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Posts tagged as “open source”

Looking for Some Open Source Virtual Reality?

By Phil Shapiro on January 10, 2017 |

Gaming, Hardware and Video

Looking for Some Open Source Virtual Reality?Razer OSVR HDK2 virtual reality headset.

For those of you who like your reality virtual and your software open, there are options — such as this nifty headset our Phil Shapiro found while searching YouTube.

The Screening Room

Razer OSVR HDK2 virtual reality headset.

Virtual reality is the big deal these days and it’s great to see open source is alive and well in this realm. This newly uploaded video shows one of the VR solutions open source enthusiasts can explore and enjoy, the Razer OSVR HDK2 virtual reality headset.

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MongoDB Ransomware Attacks Grow in NumberMondoDB ransomware

MongoDB Ransomware Attacks Grow in Number

By Christine Hall on January 9, 2017 |

Admin, News, Security and Software

Evidently DevOps running MongoDB haven’t heard the word about the latest round of ransomware targeting the database, as the numbers of deployments with data being held for ransom continues to rise.

MongoDB ransomware

Last week when the news started hitting the net about ransomware attacks focusing on unprotected instances of MongoDB, it seemed to me to be a story that would have a short life. After all, the attacks weren’t leveraging some unpatched vulnerabilities in the database, but databases that were misconfigured in a way that left them reachable via the Internet, and with no controls — like a password other than the default — over who had privileges. All that was necessary to get this attack vector under control was for admins to be aware of the situation and to be ready and able to reconfigure and password protect.

Guess what? It hasn’t gone down that way — at least not so far.

On Wednesday when I wrote about this there had been about 2,000 databases attacked. By this morning, according to eWeek, over 10,000 databases have been affected. What’s more, last week it appeared as if all of the attacks were being carried out by one person or organization. Now there are at least five organizations steadily working in an attempt to turn unprotected databases into bitcoins.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
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Torturing Tech Support Phone Scammers With LinuxTech Support call center

Torturing Tech Support Phone Scammers With Linux

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on January 5, 2017 |

Humor and Operating Systems

Some days it doesn’t pay to be a huckster selling phony Windows support. Not that Windows doesn’t need supporting, mind you…

Roblimo’s Hideaway

Tech Support call center

“What,” you may ask, “is Online Tek Squad?” I didn’t know, either, until a guy calling himself Paul, known to Caller I.D. as “Name Unavailable,” rang me up from what turned out to be a nonexistent phone number. Paul said he called me because my computer was infected with “over 30 viruses.” Wow. Good thing he got hold of me before the number climbed to 40 or 50, right?

Robin "Roblimo" Miller

Robin “Roblimo” Miller is a freelance writer and former editor-in-chief at Open Source Technology Group, the company that owned SourceForge, freshmeat, Linux.com, NewsForge, ThinkGeek and Slashdot, and until recently served as a video editor at Slashdot. Now he’s mostly retired, but still works part-time as an editorial consultant for Grid Dynamics, and (obviously) writes for FOSS Force.

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Eight Things to Do After Installing Linux Mint Xfce 18.xLinux Mint Xfce

Eight Things to Do After Installing Linux Mint Xfce 18.x

By Christine Hall on December 27, 2016 |

Desktops, Distros, Security and Tutorial

After you get Linux up and running on your computer, there are still a few things left to do. Here’s a short list that newcomers might find helpful.

Linux Mint update policy

Linux for Newcomers

Those who are new to Linux might just go to work right away after installing, or having someone else install, GNU/Linux. However, there are a few things you should do first. Some of them, such as updating your system and activating the firewall, are essential. Others are just things you do to customize your Linux experience.

Here’s a short checklist of things to do after you get Linux up-and-running on your computer. You should consider the first two items on this list as being required, with all the other items being optional. The list is specific to Linux Mint 18.x Xfce Edition, so if you’re using another flavor of Linux, you’ll be better off searching for another list.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingEight Things to Do After Installing Linux Mint Xfce 18.x
A Nonreview of Linux Mint Xfce 18 ‘Sarah’screenshot Linux Mint 18 "Sarah"

A Nonreview of Linux Mint Xfce 18 ‘Sarah’

By Christine Hall on December 26, 2016 |

Desktops, Distros and Reviews

With Linux Mint Xfce 18.1 “Serena” due to be released any day now, we decided it was too late for a full review of Mint Xfce 18.0 “Sarah,” and opted instead for this down-and-dirty “nonreview.”

screenshot Linux Mint Xfce 18 "Sarah"
A peek at Linux Mint Xfce 18 “Sarah” as we see it daily at FOSS Force.

The FOSS Force Review Nonreview

Oh, drat. I’ve done gone and procrastinated too much again.

Shortly after Clem Lefebvre and his buddies released the Xfce edition of Mint 18 — that’s “Sarah” for those who prefer names to numbers — I installed it on one of the laptops I keep at the office so I could write a review. I even took the laptop with me to All Things Open in late October to give it a good workout — which I did writing my coverage of the conference for “another website.”

I never did get around to writing the review, but it’s always been on the back burner. I’d get it written before the next version of Mint is released, I figured.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingA Nonreview of Linux Mint Xfce 18 ‘Sarah’
Dear CIO: Linux Mint Encourages Users to Keep System Up-to-DateLinux Mint 18.0 Update Manager

Dear CIO: Linux Mint Encourages Users to Keep System Up-to-Date

By Christine Hall on December 22, 2016 |

Distros, Media, Security and Tutorial

Regardless of what you may have read elsewhere, the Linux Mint team takes security very seriously and wants you to keep your system up-to-date.

Linux Mint 18.0 Update Manager

Swapnil Bhartiya gets it wrong.

Let me start by pointing out that Bhartiya is not only a capable open source writer, he’s also a friend. Another also: he knows better. That’s why the article he just wrote for CIO completely confounds me. Methinks he jumped the gun and didn’t think it through before he hit the keyboard.

The article ran with the headline Linux Mint, please stop discouraging users from upgrading. In it, he jumps on Mint’s lead developer Clement Lefebvre’s warning against unnecessary upgrades to Linux Mint.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingDear CIO: Linux Mint Encourages Users to Keep System Up-to-Date
Open Source 101 Coming to Raleigh, N.C.OpenSource 101

Open Source 101 Coming to Raleigh, N.C.

By FOSS Force on December 17, 2016 |

Business, Community and News

All Things Open presents Open Source 101, a one day conference scheduled for February that might be a good way for tech students at N.C. State to network and talk with recruiters.

OpenSource 101

There’s a new open source conference coming to Silicon Valley East. Open Source 101 will be a single day event held Saturday February 4, 2017 on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The event is being hosted by All Things Open, the organization behind the four-year-old All Things Open conference that’s held every October in downtown Raleigh.

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Is Linux Kernel Growth Sustainable?contemplating lines of code

Is Linux Kernel Growth Sustainable?

By Christine Hall on December 14, 2016 |

Humor and Operating Systems

A tech writer who still counts on her fingers and toes, tries to wrap her head around the size of the Linux kernel, and wonders when its weight will cause it to crash through the Earth’s mantle. She’s being silly, of course. Or is she?

contemplating lines of code

An interesting factoid caught my eye in an article published by Opensource.com this morning. The article was one of those interesting and easy-to-read listicles that many websites — even FOSS Force — likes to run occasionally called 9 Lessons from 25 Years of Linux Kernel Development, and the item that caught my attention was eighth on the list, under the heading, “The kernel shows that major developments can spring from small beginnings.”

“The original 0.01 kernel was a mere 10,000 lines of code; now it grows by more than that every two days. Some of the rudimentary, tiny features that developers are adding now will develop into significant subsystems in the future.”

10,000 lines of code added every other day? Really?

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingIs Linux Kernel Growth Sustainable?
Dedicated FOSS Computer Lab at IIT BombayShyama Iyer iit bombay

Dedicated FOSS Computer Lab at IIT Bombay

By Phil Shapiro on December 13, 2016 |

Community, Software and Video

Shyama Iyer says that students can learn about open source software on their own, “but who has the time to learn by trial and error? If there is a tutor — which is what Spoken Tutorial is, a tutor for software — then they can learn in a finite period of time.”

Shyama Iyer iit bombay

The Video Screening Room

While colleges and universities in the United States try to figure out whether their campus needs a FOSS computer lab, no such hesitation occurs in smart higher education institutions overseas. In this short video, hear from Professor Shyama Iyer about the FOSS tools taught at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay).

Phil Shapiro

For the past 10 years, Phil has been working at a public library in the Washington D.C.-area, helping youth and adults use the 28 public Linux stations the library offers seven days a week. He also writes for MAKE magazine, Opensource.com and TechSoup Libraries. Suggest videos by contacting Phil on Twitter or at pshapiro@his.com.

Continue readingDedicated FOSS Computer Lab at IIT Bombay
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