CONTENTS
Introduction
Eighth Layer News
Not in The Fine(?) Manual
C:\con\con
WinModems and Linux
Linux Desktop Anyone?
IT Business in the South West
Yes we have no Bananas
Industry News & Comment
Firewalls, password and Encryption
Recommended Web Sites
Easter Eggs
Oracle database Block Sizes
Humour
Gay Whales and Santa
Subscription Details
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Introduction
Having said spring is in the air - the UK has had a fierce cold snap. You can see why I left the Meteorological Office.
A new humour section has been added near the end - whether this becomes a regular feature will depend on what catches my eye.
Enjoy this issue.
Simon
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Eighth Layer News
I seem to have been fighting serial communications all month.
The first real financial quarter came to an end - it is all with the accountant now.
Lots of projects are being discussed, however everyone seems to want me to return to programming. Despite my conviction that the world probably has too much software. If people still want to pay to have more, I'm not arguing.
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Linux Desktop Anyone?
Linux has established itself in the corporate server market very well. Indeed for many IT staff it is preferable as a file server for Windows client machines because it offers better stability, reliability, and software mix than offerings from Microsoft. Similarly as a web server, Linux with Apache offers a well-trodden path.
I think some of the new features of Windows 2000 will help Microsoft gain some more of this market, but some of the new features of recent Linux releases make it an ever more attractive alternative as a desktop operating system.
The KDE Linux project brings to Linux a desktop with the same look and feel as the CDE desktop, available on more traditional Unix workstations from SUN, HP and others.
The improved installation procedures meant that this week, I got a call from a friend who had installed Mandrake Linux, without even knowing such basics as that Unix is case-sensitive with regard to filenames (This had stopped him installing Word Perfect however).
I thought the corporate desktop battle was long lost to the Microsoft corporate machine - but I'm beginning to think perhaps I judged Linux prematurely. Besides would you buy your corporate IT vision from a company with such an uncertain future as Microsoft 8-)
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Not in the Fine(?) Manual
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C:\con\con
Mentioned last month as a quick and dirty way to crash Windows 95/98. Microsoft have released a security patch to fix it - so patch patch patch! I suspect this is due to the publicity in BUGTraq rather than Eighth Layer's newsletter, but I'm willing to be convinced.
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WinModems and LINUX
A WinModem is a way of utilising the CPU in your computer to reduce the hardware required and hence, the cost of having a modem in your PC.
All the copies of the Linux MODEM.HOWTO file I have state they don't work with Linux (I haven't checked the latest copy), and so the Linux crowd avoid them (Well the people who read the HOWTO before buying their PC avoid them!).
However, having bought a Windows 2000 test machine, and stuck Linux on it, I'd heard rumours.
The rumours proved true, William Hsu of PCTel has indeed written a driver for HSP56 modem. The documentation is careful to state that it was written for a particular motherboard, chipset, and modem, but I thought I'd give it a try on my hardware.
PCTel are the manufacturer of HSP56 modems, they supply the motherboard manufacturers like PC Chips (Who make motherboards for many of the unbranded PC's). They also supply drivers to these manufacturers, who mostly ship them on with little, if any, modification.
Anyway - after a small download, and about 5 minutes of normal Linux fiddling my HSP56 Micromodem (PCI card on a PC Chips MLR571 motherboard) is happily dialling up Demon internet, as well as calling other Unix systems.
Not a configuration for the inexperienced Linux administrator, but for those wanting to utilise their HSP56 modem, worth a try.
Oh - and unlike Windows 2000 - no reboots on installing the driver as it is a dynamically loaded kernel module.
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IT Business in the South West of England
http://www.devon-cc.gov.uk/lifeindevon/launch2.html
A quiet month in someways - so visit the Life in Devon web site instead.
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Industry News
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Firewalls, passwords and encryption
We have had an interesting period in the firewall security market, with a number of vendors having problems with their FTP proxy software exposed. Fixes for Cisco and Firewall-1 firewalls have been released. Firewalls aren't perfect, so ensure you practise sensible IT security behind as well as in front of your firewalls. Besides, the bigger risk may be from the inside.
A number of commercial products have been shown to have weaknesses in their password handling recently.
PC Anywhere version 9 uses a trivial algorithm by default. Tt needs configuring to use a better solution. Similar weaknesses afflict Citrix Winframe.
Since many systems still send passwords in plain text, you might think this isn't such a sin. The lesson, of course, is to treat passwords as if they are sent in plain text until you know they are using an appropriately reviewed security system for authentication. Trivial encryption algorithms give a false sense of confidence.
Taking the password, reversing it, and shifting it one character round the alphabet may be easy to program, but it isn't really any better than sending plain text.
Oh and for completeness - Microsoft lost a(nother) court case.
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Recommended Web Sites
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http://www.eeggs.com
It is the season for visiting the Easter Egg archive. For those who haven't been introduced to this particulal piece of IT jargon, an Easter Egg is a rogue bit of programming that includes a game or credits in some software, usually hidden by some obscure sequence of key presses or actions to prevent the software test team actually discovering the Easter Egg.
Generally Easter Eggs can be regarded as a sign of poor software practice, as it indicates inadequate code review. However they did achieve a certain popularity a few years ago, and some companies started placing them deliberately.
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http://www.quest.com/newsletter/v2i5/index.asp?body=block.html
For Oracle DBAs, a short paper on the question of Oracle block sizes from Quest.
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Humour
The Internet is a wonderful medium for humour - intentional and otherwise.
One of the first times I used the Internet I found out about a bumper sticker in California saying: 'Nuke the gay commie whales for Christ'. Any readers left?
Still as it is Easter I could not help quoting (without permission, but hey I'm saving you going to www.deja.com) Paul Adare's Usenet signature....
As a little boy climbed onto Santa's lap, Santa asked the usual,
"And what would you like for Christmas?" The child stared at him
open mouthed and horrified for a minute, then gasped, "Didn't you
get my E-mail?"
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Subscription Details
Eighth Layer News subscription is still done the old fashion way by hand.
The newsletter is free, and you are welcome to pass it on to colleagues, but please do encourage them to subscribe, so I know who I'm writing for.
To subscribe or unsubscribe e-mail Simon@wretched.demon.co.uk
Copyright Eighth Layer Limited 2000. Remember copyright allows exclusions for study, and personal use, I'll ony get upset if you make more money out of my ramblings than I do. Archive copies are kept on the website http://www.eighth-layer.com/