Date: 07 Apr, 2012
Posted by: admin
In: Uncategorized
Installed Avast antivirus on Ubuntu, well actually Kubuntu 64-bit, via a deb package from the Avast website: avast4workstation_1.3.0-2_i386.deb.
For some reason the wrapper-script.sh file couldn’t locate the binaries and was giving an error at line 178 like so:
/usr/bin/avastgui: 178: /usr/lib/avast4workstation/bin/avastgui: not found
Date: 25 Jan, 2012
Posted by: admin
In: hints & tips|linux, open source & software|recycle
How to securely delete data from a hard-drive (or USB pendrive) so that the information is virtually unrecoverable even to someone with unlimited funds.
Over-write it and then smash it with a hammer?!?
“If you are bloody minded, hard-drive data can still be read off the platters since the smashing will not completely destroy the magnetic domain information.”
(Friend-of-a-friend on Facebook)
Sorry but this just isn’t true. The success rate of restoring data from a full zero-pass (setting all bits to zero) is so low and the cost so prohibitive that no-one would attempt it without expecting a multi-million dollar return. This used to be almost feasible but on a modern drive the magnetic domains are so tiny …
“The fallacy that data can be forensically recovered using an electron microscope or related means needs to be put to rest.”
(Wright, et al., “Overwriting Hard Drive Data: The Great Wiping Controversy” [online viewer])
Of course if you’re an active secret agent harbouring data that can bring down a super-power then you’d use a hidden encrypted partition (on a USB pendrive) and then just thermite the drives for speed and certainty.
Date: 18 Oct, 2011
Posted by: admin
In: life & family|linux, open source & software
Just a list of universities that offer free courses of video-based lectures.
Stanford University (stanford.edu), OpenClassroom
Carnegie Mellon
Michigan
Berkeley
MIT: OCW, MITworld
Read the rest of this entry »
Date: 06 Oct, 2011
Posted by: admin
In: hints & tips|internet, web design & development|linux, open source & software
Firefox sync has been broken for me for the last 24 hours at least.
Couple of useful links:
www.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/sync/ general info on setting up sync for Firefox users.
about:sync-log will open your local logs to check what’s happening.
docs.services.mozilla.com/howtos/run-sync.html gives details how you can run a sync service for Firefox on your own server.
Date: 26 Sep, 2011
Posted by: admin
In: Uncategorized
Following on from installing Safari 4 on Linux/Ubuntu here’s how to do things for Safari 5.1. If you have problems then check back there for steps, eg using WINEtricks, to aid installation.
Go here. Done.
Depending on your setup, open the app and WINE takes over and runs the Safari installer. Make sure the executable bit is set in the file properties first (e.g. using chmod at the command line or using your file managers properties dialog). Don’t install Bonjour, I skip creating icons and installing any other chaff too as it happens.
Seems to work without any hitch:
Date: 07 Sep, 2011
Posted by: admin
In: internet, web design & development|linux, open source & software
Canv.as is a new social image sharing website with a system called “stickers” by which users can tag different images. Currently stickers are applied by dragging and dropping an icon on to the image being stickered (i.e. tagged).
have a keypress+click for attaching stickers – so Q+LMB¹ would be smile, W+LMB would be awful, E+LMB would be classy, etc., you have 3 blocks of 9 keys on a QWERTY keyboard allowing 27 different sticker types to be added in this way.
I realise one could make more blocks or size them larger (eg 1+LMB, 2+LMB) but I think the visual match of 3×3 blocks and the hand-eye-coordination works better this way.
Any thoughts welcome?
