September 2015 - Roundtable

IBM "clicky" keyboards
by Adam Thompson 13 Oct '16

13 Oct '16

Enough people have wondered/asked/complained to me about this that I'm posting this now as a public service. IBM Model "M" keyboards are still available, *NEW*, today. They are expensive, but they are the original design that you can use as a melee weapon. The catch is that they don't say "IBM" or even "Lexmark" on them. They are available for purchase from the manufacturer, Unicomp, who can be found online at http://www.pckeyboard.com/. You can also find some vintage NIB units from time to time at http://www.clickykeyboards.com/. There are also a number of other manufacturers now making similar, but not quite as good, keyboards. - CVT Inc., the maker of the Avant Stellar (I own two of them), which is the direct descendant of the Northgate Omnikey, seems to have restructured and no trace of their keyboard manufacturing operation can be found online. However, Northgate keyboards are still available new-in-box from (this is a horrible site, beware) http://www.northgate-keyboard-repair.com/. - The Happy Hacking keyboard (now owned by Fujitsu, apparently) is equally comforting to some people despite having a totally different feel. They, and many others, can be had from http://www.elitekeyboards.com/ - Das Keyboard - Anything using Cherry MX Green, Blue, or White keyswitches. The "green" switches apparently are the closest anyone's come yet to emulating the IBM/Lexmark/Unicomp switches... and they can be had in MUCH cheaper keyboards, like the Rosewill RK-9000 (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823201040 and http://techreport.com/review/23405/rosewill-rk-9000-series-mechanical-ke yboards-reviewed). - And there are an increasing number (yes, again, after the big die-off ca. 2009) of speciality manufacturers of "ergonomic" keyboards that are making clicky keyswitches available as an option. One of the better ones is a tiny shop in Ontario, but I can't find the name right now. References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_M_keyboard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicomp http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX -Adam Thompson athompso(a)athompso.net

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SpamAssassin false positives on DATE_IN_FUTURE_96_Q?
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 23 Feb '16

23 Feb '16

I mentioned this problem at the last round-table session, but didn't get a solution, so I thought I'd post it here, just in case anyone has any suggestions to offer. I'm still seeing a whole bunch of false positives in SpamAssassin, since an update was installed in mid-September on a CentOS 5.7 system, for a rule called DATE_IN_FUTURE_96_Q, which is only supposed to be triggered when the "Date:" header has a date that is 4 days to 4 month ahead of the date in the "Received" header that has the _smallest_ difference in date. Here are the headers from the latest e-mail I've received with this false-positive. (I've stripped out irrelevant headers, for the sake of clarity and simplicity.) From topfivestories(a)messagent.itworldcanada.com Mon Nov 14 07:50:13 2011 Received: from mail.messagent.itworldcanada.com (mail.messagent.itworldcanada.com [207.112.10.80]) by palladium.cs.umanitoba.ca (8.13.8/8.13.8) with SMTP id pAEDoAxV028594 for <gedetil(a)cs.umanitoba.ca>; Mon, 14 Nov 2011 07:50:12 -0600 Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:50:13 -0500 X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,DATE_IN_FUTURE_96_Q, HTML_MESSAGE,RP_MATCHES_RCVD autolearn=no version=3.3.1 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.1 (2010-03-16) on palladium.cs.umanitoba.ca Note that I'm calling spamd via the spamass-milter on a system running sendmail. Note also, that in the above example, the only "Received" header was the one generated by my own server. (I've had other false positives, however, with multiple "Received" headers, all of which were within seconds of the time in the "Date" header.) Any ideas? -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.mb.ca> Manitoba UNIX User Group Web: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ PO Box 130 St-Boniface Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R2H 3B4 Fax: (204)474-7609

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How Long Can HDMI Cable be Run? -- Blue Jeans Cable
by Adam Thompson 05 Oct '15

05 Oct '15

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/how-long-can-hdmi-run.htm -- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

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Folder tree visualization
by Wyatt Zacharias 30 Sep '15

30 Sep '15

Does anyone know of a graphical folder tree visualization tool? Specifically one that can recognize symbolic links, and can stop at a specified folder depth? -- Wyatt Zacharias

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aggregating dsl lines
by Trevor Cordes 30 Sep '15

30 Sep '15

Is it possible to aggregate DSL lines, to combine them to get X-times the bandwidth on a single link? In this situation, I control both ends, the DSLAM and the DSL modem side on the other end of some POTS runs (CAT3-ish I assume, or worse). Note, I don't want load balancing or fancy routing/sharing. I need double (or more) the bandwidth for a single application (single TCP connection). If required, we can have linux/bsd boxes we control at either end of the links. If it's not possible, does anyone have any other ideas for somehow getting better bandwidth out of 500m POTS wires (quantity 4)? Thanks!

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Re: [RndTbl] aggregating dsl lines
by Brock Wolfe 29 Sep '15

29 Sep '15

Are there any reasons for not considering commercial (backbone) wireless gear for connecting points. It is a common practice for multi-building sites where project funds (or other constraints) prevent wired/fibre connections between buildings. On 9/29/2015 10:48 AM, roundtable-request(a)muug.mb.ca wrote: > Send Roundtable mailing list submissions to > roundtable(a)muug.mb.ca > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > roundtable-request(a)muug.mb.ca > > You can reach the person managing the list at > roundtable-owner(a)muug.mb.ca > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Roundtable digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. aggregating dsl lines (Trevor Cordes) > 2. Re: aggregating dsl lines (Colin Stanners) > 3. Re: aggregating dsl lines (Robert Keizer) > 4. Re: aggregating dsl lines (Adam Thompson) > 5. Re: aggregating dsl lines (Adam Thompson) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2015 04:18:54 -0500 > From: Trevor Cordes <trevor(a)tecnopolis.ca> > To: MUUG RndTbl <roundtable(a)muug.mb.ca> > Subject: [RndTbl] aggregating dsl lines > Message-ID: <20150929091854.GA13606(a)pog.tecnopolis.ca> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Is it possible to aggregate DSL lines, to combine them to get X-times the > bandwidth on a single link? In this situation, I control both ends, the > DSLAM and the DSL modem side on the other end of some POTS runs (CAT3-ish > I assume, or worse). > > Note, I don't want load balancing or fancy routing/sharing. I need double > (or more) the bandwidth for a single application (single TCP connection). > > If required, we can have linux/bsd boxes we control at either end of the > links. > > If it's not possible, does anyone have any other ideas for somehow getting > better bandwidth out of 500m POTS wires (quantity 4)? > > Thanks! > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2015 07:09:51 -0500 > From: Colin Stanners <cstanners(a)gmail.com> > To: Continuation of Round Table discussion <roundtable(a)muug.mb.ca> > Subject: Re: [RndTbl] aggregating dsl lines > Message-ID: > <CAPoOROw+CvZAq_O2T+b0M7zukSEaydm10KzYCd6=fougATzkyg(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > At layers 2/3 you can do Multilink PPP or even something wierd and > questionably reliable like LACP over Ethernet-over-IP over the individual > connections, but given that it's only 500m and you control both ends the > best solution would likely be at > http://www.netsys-direct.com/Ethernet_Extenders_s/1814.htm , particularly > http://www.netsys-direct.com/product_p/nv-600ekit.htm > > On Tue, Sep 29, 2015 at 4:18 AM, Trevor Cordes <trevor(a)tecnopolis.ca> wrote: > >> Is it possible to aggregate DSL lines, to combine them to get X-times the >> bandwidth on a single link? In this situation, I control both ends, the >> DSLAM and the DSL modem side on the other end of some POTS runs (CAT3-ish >> I assume, or worse). >> >> Note, I don't want load balancing or fancy routing/sharing. I need double >> (or more) the bandwidth for a single application (single TCP connection). >> >> If required, we can have linux/bsd boxes we control at either end of the >> links. >> >> If it's not possible, does anyone have any other ideas for somehow getting >> better bandwidth out of 500m POTS wires (quantity 4)? >> >> Thanks! >> _______________________________________________ >> Roundtable mailing list >> Roundtable(a)muug.mb.ca >> http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable >> >

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Mr. Robot (on Showcase)
by Bradford C. Vokey 17 Sep '15

17 Sep '15

Further to my recommendation to watch "Mr. Robot": For those that don't get Showcase in your Shaw cable package, it seems that you can watch Mr. Robot on-line for free here: http://www.showcase.ca/video#mrrobot/video New episodes every Friday!

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cheaper ISP
by Trevor Cordes 16 Sep '15

16 Sep '15

What's the cheapest option for a Winnipeg business to get decent (especially upload) internet access when they aren't in a Shaw area (but are in MTS). Right now they have MTS crappy like 5Mbps down and 400kbps up. It's horrible. We'd be fine with 5 or 10 (or more) down, but we want at least 2 up. The more up in our pricerange the better. Monthly traffic will be quite low in both directions, but we get large-demand bursts. Price range is $40-$80/month. They are willing to pay (a bit) more upfront to save on the monthly fee, if required. They need zero extra features (email boxes, web space, a/v, domain, etc), they just need faster internet. Lower latency than what garbage MTS gives would be better too. I already checked with MTS and what they want for more upload bw is way too much (compared to what Shaw charges). Thanks!

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Linux capabilities vs setuid-root
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 16 Sep '15

16 Sep '15

I mentioned Linux capabilities (setcap/getcap commands) briefly during last night's round-table session, and Trevor mentioned that he thought that recent Fedora releases had eliminated the use of setuid-root binaries in favour of capabilities-based binaries. (That's the stated goal, in any case.) Not sure about the very latest Fedora/Rawhide releases, but here are the numbers on a Fedora 21 host I was able to quickly check... $ getcap /usr/*bin/*|wc -l 10 $ ls -l /usr/*bin/*|grep '^...s'|wc -l 21 $ ls -l /usr/*bin/*|grep '^......s'|wc -l 7 $ All of the setuid binaries (in the second command) are setuid-root. The setgid binaries (last command) have varying group ID's. For comparison, here are the numbers on an EL7 host... $ getcap /usr/*bin/*|wc -l 8 $ ls -l /usr/*bin/*|grep '^...s'|wc -l 23 $ ls -l /usr/*bin/*|grep '^......s'|wc -l 9 $ The difference in counts between the two hosts likely has more to do with specific packages loaded than with actual differences in the distros, though. Note that Linux capabilities are intended to grant only specific kernel-based rights that were otherwise restricted to root, so it likely won't eliminate all setuid/setgid use cases, without some more drastic coding solutions. Gilbert -- Manitoba UNIX User Group E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.mb.ca> c/o Gilbert E. Detillieux Web: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ University of Manitoba Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R3T 2N2 Fax: (204)474-7609

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Free e-books
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 10 Sep '15

10 Sep '15

Someone mentioned a web site offering a different free e-book each day, on various tech topics. Here's the correct URL for the site... https://www.packtpub.com/packt/offers/free-learning Enjoy! -- Manitoba UNIX User Group E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.mb.ca> c/o Gilbert E. Detillieux Web: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ University of Manitoba Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R3T 2N2 Fax: (204)474-7609

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