Re-purpose ancient hardware - part 1

An ancient Compaq Evo N115 is still working, however the concern is how: AMD Duron 1.2GHz processor, 64KB cache, 384MB RAM, 20GB hard drive, 13.3" 1024x768 TFT display ... manufactured some 10 years ago!

After some googling, I landed on the Webconverger page  The 450MB ISO image can either go to a USB stick or be burned to a CD; the boot is rather fast and takes you to the Webconverger registration page via the Iceweasel browser.

The concerned notebook is equipped with a RJ45 Ethernet jack, but the aim is to have it working on Wi-Fi by the means of a Netgear PC Card; unfortunately Webconverger does not seem to give the chance to personalise that much your setup. The card works well with MS Windows drivers; my copies are stored here.

There is Puppy Linux derivative named BrowserLinux, a 93MB only Linux distribution, current version is 501.

There is an install-to-disk feature, but it has failed :( thus I keep the boot-from-CD coupled with the save-session feature; the latter saves a file on the hard drive (light encryption, at least, is recommended). Three re-boots are needed to have everything working: Firefox profile sync, Wi-Fi drivers working (download and save them somewhere in the hard disk, e.g. /mnt/home/home), Wi-Fi key stored. The re-purposed box boot is rather fast, navigation and (ordinary) page rendering are smooth, although Firefox version is 5.0.1 only.

Testing of some builds from susestudio are under way...

What is your preferred encryption algorithm?

12 programming mistakes to avoid

7 programming languages on the rise

Multi-display desktop

Please, answer the following polls:

• Planning 
• Productivity 

 (Image source: www.sxc.hu)

The way of the Force against slideware killings

The image below links you to a brief consideration

 Then, take a careful look at

and read the article.

Key concept:
"If you have a large screen, use it to show visuals, not lines of text that remind you what to say. You do not have to use a screen, but if you do, use it to display visual information that illustrates or amplifies your message in the clearest way possible" 

As a matter of facts, the Rebel Alliance managed to destroy the Death Star!

Remote computing: TeamViewer

TeamViewer is a remote access software, free for non-commercial users. It allows:

• remote administration and support;
• file transfer between partner computers;
• browser based access
• to work behind firewalls

Security is granted via RSA private/public key exchange and AES (256 bit)encoding.
Supported platforms are:

• MS Windows
• MAC
• Linux
• iPhone/iPad

 The software package can be downloaded from here (Linux page). Once done, run the installation software

MS Windows installation

Ubuntu 10.04 installation

OpenSUSE 11.3 installation

Installation steps are easy and documented, and OpenSUSE installation (i.e. RPM) it's even simpler.
Running TeamViewer provides you with an initial dialog showing an ID and a password for your actual session or asking you an ID of an already existing TeamViewer

Linux dialog

MS Windows dialog

By clicking the bottom right button, a further dialog opens for easier management of partners

TeamViewer signup page

Once registered and signed in

where connections can be very easily handled.

Ubuntu remotely by a Windows box and viceversa

Windows via TeamViewer web quick connection

Two Windows boxes remotely from an OpenSUSE 11.3 desktop

Generally speaking, TeamViewer works fine and performances seem (I haven't run any measurable test yet) a little better than LogMeIn, particularly, the Linux software is more stable, even though running under Wine

23707   Sl   12:04   0:25 c:\Program Files\TeamViewer\Version5\TeamViewer.exe
23774   Ss   12:04   0:10 /opt/teamviewer/teamviewer/5/wine/bin/wineserver
23777   Sl   12:04   0:00 C:\windows\system32\services.exe

Mozilla Firefox 4 has updated to beta 4

Last night I left the browser open and it updated itself from beta 3 to beta 4, an automated feature introduced since beta 2. At the first sight, the change is the tab-bar moved up

Furthermore, a new button has appeared on the far right-hand side of the tab-bar giving the chance to re-organise your tabs

Firefox sync is now included by default, the number of supported languages has increased, and it still loads itself in a reasonable time, though Google Chrome seems to be a bit quicker.

Full changelist from beta 3 is here.

VirtualBox: beginner and intermediate guide

VirtualBox is a virtualization product for the x86 architecture; started by Innotek, acquired by Sun and now maintained by Oracle.The software is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

Lifehacker has a couple of nice pages to introduce and make you proficient with VirtualBox:

• The Beginner's Guide
• How to run multiple operating systems side-by-side

VirtualBox can be downloaded from here. 

Several websites offer appliances for download: just google "virtualbox appliances"; the Sourceforge page looks interesting to me.

Android, FreeDOS, and LinuxMint on a OpenSUSE 11.3 desktop

Top viruses in July 2010

(Source ZoneAlarm by CheckPoint)

1. Trojan-Downloader.JS.Pegel.bp

Secretly downloads malicious script from a remote server, installs and redirects users to further malicious websites.

2. Exploit.Java.CVE-2010-0886.a

Allows attackers to download and execute arbitrary Java on vulnerable PCs by luring victims to malicious sites.

3. Trojan-Downloader.VBS.Agent.zs

Downloads and installs new versions of malicious programs, including Trojans and AdWare, on victim PCs.

4. AdWare.Win32.FunWeb.q

Displays unsolicited pop-up ads which do not appear to be relevant or associated with the user's browser sessions.

5. Exploit.JS.Agent.bab

Uses a Microsoft Internet Explorer vulnerability to silently install malicious software onto the user?s computer.

Poyozo for Firefox

Poyozo is a Firefox extension aiming at collecting and organizing the various data streams from your virtual life.

Data sources are:

• Firefox browsing history
• IMAP e-mail
• Facebook
• Google Calendar
• Gmail
• Local Weather
• Twitter
• Dopplr
• Foursquare
• Last.fm
• Flickr
• Wesabe
• Skydeck
• RSS

The extension (atomate.xpi) is available starting from Firefox 3.6 and can be downloaded and installed from mypoyozo.com (of course authorisation is needed: click the [Allow] button on top of browser window).
It refuses to install on Firefox 4 beta.

Once the extension is installed and configured upon your needs, you get two new buttons in the status bar (list.it and atomate) and an extra icon (list.it) in the navigation toolbar.

Clicking on [atomate | poyozo] button takes you to a calendar-like page showing clouds; choosing a day opens a stats info

Extension response is rather slow.

Mozilla Firefox 4 beta - first impression

The beta version of the new Mozilla Firefox can be downloaded from this page. Once you download the 8.96MB file, the installation procedure goes smoothly and Firefox 4 beta is installed beside your previous browser version, and you are asked to close the running instance of Firefox before opening the new one.

I'm testing it on an old Compaq EVO (Celeron 1.6GHz; 736MB RAM) running MS Windows XP Home Edition SP3.

The browser is loaded and running in half the time if compared to Firefox 3.6.6.

I have 15 extensions enabled on Firefox 3.6.6, 9 of them are disabled on Firefox 4 beta

• AddThis 3.0.1
• Firefox Showcase 0.9.5.5
• Firefox Synchronisation Extension 7.3.2.26
• Forecastfox 0.9.10.2
• Google Shorcuts 2.0.6
• Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant 1.2.1
• PDF Download 3.0.0.1
• Read It Later 2.0.6
• SearchPreview 4.4

 while Feedback 1.0rc1 has been added. I guess updates will come shortly.

A website heavily based on MS Silverlight like www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/diretta.html (live tv broadcasting) required to re-install the plug-in, then everything works.
I've surfed to several web-sites and all of them are rendered properly, though I'm not feeling improvements in terms of speed.

According to MS Windows Task Manager, Firefox 4 beta (8 websites in different tabs on one window) sucks from 10,000 to 40,000 K more memory than Firefox 3.6.6.

Coming back to Firefox 3.6.6, it inherits the last session of the last browser.

A specs comparison between Firefoxes is here.

Digital connectivity

Password security II

Another quality checker here.

Password security

Check it here.

Is a netbook a less powerful computer?

14 month old Samsung NC-10, 2GB RAM and 19" 1600x1200 external display running Ubuntu Netbook 10.04, VirtualBox 3.1.6, Firefox 3.6.3, Gimp 2.6.8, Skype 2.1.0.81, Gnome Terminal . . .

KeepNote

KeepNote is a software tool for note-taking. Program window has a clean design and functionalities are easy understandable.

Notes can be cross-linked and hyperlinks to the Web can also be stored.

Text editing has rich-text formatting and figures can be inserted, resized, or edited by third party software

Software is licensed under GPL and available for Linux, MS Windows, and Mac OS X platforms.

The KeepNote website.

Don't push F1 key in Windows if a web site asks you to

Microsoft Security Advisory

Virus alert: Aurora attack

Risk: Exposes a zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft IE (CVE-2010-0249) to install Trojans on networks of large corporations to steal information. Multiple malware components with obscure code are designed to bypass Intrusion Protection Systems (IPS) and Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS).

A Zero-Day Vulnerability takes advantage of security holes for which a solution is not yet available. This could be malware that loads onto PCs through hidden website code.

(Source: ZoneAlarm by CheckPoint mailing list)