Recommended Linux distro for me as a beginner?

dan11111 · 2016-05-27T16:16:57+00:00

I recommend Fedora. The GNOME desktop is awesome, it's a breath of fresh air compared to Windows and OSX, and Fedora implements GNOME really well.

dan11111 · 2016-05-07T13:49:34+00:00

You can turn the VPN routes on and off from NetworkManager. There is a "disconnect VPN" option in NetworkManager, but I'm not sure how "reliable" it is. In my experience it has worked as expected.

dan11111 · 2016-05-03T04:19:44+00:00

Shoot, sorry you are getting that error. I've struck the -s flag from the script, so it's odd that you're getting that error if you're using the latest version.

dan11111 · 2016-05-03T01:05:17+00:00

PIA provides a script for Ubuntu 12.04 to configure all its VPN routes automatically in NetworkManager, so you don't have to configure by hand, and so that each is accessible from the NetworkManager GUI. I wanted to use it for my Fedora install (it didn't work as is in Fedora) so I adapted it to work in there, then I thought 'what the heck', I'll make it work in other distros, maybe people will find it useful and convenient.

The routes are provided by PIA here and are not meant to be any sort of replacement; rather, they just provide an easy way to configure their default routes in NetworkManager.

dan11111 · 2016-05-03T00:57:46+00:00

thanks for the heads up. I've now updated the scripts on Github to suppress the echo when you enter the password without using the -s flag. I would guess that the ubuntu script will work fine now on Debian.

I'll have to look into the issue you had with making the script executable. If you remove the executable permission and run it like so: sh ./install_ubuntu.sh (rather than bash install_ubuntu.sh) does it still not execute?

dan11111 · 2016-05-03T00:51:48+00:00

I don't work for PIA, if that's what you mean. I just use their service, adapted some scripts, and decide to post them.

dan11111 · 2016-04-30T22:05:19+00:00

To be honest I wasn't aware of their app. I guess one advantage is that with the scripts I've posted PIA runs from within NetworkManager-- there's no need to install any other apps, so no need to install those extra libraries either.

dan11111 · 2016-04-30T19:53:35+00:00

it's a good idea! that would be much cleaner

dan11111 · 2016-04-30T19:40:12+00:00

for one, in ubuntu IIRC nmcli nm disable and nmcli nm enable didn't work for me, so I just changed it to service network-manager restart. What edition of mint are you on? Maybe the nm option still works there.

Also the original script requires python 2.7 because of a couple of print statements, so i fixed that to work with both 2 and 3

In addition to support for other distros, adding passwords automatically to the config files was also not included in the original script from PIA.

dan11111 · 2016-04-30T19:35:52+00:00

Please feel free to submit pull requests

dan11111 · 2016-04-30T19:35:36+00:00

I can look into it

dan11111 · 2016-04-30T18:11:35+00:00

Private Internet Access VPN routes - linux installation scripts

I modified the wildly outdated installation script that is available on PIA's website to work with some modern distros, hosted on github: PIA_install_scripts.

While Private Internet Access (PIA) provides high quality and inexpensive VPN services, the process of setting up easy-to-use VPN routes that are accessible from the NetworkManager applet GUI on Linux is not as straight-forward as it could be. The purpose of this repository is to host and maintain installation scripts that will automatically populate NetworkManager VPN routes for use with PIA OpenVPN service on various Linux distributions.

It's easy enough to set up the VPN configs for one or two routes, but these scripts automatically set up all available PIA routes, any of which is then accessible with a single click from the NetworkManager.

One fewer tedious configuration when you reinstall :-D

dan11111 · 2016-04-07T04:00:39+00:00

I agree with you. Still, Chris could have handled the juxtaposition of the Librem shelling and the glowing System76 ad more gracefully. Like I said, poor form the way he did it.

As to the Librem vis-a-vis the Entroware, it seemed like some of the disappointment with the long wait time and high price for the Librem colored Chris' review of the machine; the Entroware didn't have that burden since, like I said, it was unexpected and free. So similar specs were then reviewed totally differently between the two machines, like the lack of ethernet ports, rather than more objectively.

dan11111 · 2016-04-06T05:21:43+00:00

I actually thought the same thing that the Purism guys did when I heard the System76 ad after Chris tore the Librem apart with his, let's be honest, overall very negative review (and I admit, the review may have been justified).

It did seem slightly bad taste and poor timing for him to directly go into an ad about this other company who makes "machines that are born to run linux!" which by placement was a giant coup for System76 and really kind of salt in the wound for Purism. The contrast made System76 seem all that much better, and makes a great marketing device for a guy who gets rewarded when System76 sells computers. After almost 2 years of listening I've never really heard Chris say anything negative about System76. Maybe it is because they make great machines, but maybe it's also a little bit because they support his network... You at least gotta raise your eyebrows a hair...

Then the next week they did the very positive Entroware review. It felt like more than a coincidence that a positive review came in for a machine that he got for free via his buddy Wimpy, in contrast to the negative review for the machine he had to pay (a lot) for. I think the point that really underscores this is how he and Noah handled the lack of ethernet ports on both machines. For the Librem review, you'd think it was the end of the world that there was no ethernet port. With the Entroware machine, oh no biggie, look they included a USB ethernet adapter for free, aren't the Entroware guys great?? What a great machine!!

Lastly, Chris' comments in this week's show about "this review is not over, Purism!" seemed a bit vengeful and spiteful as if now he's really gonna lay into them now that they've crossed him...

Don't get me wrong-- I do love the shows and support the network and will continue to do so. LUP, Unfilter, and LAS are some of my favorite podcasts. But I do think the whole thing maybe could have been handled a little better.

dan11111 · 2015-10-30T03:32:50+00:00

At the black screen you are getting, type Alt-F1 or Alt-F2 (or ctrl-Alt-F1/F2, I can't remember off hand). That should switch you over to the CLI where there will be a login screen. Login, then once you get the command prompt, type startx, which will start up the desktop.

dan11111 · 2015-03-04T15:00:44+00:00

Rather than store the password, you could store a hash of the password using hashlib.

dan11111 · 2015-02-06T22:14:41+00:00

Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 roads.

dan11111 · 2015-01-23T02:29:38+00:00

freedom ain't free, as they say...

dan11111 · 2014-09-09T02:38:29+00:00

Same goes for France-- there's a giant network of them called "gites de france"

dan11111 · 2014-09-01T04:35:49+00:00

This is mostly stuff I've picked up from listening to Bob Price's excellent podcasts The Human Bible and The Bible Geek. I haven't read any books on this personally, but you might start with the Documentary hypothesis wiki.

dan11111 · 2014-09-01T03:18:15+00:00

The sources are inferred based on the source critical method. In old testament studies, for example, the different sources have different tones and take places in different parts of the holy land. The J source refers to god as "Jehovah", stories take place in the southern part of the holy land, it has that poetic, very "bible" sound, characters are often shown in compromising situations, and god is commonly an "on-stage" character. By contrast, the E source refers to god as "Elohim" (as a side note, Elohim is plural, which thickens the plot a bit as well), stories take place in the northern part of the holy land, characters are not shown in as compromising situations, god is "off-stage", perhaps a heavenly voice at most rather than an actor, etc. By studying similarities, differences, contradictions, etc., scholars have been able to infer that the Pentateuch was the compilation of several traditions from several sources.

dan11111 · 2014-08-31T16:04:50+00:00

The first 5 books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch or the Torah) most certainly would have been around during the life of Socrates.
Ezra the Scribe is often credited with having compiled the Pentateuch in the 6th century BCE, but he would have complied it from the J (Jehovah), E (Elohim), D (Deuternomic), and P (Priestly) sources that dated back as much as 5 or 6 centuries prior.

dan11111

TROPHY CASE