I just got a two-year-old off-lease Dell Optiplex GX520 (one of that boxy-looking line of desktops) and when it arrived I prepared to blow away the included build of WinXP for something else, since I already run that system for purely educational purposes and didn't need another instance of it. I got a surprise as I ran the system before erasing it. The DVD-ROM drive didn't work. So how to load a new system onto the box - not to mention finding the solution to the malfunction (assuming no flash drive load or network install)?
This is an important question for the open source community, inveterate OS reloaders that we are. The Optiplex line is huge and it appears to me that there might be a motherboard issue here that will be an issue in Linux loading - but I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's what happened as I examined XP performance and loaded (full disclosure here) Win7. [Again, for educational purposes! You can't criticize if you're not experienced.]
From an educational source I'd gotten the Win7 upgrade disc and it was to load on top of the XP load present on the 520. Remember, XP either didn't have a driver for the DVD-ROM or there was a plain hardware failure (a Dell driver CD was not provided with the purchase). I proceeded with the Win7 loading by using a USB outboard DVD burner (with proper BIOS setting for boot-from-disc) and then did the updates. The original inboard DVD-ROM still didn't work after a few reboots.
But after a few MORE reboots and the phone ringing in the other room, I returned to see a word balloon in the bottom right corner of the screen announcing a driver update from somewhere (presumably Windows/MS Update). I allowed it and the inboard transport instantly worked.
If a particular piece of software is needed for the box to see and run the ROM drive, this may indicate a need for the open source OS's to be amended accordingly. On the other hand, maybe there exists in the Linux, BSD and/or OSX worlds a generic driver that works just fine. I don't know. What I do know experimentally is that Win7 eventually recognized and updated the issue itself, without my consulting the Dell site for drivers... which I might still need to do for other issues.
I don't recommend staying away from Optiplexes. I'm just putting this your-mileage-may-vary note out there. It's very possible that the problem has already been solved by all concerned parties and there really aren't any reloading problems here. I'm just surprised that Win7 either knew what to do or figured it out. I hereby grudgingly give credit where credit is due.
(Update of 11/8)
So the driver still appears, goes away and then reappears. But the cause is now known. I looked up the Optiplex model on Dell's support site and it turns out that there is no official Windows 7 driver for this model's transport - but that doesn't keep Windows Update from trying. So I'll just continue to use the outboard unit for burning and trust in some programmer in Austin or somewhere to come through for me eventually...
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
"A man's gotta know his limitations." - a famous Clint Eastwood character
Radio ads are now being heard in my area touting something called "Xfinity Home Security" from Comcast cable. The idea is that it would be really great to be able to control a home security system from your smart phone. I'm afraid this indicates that online convenience will soon prove more popular than security, even within the security products market - truly a new irony. If Comcast saw a potential market for such a thing, consider the possibilities...
Assume that the application security issues are solved (the code is secure). That leaves out any problems with the remote interface and the installed app at home. Let's also assume that the Internet Service Provider's servers are properly maintained and in secure configuration. And since this is an extension of ADT home security, we'll assume that there are no problems on their end (any and all physical and software interfaces). What does that leave? Well, at home, it leaves the thing that the (secure in this example) stuff is installed TO, namely the home computer. This is a computer not maintained by Comcast or by ADT or by the ISP (although their systems are possibly impeachable in other examples). This computer's Administrator Of Record is Joe Sixpack, probably with a few wife/kid computers on a $79 router. The last such computer that I looked at for somebody was as secure as a screen door on a submarine.
[Observe: To get into secure app XYZ on user's computer, obtain access to the base Operating System. Since this machine is running a series of security devices, assume 24/7 online stance. This gives you lots of time to run a... "password recovery program". Or to look for cached login info from OS to app. Bingo. You get into the secure app from the OS that the home user failed to configure correctly or patch regularly. This resembles the MANY examples of an outfit getting invaded through a telecommuter workstation left up and online.]
{Another aside: If you replaced the user machine in the above scheme with an appliance, that would eliminate my main objection. Not that appliances haven't had updating and hardening problems, though...}
The larger point? We from the Unix/open source side would not immediately have these problems since all the linking apps aren't available for Linux, Solaris or such. But the problem that remote access for home security poses is that it's not the systems that pose the biggest chance for failure. It's the judgment of the user. It's what the user has authorized to run locally. It's whether or not one should have remote access to things like history logs that record when a door was opened/closed over the last 60 days. Or streaming video in the garage or kitchen. Linux or OpenWhatever can solve lots of problems when replacing systems less secure, but it can't make the user smarter. This is our Limitation as open source advocates: open source can't fix everything. Not only must we evangelize about some system choice where possible; we must warn against giving out one's email address too much, or clicking on a strange web link, or opening that attachment. Those are problems in any system configuration, use or policy stance.
Assume that the application security issues are solved (the code is secure). That leaves out any problems with the remote interface and the installed app at home. Let's also assume that the Internet Service Provider's servers are properly maintained and in secure configuration. And since this is an extension of ADT home security, we'll assume that there are no problems on their end (any and all physical and software interfaces). What does that leave? Well, at home, it leaves the thing that the (secure in this example) stuff is installed TO, namely the home computer. This is a computer not maintained by Comcast or by ADT or by the ISP (although their systems are possibly impeachable in other examples). This computer's Administrator Of Record is Joe Sixpack, probably with a few wife/kid computers on a $79 router. The last such computer that I looked at for somebody was as secure as a screen door on a submarine.
[Observe: To get into secure app XYZ on user's computer, obtain access to the base Operating System. Since this machine is running a series of security devices, assume 24/7 online stance. This gives you lots of time to run a... "password recovery program". Or to look for cached login info from OS to app. Bingo. You get into the secure app from the OS that the home user failed to configure correctly or patch regularly. This resembles the MANY examples of an outfit getting invaded through a telecommuter workstation left up and online.]
{Another aside: If you replaced the user machine in the above scheme with an appliance, that would eliminate my main objection. Not that appliances haven't had updating and hardening problems, though...}
The larger point? We from the Unix/open source side would not immediately have these problems since all the linking apps aren't available for Linux, Solaris or such. But the problem that remote access for home security poses is that it's not the systems that pose the biggest chance for failure. It's the judgment of the user. It's what the user has authorized to run locally. It's whether or not one should have remote access to things like history logs that record when a door was opened/closed over the last 60 days. Or streaming video in the garage or kitchen. Linux or OpenWhatever can solve lots of problems when replacing systems less secure, but it can't make the user smarter. This is our Limitation as open source advocates: open source can't fix everything. Not only must we evangelize about some system choice where possible; we must warn against giving out one's email address too much, or clicking on a strange web link, or opening that attachment. Those are problems in any system configuration, use or policy stance.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
User Experience Report: OpenSUSE LINUX 11.3
Briefly, here's how I've spent some of the last two days: on a 2004-vintage 2.7ghz Celeron (HP) with 3/4 gig of ram, I've kicked the tires on openSuse.org's latest offering and there's good news and bad.
On the bad side, around a half dozen reboots were required for all the hardware detection to appear to have completed satisfactorily. Also, in spite of the networking section getting out to the internet after a boot or two, the app that looks for updates still hasn't seemed to have found any. I'll try the many command-line options soon out of impatience.
On the good side, the interface is slick and many included apps perform acceptably well. Audio CD played back with no reconfiguration, startup chimes and confirm tones were present and consistent, reboot time sped up after a few instances (it might be saving last-known-good-state info in many places), and OpenOffice was pretty quick and stable even during first use setup.
Too early to tell, really, but at the moment it looks like I'd rate 11.3 as similar to other recent offerings from the Novell/SUSE camp: a worthy contender but needs polish. I've not had quite this many bumps even from recent Fedoras, let alone Linux Mint or other Ubuntu variants. Another thing: I'm covering the simple desktop stuff for a reason. If one wants to impress the Windows people who are coming over out of curiosity, the simple stuff has to work. I realize that I could use rpm or yum command lines and that it might be better to do so. But if an Updater Applet is right there in the tray waiting to be used, it should work. And in 11.2, it DID.
Next project will probably be to get the newer laptop thrown together and install BackTrack 4 to the HD and frolic through that famous and extensive tool collection. Oh, and the Celeron 2.7? Back to CentOS!
On the bad side, around a half dozen reboots were required for all the hardware detection to appear to have completed satisfactorily. Also, in spite of the networking section getting out to the internet after a boot or two, the app that looks for updates still hasn't seemed to have found any. I'll try the many command-line options soon out of impatience.
On the good side, the interface is slick and many included apps perform acceptably well. Audio CD played back with no reconfiguration, startup chimes and confirm tones were present and consistent, reboot time sped up after a few instances (it might be saving last-known-good-state info in many places), and OpenOffice was pretty quick and stable even during first use setup.
Too early to tell, really, but at the moment it looks like I'd rate 11.3 as similar to other recent offerings from the Novell/SUSE camp: a worthy contender but needs polish. I've not had quite this many bumps even from recent Fedoras, let alone Linux Mint or other Ubuntu variants. Another thing: I'm covering the simple desktop stuff for a reason. If one wants to impress the Windows people who are coming over out of curiosity, the simple stuff has to work. I realize that I could use rpm or yum command lines and that it might be better to do so. But if an Updater Applet is right there in the tray waiting to be used, it should work. And in 11.2, it DID.
Next project will probably be to get the newer laptop thrown together and install BackTrack 4 to the HD and frolic through that famous and extensive tool collection. Oh, and the Celeron 2.7? Back to CentOS!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
This Is What I'm Talking About
Here's a quote from Chapter 5 of the Eric Raymond book (The Art Of Unix Programming) that I'm reading without actually being a programmer:
"In the following discussion, when we refer to “traditional Unix tools” we are intending the combination of grep(1), sed(1), awk(1), tr(1), and cut(1) for doing text searches and transformations. Perl and other scripting languages tend to have good native support for parsing the line-oriented formats that these tools encourage."
This is from the 'Data File Metaformats' heading in the chapter entitled "Textuality", touting the value of things being done as widely-understood text streams as opposed to the use of relatively more cryptic closed methods.
Simply referring to such a concept of "traditional Unix tools" helps reinforce what newcomers to Unix methodology are seeking to learn. This would also hold up in greater relief the point of contact between the Windows command line and Unix, as tools have been ported from one world to the other, and can be available for use in both.
"In the following discussion, when we refer to “traditional Unix tools” we are intending the combination of grep(1), sed(1), awk(1), tr(1), and cut(1) for doing text searches and transformations. Perl and other scripting languages tend to have good native support for parsing the line-oriented formats that these tools encourage."
This is from the 'Data File Metaformats' heading in the chapter entitled "Textuality", touting the value of things being done as widely-understood text streams as opposed to the use of relatively more cryptic closed methods.
Simply referring to such a concept of "traditional Unix tools" helps reinforce what newcomers to Unix methodology are seeking to learn. This would also hold up in greater relief the point of contact between the Windows command line and Unix, as tools have been ported from one world to the other, and can be available for use in both.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Some Resource Links For Yez
Dell Vostro V13 laptop (Ubuntu option available):
Click!
System76 desktop, laptop and server models w/Ubuntu:
Click!
Are you a business and want SUSE with support included (BYO hardware)?
Click!
Note: I hold no stock or other financial interest in any of these concerns BUT I WISH I DID.
Click!
System76 desktop, laptop and server models w/Ubuntu:
Click!
Are you a business and want SUSE with support included (BYO hardware)?
Click!
Note: I hold no stock or other financial interest in any of these concerns BUT I WISH I DID.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Kinda Linux But More Of An Open Source Posting (as usual lately)
...But linux IS involved! My past as a users' group president in Linux Land is not at all being denied here; I just digress lots. See what you think:
Our pals at LINUX JOURNAL put out this word about the OpenSolaris issue not long ago. It's not an alarmist article; it raises legit questions about whether Oracle values Unix dreadnought Sun's legacy or not. Well, aside from the decision whether or not to continue making certain code chunks widely available through OpenSolaris, Oracle seems to be trumpeting the virtues of the main event clearly enough.
Now there's this. The Illumos initiative may save the day.
My take on all this is that within the OpenSolaris orbit, projects like Nexenta were valuable to Solaris for general Unix PR, as well as for its own products. Nexenta in particular could get Linux people interested in toying with things like ZFS if only due to the Debian tools included, not the least of which is apt-get (and it works!! at least on SOME of my loads). This appeals to my if-it's-Unix-it's-cool ethic. The problem with continuation of the OpenSolaris project would be that Oracle might not be so forthcoming with the big section of proprietary code that's in OpenSolaris and that Oracle now owns. Illumos would solve that quandary if successful. I usually worry about distro forks, but this might be a good one - if one can even call it a fork.
ON A RARE PERSONAL NOTE: Some of you know that I work for an outfit that has a "boonies" location and a "Central" location and that I've been in the boonies for awhile. I AM NOW at Central! Thank you for your discretion.
Our pals at LINUX JOURNAL put out this word about the OpenSolaris issue not long ago. It's not an alarmist article; it raises legit questions about whether Oracle values Unix dreadnought Sun's legacy or not. Well, aside from the decision whether or not to continue making certain code chunks widely available through OpenSolaris, Oracle seems to be trumpeting the virtues of the main event clearly enough.
Now there's this. The Illumos initiative may save the day.
My take on all this is that within the OpenSolaris orbit, projects like Nexenta were valuable to Solaris for general Unix PR, as well as for its own products. Nexenta in particular could get Linux people interested in toying with things like ZFS if only due to the Debian tools included, not the least of which is apt-get (and it works!! at least on SOME of my loads). This appeals to my if-it's-Unix-it's-cool ethic. The problem with continuation of the OpenSolaris project would be that Oracle might not be so forthcoming with the big section of proprietary code that's in OpenSolaris and that Oracle now owns. Illumos would solve that quandary if successful. I usually worry about distro forks, but this might be a good one - if one can even call it a fork.
ON A RARE PERSONAL NOTE: Some of you know that I work for an outfit that has a "boonies" location and a "Central" location and that I've been in the boonies for awhile. I AM NOW at Central! Thank you for your discretion.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
I GIVE UP (not)
I've been, in piecemeal fashion, giving a review of Eric Raymond's book "The Art Of Unix Programming" and I must confess that it's tough going for someone who codes as little as I do. I at this point only know some basic shell and basic HTML, and to get the most out of Raymond's work, one must code in something more heavyweight such as one of the C's or Perl or even OO things. Raymond, now, will be critical of object-orientation in places but even that would help since most points the book makes are universal (among programmers).
Here's the two places I've been using to read the book online:
faqs.org
catb.org
See? See? I can at least code that.
As Raymond says in one of the intro sections, the book can benefit people that can at least understand that the Unix tradition might have something to teach them. It's not much help if you want to know about kernel application programming interfaces or C programming specifics. Even if you skim the hard parts and only absorb the culture, it can help one understand the Unix/open source ethos, and would be particularly helpful if you're coming from the object-oriented world to a Unix-based project.
I'll keep reading it but for purposes of this blog will move on to other topics - no doubt returning to this one from time to time, if only to rip off another Ken Thompson quote from Raymond.
Here's the two places I've been using to read the book online:
faqs.org
catb.org
See? See? I can at least code that.
As Raymond says in one of the intro sections, the book can benefit people that can at least understand that the Unix tradition might have something to teach them. It's not much help if you want to know about kernel application programming interfaces or C programming specifics. Even if you skim the hard parts and only absorb the culture, it can help one understand the Unix/open source ethos, and would be particularly helpful if you're coming from the object-oriented world to a Unix-based project.
I'll keep reading it but for purposes of this blog will move on to other topics - no doubt returning to this one from time to time, if only to rip off another Ken Thompson quote from Raymond.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Two Reviews (short)
In the middle of the other stuff I've promised here, lemme get two things off my chest: my experiences with the Mike Meyers "Passport" series study guide to the CompTIA Security+ certification exam, and a late experience with Fedora 12.
The Meyers series Security+ guide that I picked up used for about 3$ was worth a little more than that, considering that it came with a CD that had two practice exams (Windows-only reader, though). But although it knocked out the cobwebs regarding a few familiarity issues with me, my impression was that the questions (and perhaps the direction of the exam itself, which I've not yet taken) were so obvious that (on a test based solely on the book) one could get 75% without reading the book at all. I've switched to the Greg White book from McGraw-Hill for the current test (201); I'll give an impression of that one when possible.
The other issue I need to note: when downloading Fedora 13, I realized that I'd been doing it on a box with no burner. So I USB2'd an outboard Iomega and chose Brasero and then... stopped in my tracks about 5 minutes later. What's the matter with this picture? No reboot. No requests to install stuff. No error messages. Brasero didn't balk. NOTHING WENT WRONG. I burned the F13 install DVD while doing two other things and not paying attention. PLUS I used the full-install version of the DVD (not the live DVD or CD) to upgrade without disk wipe and there were no problems there, either. Not like a few years back when I trashed at least two installs that way.
People, Fedora is starting to work like a Mac. I'm sure many of you already experienced this or simply wonder what I'm behind about, but my job forces me to use... other stuff from You-Know-Who. So I've never had a lot of time to do testing. Way back when, many OS maintainers on the Linux side were criticized for having an attitude toward users that slammed those who wanted things to work and set up easier. Well, they seem to be getting the point at the Fedora Project, or were never in need of the point in the first place. My compliments to all concerned.
Back to the Eric Raymond book as soon as I get time.
The Meyers series Security+ guide that I picked up used for about 3$ was worth a little more than that, considering that it came with a CD that had two practice exams (Windows-only reader, though). But although it knocked out the cobwebs regarding a few familiarity issues with me, my impression was that the questions (and perhaps the direction of the exam itself, which I've not yet taken) were so obvious that (on a test based solely on the book) one could get 75% without reading the book at all. I've switched to the Greg White book from McGraw-Hill for the current test (201); I'll give an impression of that one when possible.
The other issue I need to note: when downloading Fedora 13, I realized that I'd been doing it on a box with no burner. So I USB2'd an outboard Iomega and chose Brasero and then... stopped in my tracks about 5 minutes later. What's the matter with this picture? No reboot. No requests to install stuff. No error messages. Brasero didn't balk. NOTHING WENT WRONG. I burned the F13 install DVD while doing two other things and not paying attention. PLUS I used the full-install version of the DVD (not the live DVD or CD) to upgrade without disk wipe and there were no problems there, either. Not like a few years back when I trashed at least two installs that way.
People, Fedora is starting to work like a Mac. I'm sure many of you already experienced this or simply wonder what I'm behind about, but my job forces me to use... other stuff from You-Know-Who. So I've never had a lot of time to do testing. Way back when, many OS maintainers on the Linux side were criticized for having an attitude toward users that slammed those who wanted things to work and set up easier. Well, they seem to be getting the point at the Fedora Project, or were never in need of the point in the first place. My compliments to all concerned.
Back to the Eric Raymond book as soon as I get time.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Review Preview #2
Another jewel from Eric Raymond's "The Art Of Unix Programming" ---
"Computer hardware was at that time more primitive than even people who were there to see it can now easily recall."
Preach it, brother.
"Computer hardware was at that time more primitive than even people who were there to see it can now easily recall."
Preach it, brother.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Review Preview: one of the most universal of truths...
(This is from Eric Raymond's The Art Of Unix Programming, which I'm currently reading.)
"The most basic argument for prototyping first is Kernighan & Plauger's:
90% of the functionality delivered now is better than 100% of it delivered never”.
"The most basic argument for prototyping first is Kernighan & Plauger's:
90% of the functionality delivered now is better than 100% of it delivered never”.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
News Item
It appears that Oracle is being a good neighbor with respect to open source-ing some things, or rather continuing to (subsequent to the Sun acquisition). This story indicates that the OpenSolaris project will undergo basically no change and that a commitment is being made to its future. Certainly this will benefit Oracle by the encouraging of experimentation with file systems and software features now under its control (like ZFS, the combined file system and LVM) but I see the continuing maintenance and free availability of any decent (-nix-oid) system as a good thing. In the words of the nerd-rock band DEVO, "duty now for the future"!
Monday, March 1, 2010
The Anti-Book-Review Times Two
Since I have two computing-related books to review and have not finished them yet, I'll let you in on the locations thereof. Both have online free versions in various places; here's some that I know about.
THE ART OF UNIX PROGRAMMING by Eric Raymond
Mr. Raymond has been around programming since way the hell back and offers this best-practices book that can do at least three things: document the early computing culture, acclimatize programmers to the Unix world that may have come from other environments and focus the efforts of other programmers who are Unix-native. Here's one of the book's many online homes:
Click HERE
NMAP NETWORK SCANNING
The Official Nmap Project Guide to Network Discovery and Security Scanning
by Gordon “Fyodor” Lyon
Living at the venerable nmap.org, this is a less-than-complete version (buy it to get everything) but this version is merely lacking in all examples and extended discussions. All the basics are here. The tool's free and the bad guys use it, too, so if you're a White Hat Wannabe like me, you have no choice but to get right with Nmap.
Click HERE
So now, let's see if I can finish these before you do - and before you scoop me on your blog.
THE ART OF UNIX PROGRAMMING by Eric Raymond
Mr. Raymond has been around programming since way the hell back and offers this best-practices book that can do at least three things: document the early computing culture, acclimatize programmers to the Unix world that may have come from other environments and focus the efforts of other programmers who are Unix-native. Here's one of the book's many online homes:
Click HERE
NMAP NETWORK SCANNING
The Official Nmap Project Guide to Network Discovery and Security Scanning
by Gordon “Fyodor” Lyon
Living at the venerable nmap.org, this is a less-than-complete version (buy it to get everything) but this version is merely lacking in all examples and extended discussions. All the basics are here. The tool's free and the bad guys use it, too, so if you're a White Hat Wannabe like me, you have no choice but to get right with Nmap.
Click HERE
So now, let's see if I can finish these before you do - and before you scoop me on your blog.
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