Google Chrome OS "beta" a fraud

Today I was nearly duped into installing a SUSE-based distribution claiming to be Google's Chrome OS. If you are sent a link that claims to be a beta download for Chrome OS, it's a fake, don't download it.

This is not the first time "SUSE Studio" was used to pass their fake "Chrome OS" off as the real deal. They cleverly write "Google Chrome OS" all over it, and display official Google chrome icons, etc, yet in tiny font at the bottom they disclaim it as having nothing to do with Google:

"Chrome OS is not related to Google. Service provided by SUSE Studio. See the license."

All the while they're announcing it as "Google Chrome OS beta" which is getting passed around on Twitter and various Linux blogs and news sites. They've even used Google's own Sites service to distribute this impostor for added fraudulence. This is a rather under-handed attempt at getting publicity (not to say it was unsuccessful) for their distribution. It's utterly reprehensible that these con artists are exploiting the popularity of Google to distribute their sub-par SUSE variant, and frankly it really puts me off of all versions of SUSE in general.

I ignored it when the knock-off OS first made it's rounds, but I'm really getting sick of it. Your distribution is NOT Chrome OS and never will be, so please stop trying to peddle your crap on my internets!

*Update* The fact that someone is using SUSE to distribute this is what puts me off of SUSE, not that I think SUSE is responsible, just wanted to clarify that point.

My position on Twitter

I use Twitter to keep in touch with friends as well as share news and blog posts I found interesting. I recommend you go through my "following" list and add most of these users I follow.

I don't follow-back bots or spammers, and in fact I don't follow back regular humans who aren't that interesting to me. It's not my way of being snobbish or elitist or anything like that, I just don't want my twitter feed cluttered with useless garbage, forcing me to wade through it to find the stuff I really want to read/know about. If I follow you, it's because I think you have something to say worth hearing and/or I like you on a personal level. I check every user that follows me to see if they are saying something interesting and do not hesitate to follow those who are. I don't think this policy is selfish or elitist, I think it's just good sense and I recommend everyone on Twitter adopt a similar policy.

When I am just browsing Twitter (i.e. users I don't already follow), what I do is search for a topic I like and then go to the profile of users I found that had an interesting tweet on the subject, then I start browsing who they follow. You can usually find some curious oddities and occasionally people worth following.

in reference to: ch3mical fusi0n (ch3mi0n) on Twitter (view on Google Sidewiki)

Boxee is teh pwn. (My new HTPC setup)

I just set up a new Home Theater PC this weekend. I was actually just going to use XBMC, which is what I would normally use for just such a task, but I saw the link to "Boxee" on the xbmc.org website and curiosity got the better of me. I'm really glad I decided to check it out.

Let me back up a little bit, though. For the HTPC, I dusted off my old AMD machine (I believe it's an Athlon XP 1500+ 1333MHz), which has an old ATI All-in-Wonder 9600 Pro video card. It has, between its two internal HDDs, approximately 370GB of storage, which will mostly go unused since all of the data is stored on our file server or streamed from the internet. Since the ATI card doesn't support any HD outputs, I only have standard definition going for now. I guess that will be something for when I upgrade the HTPC, but for now it's fine as it is.

So I went with OpenGEU (Linux) for the base operating system, for no reason in particular, just on a whim. I figured on the rare occasion that I do switch out of the Boxee interface to use the standard GUI, it's a nice one to show off on my TV (OpenGEU uses Enlightenment DR17). Well I installed Boxee and had to play around with Xorg's display (resolution) settings and Boxee's own resolution settings for a while before I could get it displaying correctly on my TV. Apparently, and I think this may have something to do with the TV, I had to independently set the Xorg and Boxee resolutions in order for the display to fit the actual size of the TV's screen. Xorg is set to 800x600, while the Boxee settings are 640x480, yet the TV is displaying in 480i 16:9.

Moving on now to Boxee itself, as I said I have never used it for HTPC setups before. Normally, XBMC is my primary choice. Now, before you say it, Boxee is based on XBMC, but adds a whole lot of new functionality to it in the form of pluggable "applications", which are basically channels you can add or remove according to your tastes, thereby customizing your content completely (in addition to your personal collection of media files). These applications are essentially just RSS feeds that point Boxee to online content. These will serve up media content, not a typical text feed, such as videos, music, pictures. There is also support for services such as Last.fm and Pandora, as well as your Netflix and even podcasts. Boxee even connects you with your peeps via popular social networks like Twitter, FriendFeed, etc. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, there is an app available for for iPhone/iPod Touch to allow you to remotely control your Boxee, no server-side setup required and the app also automatically finds your Boxee server. I just so happen to have an iPod Touch, so it now serves the purpose of being my Boxee remote. Awesome.

I'll stop rambling on now, but just keep this in mind: if you ever decide you want to set up a media server/home theater PC, check out Boxee (www.boxee.tv). It's available for other operating systems, though I haven't tested it on any other system, and honestly I don't know why you would want to run anything other than Linux for a server anyway.

Windows 7 Sins

The Free Software Foundation launched its new anti-windows website and compaign entitled "Windows 7 Sins" (windows7sins.org) saying in their newsletter:

The campaign outlines seven major areas where proprietary software in general and Microsoft Windows in particular hurt all computer users: invading privacy, poisoning education, locking users in, abusing standards, leveraging monopolistic behavior, enforcing Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), and threatening user security.

These points are outlined in the text of a letter the campaign mailed to the leaders of the Fortune 500 companies, now published on its Web site. The letter warns "Windows 7 decision makers" about the "lack of privacy, freedom, and security" they will suffer should they adopt Windows 7, and makes the case that they should instead adopt free software such as the GNU/Linux operating system and the office productivity suite OpenOffice.org.

FSF executive director Peter Brown said, "Free software is about freedom, not price. Our growing dependence on computers and software requires our society to reevaluate its obsession with proprietary software that spies on citizens' activities and limits their freedom to be in control of their computing. There is free software available right now for any activity you or your business needs, and it is better in the most important aspect -- it respects your freedom."

The FSF is asking concerned citizens to help get this message out by nominating other organizational leaders who are also "Windows 7 decision makers" to receive a version of the letter. Brown continued, "Many people are frustrated by the organizations they interact with and their support for a software industry that works against the freedom of citizens. Our national and local governments, NGOs, and our universities and schools that use proprietary software are undertaking bad public policy, often through ignorance or misplaced values. We hope to alert these decision makers to the positive contribution they can make to society by switching their organizations to free software."

FSF campaigns manager Matt Lee added, "With |windows7sins.org|, we hope to make businesses and computer users aware of the growing dangers of proprietary software from both Microsoft and other companies such as Apple and Adobe. With the release of Microsoft's updated operating system, business leaders have the opportunity to escape to freedom and join a growing list of leaders who understand that sinking money and time into proprietary software is a dead-end inconsistent with their best interests."

I've always been a big supporter of Open Source/FOSS and Anti-DRM campaigns and such, so I'm happy to pass this great news on. Please join the FSF and the Windows 7 Sins campaign in any way you can, even if the most you can do is spread the word, you'll be doing a lot. There's a mailing list you can subscribe to to get updates about the campaign and an interesting history of the campaign included on the website. Show your support at windows7sins.org.

How to enable digest authentication (Apache2)

Want to secure your Apache web server? Digest authentication (mod_auth_digest) is a much more secure way to authenticate HTTP (versus basic authentication, which sends the authentication information plaintext to the client-- not secure at all, really). To start with, you need to create a password file. First figure out where you want this file stored. Probably it would be best not to store it anywhere in the wwwroot path. Create the password file with the following command (repeat as necessary to add additional users, but leave off the -c argument):

sudo htdigest -c filename realm username

Above, the "realm" argument needs to match AuthName in sites-available/default (add -ssl if you use SSL). You will be prompted to input and verify the password for the user you created.

Next, create the rules in your Apache config. On more modern distributions, you will usually find your site's config in /etc/apache2/sites-available/. If you have only one site and no virtualhosts, you're probably just running off the "default" in the above-mentioned directory, so do:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/default

or, if your site is SSL-secured:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl

and enter the following lines in the config (I placed mine below the <Directory /var/www/>... section):

<Directory /wwwpath>
       AuthType        Digest
       AuthName        "REALM"
       AuthUserFile    passwordfile
       Require valid-user
</Directory>

It is important to note that Apache's own docs say to use AuthDigestFile to point to where your password file is located, but this produces an error when trying to reload/restart apache2 which results in a failure to load. Using AuthUserFile instead fixes this.

The world REALM in quotes for AuthName can be anything but MUST MATCH the "realm" argument in the htdigest command when adding a user to the password file. If anyone finds out otherwise, please let me know (give me as much details as you can), though for me it wouldn't request authentication at all if they didn't match.

The example in Apache2 docs also shows the use of AuthDigestDomain which is actually not required (use it if you actually need it, otherwise leave it out). Leaving it out will force authentication for the entire web server. If this is not desired, use AuthDigestDomain. Ex:

<Directory wwwpath>
       AuthType        Digest
       AuthName        "REALM"
       AuthDigestDomain /private-area/
       AuthUserFile    passwordfile
       Require valid-user
</Directory>

Where "/private-area/" = /var/www/private-area/ directory on your web server.

Once you have the Directory section saved in your config, do:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

You should see:



If all went as expected, you should now get a login prompt when accessing your web server, according to how you configured it.

You can also do more advanced things with digest auth, which I won't be covering in this post. For more information on digest auth, please refer to Apache docs: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_auth_digest.html.

10 Linux distributions you may not have heard of

I wanted to do a segment about some of the lesser-known (and arguably more interesting) Linux distros out there, for those of you who may be newer to Linux or maybe just aren't aware of just how many options you have with Linux distros. These are all, in my humble opinion, very nice distributions and have unique qualities that suit different people in different ways. Most of the distros you read about in this post will not be appropriate for you, but that's sort of the point: there's a Linux distro out there for everyone, even if that means "plain vanilla Ubuntu" to you. So without further adieu, here are 10 of the most interesting/unique ones I know of (in no particular order), starting off with...

1. CAINE (also known as C.A.IN.E.)

This is a very unique distribution, given that it is designed solely for the purpose of digital forensics, which is as far as I know a one-of-a-kind distribution. Hence the name "Computer Aided INvestigative Environment" or "CAINE". Its intended use is to be booted from USB (or optionally CD) and run completely from memory, "live" style. This way it can be booted on any PC, workstation, server, etc in order to perform investigative tasks, without "distrupting the crime scene" as the saying goes. 

Learn more, or download this distribution free at http://www.caine-live.net/

2. Lin-X

Lin-X is a distribution with one simple goal in mind. You guessed it: complete Mac OS X emulation. Emulation in the sense of its appearance, not so much in being able to run Mac OS X software. If you love the look and feel of Mac OS X's Aqua style, but don't want the hardware or maybe you can't afford it-- or whatever your reason may be-- then Lin-X may be the distribution for you. It's very nicely arranged to accommodate your Aqua-fanboyism with that Aqua feel, down to nearly every detail.
Learn more, or download this distribution free at http://lin-x.info

3. Qimo for Kids

Qimo is unique in its own way because it is tailored for children. What makes it different about other "edu" distributions is that its focus is on teaching kids, not just general educational use. It is designed to make computing as easy as possible for young children, with its larger icons and intuitive interface. If you have youngsters in the house, put that old Pentium III sitting in your closet to good use with Qimo!
Learn more, or download this distribution free at http://www.qimo4kids.com

4. Linux Mint

Probably one of the better-known of the lesser-known distributions (heh), Linux Mint is not too far removed from its Uncle Ubuntu, yet boasts its own line of system utilities to make Linux a bit easier to use and understand, and maybe even a little more consistent, such as mintBackup, mintDesktop and mintUpdate, etc. It has a very aesthetically pleasing, clean and user-friendly interface that is perfect for newcomers or those who just want a Linux distribution that does that little extra to make your life easier.
Learn more, or download this distribution free at http://www.linuxmint.com

5. Scientific Linux

Scientific Linux is, to quote their front page, "put together by Fermilab, CERN, and various other labs and universities around the world. Its primary purpose is to reduce duplicated effort of the labs, and to have a common install base for the various experimenters." That's right, no frills here, just pure scientific research. Boring right? I'm sure most people will think so, and this distribution probably would not suit most people reading this, but that's not the point here. This distribution is being used by top scientists around the world for work on very important scientific research. Ever hear of the Large Hadron Collider? While I doubt the LHC itself uses Scientific Linux, many of the researchers involved do.
Learn more, or download this distribution free at https://www.scientificlinux.org

6. GoboLinux

GoboLinux is a horse of a different color. It's not based on any other distribution, and it completely redefines the underlying file structure of the Linux operating system, what they call a "modular distribution". Everything in the filesystem is organized in a logical hierarchy rather than Linux's usual method of taking a program's files and arranging them in the filesystem according to each piece's function. GoboLinux does this while proudly proclaiming, "we transparently retain compatibility with the Unix legacy."
Learn more, or download this distribution free at http://www.gobolinux.org

7. Puppy Linux

The thing that makes Puppy Linux unique is that it is ultra-small and designed to use the minimum of resources allowing it to run incredibly fast. Small enough to fit and run live from a USB drive. The installation CD only takes up about 85MB of space on the disc. If I'm not mistaken, that's small enough to fit on a business-card CD or a mini-disc. Puppy Linux also runs completely from RAM, no hard disk necessary. You can even easily customize which applications to include in the live CD before you burn it. Puppy Linux follows you everywhere!
Learn more, or download this distribution free at http://www.puppylinux.com

8. 64 Studio

Another specialized distribution, 64 Studio is geared toward the multimedia geeks of the world. There something for the creative side in all of us in here, whether you're into graphic design or you're an audiophile/videophile, or whatever the case may be. Admittedly, there are other distributions that cater to multimedia production, but as far as I know 64 studio is the only one used in professional production studios. Of course you can get the included software in any distribution, but it's always nice to see a group dedicate their time and effort to make it all come together so you can concentrate on the important stuff.
Learn more, or download this distribution free at http://www.64studio.com

9. Easy Peasy

By now nearly everyone has seen this netbook-launcher program (left) in some form or another. I won't deny that a lot of "netbook" version of popular distros have been coming out of the woodwork lately, but mostly as an afterthought to their main release. However, there are few that are dedicated to concentrating solely on the netbook platform. Easy Peasy's maintainers and community do just that, and have done it rather well compared to a good majority of netbook releases. They strive to support all netbook hardware across the board and provide a lightweight and easy to use interface. If you own a netbook, you owe it to yourself to check out this distribution.
Learn more, or download this distribution free at http://geteasypeasy.com

10. Omnia

Last, but not least, Omnia (Sometimes referred to as Omnia XP and Omnia Linux). Look familiar? Good! They must be doing something right then. Omnia's primary goal is to provide a familiar look and feel to "[facilitate] the migration to the Linux world," as their website states. What a fantastic way to say "we made it look like Windows XP so you won't be scared of it." Seriously though, as much as I hesitate to admit it, there are still far too many people in the world who are afraid of unfamiliar territory and would never try something new if it weren't for cross-over projects like this. If it helps get more people to understand and appreciate Linux, I'm all for it. If you happen to be one of those people that is a little afraid to test the waters, you might consider starting here.
Learn more, or download this distribution free at http://omnialinux.com

And there you have it!

Please remember that these are all free software distributions, but they need the support of you and the community. If you like one or all of these projects please consider contributing in whatever way you can. Most of these projects accept knowledge and skill as well as even the smallest donations to help keep them going, so if you can help in any way, it's always appreciated (refer to the website of each individual project for the details on how to contribute).

That's all I have for you for now, thank you for taking the time to read this article, and hopefully I have opened at least a few eyes to something new and exciting.

E16 window manager

I've been revisiting Enlightenment (E16) window manager recently. I haven't played around with E or WindowMaker or really anything but Gnome, KDE, and occasionally Xfce since 1998. Wow... Long time ago. I guess I just got comfortable with Gnome (mostly) since I first checked it out way back when, and it is a solid window manager, but I need to remind myself from time to time that there are other, potentially better window managers out there. Prior to Gnome, WindowMaker was my favorite, though admittedly I didn't spend a whole lot of time working in a GUI at all, then. Most of the time I lived purely in the terminals, but when I did need something graphical it was usually WindowMaker or Enlightenment before I started playing around in Gnome.

So I played around a bit with different combinations-- E16+Gnome, E16+KDE, E16 by itself-- and I have to say I'm not impressed with how well it meshes with Gnome or KDE, but that seems to be because they seem to want too much control by default. I would probably have to put in a lot of work to get them looking nice and playing nice together. The thing I notice the most, though, is how much faster E16 is by itself than when combined with Gnome or KDE (KDE especially). This could also be due to being run in conjunction with Gnome/KDE, but E16 definitely seems to run programs faster by itself than they do by themselves. Which is good, since that's one of the things the developers strive for-- a faster, less resource-heavy window manager-- so they must be doing something right.

I would be really interested to see if it's possible to get compiz-fusion running in conjunction with E16 to take advantage of the nice compositing effects of compiz. I don't see why I wouldn't be able to, but I haven't gotten around to trying yet. I will probably post again with how that turns out.