WHAT: NBLUG General Meeting
TOPIC: Basic Linux Security
WHERE: TBA
WHEN: October 9th, 2001 @ 7:30PM
----
---------------------------------------------------------
URGENT NOTE: This meeting >> IS NOT << at O'Reilly. Please read the
section below labeled "Location and Directions" for information on this
month's meeting location.
---------------------------------------------------------
Hello one and all! It's that time again. This month, we'll be talking
about basic Linux security. This talk is aimed at the new Linux user who
wants to get some background on things he or she can do to begin to make
their box more secure. Topics that will be covered include:
* Starting and stopping services
* The hazards of various services
* Using SSH, SCP and SFTP
* Logging (tcp, udp, icmp) and logcheck
The talk will be given by our own Frank Ball, who, as you may remember, gave
a great firewall talk several months ago. This should be a great talk for
those of you who are new to Linux or are maybe new to security practices and
things to watch out for in general. Of course, as usual, all are welcome.
Speaking of talks, we'd like to remind and encourage folks out there that we
are always looking for people to give presentations at NBLUG meetings.
Talks can be anything from as simple as "I found this cool doodad and would
like to share it with the group" to full-blown formal presentations that
would cover topics like Linux Kernel Internals. You don't have to know
everything about Linux to give a talk and you don't have to be the best
public speaker in the world. As I'm sure you all know, we're a very
informal group and, I hope, less intimidating than your average class
lecture environment. If you would like to give a presentation, please send
an email to speakers(a)nblug.org.
>> Location and Directions <<
Well, I bet you expected to find directions to the meeting and information
on where it was going to be, eh? Well, that's still not firm yet. I'm
waiting on confirmation back on a meeting room at SSU. I should have
confirmation tomorrow, but I don't want to say anymore than that right now
should that not happen (which is rather unlikely).
Well, until tomorrow, take care, everyone!
-Dustin
--
Founder & President
The North Bay Linux Users' Group
http://www.nblug.org/
dustin(a)nblug.org
Greetings everyone.
We have decided to call off tonight's meeting out of respect for those
effected by the horrible events that have taken place on the East Coast this
morning.
We hope that none of you are personally effected by this tragedy. Our
thoughts go out to the victims and their families and friends.
Please be sure to pass this on to anyone you may know who was planning on
going tonight who may not see this notice in time otherwise.
Thanks again and we'll see you in October.
-Dustin
--
Founder & President
The North Bay Linux Users' Group
http://www.nblug.org/
dustin(a)nblug.org
WHAT: NBLUG General Meeting
TOPIC: TBD (potentially Intro to Security on Linux)
WHERE: Agilent, Santa Rosa Campus
Zinfandel Room (See below for specifics)
WHEN: September 11th, 2001 @ 7:30PM
----
---------------------------------------------------------
URGENT NOTE: This meeting >> IS NOT << at O'Reilly. Please read the
section below labeled "Location and Directions" for information on this
month's meeting location.
---------------------------------------------------------
Hello all. Due to some scheduling problems on this end of things, the topic
for this month's meeting is still slightly up in the air. It most likely
will be a security talk by Frank Ball (although some of you may remember it
being Eric talking about TeX, that's since changed.) If it is Frank's talk,
it will be an Intro to Security on Linux discussion aimed at new Linux users
who are interested in how to begin securing their box.
Either way, we'll have some fun tomorrow night as always.
>> Location and Directions <<
You probably saw the item at the top of this email that this meeting is NOT
going to be at our normal meeting place. Here's the info on how to get to
the meeting location. These directions are from Frank. Frank has been the
one that's done the leg-work for us and gotten us the space at Agilent for
this month's meeting. If you see Frank, give him a thanks. If you have any
questions about the meeting location, please feel free to contact yours
truly at dustin(a)nblug.org and I'll do my best to get you info ASAP.
The meeting will be at the normal time of 7:30. We ask that you not show up
before 7:00PM.
Go up Fountain Grove Parkway, over the top of the hill, to the main
entrance halfway down the backside at the traffic light. The
entrance at the top of the hill will be closed, and don't come in
the back entrance either.
When you drive in the entrance ignore the abandoned guard gate. The
road turns to the right. Look for a parking spot. The visitors
entrance is on the left at the end of the first three rows of
parking, but the first and much of the second rows are reserved
parking. If you park further out (fourth drive or farther) there are
some stairs leading up to the main entrance - look for the painted
crosswalks. You don't have to walk out the the main driveway, but
you cannot get in the side door if you are not an employee, you have
to go to the main entrance.
Motorcycle parking is in the fourth drive right next to the
building.
Once inside you need to sign in at the security desk - Bill or I
will be there. The meeting room is the Zinfandel room, which is a
door on the right side of the lobby.
Well, that's about it. Like I said, please contact me ASAP if you have any
questions about the location. If you know folks who may not see this
announcement, forward it on to them, or let them know that we will not be at
O'Reilly.
We hope to see you all there!
-Dustin
--
Founder & President
The North Bay Linux Users' Group
http://www.nblug.org/
dustin(a)nblug.org
OK. I'm a dumbass. I meant to say that the meeting is TONIGHT (Tuesday,
the 14th)...however, we ARE meeting at a different location.
Gotta love four day weekends - they screw with your sense of time. But I
guess I should be happy - I have one less day to go until my next four day
weekend ;)
-Dustin
--
Founder & President
The North Bay Linux Users' Group
http://www.nblug.org/
dustin(a)nblug.org
Greetings all.
This is just a reminder that we are meeting at a different location tomorrow
evening. Full directions can be found in the announcement currently on the
homepage of the NBLUG web site (http://www.nblug.org/). If you know someone
who plans on attending this month, but may not be up on the location change,
please drop them a reminder and point them to the web site.
If you have any questions, please contact me, dustin(a)nblug.org. Thanks, and
we'll see you all tomorrow evening!
robots....linux....mmmmmmmm.....
-Dustin
--
Founder & President
The North Bay Linux Users' Group
http://www.nblug.org/
dustin(a)nblug.org
WHAT: NBLUG General Meeting
TOPIC: Sonoma State's ARS & Linux
WHERE: Sonoma State Campus, Schulz Info Center,
Room 1121 (See below for specifics)
WHEN: August 14th, 2001 @ 7:30PM
----
---------------------------------------------------------
URGENT NOTE: This meeting >> IS NOT << at O'Reilly. Please read the
section below labeled "Location and Directions" for information on this
month's meeting location.
---------------------------------------------------------
Greetings everyone! This month we thought we'd change it up and take the
group on a field trip for our meeting. We'll be meeting at Sonoma State
this month (more info about location and directions below). Mike (he
presented in July along with Andru about network booting and Linux) will be
talking about the Automated Retrieval System they have installed in the
library at SSU. This system consists of shelves and a Linux controlled
robot that retrieves books out of bins for people that request them. This
should be pretty cool to see up close and personal.
To get your geeks taste-buds watering a little bit, you can take a look at
Mike's site for some pictures and info:
http://mike.passwall.com/ars/
Here's a little more info I stole from an announcement Mike sent to the
discussion list a few months back (I hope you don't mind, Mike):
One word of warning: "NDA" ...
SSU and I are under NDA for the project. Though I have full source
code for the server side of things, I cannot comment on it, publish
it, or describe the internal workings of their software. I also
cannot go into much detail on the schematics of their robotic
systems, or answer detailed questions on just what they have in the
way of hardware. Last, I can't show you much in the way of memo's
between the builder of the system and the university, the ARS
manuals, or diagrams.
However, I can discuss the general nature of the system, how we
almost did not get this on Linux, but later came to be the first
AS/RS (ARS) in the world (AFAIK) to use Linux as the OS of choice to
control the system.
I can also bring a VHS tape of the system running, and my own
"personal" copy of their server software on my laptop in "demo mode"
to show you the User Interface and options that our employees have
for using the ARS. (I have permission from HK Systems to do this
part.)
What is the ARS?
The ARS is an Automated Retrieval System designed to hold
infrequently used or accessed books. 3 Large robotic cranes (1-3
tons each) tower three stories tall in a 3 story tall chamber with 3
aisles and 6 computer stations. Nearly 6,000 stainless steel bins
exist in a 3 story tall rack skeleton. The system currently has
about 250,000 items stored in it, and after compaction of items will
likely have about 40-50% capacity in use.
The cost of this system is about $2.2 Million, and is entirely
controlled from one of 2 redundant Linux (x86 Dell PowerEdge)
servers.
SSU is the 3rd library to go live with an ARS. The first library was
at CSUN, second at the University of E. Mich. Though UNLV started
their ARS 1 year before us, they did not finish until after us and
then start using it until about 5 months after we were open and in
service.
The presentation will likely mirror much of what I have placed
on-line, but if you have questions beyond what is on-line, bring
them to the presentation, or better yet, e-mail me so I may better
prepare an answer for you. I'll try to answer your question directly
in e-mail before the presentation and then put the Q and A up onto
the site.
Mike can be reached at dugan(a)passwall.com in case you'd like to pre-ask a
question of him for the meeting.
>> Location and Directions <<
You probably saw the item at the top of this email that this meeting is NOT
going to be at our normal meeting place. Here's the info on how to get to
the meeting location. This info is courtesy of Mike who has graciously
taken care of doing all the leg-work involved with making arrangements at
SSU. If you have any questions about the meeting location, please feel free
to contact yours truly at dustin(a)nblug.org and I'll do my best to get you
info ASAP.
The meeting will be at the normal time of 7:30. We ask that you not show up
before 7:00PM. The location will be room 1121 in the Schulz Library.
Here are some maps and directions that SSU makes available on their site:
http://www.sonoma.edu/university/maps.html
-- Master index of all interesting direction-related info.
http://www.sonoma.edu/university/maps/schulzinfoctr.html
-- Nice map of the campus with the library (Info Center) highlighted
Parking tips from Mike:
http://www.nblug.org/schulz-library.gif
-- Similar to the map above, but Mike has highlighted the parking
areas, and also drawn a path to get to the right part of the library
from Cotati Ave.
I think you can find free parking east of the main entrance (seen
in the middle-bottom the map of the campus as the southern tip of
the parallel vertical lines.) Free parking along East Cotati Ave.
(places where you do not find "No Parking" signs along the north
side of East Cotati Ave. are not too much farther than the "paid"
parking spots.
I do not suggest parking at the Taco Bell as they have been known to
tow people. They may not be so strict later in the evening, but
people should be warned of that as a risk.
If you buy a parking pass, then you are permitted to park in the
parking lots for "unreserved" members. Please to not park with a
parking pass: Visitor Parking, Reserved Parking, Zones denoted "no
parking", illegal parking spots.
Handicapped parking is available in the reserved lot areas, and on
the West side of the library near the library loading zone.
Handicapped parking is labeled. Handicapped spots within the
university also require parking stickers AFAIK.
Well, that's all I can think to put into this announcement. It's pretty
long as it is, so hopefully I've covered everything. Like I said, please
contact me ASAP if you have any questions about the location. If you know
folks who may not see this announcement, forward it on to them, or let them
know that we will not be at O'Reilly.
We hope to see you all there!
-Dustin
--
Founder & President
The North Bay Linux Users' Group
http://www.nblug.org/
dustin(a)nblug.org
WHAT: NBLUG General Meeting
TOPIC: Network Booting with Linux
WHERE: O'Reilly (see NBLUG website for specifics)
WHEN: July 10th, 2001 @ 7:30PM
----
---------------------------------------------------------
URGENT NOTE: Please keep an eye out for an announcement within the
next week about our August meeting location. It WILL NOT be at
O'Reilly as normal!!
---------------------------------------------------------
Greetings fellow Linux hackers and user! I hope your summer is going well
and that you're enjoying the great weather we've been having the past few
weeks.
Our July meeting just almost upon us. This month we've got a talk from our
long-time group members, Mike Egan and Andru Luvisi. They both work at
Sonoma State University where they've got numerous machines around the
campus booting either disklessly, or near-disklessly over the network. They
also have laptops booting over a WIRELESS network, which is pretty darned
cool, if you ask me.
Here's a little info from Mike about what they'll be talking about:
Older machines that can run Linux may act as diskless stations
throughout your house. No need for them to have a hard disk, and
they can actually run all of the applications from the server much
like a Citrix System works today.
Labs and public stations can be configured in large groups from the
server. Server mount is NFS, but only exported as read-only and
client machines have no "state" so pressing the reset button or
shutting them down without the normal shutdown is not a problem. Our
employment of diskless booting uses client side processing instead
of the Citrix-style server side processing.
Some things they'll try to cover (they've got a long list and time might end
up running short based on questions that come up along the way):
* Theory of netbooting
* Writing EEPROMS for certain ethernet cards
* Using floppies in place of burning PROMS
* Comparisons to Apple's netbooting system as well as Citrix
That should do it. We hope to see you all there!
-Dustin
--
Founder & President
The North Bay Linux Users' Group
http://www.nblug.org/
dustin(a)nblug.org
WHAT: NBLUG General Meeting
TOPIC: Linux Newbie Series: Compiling a Kernel
WHERE: O'Reilly (see NBLUG website for specifics)
WHEN: June 12th, 2001 @ 7:30PM
----
Hello all! Our June meeting is just around the corner (8 days to be
specific). For June we have a meeting for all the new Linux users out
there, and what we hope, will be the first of a series of talks targeted at
the user who is new to Linux and is interested in gaining some foundation
skills.
Our first talk in this series will be presented by yours truly and it will
be on how to compile a new kernel for your box. I'm not going to be going
into exactly which drivers you need for what, or what each item in the
kernel configuration does. This would be a long process and would end up
confusing most new users. Instead, I'm hopping to give you enough of a
basic understanding on the steps involved in compiling your own kernel that
you can sit down with a fresh kernel and get a basic kernel compiled and
then learn more on your own from there.
I'll be covering things like :
* Where do I get the kernel sources?
* Why would I want to compile XX as a module?
* What are the various 'make' commands to building a kernel?
* What do I do with my kernel once I've got it built?
It should be a pretty fun and light talk..aside from just being informative.
Just as a heads up, next month, we'll have Mike and Andrew from SSU talking
about booting a Linux box over the network. Stay tuned for further details
on that talk as July gets closer.
-Dustin
--
Founder & President
The North Bay Linux Users' Group
http://www.nblug.org/
dustin(a)nblug.org
Hey folks. It's me again..I just wanted to post an update to the original
announcement about our upcoming General Meeting with Agenda Computing.
I've learned a few more things since I first wrote this announcement. The
original review I posted was a rather negative one. I did something I
probably shouldn't have - I assumed that this guy knew what he was doing.
I've spoken with Devin and done a little more research and it seems not only
was he biased before he got the device in his hands, but the device has made
some significant changes between the pre-shipping unit he saw and the one
you'd actually receive if you ordered the device today.
Here's a much more balanced and more objective review done by ZDNet:
http://www.brighthand.com/html/otherpdas/agenda_page1.html
Here's a link to that original (BAD!) review:
http://www.brighthand.com/html/otherpdas/agenda_page1.html
I thought about not even sending along the link to the old review, but I
still think it's worth reading. The editor of the article has posted
several changes with updated info from Agenda, and it offers a lot more
screen shots and other little tech bits about the device that the ZD article
does not include. I would urge you, however, to take the BrightHand review
with a grain of salt until you actually see the device for yourself at the
meeting.
I've heard recently from my contact at Agenda that the person coming to
visit us is Brad LaRonde. Brad is the CEO and President of Agenda and is
also their technology head (aka he's a developer).
I apologize for my lack of research before posting the original
announcement. I hope this update offers you a more balanced look at the
device.
-Dustin
--
Founder & President
The North Bay Linux Users' Group
http://www.nblug.org/
dustin(a)nblug.org
