Recent Posts

2626

Living Room / Re: How Microsoft Chooses New Sounds

« Last post by Edvard on November 13, 2006, 11:24 AM »

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15656246/
Hm? Robert Fripp? WTF?

Am I the only only one in the world who liked the windows 95 sound? at least now I know why...

Can I get that for my Ubuntu sound?
Yes, I can...
 

2627

What's the Best? / Re: Open source vector graphics software?

« Last post by Edvard on November 07, 2006, 06:27 PM »

Well, since you've already found Inkscape, half the battle is already over. Let me help you with a few more...


XFig (just call him "Grandpa")
http://www-epb.lbl.gov/xfig/

SodiPodi (Inkscape's very nice Czechoslovakian cousin, who hasn't updated since '04 )
http://www.sodipodi.com/index.php3

Karbon14 (if you're using KDE, that is...)
http://www.koffice.org/karbon/

XaraXtreme (Xara's open source offspring)
http://www.xaraxtreme.org/

that oughta do it.

2628

General Software Discussion / Re: Best free firewall for Windows?

« Last post by Edvard on November 07, 2006, 05:52 PM »

I think that hackbusters URL needs some fixing

Yep, fixed it. Thanks.

I don't know if it's FUD, really. I've heard many similar stories that go the same way...
1- OMG I found a vulnerability bug!
2- Tell Boss
3- Boss either ignores you or makes you sign a non-disclosure.
 

2629

Living Room / Microsoft + Novell = ?

« Last post by Edvard on November 07, 2006, 04:42 PM »

Ok, so everybody has heard the news, what do you all think? I've heard everything from mild amusement to wild-eyed speculations on the imminency of disaster. I think the whole thing smells like money and that may be as far as it goes... a way for Novell to make money while upholding the ethics of Open Source and a way for Microsoft to make money off of something that is free. Of course I could be horribly, dangerously wrong.

2630

General Software Discussion / Re: Best free firewall for Windows?

« Last post by Edvard on November 07, 2006, 01:17 PM »

Before I converted my Lovely Wife to the ways of Ubuntu, she would sometimes call me at work and tell me that a "Remote User" had shut down the XP computer. So we installed and used ZoneAlarm for a while. No more remote shutdowns and it was pretty scary seeing it report thousands of probes and a handful of suspected bona fide break-in attempts.
After doing some more reading, I discovered that the thousands of probes were actually just internet "background noise". So, depending on how the rest of your system is set up, the sensitivity of your data, and how secure your ISP claims to be, you might not have a whole hell of a lot to worry about.

Why I don't use Windows Firewall? Read "A Cautionary Story of Vulnerability Research in the 21st Century, or A Super-DMCA Fairy Tale" at http://www.hackbusters.net. (Scroll down a few paragraphs, or better yet read the Whole Page, it's a real ticker...)

And if you have a spare box around, you can always set up your own hardware firewall...

2631

Living Room / Re: Go for a good laugh in this comparison between regular Europeans and Italian

« Last post by Edvard on November 07, 2006, 12:11 PM »

In looking up the proper way to write and pronounce the word "Capisci" (thankless job, that...) I found a lot of this kind of stuff. The funniest was Jesus Anthony's definition of "Guido" at the Urban Dictionary. (Written by one of valid Italian descent...)

BTW- App103...

Please tell me capisci is correct, I lose sleep over these kind of things...

2632

Living Room / Re: Linux security programs

« Last post by Edvard on November 06, 2006, 01:43 PM »

Is Mobysaurus available in a Linux compatable format?

Hmm... A brief search turned up Aiksaurus, based on the Moby Thesaurus (different project)
Hmmm... Moby, I wonder if the MobySaurus lexicon could be exported to a format usable by Aiksaurus, m? That'd make half the work already done, eh?
Just a thought...

Also, I posted Sectools.org as a "final word" on security and in the past few days have been digging around that and their parent site, Insecure.org and I must say there are more cans of worms brewing over there than you can shake a stick at.
Apparently, if you want to know ANYTHING about security concerns in software, you'll find them posted, discussed, debunked, rebunked, bent, folded and spindled on their Seclists.org section. Now I'm not talking reviews of the latest anti-virus apps, but in-depth coverage of who can do what to what software with what tools over what kind of network. Capisci? 

2633

Living Room / Cody ought to be ashamed of his Starling cousins...

« Last post by Edvard on November 02, 2006, 01:40 PM »

 
http://www.snopes.co.../animals/carwash.asp

The problem started when the new owner complained to Bill that he was losing significant amounts of money form his coin machines each week. He went as far as to accuse Bill's employees of having a key to the boxes and ripping him off. Bill just couldn't believe that his people would do that. So they setup a trap for the thief.

Starlings, the birds pictured here, are often attracted to bright, shiny objects and will collect them for nesting or mate-attraction purposes whenever the opportunity presents itself. Most likely one or more starlings was attracted by the glint of overlooked quarters in the change cup and made off with them; other starlings saw where the quarters were coming from and imitated the behavior, learning in the process how to work as teams to retrieve coins from inside the machine itself.

I am sure all of us here at DC are glad to have such a fine avian who comes by his coins the honest way...

2634

General Software Discussion / Fun App - Fake Progress Bar

« Last post by Edvard on November 01, 2006, 03:05 PM »

 
http://www.digitalvo...o.co.uk/fakebar.html




Perhaps something similar could be done for Dr. Windows?
 

2635

Living Room / Re: 12,003+ Adobe Photoshop Tutorials

« Last post by Edvard on October 30, 2006, 06:13 PM »

maybe 12,000 of them are different version of how to do a glass button.

 

2636

Living Room / Re: Where to find barebone case with 5.25" bays?

« Last post by Edvard on October 30, 2006, 06:03 PM »

Hmmm...

Old computer frame + hacksaw...

 

Those old PI and PII machines could sometimes hold like 4 cd drives. (I have at least 5 of these in my basement)

2637

Living Room / Re: Smilies With Speech Bubbles

« Last post by Edvard on October 30, 2006, 06:00 PM »

Sweet!

Thanks! (and I didn't even have to ask)

2638

General Software Discussion / Re: Antique software

« Last post by Edvard on October 30, 2006, 03:47 PM »

Thanks for the offer Renox, but the more I looked into it, the more I realized I needed something simpler. After learning a few things about using ini files with Autohotkey, I came up with something that perfectly suited my needs. Something Quick and Dirty... http://www.autohotke...ic.php?p=86821#86821

2639

Living Room / Re: Smilies With Speech Bubbles

« Last post by Edvard on October 30, 2006, 02:40 PM »

They don't have my favorites!

rtfm:

coffee:



p.s. Sorry mouser, I like this RTFM smiley better than the default 

2640

Living Room / Re: All your base are belong to us

« Last post by Edvard on October 30, 2006, 01:59 PM »

Snakes On a Plane + All Your Base Are Belong To Us=
http://gorillamask.n.../allyoursnakes.shtml

and I think it's kind of old, but I've been seeing this a lot lately:
im in ur base killn ur d00dz

I can't find a link to any definite origins, but between SomethingAwful and Encyclopedia Dramatica, I cobbled up the following:

"I'm in your base killing your dudes" is a catchphrase that can be roughly translated to "LOL you got pwned and don't even know it yet." Originating in an on-line multiplayer game StarCraft, two players (one unnamed, the other known as 1337h4x) are in a game with 1337h4x playing as the Zerg race, and the other as either the Terran or Protoss races. 1337h4x Zerg-rushed his opponent. Upon discovering that he was getting clobbered, his opponent asked:

<n00b>dude, where are you?

1337h4x responded:

<1337h4x> im in ur base, killing ur d00ds

2641

Living Room / Re: Linux security programs

« Last post by Edvard on October 30, 2006, 12:33 PM »

Depends on what you mean by "Security Program". In Windows, it means firewall, anti-virus, spam filter, spyware/adware filter/detector/remover... ad nauseum. In Linux, it could mean nothing more than a sanely configured group policy. But, if you need (or think you need...) some similar apps, here's a short list from recent memory:

--Firewall--
Firestarter:
http://www.fs-security.com/
Mason:
http://dhp.com/~whisper/mason/
Netfilter/ipTables:
http://www.netfilter.org/

--and some Distros that ARE firewalls--
SmoothWall:
http://www.smoothwall.org/
IPCop:
http://www.ipcop.org/
LEAF:
http://leaf.sourceforge.net/

--Internet Filtering--
Netfilter/ipTables:
http://www.netfilter.org/
Squid:
http://www.squid-cache.org/
DansGuardian:
http://dansguardian.org/

--Anti-Virus--
ClamAV: (there are many well-known AV companies that support Linux, but this is the only Open-Source one...)
http://www.clamav.net/
The Open Antivirus Project: (VERY Alpha, just for education...)
http://www.openantivirus.org/

--Spam Filter--
BogoFilter:
http://sourceforge.n...projects/bogofilter/
SpamAssassin:
http://spamassassin.apache.org/ (mostly for mail servers)
A properly trained Thunderbird:
http://www.mozilla.c...m/en-US/thunderbird/

--Articles and Books--
Hardening Linux- A 10-step Approach:
http://flaviostechno...-to-a-secure-server/
IBM Article on Securing Linux:
http://www-128.ibm.c...brary/l-seclnx1.html
Hardening Linux- Book: (haven't read it myself, but I hear nothing but good things about it...)
http://www.amazon.co...rnbull/dp/1590594444
Hack-proofing Linux- Book: (older book, read the reviews, it's up to you whether it will be useful or not...)
http://www.amazon.co...curity/dp/1928994342

--The Final Word--
Top 100 Security Tools:
http://sectools.org/

Also, your chosen distro probably provides many of the same tools for monitoring and securing as well as some distro-specific security applications and methods. Learn your tools. Read the HowTo's and do not hesitate to inquire at the FAQ's and Forums of your distro site.

One more final word:
--Google Is Your Friend--
http://www.google.com/linux

Hope this helps...

Edit: Netfilter is actually more often used in firewall applications although it works well as a general IP-based Network Filter, so I put it in both categories.

2642

Living Room / Re: MouserMon - a silly tool that lets you know when the Boss is/not on the foru

« Last post by Edvard on October 30, 2006, 11:06 AM »

i'm in cody's space ship, which blocks all radiation waves.

Translation:

im in codyz base, bl0ckin ur wavz

(sorry to resurrect an old meme, somebody's gotta do it, especially after the cat pictures)

2643

Living Room / Re: Invisible Bike And Other Cat Signs

« Last post by Edvard on October 30, 2006, 10:21 AM »

 

2644

Living Room / Re: 404 - Page Not Found

« Last post by Edvard on October 19, 2006, 11:47 AM »

Sorry Mouser, I got caught up in the excitement and simply posted a thumb of my favorite one. I'll remember to post a page screenie next time...

App:  (have you submitted this to 404 Research Labs? They'd love it!)

Mouser: do you happen to have a nifty 404? With Cody? Maybe that could be the next contest if there isn't!

2645

General Software Discussion / Re: SCRIBUS - Open Source Desktop Publishing

« Last post by Edvard on October 19, 2006, 11:44 AM »

Actually, you can point PDFCreator to wherever you have Ghostscript installed:
Open PDFCreator from the start menu.
Select "Printer -> Options".
In the "Program" box, select "Ghostscript".
From that dialog, you can manually enter a path to gswin32c.exe, wherever it may be.
Hope this helps.

2646

Living Room / 404 - Page Not Found

« Last post by Edvard on October 18, 2006, 07:16 PM »

 

http://www.plinko.net/404/


(from "Tribute to 404" at 404 Research Labs)

...404 believes in your abilities. It doesn't try to lose you in a crazy series of redirects, it challenges your problem-solving skills. It asks, "Now that you're here, what are you going to do?" 404 willingly hands you the reins. Have you ever just closed a window on 404? No! You've considered your options, exercised your reasoning skills, and firmly chosen a course of action to deal with your situation. When you successfully navigate 404, you feel the blood coursing in your veins, the wind in your hair, and it's good to be alive. 404 is life-affirming. When you find 404, you know that even though the thing you were looking for no longer exists, there is still 404, stepping in to fill the void.

Where there was darkness, there is now 404. And all is right with the world.

2647

Living Room / Re: Prison Break Flash game

« Last post by Edvard on October 18, 2006, 03:45 PM »

Get into the position shown by using up-arrow once. As soon as he steps to the ledge before turning around, climb up and get behind him where you can walk up and smack him. It only worked once for me so be careful...

2648

General Software Discussion / Re: SCRIBUS - Open Source Desktop Publishing

« Last post by Edvard on October 18, 2006, 03:35 PM »

Tomos: Do a search for "gswin32c.exe"
That is the most common Ghostscript executable used by most win programs that need it. PDFCreator, PDFBlender, et al.
I have it in E:\Program Files\gs\gs8.54\bin\gswin32c.exe

2649

Living Room / Re: Forum Discrimination....

« Last post by Edvard on October 18, 2006, 12:33 PM »

2650

Living Room / Re: Forum Discrimination....

« Last post by Edvard on October 18, 2006, 10:21 AM »

I wish I could remember where I saw it, but somebody somewhere posted a screenshot of two different forum posts.
Exact question on both.
One had 2 responses
One had 54 responses

The Difference?

The one with 2 responses was posted by 'Bob' the other, by 'Michelle'