The Knightcast Episode 23 : Computer Security 101

Jan 30

The Knightcast Episode 23 : Computer security 101.

Direct link to the show: https://knightwise.com/podcasts/kc29106.mp3

Summary

Welcome to show number 23 where we talk security. In three basic chapters we handle the major pitfalls in every day computer life. From the dangers that lurk on the other side of your modem .. to the hazzard that is "the user" .. Tips and tricks to keep it safe.

Shownotes.

  • Intro.
  • Why this show.
  • Chapter one.
  • Securing the network.
  • Linksys Routers WRT54G WAG54G
  • Timers
  • WPA / WEP encription.
  • Chapter 2 :
  • The great alternatives
  • Internet explorer 
  • Firefox / operah.
  • Outlook express.
  • Thunderbird / eudora.
  • kazaa – e-mule / limewire.
  • windows – Ubuntu Linux.
  • Chapter 3 : The dangerous user.
  • Signoff.
  • Music Provided by DJ Infamous.
  • "the becoming" – by dead sea souls  fromdallas, tx, us"
  • all the myths are true " – by abney park from seattle, wa, us

For more information go to www.knightwise.com or look for the Knightcast on Itunes.

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First steps in Ubuntuland part 3.

Jan 26

Keyboards πŸ™‚ .. No matter if you love or hate them… you have to use them. And it is of keyboards this little rant is all about. Forgive me any typo's but my mind is doing backflops getting used to this new inexpensive and total crap keyboard I am using.. While trying to get back on the azerty track after being stuck with a US keyboard layout on this machine for the last three days. Yes.. My adventures in ubuntuland did get of to a rather bumpy start after the belgian keyboard layout did not want to join the party. First I was happy as hell to get the classic compact mac keyboard working on my ubuntu. In command line mode it worked like a charm. However .. Where the hell is the insert key on a little keyboard like that ? Allthough it made the estetic ensemble complete together with the blue and white tower .. and did fit in perfectly with the studiodisplay screen… it just was not very convenient. So I changed it with a spare usb PC keyboard I had lying around. (its total crap and I am having wristpains as we speak) No matter.. Because to add trouble to insult (Is that the phrase ?) ,one I booted into GUI (graphical) mode the system refused to give me a BE keyboard layout. It insisted on the US layout and made my fingers crawl with frustration to get stuff right… To no avial (a bug in Ubuntu 5.10 on the mac). But to everything there is an answer.. When clicking fails.. try the uber-powerfull command line. So with a help of a friend I started to look for the file that tells linux what keyboard is attached (Linux would not listen to the mouse .. Time for the CAT ) So i did a Cat on the xconf.org file (which is fancy linux speak for : i opened the file in notepad and read what was inside) Then i used VI (an editor) to open the file and change the US to BE .. It took me two seconds to do that .. It took me ten minutes to figure out how to OPEN vi ( vi "filename") Edit it (press INSERT… not found on mac keyboard) change it (us to be) save it ( :w ) quit ( :q ) and restart the graphical interface (CTRL ALT BACKSPACE) So now its behaving like it should and my mind needs a hack to switch back to azerty. All in all the command line is NOT easy BUT pnce you get the hang of it …. it s mighty powerfull.

Oh yes : The episode 23 of the Knightcast IS ready … but I will have no time to post it untill next saturday. I'm just swamped with work and stuff to do .. Add misery to cacaphony … My office is in shambles.. Me and Nayana are redesigning the office into a small work area / living room where we both can hang out together as we do our favorite stuff.

So its of to another busy day with the happy comfort that my little ubuntu project has gone beyond the first bump in the road.

  

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Memories of a Dj.

Jan 23

You know I allways tell you guyz I was a DJ ? Well , i won't wine any longer and show you the proof of the pudding. Here is a cool fotoset that will take you back to the early days of Dynamic Sound Control : The Dj company me and my two friends erected. And remember : If its too loud .. you're too old !  Here is the link.

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Adventures in Ubuntuland.

Jan 23

Adventures in Ubuntuland.

Well , it took some time , but finally I have gotten down and dirty and soaked my feet in the ground of the motherland : Ubuntu 5.10 has been installed and is running smoothly on my old G3 mac. A few test installs I preformed earlier worked like a charm but I was stuck with a non-apple keyboard and I thought that was pretty annoying. So I plunked in my Mac keyboard , a two button mouse and was ready to go. Installing Ubuntu did NOT go without a hitch.. but that was the fault of little old me . Some scratches on the installation cd made the installation crash. Instead of just going dumbo-down on the problem and checking for some phisical damadge on the installation source .. I ripped out the hard drive .. tried 5 times to get it working and only THEN decided to go forth and burn another copy.

And what do you know : It worked like a charm. Internet connection was instant and installing new software went down without a hitch. I LOVE seeing the packets drip in when clicking on the 'terminal' button so you can really see what’s going down under the hood. What i loved the most was not only a few silly games that I selected .. but also the Ubuntu flavour of Emule and a bittorrent client. Oh how I love this machine already.

When I wanted to go further and install the Automatix script things went not so good. Again .. not ubuntu's fault. Of all the days the wanted to take down the ubuntu help forums it was at that exact time !! Aarg .. No help available. Oh well.. I wanted to toggle the next problem in line : Getting my keyboard layout to play nice . Although I had entered AZERTY (Belgian) as my keyboard layout, Ubuntu would not switch away from QWERTY (English) layout. I googled it up .. found that another user had the exact same problem and.. found that the answer was on the .. UBUNTU HELP FORUMS (aaarg – Again !). No matter .. i'll just leave it untill tomorrow.

Time for some desktop enhancement. I ditched the classic Ubuntu colour scheme and went for something blue. As a wallpaper I just hit Google for 'Ubuntu Wallpaper' and boy oh boy .. nice stuff is out there.
http://images.google.be/images?hl=nl&q=ubuntu%20wallpaper&sa=N&tab=wi
Some of my favourites : The Ubuntu Cypher and the Lanzado Ubuntu (currently my desktop).

More time wasting by choosing the right screensaver (Matrix code of course) and browsing the Emule network for some cool stuff.

So tonight i'll tackle some more problems and see if I get the automatix script running on my blue and white baby. I've also found THIS great link to set as you Ubuntu HOMEPAGE (cause this is THE reference for us newbie’s : http://easylinux.info/wiki/Ubuntu#Unofficial_Ubuntu_5.10_Starter_Guide ) What a guy .. what a manual .. πŸ™‚

So .. so far i've enjoyed every minute of my Ubuntu installation. I'm challenged to look for solutions and am amazed at the simplicity of installing stuff and getting stuff done. Even the command line tutorials I have found can be done by a newbie like me by just using COPY from the website and PASTE in the command line. (and it works by golly !) And the speed is quite amazing. The Old G3 350 that was cast to the side because it could only run OS9 smoothly .. now has a new lease on life. Its not flaming fast but its comfortably usable . Firefox takes about 5 seconds to boot from scratch .. but hey.. I'll just leave it open in the background. So this week I’ll tackle some of the 'beginners items' and let you know how it goes.

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Sushi.. No thank you :(

Jan 22


Haaaiaaa … Sushi !!!!! Today we went out to wijnegem. One of the bigger malls in our region. The local tv station was organising a "family day" and paraded all of their favorite belgian soap actors around. We could not care less where it not that all the shops whew open too… So we can hang out in the mall like some teens do πŸ™‚ . For dinner we went to this great wok-diner where you could get ALL kinds of asian food. So when i saw sushi on the menu… I had to try. Well.. Lets just say it was a very exotic experience. When we say raw fish.. Whe think of harings and clams and oysters and Dutch people. But the little plate i got, got me (besides the attention of the entire restaurabt) pink stuff that looked like ham , WAS fish but tasted like dishwasher detergent. Next up where tiny packages of rice, glued together with some kind of sweet oil, wrapped in seaweed and topped of with a peace of fish. But everything tasted different then it looked and it was quite an adventure. What i thought that was! a bug on my plate was in fact a little drop of mustard that was so spicy it would eat through the hull of the space shuttle in seconds. ( but it de-blanded the taste of some of the other stuff).So as my tummy is still figuring out if i'm gonna be sick tonight … My mind is made up.. Sushi ? Naaah no thanx.Ps : this entire post wa made with a treo 650 with a keyboard made for a centipede's little toe.. So forgive me for the typo's

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