 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 123, 24 October 2005 |
Welcome to this year's 43rd issue of DistroWatch Weekly. Several interesting new distribution releases appeared during the past week. LG3D LiveCD deserves a more detailed look due to its unusual desktop and amazing 3D visual effects, while the newly renamed RR4 Linux live DVD is probably the easiest way yet to install Gentoo Linux on a hard disk. Also in this issue: a brief history of Red Hat prompted by the resignation of the company's co-founder Bob Young, a comment about the unusual Internet security guidelines published by a local government in the state of New York, and a few signs that our readers do love and appreciate DistroWatch. Happy reading!
 Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in ogg (9.19MB) or mp3 (7.71MB) format (courtesy of Shawn Milo).
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
Content:
Red Hat's founder resigns from Board of Directors
"Red Hat, the world's leading provider of open source to the enterprise, announced today that Bob Young, co-founder and former executive of Red Hat, has decided to resign from the Red Hat Board of Directors. Young, who founded the company in 1993, served as an executive at Red Hat until 1999. Since then he has been a member of Red Hat's Board of Directors. Young plans to focus on the growth of Lulu.com, an online independent publishing marketplace started in 2002."
The above was announced by Red Hat early last week.
Those who are new to Linux might be interested in a little bit of history. The origins of Red Hat date back to 1994 when Marc Ewing created a Linux distribution which he called Red Hat Linux. This was to be a revolutionary product, a distribution that meant to take on the then-dominant Slackware by introducing a proper package management system, known as RPM. Although hardly a panacea for the increasingly complex operating system integrating the kernel and hundreds of applications interdependent on hundreds of shared libraries, the new package format found much support among Linux developers. Thus, a more powerful way of managing software on a modern Linux distribution was born.
In 1995, Marc Ewing's company was bought by Bob Young's ACC Corporation (founded in 1993), a New York-based catalogue business selling Linux/UNIX software and accessories. Based on the above facts, it is generally accepted that Marc Ewing and Bob Young are the two original co-founders of Red Hat Software, a company that has since become the most recognisable brand name in the world of Linux distributions and the most successful business ever built on open source software.
The long history of Red Hat Linux releases started one fine Mother's Day (8 May) in 1995 with the release of version 1.0, code name "Mother's Day". Three more versions followed in quick succession and it wasn't until several years later that the company settled into a more predictable, semi-annual release cycle which continued largely unchanged until about March 2003. Red Hat Linux was a completely free product that quickly gained many supporters and users. By the turn of the century it was a market leader and the most popular Linux distribution not only in the USA, but also in many other countries around the world.
Despite its rapidly growing popularity, it took Red Hat several more years before the company succeeded in turning their enormous user base into a sustainable business model - by selling support, services and custom solutions based around a product called Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This happened in 2003 when the original free Red Hat Linux was discontinued and replaced with a (more or less) community-built and community-supported free distribution named Fedora Core. Four releases later, Fedora continues to fuel the development of Red Hat's enterprise products, with many innovative ideas that are often tested in Fedora before they are included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
So what exactly is Red Hat today? A multi-million dollar corporation with over 700 employees in over 20 offices world-wide and an annual revenue of some US$200 million. Despite some unpopular decisions, Red Hat remains a true open source business, with several well-known Linux developers on its payroll and dozens of vital utilities and applications all released under the GPL. It is hard to deny that Red Hat has made a huge contribution towards the success of Linux and open source software we are witnessing today. A truly amazing success story made possible by a young visionary and entrepreneur - Bob Young.
We hope Bob will enjoy as much success with Lulu.com as he did while building Red Hat, Inc!
* * * * *
 The Tompkins County (New York) Expert Guide to Internet Security
This is something that has left us so bewildered, we were not sure whether to laugh or to cry.
The picture on the right is a screenshot taken from the Information Technology Services page of the Tompkins County Government, state of New York, USA (we reproduce it here just in case this "gem" is removed in the future, but you can visit the said page here).
We don't believe there is any need to comment on the quality of this "expert" advice given by the county's authorities.
However, we do sympathise with all residents of Tompkins County. If your local government demonstrates the same level of competence in other areas of governance as it does in the information technology field, then... well, let's just say that we sincerely hope no natural or other disaster ever befalls on your part of the world!
Update: It seems that the Tompkins County IT services page has undergone some modifications since our story was published (have you guys been emailing them???). While Internet Explorer is still the only "supported" browser, the page no longer advises users to remove Firefox from their computers in order to "prevent virus infections".
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| Featured Distribution of the Week: LG3D LiveCD |
LG3D LiveCD 2.3
A 3D desktop on a 2D computer screen? Besides Big Linux, which was one of the first Linux distributions to offer this visually attractive method of manipulating application windows, the LG3D LiveCD is another contender offering some amazing eye candy on a dazzling desktop. Innovative, attractive and desperately buggy, the Java-based LG3D project uses Sun Microsystems' Looking Glass desktop to provide a highly entertaining working environment that showcases some of the new ideas and technologies that could potentially change the way we work on our computer desktops.
Your first reaction after booting into LG3D is likely to be that of awe. The panoramic background, 3D visualisation effects of the taskbar and windows, specialist 3D applications such as the background selector on the screenshot below - all these are likely to lead to several hours of exciting desktop entertainment. Granted, it takes some time to get used to the new way of interfacing with your workspace and applications, but once you find your rhythm, you can be almost as productive in Looking Glass as in KDE or GNOME.
Unfortunately, you will soon realise that all that eye candy and visual effects come at a price - in the form of heavy processor usage. Unless you have a modern 3D-enabled graphics card and a huge amount of memory, don't expect to work efficiently in Looking Glass; in our tests, even with the entire live CD loaded into memory of a powerful AMD64 3500+ system with 2 GB of RAM, the desktop was still sluggish, seemingly always on the verge of freezing. And indeed, it did freeze a few times, requiring a hard reboot. Despite that, using LG3D was a lot fun and we certainly enjoyed it while it lasted.
But what next? Looking through some of the public forums discussing LG3D, the most common trait of thought was along the lines, saying: "Yes, it's pretty and interesting, but what's it for? How can LG3D help me to complete my computing tasks or make me more efficient?"
Well, it can't, or not yet, anyway. At this stage of the development it is more like a proof of concept, a hobby project of a few developers at Sun Microsystems showing off the capabilities of Java. But if you let your imagination run wild, you might come up with some crazy ideas where the 3D desktop can be used efficiently - perhaps in education or in better visualisation of computer-controlled production systems. Throughout the history people have often come up with what looked like a silly idea at first, but some of these have turned out to be major inventions. Only time will tell whether the LG3D project will amount to anything more than just a live CD that you boot into once or twice, then throw into a drawer, never to be used again.
For more information about Looking Glass and the LG3D live CD, please visit the project's development pages at lg3d.dev.java.net.
LG3D LiveCD 2.3 - a SLAX-based live CD featuring the Looking Glass desktop 3D virtualisation technology
(full image size: 1,054kB; more screenshots at Tuxmachines.org)
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| Released Last Week |
MCNLive "Jordaan"
MCNLive is a light-weight desktop-oriented live CD featuring the XFce desktop. The new MCNLive "Jordaan" is based on the very latest Mandriva Linux 2006. From the changelog: "security updates; updated to X.Org 6.9cvs20051011; updated AbiWord to 2.4 stable, added AbiWord import / export filters; urpmi sources: Mandriva 2006.0 official tree, PLF free / non-free 2006; ipw2200 firmware updated; added grip; final look & feel. Enjoy this XFce edition of MCNLive!" Find more information on the distribution's home page.
Pingo Linux 4.1
Pingo Linux is a Slovenian distribution based on Fedora Core, but enhanced with multimedia applications and codecs, and fully translated into Slovenian. Pingo Linux 4.1 was released a couple of days ago; this is mostly a bug fix release with several package upgrades (including Firefox 1.0.7, Mozilla 1.7.12 and OpenSSH 4.2p1), translation updates, and other minor enhancements. See the release announcement on the distribution's news page (in Slovenian) for additional details.
ROCK Linux Live CD rev6454
The developers of the source-based ROCK Linux distribution have released a new live CD - a desktop edition with KDE 3.4.3, built from the current development branch of ROCK Linux: "The ROCK Linux Live CD is a full-featured, desktop-oriented target designed to operate directly from CD. The current default package selection uses the 'minimal desktop' template, which incorporates a full KDE desktop and some other applications, like MPlayer, xine, etc. Of course this package selection can be altered to fit your needs. In the background, SquashFS is used, and generic write support is provided by the LD_PRELOAD libc wrapper 'shadowfs'." More details are available on the project's live CD page.
Coyote Linux Personal Firewall 3.00.19
Coyote Linux, a well-known floppy-based firewall distribution, has entered the world of hard disk firewalls with the first public release of Coyote Linux Personal Firewall: "Coyote Linux Personal Firewall 3.00 build 17 is available for download. This release is the first release of the new Coyote Linux 3.00 firewall product. This product has been split from the Wolverine Firewall and VPN code base but is licensed for Personal and Educational use ONLY. CLPF does not include support for VPN (PPTP/IPSEC) or 802.1q VLans. If you need support for these options, you can purchase a personal use license for Wolverine." See the release announcement for more information.
Troppix 1.0
Troppix is a stand-alone Linux live CD based on Debian GNU/Linux, aimed at security professionals, penetration testers and auditors. In particular, Troppix features support for a wide range of wireless cards, and offers several tools for detecting and penetrating wireless networks. Troppix also includes several well known security tools, such as the nmap port scanner and the metasploit framework for vulnerability exploitation. The first stable release of Troppix, version 1.0, features kernel 2.6.13.4, together with a comprehensive collection of wireless, security, desktop, Internet, multimedia and office applications. Read the release announcement and visit the project's home page to learn more.
Ubuntu Linux 5.10 Server
The Ubuntu project has announced the release of a specialist server edition of Ubuntu Linux 5.10: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce Ubuntu 5.10 Server, the first release of Ubuntu designed especially for server environments. Like the standard desktop Ubuntu, it occupies a single CD. However, it is distinguished by the following features: includes server-oriented kernels with out-of-the-box automatic support for multiprocessor systems; includes a wide variety of popular server applications; a slim default installation, occupying just 400 megabytes." The full release announcement.
LG3D LiveCD 2.3
LG3D LiveCD is an interesting project incorporating Sun Microsystems' Project Looking Glass - a Java-based technology that attempts to bring a richer user experience to the desktop and applications via 3D windowing and visualisation capabilities. The newly released version 2.3 is considered to be the project's first stable release. Based on SLAX "Popcorn", but enhanced with Firefox, Gaim, working NVIDIA graphics driver, and copy2ram support, the live CD boots directly into a great-looking 3D desktop with many interesting capabilities (see this document for hints to navigate the 3D workspace). The release announcement and other information can be found on the project's home page.
Rocks Cluster Distribution 4.1
Rocks Cluster Distribution 4.1 has been released: "Rocks v4.1 is released for i386, x86_64 and ia64 CPU architectures. New Features: the Avalanche Installer uses a BitTorrent tracker to support highly-scalable concurrent compute node installation; creation of the 'Rocks Foundation Class'; new blog-based front-end homepage. Enhancements: OS Roll based on CentOS release 4/update 2 and all updates as of October 18 2005; Updated SGE roll to SGE 6 update 6; 'rocks-mirror' modified to build Roll CD sets for any RPM repository; updated MyPhpAdmin to address security issues...." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details.
PC-BSD 0.8.3
An updated version of PC-BSD has been released: "PC-BSD 0.8.3 was released today. This version offers some new visuals, new languages, as well as important bugfixes with systems that have had trouble booting after the install." From the changelog: "Added auto-run daemon for CDs; PC-BSD installer is now 1 CD, with optional 2nd CD for language packs; fixed major FDISK issue; added option to run GUI installation in 1024x768 mode; improved visuals with new default cursor / wallpaper scheme; fixed bug with 'cancel' not working when prompting for format during install; added a beta version of the PC-BSD command-line registry program; updated user-manager; added several new languages including Japanese, Ukrainian, and Chinese Traditional." The release announcement, release notes, changelog.
grml 0.5
The grml live CD is a Debian-based distribution designed especially for users of text tools and system administrators, with a good collection of rescue and system analysis utilities. Version 0.5 was released on Sunday. The release notes provide a comprehensive listing of all changes; these include kernel 2.6.13.4, updated configuration files, new grml scripts and boot parameters, as well as several new features: "full automatic installation to hard disk; framework 'grml autoconfig': configure hardware detection; 'configuration framework': new boot parameters and scripts; integration of 'hotplug-light'; got rid of all Knoppix packages: this means you get a clean Debian unstable system with some additional packages available through the grml repository."
RR4 Linux 2.60.3
RR4 Linux (formerly known as Gentoo RR4) is a Gentoo-based live DVD with a large collection of applications, complemented by a graphical hard disk installation program from the Gentoo Installer project. An updated version 2.60.3 was released over the weekend: "Here we are, with this release, Gentoo RR4 becomes RR4 Linux or RR4 LiveDVD, but it's always the same - bleeding edge, most powerful Gentoo-based system on the globe. In this new release, I've made radical changes to the DVD boot loader, switching from the ever-problematic GRUB to the always-working ISOLINUX." Other updates include KDE 3.4.3, GNOME 2.12.1, OpenOffice.org 2.0rc2, localisations for KDE and OpenOffice.org, and a new Portage snapshot. Find more information in the release announcement and release notes (in PDF format).
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Development and unannounced releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
NetBSD 3.0
The NetBSD project has revised its estimated released dates of the development and final versions of NetBSD 3.0: "On behalf of NetBSD's release engineering team I would like to provide you with an update on our current estimated timelines for the NetBSD 3.0 release. The release had to be postponed because of necessary security fixes and the following problem reports which are potential showstoppers...." Read the full announcement here. The first release candidate of NetBSD 3.0 is now expected on 12 November, with two more release candidate following in weekly intervals. The estimated date of the final release has not been announced.
Turbolinux 11
Turbolinux, the oldest and one of the most successful Asian Linux company, has announced the upcoming release of Turbolinux 11: "Turbolinux, Inc. today announced the highly-anticipated release of Turbolinux FUJI Version 11. FUJI is the successor to Turbolinux 10 Desktop (10D), a core Turbolinux desktop product released in October 2003. Designed primarily for the Japanese Linux market, the new FUJI system augments the Windows compatibility features first introduced in 10D, and offers a desktop computing environment with optimized applications, as well as outstanding safety and stability." The Japanese edition of the product is scheduled to start shipping in late November, while an international edition is expected in Q1 2006. See the full press release for further information. Here is a screenshot of the new product.
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Web Site News |
New distribution additions
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New on the waiting list
- Kirux Kuadra Enterprise Server. Kirux Kuadra Enterprise Server is a powerful and dynamic, all-in-one server platform for small to medium size businesses. The system features an easy-to-use web based Server Administration Panel and requires little or no IT expertise to administer the server.
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DistroWatch database summary
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| DistroWatch in the News |
Linux Journal readers, PC Magazine editors hail DistroWatch
 It is always a pleasure to learn that the work we put into DistroWatch is appreciated by our readers.
The November 2005 issue of Linux Journal published the results of the magazine's annual Reader's Choice Award. We are very pleased to report that in the category "Favourite Linux Web Site" DistroWatch.com was ranked second - right behind Slashdot.com and ahead of LinuxJournal.com and LWN.net. This is a particularly exciting result, especially because we never encouraged our readers to vote in the poll; in fact, we have never even mentioned the poll's existence on these pages. Many thanks to all who voted for us!
* * * * *
 Knowing that the readers of a specialist Linux publication appreciate this site gave us a warm, fuzzy feeling, but imagine our surprise when we learnt that even a more general computing magazine has kind words to say about DistroWatch:
"If you love Linux, you'll love this site. You'll find a wealth of information about Linux distributions, features, reviews, and packages. Don't miss the DistroWatch Weekly, an update of what happened that week in the Linux world."
The above comes from none other than the venerable PC Magazine, or more precisely from its Fall 2005 Top 101 Web Sites feature. Did the endorsement succeed in getting a few more computer users to try Linux? We certainly hope so....
* * * * *
And while on the subject of self-praise, a quote from an email sent to us recently by a reader from Germany:
"I've come a long way from starting a career as a (useless) Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. Looking back, I can't understand how I could endure such slavery for so long. The existence of Open Source software and DistroWatch.com have helped me tremendously in making the right decisions and break free.
My life has changed completely - I *did* rediscover fun in work, and I've won a new future for myself and my family, new friends, new ways of thinking, new solutions, an open culture, the whole paradigm. I'd like to say much more, but I don't want to waste your time. Let me just say a big 'Thank you', Mr. Bodnar, and please keep up this excellent work. It is so essential for so many people in this critical phase of computing history."
Thank you, Konstantin, we couldn't have said it better ourselves!
And with this we'll say good-bye until next Monday. We hope you've enjoyed this issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Hurray for distrowatch weekly! (by war on 2005-10-24 13:48:22 GMT from United States)
Good work Ladislav!
2 • Re: The Tompkins County (New York) Expert Guide to Internet Security (by Mereo on 2005-10-24 13:55:42 GMT from Canada)
It's just weird...
3 • Jumping on the bandwagon ... (by just john on 2005-10-24 14:04:22 GMT from United States)
Hail DistroWatch!
4 • Re: The Tompkins County (New York) Expert Guide to Internet Security (by utabintarbo on 2005-10-24 14:06:48 GMT from United States)
Well, what did you expect from a government site?
Remember:
Those that can, do.
Those that can't, teach.
Those that can't even teach find a government job. :-P
5 • Gentoo (by Anonymous on 2005-10-24 14:08:06 GMT from Spain)
That rr4 live-dvd looks great. Just a couple of days ago I had my first experience with gentoo by installing kororaa (a preconfigured gentoo) and it was very good. Everything worked fine and performance was close to Vecor Linux. Portage is really fun to use and the gentoo site is great.
Grea to see a Gentoo based live-dvd to introduce new users easily to this distro.
6 • Tompkins County (New York) (by Anonymous on 2005-10-24 14:20:26 GMT from United States)
Just so you know, Tompkins County includes Ithaca NY, the home of Cornell University. Maybe the Cornell CS Dept. folks should have a talk with their county government. Or maybe not.
7 • grml 0.5 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-10-24 14:23:44 GMT from Italy)
"Full automatic installation to hard disk"
"full automatic (non-interactive) installation"
Does anybody know if the above quotes mean that you can install only by deleting all partitions in your hard drives? (I have had enough of that)
8 • Thanks (by Kumar Mu on 2005-10-24 14:24:12 GMT from Italy)
As many readers (including myself) have said in the past, Distrowatch is my homepage of the browser. I visit it almost 6 times daily. Look forward to reading Monday Distrowtach Weekly. I have learnt a lot about Linux through your site. Thank you and continue the goddwork.
9 • Tompkins County, RR4 Desktop (by Ed Borasky on 2005-10-24 14:29:33 GMT from United States)
I don't find the Tompkins County thing funny at all. Firefox posts a vulnerabilty and fix for said vulnerability so frequently that I've had to pull it off of my Windows box at work. I applaud the IT folks at Tompkins County for doing what they have to do, however unpopular it might be to the users of the Tompkins County or to the open source community. If you folks at Tompkins County IT read this (on IE) TWO HUGE THUMBS UP!!
Now, about that RR4 desktop ... using that rolling field background, regardless of its intellectual property status, is just plain wrong! Why would anybody attempt to make a Linux desktop look like that? Assuming the image in question isn't someone's intellectual property, it's still bad marketing. If it *is* someone's intellectual property, well ... 'nuff said.
10 • Booya! (by guhappy on 2005-10-24 14:34:15 GMT from United States)
Another great Distrowatch Weekly is in the can. According to the Tompkins County (New York) Expert Guide to Internet Security, I should uninstall Firefox and start using IE again. I did miss the feeling having viruses & malware on my computer :-D
11 • Web browsers (by John Brown on 2005-10-24 14:40:14 GMT from South Africa)
Lol about the county supported web browsers! How ironic ;-)
12 • re: grml 0.5 (by crawancon on 2005-10-24 14:46:26 GMT from United States)
running grml2hd requires additional bootparameters...
(see bootsplash F9 for more details)
usage example: grml2hd partition=/dev/hda1 mbr=/dev/hda filesystem=ext3 user=crawancon
-> this will install grml to present partition /dev/hda1 using ext3 filesystem, adding user crawancon and installing lilo to MBR of /dev/hda; passwords of user root and user are 'grml'
you don't have to install to mbr if you just want to use "hd" option on the bootoptions of LiveCD.
13 • :-P (by crawancon on 2005-10-24 14:57:19 GMT from United States)
wait i forgot to comment about Tompkins County:
i understand wanting to standardize the desktops and all, but don't comment about being strict with pop-ups and spyware if you're going to use the EXACT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION that spyware/malware/etc/etc TARGETS.
don't use firefox because of too many exploits?
i don't agree, but fine i understand the concern...
no mention of OPERA ??!?!?!?!?
they seem to depend so blindly on microsoft publicizing a security exploit for them, they've become unaware of BETTER software.
sorry --
14 • Control vs. Open-Source (by deek on 2005-10-24 15:26:44 GMT from United States)
About Tompkins County:
While I don't like or agree with their decision, I can at least understand it. In order to make a network safe and secure, IT almost has to take away all control from the user. Its not a web browser or specific platform that creates instable systems (due to virii and malware), it is the user, plain and simple.
So, I understand why they are wanting just a single web browser, and with its mass usage, IE was the obvious choice. Not the best, mind you. Open-Source, in my opinion, is about freedom of choice...security, on the other hand, really is about control and limiting the causes of problems...And, I am sure if you had hundreds of employees downloading all sorts of "crap" and buggering up the company's equipment, you would be looking for a solution to minimize it, too...
15 • Re: The Tompkins County (New York) Expert Guide to Internet Security (by utabintarbo on 2005-10-24 15:30:27 GMT from United States)
Well, what did you expect from a government site?
Remember:
Those that can, do.
Those that can't, teach.
Those that can't even teach find a government job. :-P
16 • firefox (by Anonymous on 2005-10-24 15:46:43 GMT from Brazil)
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3513_7-5515107-1.html
17 • CERT advises "use a different web browser" (by Anonymous on 2005-10-24 15:51:27 GMT from Brazil)
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/713878
(...)
Use a different web browser
There are a number of significant vulnerabilities in technologies related to the IE domain/zone security model, trust in and access to the local file system (Local Machine Zone), the Dynamic HTML (DHTML) document object model (in particular, proprietary DHTML features), the HTML Help system, MIME type determination, the graphical user interface (GUI), and ActiveX. These technologies are implemented as operating system components that are used by IE and many other programs to provide web browser functionality. These components are integrated into Windows to such an extent that vulnerabilities in IE frequently provide an attacker significant access to the operating system.
It is possible to reduce exposure to these vulnerabilities by using a different web browser, especially when viewing untrusted HTML documents (e.g., web sites, HTML email messages). Such a decision may, however, reduce the functionality of sites that require IE-specific features such as proprietary DHTML, VBScript, and ActiveX. Note that using a different web browser will not remove IE from a Windows system, and other programs may invoke IE, the WebBrowser ActiveX control (WebOC), or the HTML rendering engine (MSHTML).
(...)
18 • RE: to #17 (by phantasmathos on 2005-10-24 16:05:00 GMT from El Salvador)
I'm not a IT guy, but as I understand -despite the T. County reasons- with Firefox I have more control over my connection to untrusted sites. I can use (and I using it now) the javascrip blocker, the popup blocker, certifies, etc. And Firefox is not touching the whole M$ Windoze to make his work... there are not a lot of hidden/undiscovered spaguetti lines of code mixed with the M$ megalithic-kernel!!!
Or... I'm so wrong with my knowledge?
I.C.
19 • Supported Web Browsers (by Bill Savoie at 2005-10-24 16:07:33 GMT from United States)
I find it interesting how many companies/people/governments make foolish rules about difficult subjects. The Tompkins County decision, to force people into the system that is most infected, is a good example of how the mind works. When rape was first exposed as a problem in the 1950's it was blamed on short dresses. When President Regan talked about poverty it was to blame the welfare mothers who had more kids to buy new cars with their bigger welfare checks. It all seems kind of funny now, but lots of people suffered with these misleading 'solutions'.
Of course, upgrading Windows to SuSE 10.0 would mostly solve Tompkins County's problems, but it wasn't on their 5 year plan. The County closed that door "Effective: June 15, 1993" with their one size fits all, nothing going to change attitude.
Even business does this kind of stupid stuff. I worked 18 months for Adran in Huntsville Alabama, who forced me to use Borland 4.52 C++ to write 16 bit test programs for its Internet line card testing. 1986 software for 2005 products. The day I turned in a 16 page proposal, that they switch to web based technology, they walked me out the door. It mattered not that I did the proposal on my own time, that I wanted to help them make more money in less time, their minds were completely closed. It is hard work being dumb, it takes lots of time, years in fact.
Sometimes the best we can do is to save ourselves. No good deed goes unpunished. Tompkin County just needs a few good men and a stronger work ethic. Unfortunately many Distrowatchers are used as slaves, rather then information specialists. Good technical solutions are not good short time politics.
20 • The Tompkins County (New York) Expert Guide to Internet Security (by Bassist Of The Fall on 2005-10-24 16:15:08 GMT from Egypt)
*sigh*
Ignorance is official now..
21 • Tompkins County (New York) (by x on 2005-10-24 16:16:18 GMT from United States)
Question - When did IE become secure?
Open Source projects tend to be open about security vunerabilities and fix the problem as quickly as possible. This is one of the basic tenents of the Open Source philosophy. IE has unrepaired vunerabilities, a few dating back to its first release, that may or may not be fixed in the next release cycle( I forget whether the cycle is semi-annually or quarterly).
Several months ago,I believe, the new Department of Homeland Security issued a recomendation to use any browser that is more secure than IE, specifically mentioning Firefox. What do the Tompkins County employees, elected and non-elected, know that the federal government of the US, particularly the agencies responsible for national security, does not know.
If they know, they should share this with everyone. I for one would be glad to feel confident that Internet Explorer is finally a safe and secure product, verifiable by truly independant sources.
22 • Tompkins County Security (by ubuntulinuxboy on 2005-10-24 16:29:43 GMT from United States)
I took a look at the website and looked beyond the IE/Firefox issue. I thought that the suggestions the IT department made were very clear and helpful to a non-tech government worker. Clearly, the county has a problem with employees downloading problematic software, such as comet cursor, weatherbug and other ad/spyware. The county even has some sort of hardware firewall implemented. However, I hope the IT department switches the county over to firefox and away from internet explorer. Then of course the question becomes...what extension will we allow...not allow..etc. Joy!
23 • Tompkins County Morons (by cakey on 2005-10-24 16:31:57 GMT from United States)
well, cant blame them i guess, if people would all start using secure software they'd be out of a job
24 • I still say its the users... (by deek on 2005-10-24 16:33:17 GMT from United States)
I cannot argue with the fact that IE is less secure than other browsers.
I still say that minimizing the amount of browsers is a start, but I believe their choice was the wrong one to base their "secure" model on, as there are obviously better choices available.
But, above all, I still say that, regardless of browser, user ignorance is still a major issue. I mean, I have used IE for a number of years at home and at work, and I have never (in that time) experienced the affects of malware or a virus.
Anyways, this has certainly been an interesting read about a controversial (to some extent) topic.
25 • Tompkins County, where light shines brighter (by wouter on 2005-10-24 16:38:11 GMT from Belgium)
I'm sorry for the many brighter and more critical individuals from the US, but this quite simply sums up what cynical Europeans see as (the problem of) the average American.
In fact, it couldn't have expressed the 'doh' feeling any better. And it doesn't even mention Bush or his politics or religious fundamentalism or anything specific, singular and temporary. It could have been in the Midwest, though, for that extra 'doh'-ness.
"Why think and doubt when you can believe and be sure?"
Who feels like going out, talking to them, getting them to actually listen to reason and having them think instead of believe?
That's not to say that our government(s) are much better... *sigh*... Governments and the morons they consist of are the worst I.T. implementers and are consistently years behind the rest of society. But most of all, it damn right spooks me to think that all major banks seem to rely on the same policies as Tompkins County. It's all Microsoft shit, with our money at stake. I don't know about you, but I don't want to put my money on Microsoft...
26 • Too Funny (by Robert on 2005-10-24 17:16:59 GMT from United States)
I tell you, when I saw the news on Distrowatch this morning, hot chocolate shot from my nose I laughed so hard. I live in Massachusetts and the State here is moving to open-source formats. I hope other states follow in MA's example.
27 • Tompkins County (New York) Expert Guide to Internet Security (by Anonymous on 2005-10-24 17:40:38 GMT from United States)
Laugh or cry would is quite appropriate for this section on the web page.
Ladislav; you might have to put a warning on your website; look what happened to "Robert" poster 28.
"hot chocolate shot from my nose"
Poor Robert; more so; poor, poor, poor Tompkins County.
Kudos!!!! Another great DW. Always a surprise and as always, informative.
28 • LG3D (by EEDOK on 2005-10-24 17:50:03 GMT from Canada)
remember kids when using LG3D, your video card will make more of a difference than anything else, you don't need 2GB of RAM if you've got a 256MB video card.
29 • Supported browsers. (by BreMac on 2005-10-24 17:59:09 GMT from Canada)
This is what they get for hiring people without experience in the wider world of the web... though, this could be because, according to their site, they block almost everything unrelated to company business.
30 • Ubuntu Linux Addon DVDs (by Hirah Adam Essack on 2005-10-24 19:09:18 GMT from United Kingdom)
For those people who want to have extra software to use and the missing multimedia stuff. The following site gives information on how to mirror the repository, but if you scroll down the page you will find that thay offer 2 DVD ISOs containing the Universe and Multiverse repositories. They are bittorent files but thay download quite fast at 300kbs. Please try it out and seed if you can.
http://cargol.net/~ramon/ubuntu-dvd-en
Anyway happy downloading and keep up the good work.
31 • Is it just me (by Fsck_Ann_Coulter_in_the_a$$ on 2005-10-24 19:20:41 GMT from United States)
Or does Bob Young look exactly like Bill Gates? That would be clever if somehow RHAT was owned by MSFT.
That's what Ann Coulter would want anyway. But she's a drunk biatch.
32 • amateur sysadmin hypnothesis (by gnobian_ken00bie on 2005-10-24 19:37:52 GMT from United States)
I suspect that they have chosen a non-transparent - read: configure each browser to use it - proxy server, so limiting to one browser is probably necessary. And since IE is installed regardless - despite the US DOJ - and must be configured, any other browsers are more work. Understandable but sad.
(The out of left field diss on Ann Coulter was very OT but I confess a chuckle.)
33 • Bodnar and the crumbs (by Charlot Pietri on 2005-10-24 19:44:34 GMT from Canada)
Bed Rhat is worst than M$. At least Bill never defrauded his investors the way Bob did. Do you remember how Bed Rhat "forgot" to clearly explain that the GNU lincense was really not meant to provide the kind of revenue investors normally
expect on their investment(1)? Do you remember how most of Bed Rhat programmers never got their fait share of shares?
(1) The prospectus does indeed repeat twice that "The GPL states that any program licensed under it may be liberally copied, modified and distributed." But who reads prospectus and how could investors envisage the consequences of
such a weird business model? This certainly asked for a few more comments.
http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com
fetchFilingFrameset.aspx?FilingID=1527620&Type=HTML
But Lulu and his wife sure did and because they sold before the bubble bursted -- they're not even listed amongst the major shareholders anymore! (1) --, the couple is now almost as rich as Bed Rhat itself. (Bed Rhat only got the price of the offering. Admittedly, if the IPO was at $17, the second offering was at
100$, after the 2:1 split, if I remember well.) So don't worry about Lulu, he'll be doing fine even off the Board.
(1) http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=RHAT
From Feb 2004 to Feb 2005, Bed Rhat had investments of over 600 millions. (Cash and cash equivalents of more than 140 millions.) That's where almost half of its revenue came from. See:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=RHAT&annual
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=RHAT&annual
So yes, sometimes a few crumbs fall off the thieves' table -- Bed Rhat does pay Alan Cox -- but it certainly has nothing to do with Bed Rhat technical merit. (I've never tried RPMs but, from what I've heard, Swaret with straight TGZs does as good.) It's only that Lulu got his way in defrauding investors and developers alike.
Think of Bed Rhat as a minor league Microsoft, only more vicious. Bodnar's lack of intuition prevents him from seeing what the Open Source could have been if Lulu hadn't got Linux entangled in this kind of stupid business and had continued developing according to its own model where only competence prevails. All Bodnar can see is the crumbs.
34 • Tompkins County (by Ann on 2005-10-24 20:36:12 GMT from United States)
Someone else has mentioned that Ithaca is in TC; it's definitely not a technical back-water. As it's explained on the webpages, IE is required by the security software they've added. They might well wish they'd standardized on linux years ago, but most local governments don't have the $$ to switch OSs. As for employees being able to install the software of their chioce, it doesn't often work that way in the real world.
35 • Tompkins County (by 1c3d0g on 2005-10-24 20:37:54 GMT from Aruba)
Ahahahahaha......
36 • Re: #12 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-10-24 21:51:07 GMT from Italy)
Thanks crawancon, very enlightening reply :-)
37 • Browsers and Security (by Steve on 2005-10-24 21:54:12 GMT from United Kingdom)
:) nice one...
OK, so for about 18 months now I have been pushing my clients towards...
cheap no-name PC's running Knoppix / Kanotix LiveCD, no local files
use Firefox + OO on those distros to link into a LAMP style server running ideally Debian + ClamAV
all behind a firewall.
So what do they say?
We can't abandon Quicken Books !
No-one knows how to support Linux !
I've got a doc which won't display right in OO !
So they cling to the XP + how many updates? Norton AV with $$ timed out on 1/2 the machines. They no budge, they no time to think, they only work work hey Steve, can you fix..
...sometimes people only learn when things go wrong.
and sometimes my head hurts :(
Steve
38 • The Tompkins County (New York) Expert Guide to Internet Security (by Rev. Martin Murphy on 2005-10-24 22:09:20 GMT from United States)
How cute !!! I imagine they are more skilled at pumpkin-pies and fall leaves than cyber-security.
39 • Firefox Problems (by Lance Lucas on 2005-10-24 22:43:55 GMT from United States)
If I am not mistaken, the Windows 1.0.x releases of Firefox will NOT automatically update themselves. And when they are updated, the user must be have the required privileges (Admin or Power User, I think) to add/remove software from the machine. I think this means that a Network Administrator must visit every workstation when a bug or security release is made. Easy to see why a large-scale enterprise would balk at such a proposition. With Window's Auto Update, they can at least be certain their machines are always running the best version possible. Not possible with Firefox's method...
40 • The Tompkins County Wacos (by Komodo on 2005-10-25 00:23:16 GMT from Germany)
I liked particularly their point no. 6:
"Never click on an advertisement in the margins of the page you are viewing, even if it seems like something you are looking for."
Well, it reads for me as:
"Always klick on an ad in the middle of the page u r viewing, especially if it seems like sth u r lookin 4"
They are positively krazy there. The person who wrote this BS should be fired immediately due to blatant incompetence. However, their HP consists of nothing else but damping 2crap.
The "Contact us" - link on their HP has been cancelled. Their ancient webserver
Apache/1.3.26 Server at owasco.co.tompkins.ny.us Port 80
gives 404 when a browser is pointed to the contact form which they call "email"
http://owasco.co.tompkins.ny.us/its/email.htm
Gee, Ladislav, never ever had I presumed there is such a lack of elementary computer literacy in the land of the brave and the free... this should be a reminder for us all, that freedom comes at a cost of 'eternal vigilance' (Abby Lincoln).
May the people of the Tompkins County rise, sweep the stupid wackos away, and call someone able to their office.
Thx for yr work, and keep going strong!
Yours,
Waran of Komodo
41 • Tompkins County (by Jamie on 2005-10-25 00:34:23 GMT from Canada)
Tompkins County ITS has removed their "E mail ITS" and "Submit a service request" pages. I can't email them to make fun of them. :(
42 • bug in the website news >> new distribution additions (by vampire_janus@yahoo.com on 2005-10-25 01:18:49 GMT from Philippines)
see lg3d live description
43 • Another Great Review (by gabbman on 2005-10-25 01:30:10 GMT from Canada)
A wee bit of controversy.
A whole lot of good reading.
Another fine week in review.
44 • Poor county admins (by ChiJoan on 2005-10-25 01:48:15 GMT from United States)
Maybe they should be more like the college I went to, they had special cards in them that would automatically remove anything they had not installed. At least you can install what you want each morning you turn it on. My pet peeve with them was dis-allowing the use of a Linux LiveCD, they had their boxes' BIOS settings locked. At the time, I didn't have a Linux bootable USB stick to try, I wonder if that would've worked under these secure operating procedures?
Congrats on PCMag mentioning you, too bad they don't have more Linux coverage, that's why I didn't renew my subcription to them. Wonder why no Linux mags are offered through the subscription services? Students buy with budget plans just like others who try to win sweepstakes by ordering. I'll keep hoping to see them offered one day.
45 • printer friendly (by dicrapio on 2005-10-25 02:22:01 GMT from United States)
just wondering if it'd be possible to have a printable version of the DWW. i (and hopefully others) find it convinient to just print it and walk away from the monitor to read. just a thought, thx.
46 • Contact Tompkins County (by Anonymous on 2005-10-25 04:44:02 GMT from Malaysia)
Another way to email the good people of Tompkins County. The email addresses are at http://www.tompkins-co.org/display/contact.php
"For comments or questions regarding the function or display of the website, please contact Information Technology Services (ksimpson@tompkins-co.org).
For comments, suggestions, or questions regarding the content of this website, please contact Public Information (hstewart@tompkins-co.org)."
47 • Tompkins fiasco: Is it a violation of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act? (by Anonymous on 2005-10-25 06:13:10 GMT from Malaysia)
What I would like to know is if these policies and recommendations are only applicable to internal employees of Tompkins County, or if they apply to their public website and the general public. If the latter, someone on these boards who lives in the U.S. should investigate filing a complaint against Tompkins County for possible violation for Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
References:
(1) Section 508 Law - http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=3
(2) Accessibility Validator: Document Conformance Tests - http://www.miislita.com/searchito/accessibility-validator.html
(3) Usability.gov - http://usability.gov/accessibility/
(4) Accessibility of State and Local Government Websites to People with Disabilities - http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/websites2.htm
48 • Internal applications might work best with IE (by Olivier at 2005-10-25 07:15:46 GMT from Belgium)
Hello,
Why standardize on IE ? We know IE and Firefox don't work exactly the same way. Developing an application that works fine on both browsers requires more time/effort/skill. In my workplace, we have lots of internal web applications. Some work with Firefox (e.g. JIRA), some don't (e.g. specific homemade development). So, existing internal applications will make us stick to IE, and manageability/support will make us rule out a second browser.
49 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2005-10-25 09:16:37 GMT from Netherlands)
Did anyone read this in the TurboLinux announcement?:
Windows Compatibility
Via an exclusive Japanese market distribution agreement with Philippines-based SpecOps Labs, Inc., Turbolinux has preinstalled SpecOps's David software application in the FUJI platform to respond to market demand for Windows program compatibility on open source Linux systems. MS Office files created in Windows can now be easily opened and edited within the FUJI OS. The FUJI platform augments four aspects of Windows compatibility: are Windows operation compatibility; Windows file compatibility; Windows application compatibility which is applicable to the David software module; and Windows system compatibility.
50 • Kirux server (by Jim C on 2005-10-25 09:23:38 GMT from United Kingdom)
There is an ongoing argument over at sme server about Kirux server being a clone of sme server , interesting reading
http://contribs.org/modules/pbboard/viewtopic.php?p=122472
51 • # 39 (by Anonymous on 2005-10-25 11:03:09 GMT from Brazil)
"they can at least be certain their machines are always running the best version possible"
http://www.futurepower.net/microsoft.htm
{
(...)
For example, on December 9, 2002, there were 19 security vulnerabilities [pivx.com] in Microsoft's internet browser, Microsoft Internet Explorer. Some of these defects allow a malicious web site designer to "execute arbitrary commands, read local files, and do anything the user can ... do to his machine". These defects allowed an attacker to take control even if the user had a perfect software firewall and a perfect hardware firewall. The attack could use the HTTP protocol which all firewalls allow. This extreme exposure existed for years.
Here is the recent record. The list of defects has been similar for years. Also, this is a record only of security defects, not all defects:
* June 18, 2002: 18 vulnerabilities
* August 8, 2002: 22 vulnerabilities
* September 9, 2002: 19 vulnerabilities
* November 19, 2002: 32 vulnerabilities
* December 9, 2002: 19 vulnerabilities. (Microsoft fixed 15 on Nov. 20, but two new ones were found.)
This is a terrible record for a company that has $50 billion [biz.yahoo.com] in the bank. ("Total Current Assets") Obviously, with that kind of money, Microsoft could fix the defects if it wanted to fix them. Since the defects are very public and Microsoft has the money, it seems reasonable to suppose that top management at Microsoft has deliberately decided that some defects should remain.
The defects in Internet Explorer are examples in only one program. All of Microsoft's software seems to be of comparable quality. See, for example, the Microsoft Crash Gallery.
(...)
}
52 • The Tompkins County (New York) (by Josh Bowers on 2005-10-25 13:02:59 GMT from United States)
This is a sad day for my home state. My dad works for the New York DOT. There web page is very well done and looks good in Firefox. My Dad help build it on my Linux computer. He is very good with HTML and likes to uses Linux. He wants to install Linux on all of the DOT computer to save $$$$$$.
Very Cool!
53 • Too Funny (by Robert on 2005-10-25 13:16:24 GMT from United States)
I find it funny that the Government builds the space shuttle using the lowest bidder, but uses the most expensive software around which is full of holes out-of-the-gate. So, in either case, the user or pilot is unsafe!
54 • Doesnt surprise me (by Scott Wilson on 2005-10-25 13:57:17 GMT from United States)
I work in IT. I am always confronted with the whole MS issue.
I have a mortgage client. Thatthey shell out $$$$ for the latest in server OS software, but they stll use just plain jane Norton corporate edition. About three times a week I get call to this site for Desktop having issues. Mostly malware/spyware. each machine takes at least 2 hours to get cleaned up, so the company I use to work for getss big $$$$ on the service contract.
With each visit I am asked how to "fix" the problem? I responed with the firefox "bandaid" or convert all of the desktops to thin clients, since they use citrix for their apps. OR I place my hand over my heart, convert all of the desktops to Linux, (since they use Cirtrix for all of the mortgage apps). Since most of all the malware /spyware require the active X componet from IE. And also that the enduser will not be albe to down load the "stuff" that weekly invades their systems, because they will not be local admins, like most of the products for windows require them to be. We actually had a conversion on how and why this might be done or why they cant switch. reason: I need off the shelf software and support.
At this point I bang my head on the wall, I am your support! Retail software, you use Citrix you dont need anything else.
Well any way, I quit my job yesterday, going to work for a upstart home/small business IT support company. I was the only person who was in support of Open source, everyone else mentaility was Microsoft this. Microsoft that. But what do I know Im just a hardware tech. ;-p
55 • Secunia - Vunerability Report (by Anonymous on 2005-10-25 16:01:27 GMT from Brazil)
http://secunia.com/product/11/
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x with all vendor patches installed and all vendor workarounds applied, is currently affected by one or more Secunia advisories rated Highly critical
This is based on the most severe Secunia advisory, which is marked as "Unpatched" in the Secunia database. Go to Unpatched/Patched list below for details.
Currently, 20 out of 86 Secunia advisories, is marked as "Unpatched" in the Secunia database.
(...)
56 • Why You Should Dump Internet Explorer (by Anonymous on 2005-10-25 16:05:39 GMT from Brazil)
nels.lockergnome.com/news/archives/20040615_why_you_should_dump_internet_explorer.phtml
(...)
Don’t use Internet Explorer.
What makes other browsers better than IE at protecting vs. spyware and other attacks? Well, it’s simple really - most other browsers don’t make it so easy to install malicious software on your system without you knowing about it. IE makes it relatively trivial through two features called ActiveX and Active Scripting. These technologies were designed specifically for the purpose of giving websites more control over a user’s computer. Unfortunately, as we have seen with exploit after exploit - that’s not always a good thing.
In addition to the spyware issues, IE in general has had a terrible track record when it comes to all types of serious security issues. For years now, it’s seemed like every time you turn around there is a new way to have your computer taken over via Internet Explorer. Put “internet explorer” and “allow an attacker to execute commands” (with the quotes) into Google and you’ll see what I mean.
In IE’s defense, many anti-Microsoft types will claim that it’s not possible to lock down IE at all. This is not true. It is possible — but if and only if you have a fair amount of technical know-how on the subject, and the time to do it. My personal view, however, is that tools such as Internet browsers should not require expertise and configuration time to be able to use them safely.
(...)
57 • Distrowatch is King (by Robzilla-L.A. on 2005-10-25 16:07:17 GMT from United States)
I just want to write a quick note in the spirit of praise. I have been lucky enough to find distrowatch soon after I started using Linux. It was just about a year ago and I have learned so much and tryed so many Linux Distros thanks to Distrowatch. I have been on many sites and I have to say all have their place. But if you want to get to the grit of whats new and who is who and the breakdown of what distro has what there really is nothing better than distrowatch. So much information presented in a very user friendly and logical way. Ladislav and all of those who contribute to this site do a fantastic job. You give all of us the freedom of choice in one central place. I can't express in words how great I think this site is and I have been a daily visitor ever since I first found it! So I am glad to see Distrowatch get the recognition that is well deserved and beena long time coming!!
Robzilla
"You are damaging my calm" Serenity
58 • IE (by Josh Bowers on 2005-10-25 16:26:54 GMT from United States)
It is just to many Vulnerability. It seems like if they solve 15, 3 more show up. It is like never-ending . What they need to do is just start from scratch. Build a new IE that has SSL and a Firewall and Spyware protection built in. Also do more end-user testing.
Get involvement from out side of Microsoft. Give Firefox some friendly Competition.
59 • Distrowatch (by Warper on 2005-10-25 17:11:40 GMT from Ecuador)
Every week I really enjoy this fine reading. Since I began reading DWW an visiting DW, I've become more and more interestd in Linux world, even my kids had learned from what I've learned.
Off topic things like the Tompkins County subject makes me remember that there are two things that are infinite: Universe and stupidity.
Lots of people had already said it: Keep up the good work Ladislav.
60 • # 58 (by Anonymous on 2005-10-25 17:55:49 GMT from Brazil)
"What they need to do is just start from scratch."
Or use Mozilla/firefox instead!
61 • Kirux Kuadra ES - fork (rip-off is more accurate) of contribs.org SMEServer (by Deunan Knute on 2005-10-25 20:52:10 GMT from Malaysia)
New on the waiting list
* Kirux Kuadra Enterprise Server.
I am very much surprised and disappointed at the listing of the above. The product was a direct copy of SMEServer, although GPL allows forking and copying and redistribution and all that, but nowhere on Kirux's website even remotely mentioned about giving credits where credits dues.
Point on ipcop.org, at least they acknowledge their smoothwall roots. Smoothie former developer can rant and fumes all he wants of the forking, but I don't think he ever complains that ipcop.org did not credit smoothwall for their product.
Don't let me start on the various nuke cms-es..
I understand that DW wasn't able to track all submissions, and I don't blame you guys. I think DW is the greatest!!
Check out the discussion thread on contribs.org, take particular notice on how kiruxadmin postings...
http://contribs.org/modules/pbboard/viewtopic.php?t=27314
62 • as always... (by Stephan Wassipaul on 2005-10-25 21:48:26 GMT from Austria)
... nice work, thanks !
63 • Kirux Kuadra ES (by Duncan on 2005-10-25 23:04:39 GMT from Australia)
Bah.
Alot of people have put a great deal of time into SMEServer to get it to where it is today. This guy has taken it, rebadged it and called it his own.
64 • DW praise, Tompkins, and a mistake on DW Weekly (by Carlos Alberto Santos on 2005-10-25 23:43:32 GMT from Cuba)
First I would like to congratulate DW for it's surely deserved praise on 2 prestigious media vehicles. As an avid reader of DistroWatch this is one more recognition of all the good work put in this great and important Linux (and BSD) reference website. Long life to you Ladislav and to everyone who helps building this website.
About the Tompkins County news, when trying to access their website I got this:
"The page you are looking for has moved. You will be automatically redirected to the new location OR you can click the link below.
[link]Tompkins County Information Technology Services[/link]"
and was redirected to this address:
"http://www.tompkins-co.org/employee_only/its/index.htm
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /employee_only/its/index.htm on this server.
Apache/1.3.26 Server at owasco.co.tompkins.ny.us Port 80"
I don't know if I got this because I'm accessing from Cuba (an unjustly embargoed country by the USA government) or because they are ashamed by their advice.
And before wrap up, I found a mistake on this week's DW Weekly. On the "Web Site News" section, the description for Alinex is written twice: correctly after the name of it's distribution name and incorrectly after LG3D Linux. Check this up please Ladislav.
Cheers;
65 • wrong sha1 for Gentoo RR4-2.60.3.iso.torrent (by Fotograf on 2005-10-26 00:52:29 GMT from Canada)
my sha1 - (wrong?) for DVD 3.4 Gb iso is
551b830790fc1a0fa20b08852f5e8b507dcf218c
but they say it must be
a1c7c0992d416dfe99d26279eb00a0a4ea293f0c
66 • # 64 (by Anonymous on 2005-10-26 01:12:42 GMT from Brazil)
I got the same:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /employee_only/its/index.htm on this server.
Apache/1.3.26 Server at owasco.co.tompkins.ny.us Port 80
67 • wrong sha1 for Gentoo RR4-2.60.3.iso.torrent (by Fotograf on 2005-10-26 01:14:54 GMT from Canada)
my sha1 - (wrong?) for DVD 3.4 Gb iso is
551b830790fc1a0fa20b08852f5e8b507dcf218c
but they say it must be
a1c7c0992d416dfe99d26279eb00a0a4ea293f0c
68 • Kirux Enterprise Server (by Kirk Ferguson on 2005-10-26 01:39:42 GMT from United States)
I was suprised to see the Kirux release listed here. There are ongoing legal concerns surrounding this product, as it was plainly copied without permission or proper credit from contribs.org's SME Server. A quick visit to http://contribs.org/modules/pbboard/viewtopic.php?t=27314&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=3cf1594e4de8fee9126a37ab97ad2c9f will provide more details. Numerous copyright violations and removals of licensing text are evident throughout this distro. In a word, it's largely stolen from the work of others without permission.
69 • @utabintarbo (by gnobuddy on 2005-10-26 02:14:46 GMT from United States)
(by utabintarbo on 2005-10-24 14:06:48 GMT from United States)
Remember:
Those that can, do.
Those that can't, teach.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations, you have been well brainwashed by rabble-rousing politicians.
The majority of teachers I have met are people who are above average in education, intelligience, competency, and concern over their fellow citizens and the quality of our society.
Teachers are overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated in the US. The only good reason to be a teacher is because you want to PASS ON the knowledge you have, so that others also become "those who can".
Our educational system is crumbling, probably because young children get insufficient parenting during those all-important formative years, and because our political system ensures inadequate funding for education even while we spend billions of dollars murdering civilians in Iraq. Public schools have largely turned into day-care centers for overworked single parents who do not have time to bring up the children they created.
Not surprisingly, with the best will and talent, teachers cannot fix these much larger societal ills, that present them with damaged children unable and uninterested in learning, and so our schools continue to sink from bad to worse.
We have a huge problem with education, but the teachers aren't it. The teachers are the ones with their fingers in the holes in the dykes, keeping public education from total collapse due to decades of systematic neglect from society and government alike..
-Gnobuddy
70 • It is not appropriate to list Kirux here (by Anonymous on 2005-10-26 06:21:19 GMT from Canada)
All allegations of Kirux being a clone of SME Server/e-smith aside, Kirux is a commercial product, not a real linux distribution. The website clearly states that it contains commercial code as well, which in inseperable from the product. There are no sources available to download, and no lite/GPL version available to download. I didn't think Distrowatch listed such products. Why not list M$ Windoze here too!
71 • RE:It is not appropriate to list Kirux here (by Anonymous on 2005-10-26 16:27:40 GMT from Canada)
Why not list M$ Windoze here too!
Because it's not a linux distro. Kirux is. Wether it is under the GPL or not, kirux is still a linux distro running the linux kernel.
72 • RE:It is not appropriate to list Kirux here (by Anonymous on 2005-10-26 16:58:01 GMT from Canada)
OK, so I challenge you tell me which other linux distribution listed here on Distrowatch is similar to Kirux by way of not releasing any source code to the public, and not releasing any GPL version. I'm very curious, becasue I don't think there is one. Please enlighten me...
RHEL is commercial, but they release the source. Nitix is commercial, but they share the source of the GPL part of their product. Trustix has versions with commercial code, but they have the Trustix OS which is GPL. All these companies should be commended for doing so, and IMO are real linux distributions.
73 • Tompkins County IE (by King Houston on 2005-10-26 20:29:11 GMT from United States)
Just so you know...
Tompkins County standardized on IE because:
1. It was already on all the computers.
2. We had just set up a proxy server and needed to deploy with one script.
3. We can push security updates to all the browsers immediately.
4. Our other security/anti-virus software works better with IE than others.
I use firefox at home.
74 • Re: #65 • wrong sha1 for Gentoo RR4-2.60.3.iso (by Andy Axnot on 2005-10-26 21:35:49 GMT from United States)
They list that as the Info hash, I'm not sure what it actually is, perhaps something for the Bittorrent? It didn't match my md5 or sha1.
In any event, you can find the md5sum here:
http://lxnay.no-ip.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=27
8ba7fde6b24494fd51754c3ba29b582e Gentoo-RR4-2.60.3.iso
I had to burn twice, first one didn't work properly. I burned the second with quality media, reduced burn speed, and verified. Works great!
Andy
75 • windows does suck (by paul on 2005-10-26 23:01:14 GMT from United States)
i do run ubuntu as a main OS but now im on windows xp pro with all securty features Thru the roof. and just last night in the logs i found that the firewall was taken down and somebody sent me a icmp and entered my port 80 and started f******* up my system. somebody installed a program, it is a mixture of spyware,adware,trojan and a dialer. I have ran norton AV, Avast, AVG, Ad-aware,Spyware blaster,windows anti-spyware, and spybot S+D. All of them came up with nothing. SO now i have a comp that will never have a ethernet adapter in it again. I only have it running for Photoshop CS2, and dreamweaver. i do ALOT of webmastering tasks. But i will use ubuntu to ftp the files.
DO NOT INSTALL WINDOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
76 • To Andy: my wrong sha1md5 (by Fotograf on 2005-10-27 00:12:32 GMT from Canada)
poor me...md5 is also wrong :-(
the only solution seems to download the Gentoo RR4-2.60.3.iso torrent anew....
77 • Gee really?! (by Scott Wilson on 2005-10-27 02:10:45 GMT from United States)
Post 73
4. Our other security/anti-virus software works better with IE than others.
Yes they work great with IE, why? because they use active X features of IE. That is why all of the online scan tools only work with IE. By the way its the same active X features of IE that most of the trojans, worms , malware, use. Any way at least you use firefox at home how about taking another step and start using Linux at home!
78 • Open Source War (by Anonymous on 2005-10-27 11:08:37 GMT from Brazil)
http://www.defesanet.com.br/wars/open_source_e.htm
79 • RE Windows Sucks (by Anonymous on 2005-10-27 16:50:34 GMT from United States)
Paul,
We all agree that Windows has its short comings and Security is one of the plethera of reasons why we are all here using Linux. However I do think you can solve your problem by formating your c drive. O.K. Kidding aside there are so many programs out there dedicated to security. The best for spyware has to be Lavasofts Ad-Aware. It is a free program. Try it. Also you need Panda Anti-virus. The internet security suite is probably the best. I have found it will find and delete almost anything. You will have to modify the settings to delete becuase lets face it cleaning a file just doesn't work. You can get a trial version for free. If that doesn't solve your problem then there is Trend Micro. Both Panda and Trend Micr have to be the best programs I have ever used. Symantec sucks and McAffee is the worst joke ever!! This is why I use windows so little even with all the software in the world someone can get into your system. Sure someone equally adept could do the same thing in Linux I just havent heard of it happening nor have I ever encountered a problem.
Well good luck with that.
80 • R.E. Windows (by Anonymous on 2005-10-27 16:53:36 GMT from United States)
Paul,
Oh I just read you used a Lavasoft. Well what do I know. For Spyware I have about four different programs and I use all of them. None of them will catch everything. Yes, computing in Windows, life made easier for criminals!!
81 • # 79 (by Anonymous on 2005-10-27 18:04:53 GMT from Brazil)
" Kidding aside there are so many programs out there dedicated to security. The best for spyware has to be Lavasofts Ad-Aware."
Ad-aware alone is not enough...
Try also spysweeper, spybot, bazooka, spyware blaster, spyware guard...
" It is a free program. Try it. Also you need Panda Anti-virus. "
AVG, ewido, nod32...
82 • # 80 (by Anonymous on 2005-10-27 18:07:39 GMT from Brazil)
"Yes, computing in Windows, life made easier for criminals!!"
Criminals are these guys of Microshit who made/make such
a shity software!
83 • Direction of Linux if WIN is desired (by Dr. David Johnson on 2005-10-27 19:11:05 GMT from United States)
Ok I tried to make subject ironic ;-)
What I mean is that #37 is very interesting.
Sure, there are ways to use Linux in almost
ANY organization to boost the security and
effectiveness of computing! But if we can't ease
the changeover by having OO interoperable with
Office, we will lose a LOT. Just my 2-sense.
Or use all your senses and let's see what we can
do to help Linux WIN the race, by making changeover
feasible through interoperability. If I can't take stuff
from Windows hosts and deal with them fully on my
Linux machines, we are doomed in the effort to convert
the Windows lemmings. Think about it....
Dr. David
84 • David's right (by gnobian_ken00bie on 2005-10-28 03:48:51 GMT from United States)
But as much as we should applaud the efforts of OOo, et al, trying to support proprietary formats is ultimately a losing battle. News out of Massachussetts is far more promising. The recent judicial pronouncement against some of the Vole's plan's for media players are also positive.
Of course the battle needs to be fought on all fronts, but we mustn't forget that supporting open standards is even more important in the long run than learning to work with - or around - closed ones.
85 • interesting article (by gnobian_ken00bie on 2005-10-28 04:47:14 GMT from United States)
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2005/10/27/what-is-a-linux-distribution.html?CMP=OTC-0O724Z062301
A lot of flame-bait here. Ariszlo would appreciate this: "Also of historical significance is Slackware, which although without the bells and whistles of modern distributions, gave many people their first taste of Linux."
This all seemed a bit biased. And I wonder about the audience. Do many new users check out LinuxDevCenter?
86 • Re: interesting article (by Ariszló on 2005-10-28 11:41:18 GMT from Hungary)
Of historical interest? Slackware 10.2 has KDE 3.4.2 and Linux 2.6.13 as an alternative kernel and Slackware Current has Firefox & Thunderbird 1.0.7.
87 • Ogg file format discontinue comment (by Vince on 2005-10-28 20:04:15 GMT from Canada)
I vote to not discontinue the Ogg Podcast files. From all of my investigations on the http://www.vorbis.com/ website the Ogg file format is superior in many ways than the Mp3 format and I would prefer it if DistroWatch continued to support this wonderful opensource project by using it whenever possible.
Obviously the one surprising thing to me about your particular Ogg files is there size in comparison to the Mp3 files. From everything I've ever read about Ogg files their size should be smaller than the Mp3's and their quality should be higher then the Mp3's. Can you explain?
Vince
88 • slackware (by gnobian_ken00bie on 2005-10-28 23:01:55 GMT from United States)
Yes, I took that "historical interest" as little more than a more politely framed version of the "FreeBSD is dead. Netcraft confirms it." trolls on Slashdot. I'd expect better from that site. Clearly Slackware does serve the needs of many users who understand and value it's approach to things and is hardly outdated in terms of programs available.
89 • Slackware (by Dr. David Johnson on 2005-10-30 01:56:23 GMT from United States)
Yea, I really did "cut my teeth" on linux by using Slackware, back in 1995, and I was very encouraged by personal help via email from Patrick V. That experience influenced me to continue my learning quest, and I am grateful to Pat and Slack to this day...
Just a little aside... Best wishes to everyone!
Dr. David
Number of Comments: 89
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