From: adam@address.invalid
Moe Trin wrote:
> On Mon, 03 Dec 2012, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva, in
article
> , Adam wrote:
I thought I was finally over this two-month cold, but apparently it's
not gone yet.
>>> Did you see the story (CNN and others) about DaVita Inc.?
[...]
> It's still in the "he says, they say" stage, but it's an interesting
> case.
I'm almost inured to fraud these days. I hardly think corrupt
businessmen and officials are unique to our country or our era. OTOH I
would be /very/ upset if they intentionally did anything that would
affect the health of the patients.
>> Maybe that's a reason to get stolid's
>> motherboard Wi-Fi usable under Linux.
>
> "Y'all be careful, ya heah." (A quick traceroute to something out
> on the Internet may indicate if it's even possibly useful.)
Another "problem" is that I can't control any other router's power
switch. I think my Wi-Fi is up more than anybody else's even though
eris is usually off. Maybe I should restart that cron.hourly job on
eris that kept a log of SSIDs and their channels.
["personal firewall" programs]
>> Isn't that the kind of user that Windows and aftermarket products is
>> aimed at?
>
> True. but I think these individuals were flaunting their lack of clue.
I get the impression that in the FOSS community, perhaps the worst
offense is pretending to know something that one doesn't. Is that
correct, anyone? Although that's somewhat different from the situation
you mention.
>> Does that mean those "personal firewalls" could be useful, if used
>> knowledgeably (as they seldom are)?
>
> Anything is possible, but you have to remember that they are running
> on the system that (may have|has) the mal-ware installed. There have
> been many reports of the mal-ware simply disabling the firewall app,
> or at least the detection of that specific mal-ware's traffic.
Also, the problem of users who don't know or refuse to follow basic
guidelines is /not/ going to go away. I've seen enough stories online
of "ever since you installed that antivirus/firewall it won't let me
play my game, so I just removed the antivirus/firewall and now I can
play it."
> You're forgetting that
> ports exist for TCP and also for UDP (and several other protocols).
> As for protocols, the IP header has an eight bit field that identifies
> the protocol in the packet, and 143 of the 255 values are assigned
> (see /etc/protocols) although you're unlikely to see more than a half
> dozen or so "in the wild".
That sounds like about 256 x 64K = 4M things to check. As I understand
it, 'nmap' can check for every one of those, if told to.
>> everyone else in my class is dragging some sort of laptop in a backpack.
>
> one of the backpacks I have does have a separate section that is somewhat
> designed for one, but I'd be wary of using it to also carry books, etc.
What about briefcase-like carrying cases that also have room for books,
papers, etc.?
>> Those are important for me, but reviews said the keyboard wasn't bad,
>> and that thumb-joystick (I forget the official name) looked more
>> convenient for me than those touchpads.
>
> I haven't paid attention to the laptops in the stores that much, and
> the ads don't give enough detail to show it.
That's the kind of thing where, if one can't try it in person, the
reviews /might/ be helpful.
> The ASUS and HP we have
> come with a touch pad which is "usable" - but my wife carries a USB
> mouse with hers because she dislikes the touch-pad.
In my inexperienced opinion, having to use external peripherals on a
laptop would seem to take away from the ability to use it anywhere.
>> I figure "refurbished" is better than eBay or a
>> thrift store, as at least they're guaranteed to work as delivered.
>
> The latter is a VERY big point in favor of the re-furbs.
[...]
> those systems are (effectively) at the low end of the pile
> compared to the new stuff, but they're still quite usable.
[...]
> 60 GB is more than any distro I've seen recently.
But laptops don't take off-the-shelf internal drives or other
components. Still, 1 GB RAM and 60 GB HD should be enough for an office
suite plus a web browser and email. OTOH I'd prefer to have a separate
data partition, plus a migration partition for the next distro, a swap
partition for sleep & hibernate, and keep the Windows but shrink its
partition, etc. A 60 GB HD sounds cramped but possible. 40 GB doesn't.
[NetZero/Juno wrapper script]
>> First I have to do the revisions on my stories for class next week,
>> and then I want to get that family collage done while Mom's still
>> able to recognize the people in it.
>
> Yeah, that certainly does have priority.
Unfortunately, yes. I think I'd better ask her about a few of the
photos pretty soon, too. Sometimes I can't recognize which are
relatives when there are others in the picture.
>> The Lindows NZ/J software is from 2004, so it wasn't maintained while
>> Lin* was still active. I suspect it's still up on their website only
>> because nobody's gotten around to taking it down. I can remember
>> when their website mentioned it and had links to it.
>
> More like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.
Could be. I'm certainly not going to complain, as the Linux software is
still on their website and they're still offering free dialup accounts,
so there's nothing ethically questionable about using them now.
[system security recommendations]
>> I have a Prentice-Hall book called "Linux System Security", but it's
>>from 2000 so I'm not sure there's anything useful in it. Well, maybe
>> some of the general advice.
>
> Nothing wrong with the publisher, though I don't recognize the names
> of the authors (Scott Mann and Ellen Mitchell).
How'd you know the authors if you don't have a copy of it? I think it
was one of those books I got for $2 at the huge library book sale.
> The general concepts of security haven't
> changed all that much over the years, although the exact threats and
> tools have evolved.
That was probably what I was thinking when I bought it.
Has Marg become one of the family yet? Has it been decided where she
belongs in the hierarchy of cats?
Adam
--
Registered Linux User #536473
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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