May 2020 - Roundtable

How does on get the date function to work in Libre Office spreadsheet?
by eh＠eduardhiebert.com 08 May '23

08 May '23

Hi, I've formatted the cells as date mm/dd/yy and entered the values as is. Also tried by preceeding with equal sign in case deemed to be a formula but neither works. I assume a difference between two days yields the difference in days, correct? Or are the formula different than plain math? Eduard the Osborne guy at last meeting

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interesting unix pipe problem (stop whole pipe chain on first match)
by Trevor Cordes 01 Jun '20

01 Jun '20

For the punters out there... think you can find a better (shorter command line? no signals?) way to solve this interesting problem? I want to run an nmap on a network range, but have it quit (with output) the instant it finds the first "up" host. Nmap doesn't seem to have any way to achieve this. So I thought why not use unix pipes to do this? Oh ya, let's throw on a maximum run time too. So the goal is to run as quickly as we can to find one host on the network (the normal case), with the total time capped at something lower than nmap seems to want to take. And I need a way to still tell if the whole enchilada found something or not, and I want to wait for that result to come in. I need to take different action on whether we found a host or not. Note, nmap timeout and rtt options seem to apply per-host so even with sane-ish numbers, nmap will still often take 40-60s to run this command. Here's what I've come up with (view in monospace): echo 192.168.101 | \ timeout 30 bash -c \ " \ sint=\$(cat); \ (nmap -ddd -vvv --send-ip \ --host-timeout 5s --max-rtt-timeout 1s --initial-rtt-timeout 500ms \ --max-retries 1 -S \$sint.1 -sn -PE \$sint.2 \$sint.254-254 2>&1 & \ echo \$! >&3) \ 3>pidnmap \ | grep --line-buffered -P 'RCVD.{0,30}?ICMP.{0,60}?Echo reply' \ | (head -1 && kill \$(<pidnmap) 2>&1) \ " \ |grep RCVD || echo "no hosts found" I initially thought head would sigpipe the nmap once it got it's one line... and maybe it is, but nmap doesn't quit. So I have to explicitly kill the nmap later to make sure it truly dies rather than continue its 60s run. Hence the convoluted pid/kill stuff. I tried pkill -g0 at first, but it ate all the output and made it impossible to tell if we got output or not. And using return values (ideal) seems completely hopeless as soon as signals are involved. And no, setting /bin/timeout to the very minimum time I'm willing to tolerate (say 10s?) is not a good solution either, as I really want this command to return in the < 100ms it takes in the normal case. So, other than hacking nmap to immediately respond to sigpipe or adding a "quit after finding X up hosts" option, does anyone see a better UNIXy way to do this? The general problem isn't nmap specific... it's really a problem of shortcircuiting out of any long-running program when we see a certain line of its output. Heck, maybe there's already a coreutil or moreutil that does this generally somehow, but I couldn't find it faster than I could write the above! My gut says it's just got to be easier than this!! I couldn't believe how convoluted the solution quickly became.

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Further to Remote Desktop Access during this COVID-19 time
by Bradford C. Vokey 27 May '20

27 May '20

Hello fellow MUUGers. At the last MUUG round table, I mentioned I use a paid remote desktop service called "Splashtop" to access my office computers from home. They have a very reasonable commercial rate of only $99 per year for access for up to 10 computers. Well today, they just announced a major upgrade to their streaming for no additional charge and I just had to highly recommend them if you are looking for professional remote desktop solutions during this work from home time. They have awesome multi-monitor, and iphone/android support, which is the major reason why I use them over open source solutions. That and the fact that I've never had any issues using their software over the last 12 months. Their software just works. YMMV. -- Bradford C. Vokey Treasurer Manitoba Unix User Group -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: New Splashtop Performance Features, Single Sign-On Integration and More! Date: Wed, 27 May 2020 09:28:53 -0700 (PDT) From: The Splashtop Team <email(a)splashtop.com> Reply-To: The Splashtop Team <email(a)splashtop.com> To: Brad splashtop <splashtop(a)fsi.ca> Splashtop introduces high resolution streaming, single sign-on integration, and more new features. <https://marketing.splashtop.com/acton/ct/3744/s-06d1-2005/Bct/q-0ced/l-sf-l…> Hi Brad, Thank you for being a Splashtop customer! We value your business and want to make sure you are aware of our most recent enhancements that will elevate your remote access experience. *High resolution streaming at low latency* Splashtop has added new performance features that support multi-monitor 4K-quality streaming at more than 40 frames per second, at low latency. What that means is if you are a video editor, game developer, CAD/CAM user, or need to perform processing-intensive activities, you can now be better equipped to work from home without requiring physical access to your high-end workstations. Read what professionals in the media and entertainment industry <https://marketing.splashtop.com/acton/ct/3744/s-06d1-2005/Bct/q-0ced/l-sf-l…> and architects <https://marketing.splashtop.com/acton/ct/3744/s-06d1-2005/Bct/q-0ced/l-sf-l…>have to say about their experience working from home with Splashtop. See these tips to enable hardware acceleration in the Splashtop Streamer <https://marketing.splashtop.com/acton/ct/3744/s-06d1-2005/Bct/q-0ced/l-sf-l…> and enable hardware acceleration in the Splashtop Business App <https://marketing.splashtop.com/acton/ct/3744/s-06d1-2005/Bct/q-0ced/l-sf-l…>. *Single Sign-On (SSO) **i**ntegration add-on* To improve our users’ security and enable easy, centralized authentication Splashtop has integrated with major identity providers like ADFS, Azure AD, Okta, OneLogin, and JumpCloud. You can now use your centralized SSO User ID and password to authenticate your Splashtop account. Contact us if you are interested to add on SSO to your subscription <https://marketing.splashtop.com/acton/ct/3744/s-06d1-2005/Bct/q-0ced/l-sf-l…>. Learn more about the new Splashtop and JumpCloud SSO integration at a Splashtop and JumpCloud live Q&A on May 29^th at 11:30 am ET <https://marketing.splashtop.com/acton/ct/3744/s-06d1-2005/Bct/q-0ced/l-sf-l…>. Be sure to select the May 29th date when registering. Regards, The Splashtop Team customer-success(a)splashtop.com <mailto:customer-success@splashtop.com> (408) 758-5899 1054 S. De Anza Blvd. #200, San Jose, CA 95129 1054 S De Anza Blvd, Suite 200, San Jose, CA 95129, USA

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MUUG Online Meeting, Tonight, May 12, 7:30pm -- Setting up a Jitsi Server
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 12 May '20

12 May '20

A reminder that the MUUG meeting will take place online tonight... The Manitoba UNIX User Group (MUUG) will be holding its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 12th, at 7:30pm: Setting up a Jitsi Server In light of the current concerns over COVID-19 and the risk of infection, and current directives from the University of Winnipeg, the MUUG board has decided to try our first online meeting at 7:30pm! Troy Denton will demonstrate how you can build and deploy Jitsi, a secure video conferencing solution. An added twist -- this exhibition potentially may be hosted on Jitsi... to demonstrate Jitsi! Stay tuned to the muug.ca home page for the official URL, which will be made available a few minutes before the meeting starts. (Reload the page if you don't see the link, or if there are issues with connecting.) The group holds its meetings at 7:30pm on the second Tuesday of every month from September to June. (There are no meetings in July and August.) Meetings are open to the general public; you don't have to be a MUUG member to attend. For more information about MUUG, and its monthly meetings, check out their web server: https://muug.ca/ Help us promote this month's meeting, by putting this poster up on your workplace bulletin board or other suitable public message board, or linking to it on social media: https://muug.ca/meetings/MUUGmeeting.pdf -- Manitoba UNIX User Group E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.ca> c/o Gilbert E. Detillieux Web: http://muug.ca/ University of Manitoba Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R3T 2N2 Fax: (204)474-7609

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New Xeon NUC released
by Adam Thompson 07 May '20

07 May '20

If you don't have much room but still want to run a moderately beefy VM server with internal NVMe storage... Bit expensive, but could be worth it for some scenarios. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/06/nuc9vxqnx_pro_review/

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MUUG Online Meeting, May 12, 7:30pm -- Setting up a Jitsi Server
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 05 May '20

05 May '20

The Manitoba UNIX User Group (MUUG) will be holding its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 12th, at 7:30pm: Setting up a Jitsi Server In light of the current concerns over COVID-19 and the risk of infection, and current directives from the University of Winnipeg, the MUUG board has decided to try our first online meeting at 7:30pm! Troy Denton will demonstrate how you can build and deploy Jitsi, a secure video conferencing solution. An added twist -- this exhibition potentially may be hosted on Jitsi... to demonstrate Jitsi! Stay tuned to muug.ca for the official URL, or watch for an e-mail update, if you're on our mailing list. The group holds its meetings at 7:30pm on the second Tuesday of every month from September to June. (There are no meetings in July and August.) Meetings are open to the general public; you don't have to be a MUUG member to attend. For more information about MUUG, and its monthly meetings, check out their web server: https://muug.ca/ Help us promote this month's meeting, by putting this poster up on your workplace bulletin board or other suitable public message board, or linking to it on social media: https://muug.ca/meetings/MUUGmeeting.pdf -- Manitoba UNIX User Group E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.ca> c/o Gilbert E. Detillieux Web: http://muug.ca/ University of Manitoba Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R3T 2N2 Fax: (204)474-7609

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Square payment system
by Hartmut W Sager 02 May '20

02 May '20

As many of you know, MUUG uses the Square Technologies credit card and debit card payment processing system. I have now been using that system as well for a few months (I signed up through the MUUG referral link), and I want to hereby give *my resounding endorsement of this system*. It even works properly with the Canadian banks' Visa Debit and MasterCard Debit cards, in both Visa/MasterCard credit card mode and Interac debit card mode (Moneris, co-owned by RBC and BMO, never accepted those cards in credit card mode, and thus never accepted them in Internet or phone transactions). Also, the collected payments at Square Technologies are deposited into your bank account in 1-2 days. That's fast for a credit card processor! And their Web interface is exceptionally well-featured, giving you extensive control in managing your customers, while also allowing simple one-off payments. Their hardware also gives excellent choices, especially for integrating with your mobile phone. Use the following referral link for MUUG to receive the referral credit: https://squareup.com/i/MANITOBAU1 Hartmut W Sager - Tel +1-204-339-8331

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Fwd: .ORG has been saved!
by Hartmut W Sager 02 May '20

02 May '20

I presume that this matter is of interest to at least some MUUG members. Hartmut W Sager - Tel +1-204-339-8331 ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Amy Sample Ward, NTEN <info(a)nten.org> Date: Fri, 1 May 2020 at 08:40 Subject: You did it! .ORG has been saved! To: <hwsager(a)marityme.net> <http://NTEN2.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yOTUxNzQzJnA9MSZ1PTQwMjY1NDIzMyZsaT0y…> You asked to stay informed about updates on the #SaveDotOrg campaign, so I'm writing to you today with an important one: .ORG has been saved! Thanks to you and tens of thousands of concerned people like you, the sale of the .ORG registry to private equity has been stopped. Thank you for speaking out, signing the petition, and sharing it on social media. This couldn't have happened without all of us uniting to save the digital home of nonprofits. Here's the joint statement from NTEN and EFF: We are thrilled to see *ICANN’s leadership reject the sale* <http://NTEN2.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yOTUxNzQzJnA9MSZ1PTQwMjY1NDIzMyZsaT0y…> of Public Interest Registry (PIR) and the .Org top-level domain. For 20 years, .Org has been the online home for nonprofits, NGOs, and community-based groups around the world. It serves both those organizations and the public, helping navigate and support trust, information and resource sharing, and advocacy. The current global pandemic has further illustrated the importance of nonprofit websites, as most of the world’s leading scientific and research institutions, health and safety resources, and educational services are on .Org websites. The need for reliability and security of the .Org domain is as high as it ever has been, and the proposal to convert PIR from a nonprofit to a for-profit entity and then sell it to private equity firm Ethos Capital would have jeopardized both. We want to thank the nearly 900 organizations and the 64,000* individuals from all over the world who joined us in calling for the sale to be stopped. The collective voices made a difference. This is not the final step needed for protecting the .Org domain. ICANN must now open a public process for bids to find a new home for the .Org domain. ICANN has established processes and criteria that outline how to hold a reassignment process. We look forward to seeing a competitive process and are eager to support the participation in that process by the global nonprofit community. The .Org domain, the third-largest top-level domain, needs a secure and reliable steward that can prove it has the public and nonprofit sector’s interests at its core. Additional SaveDotOrg coalition signers: Access Now *The combined signatures from petitions hosted by EFF, Fight for the Future, and Open Media. [image: Amy's bio photo] [image: Amy's signature] *Amy Sample Ward* (*pronouns*: she/her) NTEN CEO [image: NTEN logo] <http://NTEN2.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yOTUxNzQzJnA9MSZ1PTQwMjY1NDIzMyZsaT0y…> [image: Facebook] <http://NTEN2.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yOTUxNzQzJnA9MSZ1PTQwMjY1NDIzMyZsaT0y…> [image: Twitter] <http://NTEN2.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yOTUxNzQzJnA9MSZ1PTQwMjY1NDIzMyZsaT0y…> [image: Instagram] <http://NTEN2.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yOTUxNzQzJnA9MSZ1PTQwMjY1NDIzMyZsaT0y…> [image: LinkedIn] <http://NTEN2.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yOTUxNzQzJnA9MSZ1PTQwMjY1NDIzMyZsaT0y…> 621 SW Alder St., Suite 310, Portland, OR 97205 503-272-8800 | *info(a)nten.org <info(a)nten.org>* *Unsubscribe* | *Privacy Policy* | *View this email in your browser*

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Re: [RndTbl] [Board] Newsletter Fodder: Linux home directory management is about to undergo major change
by Trevor Cordes 01 May '20

01 May '20

On 2020-04-30 Bradford C Vokey wrote: > https://www.techrepublic.com/article/linux-home-directory-management-is-abo… (Adding rndtbl.) Poettering's gone too far. This will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. He's going to get blowback on this one. And that article author is obviously not a real linux user... only servers need to allow access to the .ssh directory for login? Uh... tell that to all the users that remotely access their own home computers via ssh. I don't want my home dir encrypted. I don't want the easily editable passwd and groups turned into some abomination encrypted/signed JSON crap that I can't edit with a text editor. I don't want to worry about each user having a virtual FS in a file taking up gobs of space it doesn't need. And then average users hitting their predefined limit and not knowing how to make it bigger? It's not just ssh that needs access to files in the home dir... what about: - backups: it's going to be real efficient backing up 5G encrypted containers... NOT! - procmailrc: how's procmail going to find each user's settings and rules? - scp: what if you want to scp a file from your home dir without logging in first? - maildirs: on my systems the MTA/MDA will put the files in each user's home dir under Maildir. - crontab: if a user has some stuff happening in cron, how on earth is that going to access home? They better provide an option to stick with the old way of doing things!! This is one change I will never get behind. It once again shows that Poettering never was a real *NIX user and doesn't have the slightest clue why we love the OS. And what does this all buy us? If you wanted a LUKS setup of some sort, you can already do that without this garbage. It's change for the sake of change (and control) and I use Linux precisely to try to avoid that.

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