Practical Technology

for practical people.

March 10, 2010
by sjvn01
1 Comment

The Linux Foundation Store: Linux gets silly

Except for Tux, the Linux penguin, Linux fans have a reputation as a rather dour, serious lot. Now, the Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to growing Linux, has launched a new Linux merchandise store featuring a new line of exclusive and original T-shirts, hats, mugs and other items that reflect “geek culture.”

Of course, there’s been geek culture t-shirts and such for sale before. ThinkGeek has long been a favorite of mine for buying presents for my friends who like t-shirts with Wi-Fi detectors on them and the like. What caught my attention about the new Linux Foundation stores is rather than just trying to copycat ThinkGeek’s lines or just offer generic corporate “logo T’s,” they’re trying their own take at geek pride clothes and gear.

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March 10, 2010
by sjvn01
1 Comment

Windows XP’s built-in Wi-Fi Security Hole

When I’m really, really bored at an airport, I’ll start looking around the local Wi-Fi networks with WireShark. This is an outstanding network protocol analyzer. Usually it’s used for checking out what’s really going on in your business network. Of course, if you know what you’re doing you can also use it on Wi-Fi to see just how awful everyone’s security is around you. But, that’s a story for another day. Recently, I noticed that I kept seeing “Free Public Wifi” APs (access points) showing up. I assumed it was someone trolling for innocents wanting to be infected with malware. I was wrong. It’s actually a much more interesting Windows XP security flaw.

A friend of mine pointed me to what was really going on. If you want to know more of the details, I recommend this article Free Public WiFi SSID. The short version is that Windows XP includes a utility, WZC (Wireless Zero Configuration). This was superseded in Vista and Windows 7 by WLAN Autoconfig. In either case, the idea is to make connecting to Wi-Fi APs easy.

The problem is that they make it a little too easy.

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March 9, 2010
by sjvn01
2 Comments

The Linux desktop is already here

I found it more than a little sad that someone in 2010 could still think that Linux is “still a non-starter on the desktop.” Oh please. Wake up. We’re all Linux desktop users now.

No matter what you’re running on your desktop–Windows 7, Snow Leopard, XP, whatever–you use the Internet right? You probably use Google to search right? You talk to your friends on Facebook, Twitter of some other social network, yes? Congratulations, you’re a Linux user.

Desktop Linux, thanks to the Web, is everywhere. The old desktop metaphor is dying. Every day that goes by the lines between what used to be a desktop, a server, and the network keep blurring. Don’t think so? Answer me this: “How much work could you get done without access to the Internet?”

Even if you work in a business that has Windows from one end to the other once you go on the Internet to get to say your Exchange server, guess what? Chances are almost certain that somewhere along your connection you’re running over a Linux powered server or your connection is being made by referring to a DNS server running Linux.

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March 4, 2010
by sjvn01
0 comments

Windows: New, improved & more insecure than ever

Honest to God I don’t go around trying to pick on Windows for its security problems, but the hackers keep finding new ways to break into it. And, this time, they’ve found a doozie. Berend-Jan Wever, aka “Skylined,” a Google security software engineer has busted DEP (data execution prevention), one of the few significant security improvements Microsoft has made to Windows.

DEP, which was added to Windows back in August 2004 in XP SP2. It addressed the very common hacking technique of buffer overflows. In a buffer overflow attack, a malicious program tries to overwrite the buffer, the amount of memory a program has been allocated for running its code in. By so doing, a buffer overflow overwrites memory that may or may not have been allocated to other programs. In either case, it can then use this overwritten memory for its own purposes. Usually this means running malware or even taking over the computer itself.

While this problem isn’t unique to Windows, it can happen to almost any operating system without strict memory management controls, even with DEP, Windows has been prone to such attacks. Now, though, with DEP busted, it’s become even easier for a buffer attack to strike home.

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March 4, 2010
by sjvn01
1 Comment

USB 3.0 vs. eSATA: Is faster better?

Up-to-date computers now include external ports that, in theory, can handle data at rates of up to 5 Gigabits per second. But which is better?

If you’ve been in the computer business for any length of time you can probably painfully remember when serial RS-232 ports could barely handle 28 Kilobytes per second. And, adding insult to injury, the standard was loose enough that you could have ‘compatible’ devices that you could never physically connect. How things have changed! Now, eSATA can handle 300 MBps (MegaBytes per second) and USB 3.0 can wheel and deal up to 625 MBps.

So that makes USB 3.0 better right? Well, while USB 3.0 is good, it’s not as simple as “Whoever’s the fastest wins.” Let’s take a closer look at these new and improved ports on our PCs.

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March 3, 2010
by sjvn01
1 Comment

Elliot Associates’ worrisome Novell plans

Elliot Associates L.P., a hedge fund, which claims to already own 8.5% of Novell’s stock made an unsolicited bid to buy the Linux company lock, stock, and code for $1.8 billion on March 2nd. This move may be good for Novell stock owners, but I fear it may be death for Novell’s commercial SUSE Linux and community openSUSE distributions.

Some people in the know, like Canonical’s COO Matt Asay think this deal could work for SUSE. In his view, Elliot would do well to sell off Novell’s Linux division.

I wish I could agree with him, but I looked at Elliot Associates’ past history of taking “an activist approach to investing, frequently amassing significant but minority stakes in distressed or under performing companies and attempting to foment change,” and I don’t like what I see.

Elliot Associates is best known as a ‘vulture fund.’ They don’t make investments to turn companies around. They make investments to crush the cash out of them and then leave the picked over bones for someone else to pick up.

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