[BLUG] Intrepid Release Party!

In celebration of the release of Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), the
Indiana Ubuntu Local Community Team is holding an Intrepid Release Party
(dinner) at the Buca di Beppo in Castleton (6045 E 86th St on the
Northeast side of Indianapolis - behind Castleton Square Mall) on
Saturday, November 1, 2008.

The party is scheduled to start at 6:00 PM. Anyone is welcome to attend
- please RSVP at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IndianaTeam/IntrepidReleaseParty so we can let
the restaurant know how many people are coming.

Hope to see you there!
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Re: [BLUG] LinuxMCE anyone?

Something interestingt about LinuxMCE is that some of the features were
actually pulled out of a commercial home-automation product. I actually
saw that product first, and read about LinuxMCE later, and it was clear
to me that it has exactly the same feature set.

Here's the commercial product: http://plutohome.com/

Here's the 'History of LinuxMCE' where they say Pluto's product was
(except for DRM) released as open-source and LinuxMCE pulled from it:
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/History

The specific hardware requirements are likely to be believed (at least
for best results). This is where using an integration vendor really
comes in handy. People are willing to pay money to have someone else buy
the parts and put them together knowing that it will all "just work".

Yes, it is almost too cool to believe, but it really does what they
advertise (provided the parts are all compatible). Pluto does have some
paying customers (though what they pay is unclear). In fact, at this
point when you click "Get Pluto" on their website, they recommend you
download LinuxMCE to try it out.

Cheers,
Steven Black

On Sun, Oct 12, 2008 at 08:31:25PM -0400, initech wrote:
> Has anyone tried out or have experience using the HTPC distro LinuxMCE? I am
> looking to set up a home theater system once I'm through with grad school in
> December and am starting to investigate. It certainly has all of the features
> I want (cable tv ripping, media streaming, voip phone networking, security
> features, and home automation) but I am leery of committing to it due to all of
> the specific hardware requirements. I am also leery of any Linux distro that
> claims to be this easy to set up knowing that it has to use bunches of
> specialized hardware to realize it's full functionality.
>
>
>
> I would appreciate hearing from anyone that has experience setting it up and
> configuring it.
>
>
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
> Dirk
>

> _______________________________________________
> BLUG mailing list
> BLUG@linuxfan.com
> http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug

--
Steven Black <blacks@indiana.edu> / KeyID: 8596FA8E
Fingerprint: 108C 089C EFA4 832C BF07 78C2 DE71 5433 8596 FA8E

Re: [BLUG] LinuxMCE anyone?

On Sunday 12 October 2008 8:31:25 pm initech wrote:
> Has anyone tried out or have experience using the HTPC distro LinuxMCE? I
> am looking to set up a home theater system once I'm through with grad
> school in December and am starting to investigate. It certainly has all of
> the features I want (cable tv ripping, media streaming, voip phone
> networking, security features, and home automation) but I am leery of
> committing to it due to all of the specific hardware requirements. I am
> also leery of any Linux distro that claims to be this easy to set up
> knowing that it has to use bunches of specialized hardware to realize it's
> full functionality.
>
>
>
> I would appreciate hearing from anyone that has experience setting it up
> and configuring it.
>
>
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
> Dirk

When looking at linuxmce you have to realize it's really far more than a htpc
distro. if you just want htpc functions look at myth. but if you want
something to run the entire home then linuxmce is the way to go.

[BLUG] LinuxMCE anyone?

Has anyone tried out or have experience using the HTPC distro LinuxMCE?  I am looking to set up a home theater system once I’m through with grad school in December and am starting to investigate.  It certainly has all of the features I want (cable tv ripping, media streaming, voip phone networking, security features, and home automation) but I am leery of committing to it due to all of the specific hardware requirements.  I am also leery of any Linux distro that claims to be this easy to set up knowing that it has to use bunches of specialized hardware to realize it’s full functionality.

 

I would appreciate hearing from anyone that has experience setting it up and configuring it.

 

Thanks.

 

Dirk

Re: [BLUG] BLUG at IU Linuxfest, Friday Oct 10

Sounds great! Yes, there will be power available and I'd love to have
somebody else around. If you get there and can't find us, we'll be
sharing booth space with the School of Informatics.

I'd love and Edubuntu demo, I haven't messed with it myself.

Dave Cooley
dcooley@kiva.net

James Marple wrote:
> Well i can be there but i haven't really met anyone yet due to
> meetings being on tuesday's.
>
> Are you going to have power available can bring a demo of edubuntu . I
> have been setting up some machines with it for Penny Lane West the
> kids love the games it has .
>
>
>
> Dave Cooley wrote:
>> All-
>>
>> This coming Friday (October 10) is IU Linuxfest in Alumni Hall inside
>> the Indiana Memorial Union. From what I've heard, it's likely this
>> is the last year for Linuxfest (at least in its current form) as the
>> group that sponsors it is going away.
>>
>> BLUG will have a booth there. I'm taking the day off from work, and
>> will be there all day (10a-4p). Is anyone else free that day (or
>> part of the day) to join me?
>>
>> I think our only goal at Linuxfest should be to spread awareness of
>> BLUG and tell people what we do (presentations, socializing,
>> networking, FLOSS advocacy, etc). I think I'll just borrow a table
>> from my office, and maybe print out some flyers or something to give
>> to people. Anyone else have any ideas (that can be pulled together
>> in a week)?
>>
>> If anybody would care to join me, I'd love it. Let me know when you
>> can be there, or just drop on in as you please. Sorry there's not
>> more notice, this all just came together sort of last-minute.
>>
>> Here's a link to the IU Linuxfest Page:
>> http://rtinfo.indiana.edu/linuxfest/
>>
>>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> BLUG mailing list
> BLUG@linuxfan.com
> http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug
_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
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Re: [BLUG] BLUG at IU Linuxfest, Friday Oct 10

Well i can be there but i haven't really met anyone yet due to meetings
being on tuesday's.

Are you going to have power available can bring a demo of edubuntu . I
have been setting up some machines with it for Penny Lane West the kids
love the games it has .

Dave Cooley wrote:
> All-
>
> This coming Friday (October 10) is IU Linuxfest in Alumni Hall inside
> the Indiana Memorial Union. From what I've heard, it's likely this is
> the last year for Linuxfest (at least in its current form) as the
> group that sponsors it is going away.
>
> BLUG will have a booth there. I'm taking the day off from work, and
> will be there all day (10a-4p). Is anyone else free that day (or part
> of the day) to join me?
>
> I think our only goal at Linuxfest should be to spread awareness of
> BLUG and tell people what we do (presentations, socializing,
> networking, FLOSS advocacy, etc). I think I'll just borrow a table
> from my office, and maybe print out some flyers or something to give
> to people. Anyone else have any ideas (that can be pulled together in
> a week)?
>
> If anybody would care to join me, I'd love it. Let me know when you
> can be there, or just drop on in as you please. Sorry there's not
> more notice, this all just came together sort of last-minute.
>
> Here's a link to the IU Linuxfest Page:
> http://rtinfo.indiana.edu/linuxfest/
>
>

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Re: [BLUG] Improving the boot time

On Sat, Oct 04, 2008 at 06:33:02AM -0600, Abhishek Kulkarni wrote:
> RAM scans during POST can mitigate cold boot attacks as long as they do a
> complete read/write test erasing/zeroing the memory. The DRAM is known to
> retain its memory even after power cycling by a quick reboot. An attacker could
> typically dump the contents of the DRAM to get to the encryption key used for
> encrypting the disks. I am just not sure how much a TPM helps here. "Quickboot"
> options skip memory checks on startup for a faster boot time but leave the
> system open to such type of attacks.

You are correct. Does the RAM check just do a read test, or is
it write/read? Truthfully, I don't know -- and it may vary by BIOS
manufacturer. They likely consider it a trade secret much the same way
that people considered the exact amount of food in a can to be a trade
secret back in the old days.

However, anything that causes the RAM to heat up, and slows down the
boot process provides some level of support in mitigating cold-boot
attacks.

All I need to do is make the attacker think, "Oh shoot. This is going to
take too long, and it is erasing the data now!" The ultimate goal is to
provide not only enough security but enough noticable security. It could
be considered on par with a security sign out front.

Ultimately, what I consider is powering down your machine 5-10 minutes
before you ever leave it alone. (This accepts the fact that leaving
laptops alone in your hotel room will likely happen at some point during
a conference.)

> Most legacy BIOSes and even the "secure" EFI are susceptible to these attacks.
> I believe an open solution like coreboot proves to be the best option in the
> long run.

I agree. Open solutions are usually the best.

Cheers,
Steven Black

> On Sat, Oct 4, 2008 at 4:32 AM, Scott Blaydes <sblaydes@sbce.org> wrote:
>
> Does the RAM scan actually have anything to do with security, or just PC
> health?
>
> Thank you,
> Scott Blaydes
>
> Steven Black wrote:
>
> It is interesting.
>
> On a personal note, I have all my machines configured in such a manner
> so as to slow down the boot. -- As a security precaution I have all
> the RAM on all my machines scanned at boot-time. I actively discourage
> people from using the "QuickBoot" BIOS options.
>
> Cheers,
> Steven Black
>
> On Thu, Oct 02, 2008 at 10:11:14AM -0600, Abhishek Kulkarni wrote:
>
> Just stumbled upon some interesting stuff here http://
> www.fenrus.org/plumbers_fastboot.ppt
>
> I just clocked the booting time on my notebook (Dell Vostro 1400),
> it takes
> more than 90 seconds!
>
> -- Abhishek