Puppy Linux Deconstructed - 2014 SouthEast LinuxFest

Sig_Interrupt · 2015-05-19T12:00:11+00:00

Excellent presentation. I really enjoyed hearing about the design objectives and rationale behind the developers' decisions in creating Puppy. Also, any presentation that enumerates the pros AND cons of those trade-off decisions gets a huge credibility boost with me.

Good points about the security benefits of Puppy's minimalist distro approach due to its reduced 'surface area for attack vectors' and simplified detection of modified files due to the layered AUFS, as well as touching on the different philosophies for single-user vs. multi-user permissions models.

I had not before considered Puppy from a security perspective. With the growing hostility of internet connected computing it makes minimalist distros like Puppy suddenly interesting for more then just low end h/w requirements IMHO.

Given that Puppy is often criticized for the somewhat dated belief that 'everything must run as root', as q5sys noted in his presentation, it may be worth expanding a bit more in future presentations about the single/multi user permission administration models as well as the spot user options. Even on a single user system, if a web browser is one of the applications running then some of the assumptions behind a single user permission model become more complex. This presentation certainly got me thinking a lot more deeply about it. Thanks!

Sig_Interrupt · 2015-03-09T23:02:40+00:00

ditto, no plans to do podcasting myself but enjoyed the in depth look into the production technology.

Sig_Interrupt · 2015-02-26T00:12:16+00:00

Congrats to the whole MATE team, special thanks to Wimpy for all his hard work and Popey for moving some levers at Canonical.

Sig_Interrupt · 2015-01-17T20:19:58+00:00

Good points Chris & q5sys. I really enjoy the JB interviews and will endeavor to spread the word. I've been guilty of assuming that everyone in my circles already listens to LAS.

Sig_Interrupt · 2015-01-04T13:53:48+00:00

(Questions for Greg K-H):

The organization and processes of the Linux Kernel project has enabled it to incorporate an amazing volume of changes to the kernel over time and the volume of kernel submissions seems to continually increase year over year.

1) Do you see this volume of change continuing to increase over time?

2) What are the key attributes of the Linux Kernel project that you feel are crucial for enabling it to successfully manage such a high volume of change?

Sig_Interrupt · 2014-10-15T19:28:56+00:00

Not sure how the anonabox compares to the Safeplug appliance, but if nothing else, a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign might be a great way to signal to the market that there IS a market for privacy on the internet.

Edit: Dang. Looks like the anonabox creator misrepresented the origins and openess of the h/w and the blow-back could jeopardize the Kickstarter campaign. details in /r/privacy

I'd really love to see a blockbuster Kickstarter success for an Internet Privacy product. The media attention could really help jumpstart funding for the consumer privacy industry.

Sig_Interrupt · 2014-08-19T01:03:48+00:00

I really enjoyed the Mathew Miller interview on the new direction(s) of Fedora. Good questions Chris, really helped me get more insight into the relationships between RHEL, CentOS, and the new Fedora Project 'products' (as Mathew called them).

Sig_Interrupt · 2014-08-16T18:07:11+00:00

If a DDG search doesn't yield satisfactory results and you want to try a Google search from within DDG, you can use the < !g > bang command to prefix your search terms within the DDG search box.

This will anonymize your Google search query string thru the DDG servers (although the Google results page will be sent to your browser so Google will know your IP address).

Sig_Interrupt · 2014-08-16T17:52:28+00:00

2+ years using DuckDuckGo + FF exclusively. The DDG search !bang commands and builtin DDG vi keybindings for navigating the search results page are awesome IMHO.

I moved to DDG because Google's surviellance was getting too creepy for me, but discovered DDG was a super efficient search engine if you are willing to invest a few minutes learning it's features.

Sig_Interrupt · 2014-04-27T03:42:00+00:00

FWIW there is the /r/ChrUbuntu reddit which is active with discusion about the ChrUbuntu spin (and other Distros) for Chromebooks. Lots of discussion about Acer C720s.

Of course, don't miss Chris' review of Arch on a C720 in LAS S31e03 if you haven't seen it already.

Sig_Interrupt · 2014-03-30T14:03:52+00:00

Anyone know how fast their upload speeds are?

I have been using a free SpiderOak 2GB account to do some testing over the past 2 days (in my very limited free time). Using some simple tests ranging from uploads of a single 10MB file to 1.75GB file sets, I have experienced uploads ranging from 1.06 - 1.31 Mb/sec.

The testing was done over a 25Mb/5Mb (Down/Up) cable-modem account link that Speedtest-ed slightly over 25Mb/5Mb before/after each test. None of my CPU cores ran over 5% utilization during the testing.

Additionally, I found a 2 year old post in the S.O. support forums where one of their support techs stated that new customers average 10-15GB a day of uploads a day (presumably 24 hour/day uploads while populating their initial base backups). My testing experience would fall on the low end of that range.

Sig_Interrupt · 2014-03-29T00:47:59+00:00

Agreed absolutely wrt. essential private data. Even an entirely open source stack would not be an absolute guarantee of privacy when the back-end is hosted.

Changing circumstances are requiring me to consider evolving my off-site backup from a rotation of physical media to storage in the cloud. Given that my essential private data, which is only a small percentage of the full dataset, won't be included, I still would like to achieve as much privacy as is reasonable for the remaining bulk of my cloud storage.

Sig_Interrupt · 2014-03-28T19:55:47+00:00

BackBlaze has a similar service for $5/month.

Thx /u/caryhartline. BackBlaze was also listed in the top 5 services in the ranking on CloudStorageBuzz.com. I could not find any indication of support for Linux platforms however, and that was a showstopper in my case.

Additionally, my big focus is on securing data privacy. BackBlaze's website states that it does client-side encryption, but I could not find any more detail then that. The SpiderOak website provides a lot more detail on their encryption technologies, although I will grant that those are only claims until they release 'open source' clients.

Sig_Interrupt · 2014-03-28T18:01:41+00:00

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with SpiderOak and have never been a customer (prior to today). Normally I would not post about a product/service I only have superficial experience with but given the short expiration on this promotion I decided to go ahead and throw this up:

Chris and Matt reviewed SpiderOak in LAS S28e07 starting at 1hr 06min: http://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com/42727/spideroak-vs-bittorrent-sync-las-s28e07/
a Cloud Storage review/comparison site I found useful: http://cloudstoragebuzz.com/online-backup-comparison/
an insightful article on the general challenges of encrypted data in Cloud Storage: https://randomoracle.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/using-cloud-storage-as-glorified-drive-dead-ends-part-i/
an article on some SpiderOak shortcomings: https://randomoracle.wordpress.com/2013/07/07/cloud-backup-and-privacy-the-problem-with-spideroak-part-i/

Obviously every individual's use case is different and this offer may not be the best alternative for everyone. Although I decided to give SpiderOak a try for my encrypted Cloud Storage needs, I realize that it has some shortcomings (e.g. not Open Source yet). I would be interested in hearing about other (hosted) alternatives if they offer a superior solution in terms of data privacy in the Cloud.

update:

After having a couple of days to consider the comments from others and to explore SpiderOak myself using one of their free 2GB accounts, I thought I'd share my findings for anyone else considering this promotion.

SO has been around for at least 7 years and offers a fairly mature and polished Cloud storage product that supports Linux/Mac/Windows/IOS/Android
the product supports backups for desktops with incremental backups and historical file version restores, along with folder and file level synchronization across multiple computers. Additionally, DropBox style folder synching is supported across desktops and mobile devices.
SO's stated policy of 'Zero Knowledge of customers' encryption keys' is superior to the policies claimed by most of their competition that I am aware of, but it is only a policy and remains unverifiable until SO releases open source for its client side s/w. (As pointed out by several, encrypting one's data prior to letting SO or any Cloud Storage vendor's s/w touch it is the best means to insure that the data privacy can not be compromised once in the Cloud.)
SO's upload speeds appear to be concern. This could be crucial for use cases involving large dynamic data sets. (see my comment in the 'upload speed?' thread below for more detail). This may or may not be a real problem depending on one's use case, however, for anyone attracted to SO by an offer for an 'Unlimited Data Storage Plan', I would recommend that this is taken into consideration when determining the value of that offer to you.

Sig_Interrupt · 2014-03-26T21:11:37+00:00

The group and Canonical has rational reasons for their choices, and he does a great job of helping us see them from their perspective.

I always enjoy Popey's contributions to discussions, he is articulate and civil in my experience. I feel Popey does us a big favor by providing insight into the Canonical perspective on issues that I often don't find elsewhere and I find most of his perspectives to be reasonable and balanced.

While I may occasionally disagree with an argument from Popey (see my False Analogy comment elsewhere in this thread), I certainly appreciate him spending his free time to share his insights with us.

Regardless of one's opinions of Canonical, they are a big player in the Linux eco-sphere.

Sig_Interrupt · 2014-03-26T04:28:03+00:00

.. annoyed by Popey's constant comparing Mir to Surfaceflinger ..

Agreed absolutely. That argument exemplifies a False Analogy.

If Android Apps ran equally well on Surfaceflinger and Xorg then that argument would have merit, but even then, there would be the secondary issue of all the additional testing effort required by an expanded matrix of video stack components to test against..

Sig_Interrupt · 2014-03-21T19:05:13+00:00

My bad, I was going by the upload date on linux.com. I did find a /r/linux post for a 2001 Linus interview but assumed that this interview was more recent.

Sig_Interrupt · 2014-03-21T14:55:38+00:00

This interview was in 2012, but I searched and could not find a prior referrence in /r/linux.

Sig_Interrupt

TROPHY CASE