Way back in February of this year when I concluded my rant about systemd I said: “Given that Ubuntu is tied closely to systemd and will be implementing the ridiculous systemd-homed.service shortly, and that Mint is based on Ubuntu and will perforce probably follow, I have now given up on Mint and moved to another …
Category: linux and unix
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2022/10/09/systemd-free/
Feb 03 2022
no systemd
I have mentioned before that I really, really, really do not like systemd. Whilst it remained a simple replacement for init (albeit with some peculiarites) I could put up with it so long as it didn’t get in my way, or my way of working. After all, if all the major distro developers were convinced …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2022/02/03/no-systemd/
May 15 2021
fastboot oem get_unlock_data hangs on moto g7 plus
I am posting this in the hope it may help others who find themselves in a similar position to myself. I have recently upgraded my mobile ‘phone (from a Motorola Moto X4) to a Moto G7 plus. I chose this particular phone because I like Motorolas. I like the fact that they are relatively cheap …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2021/05/15/fastboot-oem-get_unlock_data-hangs-on-moto-g7-plus/
Dec 01 2020
VPS comparison
My last post highlighted the astonishingly good deal I have just had from racknerd. I’ve been running VPS systems for some time now so I thought I would look back over my archived email to see what I could find about my earliest experiences. I found an invoice for a system I first rented back …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2020/12/01/vps-comparison/
Nov 30 2020
an even bigger bargain VPS
At about this time last year I wrote about my impressively cheap new VPS on ITLDC’s network in Prague. Prices of VPSs continue to come down and I now have several dotted around Europe which each cost me around three euros per month. But I am always on the lookout for a new provider and, …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2020/11/30/an-even-bigger-bargain-vps/
Jan 14 2020
retiring the slugs
I first started using Linksys NSLU2s (aka “slugs”) in early 2008. Back then I considered them quite useful and I even ran webservers and local apt-caches on them. But realistically they are (and even then, were) a tad underpowered. Worse, since Debian on the XScale-IXP42x hasn’t been updated for several years, the slugs are probably …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2020/01/14/retiring-the-slugs/
Jan 01 2016
a bad way to end the year
Sadly, I read today that Ian Murdock, the “Ian” in Debian, died on Monday, 28 December 2015. He was only 42 years old. Various reports indicate that he had been distressed for some time before his death. The tweets reportedly from Murdock’s twitter account shortly before his death are very disturbing. Murdock’s contribution to the …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2016/01/01/a-bad-way-to-end-the-year/
Apr 08 2014
heartbleed
This is nasty. There is a remotely exploitable bug in openssl which leads to the leak of memory contents from the server to the client and from the client to the server. In practice this means that an attacker can read 64K chunks of memory on a vulnerable service, thus potentially exposing security critical information. …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2014/04/08/heartbleed/
Mar 31 2014
the netbook is not dead
I bought my first netbook, the Acer Aspire One, back in April 2009 – five years ago. That machine is still going strong and has seen umpteen different distros in its time. It currently runs Mint 16, and very happily too. The little Acer has nothing on it that I value over much, all my …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2014/03/31/the-netbook-is-not-dead/
Feb 12 2014
policy update
An exchange of emails with Mark over at bsdbox.co a day or so ago made me realise that my privacy policy needed updating. Not, I hasten to add, for any fundamental reason, but simply because a couple of the references in that policy were out of date. I have therefore amended it and version 0.2.0 …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2014/02/12/policy-update/
Sep 12 2013
add ssl to lighttpd server
For some time now I have protected all my own connections to trivia with an SSL connection. I do this to protect my user credentials when managing trivia’s content or configuration. In fact my server is configured to force any connection coming from my IP address to a secured SSL connection so that I cannot …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/09/12/add-ssl-to-lighttpd-server/
Aug 03 2013
security failure at digital ocean
This morning I received an email from Digital Ocean titled “Avoid Duplicate SSH Host Keys”. The email said: “If you have created an Ubuntu Droplet or snapshot prior to July 2nd, DigitalOcean recommends regenerating the SSH host keys. Droplets based on standard images now create unique SSH host keys.” (This, of course, implies that they …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/08/03/security-failure-at-digital-ocean/
Jul 21 2013
ubuntu forums compromised
Right now (21.00 today), the ubuntu forums site says it is “down for maintenance”. It appears to have been down since yesterday. The site reports: There has been a security breach on the Ubuntu Forums. The Canonical IS team is working hard as we speak to restore normal operations. This page will be updated regularly …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/21/ubuntu-forums-compromised/
May 27 2013
lighttpd graceful shutdown
I run two tails mirrors. One in NYC, the other in SanFrancisco. They each serve around 2-3 TiB of data per month. In common with my other servers, occasionally I need to interrupt those VMs in order to effect a system upgrade. I had to do this very recently with my upgrade of all my …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/05/27/lighttpd-graceful-shutdown/
Apr 01 2013
Debian iz free operatin sistem (OS) 4 ur computr
For a moment today I had the awful feeling that the debian website had been compromised by an illiterate 14 year old. The front page had been changed and contained such pearls as: “Debian providez moar than pure OS: it comez wif ovar 29000 packagez” and “Peeps hoo use sistems othr than Intel x86 shud …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/04/01/debian-iz-free-operatin-sistem-os-4-ur-computr/
Feb 28 2013
touching update
I have recently upgraded the internal disk on my main desktop from 1TB to 2TB. I find it vaguely astonishing that I should have needed to do that, but I do have a rather large store of MP4 videos, jpeg photos and audio files held locally. And disk prices are again coming down so the …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/02/28/touching-update/
Dec 11 2012
moonlighting in parliament
Yesterday I followed a link from Duncan Campbell’s Reg article on the joint parliamentary committee’s scrutiny of the Communications Data Bill referred to in my post below. That link took me to the UK Parliamentary website which I confess I haven’t visited in a while. I was initially irritated that the video format used on …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/12/11/moonlighting-in-parliament/
Nov 16 2012
forcing innodb recovery in mysql
Today I had a nasty looking problem with my mysql installation. At first I thought I might have to drop one or more databases and re-install. Fortunately, I didn’t actually have to do that in the end. I first noticed a problem at around 15.45 today when I couldn’t collect my mail. My mail system …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/11/16/forcing-innodb-recovery-in-mysql/
Oct 20 2012
grep -R doesn’t search amazon
Towards the end of last month, following the release of the unity lens in ubuntu which searches amazon, “akeane” posted a bug report on launchpad complaining that “grep -R doesn’t automatically search amazon”. In his first posting he said: Dear “root owning” overlords, When using grep recursively I only get local results: grep -R fish_t …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/10/20/grep-r-doesnt-search-amazon/
Oct 14 2012
ubuntu is free and it always will be
But we may ask you for a contribution. Canonical have made another move in what is beginning to look ever more like a monetary commercialisation of ubuntu. On 9 October 2012, they added a new page to the “download” section titled “Tell us what we should do more……and put your money where your mouth is …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/10/14/ubuntu-is-free-and-it-always-will-be/
Sep 09 2012
iptables firewall for servers
I paid for a new VPS to run tor this week. It is cheaper, and offers a higher bandwidth allowance than my existing tor server so I may yet close that one down – particularly as I recently had trouble with the exit policy on my existing server. In setting up the new server, the …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/09/09/iptables-firewall-for-servers/
Aug 23 2012
tails has not been hacked
I run a tails mirror on one of my VMs. Earlier this week there was a flurry of anxious comment on the tails forum suggesting that the service had been “hacked”. Evidence pleaded in support of that theory included the facts that file timestamps on some of the tails files varied across mirrors, one of …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/08/23/tails-has-not-been-hacked/
Aug 21 2012
debian on a DNS-320
Back in 2009 I bought, on impulse, a D-Link DNS-313 thinking it was sufficiently similar to the 323 to enable me to install debian with some ease. As I noted at the time, however, I’d made a slight mistake and then had to settle for a compromise installation from a tarball rather than a full …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/08/21/debian-on-a-dns-320/
Aug 20 2012
what every iphone needs
I stumbled across this site today when following a link from an email on the topic of reflashing an android tablet with CyanogenMod. The guy who sent the email (to the ALUG list) had bought a generic 7″ android tablet. He was considering reflashing with CM9 and was asking for advice/guidance/gotchas or whatever before doing …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/08/20/what-every-iphone-needs/