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In-place online encryption
by Noah O'Donoghue 27 Apr '15

27 Apr '15

Hey all, I have a few cases where I'd like to encrypt without taking the system down for extended periods, ie, servers. In the windows/apple world truecrypt / bitlocker / filevault will all let you encrypt the root partition as a background process, throttled to a low IO load. Usually this requires a reboot to get started, then runs in the background. Does anyone know how to achieve this in the Linux world? (preferably with luks) -Noah

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Fwd: Re: Raid and Linux
by Daniel Jitnah 27 Apr '15

27 Apr '15

> > i know for a fact, because i've done it many times, that i can take > software raid drives from one system and put them in another without any > hassle at all. Thats one of the main reasons that I had chosen a software raid setup before. In fact the original system was first setup on a HP Proliant G4 or G5(?) with Linux software raid. That was moved to another host zero problem, just moved the drives across and reboot. It was thought that it would be easy to just move to a HP Proliant G7. Daniel. > have you, or anyone else, actually done that with, say, a raid array > from HP being moved to an adaptec controller? or from any proprietary > HW RAID card to another brand? in my experience it's usually not even > possible when when moving to a newer model of the same brand, > > > see also my last message on flexibility advantages of SW RAID over HW RAID. > >> If you buy a HP server to run something important that needs little >> down-time then you probably have just that. If your HP server doesn't >> need such support guarantees then you can probably deal with a delay >> in getting a new RAID card. > > if you don't need such support guarantees, then why even use a > brand-name server? > > you get better performance and much better value for money with > non-branded server hardware that you either build yourself or pay one of > the specialist server companies to build for you. > > >>> that still doesn't make hardware raid a better or even good >>> solution, just a tolerable one. >>> >>> for raid-1 or 10, software raid beats the hell out of HW raid, >> >> For RAID-5 and RAID-6 a HP hardware RAID with battery backed >> write-back cache vastly outperforms any pure software RAID >> implementation. > > i used to have exactly the same opinion - battery-backed or flash-based > write caches meant that HW RAID was not only much better but absolutely > essential for RAID-5 or RAID-6, because write performance on RAID-5/6 > really sucks without write caching. > > but now ZFS can use an SSD (or other fast block device) as ZIL, and > kernel modules like bcache[1] and facebook's flashcache[2] can provide > the same kind of caching using any fast block device for any filesystem. > > so, that one advantage is gone, and has been for several years now. > > [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bcache > [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashcache > > at the moment, the fastest available block devices are PCI-e SSDs (or > PCI-e battery-backed RAMdisks). in the not too distant future, they'll > be persistent RAM devices that run at roughly the same speed as current > RAM. Linux Weekly News[3] has had several articles on linux support for > them over the last few years. ultimately, i expect even bulk storage > will be persistent RAM devices but initially it will be cheaper to have > persistent RAM caching in front of magnetic disks or SSDs. > > > [3] search for 'NVM' at https://lwn.net/Search/ > > craig >

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hostapd-compatible USB wifi adaptor?
by Craig Sanders 23 Apr '15

23 Apr '15

my wifi access point (an eeepc 701) has just died, so i'm left with no wifi for my phone + tablets. can anyone recommend a good wifi adaptor that is known to work with hostapd? USB preferred, so i don't have to power-down to install a card. craig PS: I have a Netcomm NP902n but i can't get this piece of shit to work. i remember trying to get it to work several years ago when i bought it and gave up then. i've wasted several hours on it again today and have decided to give up again and just buy a decent adaptor. -- craig sanders <cas(a)taz.net.au>

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Fwd: In-place online encryption
by Noah O'Donoghue 23 Apr '15

23 Apr '15

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Daniel Jitnah <djitnah(a)greenwareit.com.au> Date: 23 April 2015 at 11:56 Subject: Re: In-place online encryption To: Noah O'Donoghue <noah.odonoghue(a)gmail.com> Of course please CC.. I did not realise I only replied to you! Cheers Daniel On 23/04/15 11:45, Noah O'Donoghue wrote: > Well, the use case does vary between machines, > > One use-case agnostic reason is because if you don't encrypt your root, > someone can modify your binaries in ways you might not notice; > > For example, downgrade packages to a version that is vulnerable to an > exploit, add backdoors, add applications that can leak your key, etc, etc. > > Another reason is sometimes I chain my encryption, for example I'll have > a keyfile that is stored on my root partition unlock all the other > partitions, to save me from remembering a passphrase per drive, instead > I only need to remember one. > > But in general, It would be good to be able to live-encrypt my data > holding partitions too. If I want to encrypt my 8TB drive array for > example, I don't want it to be offline for 4-5 days in the process... > > Do you mind if I CC this to the list? > > On 23 April 2015 at 11:34, Daniel Jitnah <djitnah(a)greenwareit.com.au > <mailto:djitnah@greenwareit.com.au>> wrote: > > Hi Noah, > > I am just curious as to why you would want to encrypt the whole root > partition? Would you want to encrypt only home folder or other data > holding folder? > > Daniel. > > On 23/04/15 08:36, Noah O'Donoghue wrote: > > Hey all, > > > > I have a few cases where I'd like to encrypt without taking the system > > down for extended periods, ie, servers. > > > > In the windows/apple world truecrypt / bitlocker / filevault will all > > let you encrypt the root partition as a background process, > throttled to > > a low IO load. Usually this requires a reboot to get started, then > runs > > in the background. > > > > Does anyone know how to achieve this in the Linux world? (preferably > > with luks) > > > > -Noah > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > luv-main mailing list > > luv-main(a)luv.asn.au <mailto:luv-main@luv.asn.au> > > http://lists.luv.asn.au/listinfo/luv-main > > > >

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Proposal to drop .com from .au addresses
by Steve Roylance 21 Apr '15

21 Apr '15

hi this proposal is from auDA to drop .com from .au addresses http://www.auda.org.au/assets/pdf/2015npp-issues-paper.pdf

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Lightweight Linux laptops/tablets
by Brian May 20 Apr '15

20 Apr '15

Hello, Just wondering for ideas for something that meets my needs. Requirements: * Must be lightweight - e.g my existing tablet is only 540g + keyboard. * Must have 4G data support (I think this rules out ASUS tablets). * Must have (standard) keyboard (e.g. with escape and backspace keys in standard locations) that is usable on train without tables (I think this rules out most other tablets). * Don't particularly care about OS, although I note that applications I use (e.g. ssh clients) don't appear to be particularly great on Android. Willing to try ChromeOS. * If ChromeOS or Android based, should support installing 3rd party OS or at the minimum have regular updates (rules out Samsung Android). Optional extras: * Good battery life (possibly conflicts with being lightweight). So far, a Google search suggests that the HP Chromebook 11 ticks a lot of these boxes (e.g. according to one review is the lightest Chromebook available - not sure if this is still current information), although it is missing some desirable features for a Chromebook (e.g. no touch screen, no standard HDMI socket, and only 2GB ram) and is considered by at least one review to be "Frustratingly slow". Any other suggestions? Thanks

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Re: Lightweight Linux laptops/tablets
by Wayne Moulden 20 Apr '15

20 Apr '15

> The Android SSH client ConnectBot is quite good for what it does. >> > > ConnectBot, at least last version I looked at, intercepts a number of > keystrokes with no way of disabling - iirc alt+key are all intercepted. > Good for a limited soft keyboard, not so good if you have a hardware > keyboard and actually need to send those combinations through. > > I believe the VX ConnectBot version provides additional support for hardware keyboards, etc. I converted to this after I picked up a 'small' hardware keyboard and found certain keys not functioning correctly on my Nexus 7 2012. Might be worth a look to see if this version will suit your needs better. Never did get comfortable with the small keyboard but it gets me out of a jam on occasion. > JuiceSSH is much better at this, all key strokes get passed correctly to > the server, but its management of ssh-keys is poor. ssh-agent forwarding is > silently enabled with no way of disabling. If you click the checkbox to > save the ssh key password it permanently saves it with no option to delete > it. I don't think it is possible to change the password on an existing key. > > I also think the VX ConnectBot could be worth a look here, you seem to be able to toggle ssh-agent/X11 forwarding etc and you can remove keys. I haven't used the agent functionality to date. Wayne > _______________________________________________ > luv-main mailing list > luv-main(a)luv.asn.au > http://lists.luv.asn.au/listinfo/luv-main > >

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python-iview
by Russell Coker 19 Apr '15

19 Apr '15

https://github.com/vadmium/python-iview The python-iview code from the above repository gets a HTTP 404 error and aborts the download. About 4 days ago the older version of python-iview I had been using developed the same problem, so it seems that the ABC changed something which breaks it. Does anyone know of a good repository for python-iview that works today? -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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Re: Chromebooks as Linux laptops?
by Chris Samuel 19 Apr '15

19 Apr '15

On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 11:45:47 AM ed chan wrote: > Hi Chris, Hi Ed, > On Sat, Apr 18, 2015 at 11:12 AM, Chris Samuel <chris(a)csamuel.org> wrote: > > On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 11:06:39 AM ed chan wrote: > > [...] > > [Toshiba Chromebook] > > > boots in under 10 secs, has battery life of 8 hrs +, charges in less > > > than 2 hrs , weighs 3 lbs and only cost $349 ( at the time from JB > > > - Hi fi ). > > > > [...] > > > > Wow, thanks! :-) Would that be this? > > > > > > https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/chromebooks/toshiba/toshiba-cb3… > > Yes ( sort of ). The model @ JB is a later model ( Bay Trail vs Haswell > cpu). From what I read the Bay Trail models are a touch slower. Mine is > an Intel 2995U processor. > > Probably doesn't make too much difference for a $350 device. Thanks so much - given that they're on special at JB-Hifi now at just under $300 I decided I'd take the plunge and pick one up, I suspect you'll be right about the speed with Haswell Celeron vs the N2830 Silvermont but I won't know for sure until it's finished charging and I fire it up. That said it is just $300.. ;-) > > How much internal storage does it have? > > 16 Gb ; I have an external SD card 32 Gb. I reckon I can live with that, thanks! > > I reckon that information is really useful, would you like to send that to > > the mailing list as well? > > I will try. > > But I I fail you can re-post with my permission of course. Thanks - it looks like your post didn't make it through to the list so they should see this copy instead. > For those interested, you can run GNU root ( an enitre debian ( cmd line > )system rootfs ) on any Andriod 4.1+ device. That means you don't have to > worry about apps like Connectbot. You can run this on an un-rooted device ( > I have on Smartphones, tablets, TV sticks ), except server port have to be > on above 1024 ports. ( you are not root ). That may also be useful to Brian, thanks! All the best, Chris -- Chris Samuel : http://www.csamuel.org/ : Melbourne, VIC

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Debian 7.8 sand KDE4: Problem with konsole (and gnome-terminal)
by Peter Ross 16 Apr '15

16 Apr '15

Hi all, for the last few weeks I have problems with unresponsive konsoles (and gnome-terminals as well, I tried) under KDE with Debian 7.8. They seem to be extremely slow (I have to wait for 10 seconds after entering a simple command) and I believe it happens only when I am running commands with large output in other windows (e.g. a ssh session to a FreeBSD server and "make buildworld") I have not seen it before and it is quite annoying (my work desktop is a glorified terminal switch). I am back to xterms at the moment. As a side: I missed yesterday's talk about micro services but would like to watch it.. Will it be uploaded? Regards Peter

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