your recipients both need complex apps to encrypt/decrypt messages it becomes too cumbersome to implement. The more bothersome it is the less ‘worth-it’ it seems to be.
Now I’ll admit that none of what I do NEEDS encryption–my emails are just as bland as the next guys–but I like the idea of being able to use it. For that reason I’ve been looking at easy ways to implement encryption & signatures for my email & instant messages. Implementations that don’t require me to change the way I use my machine & don’t impose bothersome requirements on my recipients.
One implementation that I’ve found is for gaim instant messenger. It uses a system similar to ssh to encrypt your messages. Each client generates a key (up to 4096) and shares the fingerprint at connection. Each key is listed in trusted_keys (similar to the ssh known_hosts file). Assuming the recieved key at connection matches, your messages are then secure & encrypted. If they don’t match you’ll be notified.
This is available via a plugin for gaim with simple install packages for most major distributions (including source, CVS, Fedora, Mandriva, Gentoo, Debian, Ubuntu, XP & Linux iPaQ)
Another option that I’ve used is using your GPG key with the Gajim client. This has the benefit of using more trusted GPG keys, however I find this option harder to implement as it requires others to switch clients and also requires the generation of a GPG key. Gajim is also a Jabber-only client, so those using gaim for its multi-protocol support are confronted with another problem.
Until gaim supports encryption via trusted GPG keys I think the ssh-type implementation is the least painful and, at least in my circle, the easiest to implement using existing clients.
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Jun
30
IE: A whole new internet
Filed Under Randomness | 3 Comments
Last night I was at my brother-in-laws house babysitting the nephews and was stuck using their XP machine (yes, I disinfected afterwards). This thing was a mess! It had no antivirus installed, no malware protection/removal tools and was using IE6. I very reluctantly used it (honestly, I was afraid to “click the blue E”!)
Anyway, I browsed to many of my usual sites and found that the internet looks very different. For one thing the UOSP errors out. It loads the page but soon gives the error: (again, page loads just fine, but you get the error and clicking OK redirects you to the “I can’t find this page” error.)
“Internet Explorer could not open internet site http://openclue.org/ut/.
Operation failed”
I also noticed that my blogs look much different. I always test my client websites in both FF & IE, but I never bothered with my own. I don’t really care. For those of you browsing my site in IE please note that things look better in FF and “WHY ARE YOU STILL USING CRACK?”
Jun
27
FC5 Redeemed
Filed Under Linux | Leave a Comment
So after an afternoon of working with ndiswrapper I found the bcm43xx-fwcutter package that I swore I looked for when I first installed. It must have been before I added livna & freshrpms. Anyway, I installed that, cut the firmware & I’m using wireless.
I’m really happy with the progress the latest kernels have made with wireless support. Now that I’m online with FC5 I don’t mind it so much. That has been a real issue for me lately.
So after installing SUSE 10.1 & FC5 my top 3 list has changed.
1. Ubuntu (always)
2. FC5
3. SUSE (I’m still having issues with updates, wireless, YaST and the convoluted menu system. Ugh!) I am much less impressed with 10.1 than I was with 10.
Jun
27
Changing display modes in Nautilus
Filed Under Linux | Leave a Comment
As a preface to this post I want to apologize for not remembering who mentioned the un-wanted Gnome feature. I want to say it was someone at the recent interLUG BBQ, but I’m not sure. I mean no offense by forgetting.. I’m sure understand.
Recently I heard complaint about the nautilus file browser in the latest release of gnome 2.14.2. I believe the complaint was the ’spacial’ mode that it uses. The following is taken from the Ubuntu Desktop Guide that I recently picked up.
Ubuntu's file manager Nautilus provides two modes in which you can interact with your filesystem: Spatial mode and Browser mode.
- In Browser mode, the file manager window represents a browser, which can display any location. Opening a folder updates the current file manager window to show the contents of the new folder.
- In Spatial mode, the file manager window represents a particular folder. Opening a folder opens the new window for that folder. Each time you open a particular folder, you will find its window displayed in teh same place on the screen and the same size as the last time you viewed it (this is the reason for the name).
Browser mode is the default setting on Ubuntu, but you may wish to change this:
- In Nautilus, choose Edit > Preferences.
- Click on the Behaviour tab.
- Unselect the ‘Always open in browser windows’ check box.
- Close and reopen Nautilus.
Jun
27
Ubuntu 6.06 LTS : Desktop Guide
Filed Under Linux | Leave a Comment
As per Aarons suggestion a few posts back I ordered the Ubuntu Desktop Guide for the very cheap price of ~$8 (shipped). Apparently they only charge for the price of printing & shipping and make no profit. They also offer a Server Guide, Packaging Guide, Kubuntu and Xubuntu guides plus local editions printed in a long list of other languages.
It isn’t a large book, roughly 100 pages. I’ve skimmed thru it and it looks like a great guide for any new Ubuntu/Linux user. Granted there isn’t anything in this book that I didn’t already know (and didn’t expect there would be), this will be a great guide to refer new users to or share. It would be a great companion at an install fest! (granted I’d need to buy a few more!)
This guide covers the basics & history of Linux, the basics of file structures, permissions, adding & removing packages, repositories and then everything from using your iPod to P2P to Instant Messaging to more advanced questions like wireless card support & partitioning.
The entire book is written very basically & is very easy to understand. I am sure if I gave this book to my dad he’d be able to easily find answers to all of the basic questions a new Linux user has.
For anyone that regularly shares & teaches basic Linux, especially Ubuntu, this is a great book to have.
…and to keep in the spirit of the current elections.
My name is Christer, and I approve this message.
Jun
26
YaST: You absolutely Sucky Thing
Filed Under FOSS | 2 Comments
So I installed SUSE 10.1 on my machine to get some experience with some other distributions. If any of you SUSE people want to drop by with some comments (read: instructions on how to use it) I’d appreciate. So far my opinion on suse (mainly with YaST): This sucks.
I setup three ‘installation sources’ per some instructions from Scott Morris. They are the following:
http://packman.unixheads.com/suse/10.1
http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/SL-10.1/non-oss-inst-source
http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/SL-10.1/inst-source
These are all set as ‘Status: on’ and ‘Refresh: on’. Now I know I should see some updates after a bare install from adding those sources. The little globe-deal in the status bar tells me that I’ve got ‘no updates available’.
Now the last time I tried to update those sources it gave me some error about not being able to kill zmd? Did I read somewhere that zmd was something new & caused issues? Also, if I go in & select a new package to install YaST just crashes. I’m honestly a little surprised that (unless its just me) that a release like 10.1 (version 10 should be mature) is having this many problems.
Last time I tried SUSE I felt it was #2 on my list of preferred distros. After this experience it has definitely dropped out of that spot. A little help?
Jun
20
Search Engine Optimization
Filed Under Internet | Leave a Comment
A while back Gabe posted the top keywords leading to the Utah Open Source Planet. I noticed the top few were very related & then gradually became very un-related (example: malt o meal employee benefits).
What suggestions does anyone/everyone have about search engine optimization? Do you worry about it? Do you just blog for content & leave the rest to Google? Do you worry about META tags? I notice the keywords leading to my site are all related to recent posts. Is keywording your content the main factor to search engine placement?
I’d love to get some feedback on this. Thanks
Jun
19
DD-WRT
Filed Under Development | 3 Comments
Well I tried to upgrade my Linksys WRT54G wireless router using the DD-WRT firmware. I downloaded the firmware, upgraded & got a ‘upgrade successful message’ but after that all it seems to be is a brick.
I can’t access it via the web and I can’t get a DHCP assignment. It doesn’t really seem to be doing anything..
Anyone who’s had some experience with this give me some ideas?
Jun
18
This tutorial outlines how to install XGL and Compiz desktop managers on an Ubuntu Dapper desktop. Also included are instructions for installing 3D acceleration drivers for an nVidia based graphics card.
This tutorial is based on Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) and my nVidia GeForce4 MX 440 card.
Read more
Jun
18
Switch to Linux Parody
Filed Under Randomness | Leave a Comment
I mentioned this flash cartoon (spoof on the Mac commercials) to some of you guys at the BBQ. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. It’s hilarious.
I’m Christer, and I’m a supervillian.
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