Is it wrong to want to expand your horizons on the Internet? When a new site comes out and somebody says hey take a look at this, this is really cool. Perhaps you check out the site sign up for an account and use it for a while and then decide its not for you, but the thing is at least you tried it. My question is why not try something, maybe it will put your name out there, not for fame, not for ambition just to put yourself out there to see what happens or to try something new.

My friend wrote a post on his blog called Look at Me! Look at Me!, he has been on the Internet scene for a long while, at least in comparison to myself. As a newbie to the Internet and to the Look at Me! conundrum, maybe I have to embrace it try things out, after a few months move on to the next thing. For instance, I am a shy person until someone gets to know me, so the Internet is where I let it out at least on my blog. I am scared of criticism, and do not want to get flamed on any site, that is why I seldom post. One day, last week I decided to throw caution to the wind and post up a comment on digg.com about one of my favorite subjects Linux. To my surprise I did not get flamed (that I know of) and no one came out and took a shot at me. I then began to post elsewhere in Google Groups trying to help people with questions on Linux or if I had an opinion, posting it up. Am I doing the Look at Me! by posting my opinion on the Internet by having a facebook, myspace, twitter, google groups, digg, and this blog?

I didn't even know that Look at Me! even existed until my friend posted it, isn't that the beauty of the Internet, everyone connected and sharing ideas and discussion, even if it screams Look at Me!.

As of this week my school year is beginning to get a little more hectic with papers being do and other projects starting to come up. The tension is mounting but with very little hours this semester I didn't have to much of a problem getting things done. I am slightly off my workout schedule, for about the last 2 weeks because of being so busy. I think the upcoming last few closing weeks I will be able to get back on the horse and at least start up again at working out. Hopefully, this will get it back on track. In other news, my apartment is waiting down in Nashville and its edging closer everyday. The worst part is rent will be due soon.

Anyway it feels like if stuff doesn't slow down I am going to explode.

Update of First Impressions of Virtual PC 2007

Ok I can eat my my words Microsoft Virutal PC 2007 does support iso images, however, this option is available once you are inside the machine not in Settings... when setting up the beginning of the machine. RTFM to myself for not looking into it a little bit more.

>My first impression of Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, what the hell!? Seriously if you are into virtualization stick to VMware for the love of pete Microsoft can not make a product that does >virtualization as good or with the features that VMware has. I downloaded, installed it and was going to load DSL from iso, but wait Virtual PC won't load directly from iso you have to >manually virtually mount it. VMware mounts isos for you to install an OS faster and without doing any special work. This is only my first initial look at it, because today I actually loaded >Vista on my work machine so that I could support the damn thing for students who bought new computers with Vista installed. We get all kinds of questions all the time about Vista and >the only way to truly support an OS is to use it. I will be loading back my Ubuntu 7.04 for work in dual boot because if I don't I will go crazy.

>Anyway Microsoft virtual PC 2007, is not very good or my first impressions are quite low and hopefully as I experiment again with Windows software it will get better.

First Impressions of Virtual PC 2007

My first impression of Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, what the hell!? Seriously if you are into virtualization stick to VMware for the love of pete Microsoft can not make a product that does virtualization as good or with the features that VMware has. I downloaded, installed it and was going to load DSL from iso, but wait Virtual PC won't load directly from iso you have to manually virtually mount it. VMware mounts isos for you to install an OS faster and without doing any special work. This is only my first initial look at it, because today I actually loaded Vista on my work machine so that I could support the damn thing for students who bought new computers with Vista installed. We get all kinds of questions all the time about Vista and the only way to truly support an OS is to use it. I will be loading back my Ubuntu 7.04 for work in dual boot because if I don't I will go crazy.

Anyway Microsoft virtual PC 2007, is not very good or my first impressions are quite low and hopefully as I experiment again with Windows software it will get better.

Dell Optiplex nseries...Your Thoughts

As I was reading in my Linux Group I came across a couple articles about Linux and Dell and an open source desktop. I checked it out and here is the configuration I came up with tell me what you think.

PROCESSOR	AMD ATHLON™ 64 X2 3800+ (2.00GHz, 512KBx2)
OPERATING SYSTEM	FreeDOS Operating System Kit, n-Series, English
MEMORY	1GB DDR2 Non-ECC SDRAM,667MHz, (2 DIMM)
HARD DRIVE	250GB SATA, 7200 RPM Hard Drive with Data Burst Cache™
OPTICAL DRIVE	16X DVD+/-RW SATA, Roxio Creator Dell Edition, Data Only
VIDEO CARD	Integrated NIVIDA Quadro NVS 210S Graphics
MONITOR	Dell 17 inch E177FP Flat Panel, Analog

Total Price: $954

The Operating System being FreeDOS Basically means none pre-installed I would install some sort of Linux on it. The reason that I was looking was that sometimes you need a good desktop and this one would definitely be that and if I wanted to I have control on it.

I wanted a comparison of a regulater Optiplex so here it goes:

PROCESSOR	AMD ATHLON™ 64 X2 3800+ (2.00GHz, 512KBx2)	edit
OPERATING SYSTEM	Windows Vista™ Business, with media, 32 Edition, English	edit
MEMORY	1GB DDR2 Non-ECC SDRAM,667MHz, (2 DIMM)	edit
HARD DRIVE	250GB SATA, 7200 RPM Hard Drive with Data Burst Cache™	edit
OPTICAL DRIVE	16X DVD+/-RW SATA, Roxio Creator Dell Edition for Vista Home Basic and Busi	edit
VIDEO CARD	Integrated NIVIDA Quadro NVS 210S Graphics	edit
MONITOR	Dell 17 inch E177FP Flat Panel, Analog	edit
ENERGY SMART	Dell Energy Smart Enable

Total Price: $1,059

Ok for $100 more I can get Windows Vista,
not a huge savings with the nseries. Why does this amaze me so?? Although is this is pretty cool for no OS why can't the price be cheaper?? Ah I can't complain its still pretty cool that they offer a system with no OS or at least an Open source version.

If anyone reads this what are your thoughts would you go with no OS or just go with the Vista and possibly do a dual boot???? (considering you wanted to use Linux or have a Windows License already)

Ubuntu 6.10 User Again

My Linux history is one that started back in 2003, when I came to college and took my first computer class. I was introduced to Red Hat Linux 8.0, the gnome desktop, and the wondrous world of RPMs. After Red Hat is was a slow creep towards Linux. I stayed with the Red Hat until it went enterprise, then switched to Fedora Core 2, 4. I begin to test various other types of Linux as well like Knoppix, DSL (Damn Small Linux), openSuSE 9.2, College Linux, Debian, and one called Ubuntu 4.10 the Warty Warthog.

Ubuntu then was a little rougher on the edges but I waited for Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy Badger before I implemented the test to see if I could use Linux as a student in college in a TSM major. Many of my classes required Windows software to used like Microsoft Project Professional, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Access. I could not at the time completely convert. I worked with an old laptop that was hanging around work and used it in class to take notes on I wish Docs and Spreadsheets had been out back then. I survived about 3 months on taking notes like this and transferring files from my Thumb Drive to my Windows XP laptop. After I gotten through those classes I began to discover virtualization which was my semi answer to converting all the way to Linux. Qemu was my first choice to try Windows on Linux Ubuntu did handle Qemu but the problem was speed and Windows XP didn't handle very well. I then tried out VMware Server (free version) this worked rather well.

I got into another class that was using Fedora Core 5, I decided to switch my distro once again to Fedora Core. Instantly I missed the sweet speed of apt, the ease of synaptic, and just the overall feel of Ubuntu. I quickly switched to Ubuntu 6.06 later on. I found myself wanting to use wireless more and more and Ubuntu 6.06 did the job for a while but with some of the problems I faced I found myself switching from Fedoara Core 6, OpenSuse 10.2 (excellent), Mepis, PCLinuxOS, LinuxMint 2.1 (very good play off of Ubuntu), and then I found myself back at Ubuntu 6.10.

I will admit I have gotten frustrated at times with Linux especially Ubuntu with some driver issues on my wireless card, compiling errors, or just wishing I had the multimedia working with all formats like Linux Mint. I slowly but surely learned the ropes of adding the Third Party repos, and really truly being a Linux user. I am glad to be back with Ubuntu 6.10 and I can't wait for Ubuntu 7.04 it looks very promising.

I still dual boot Windows XP and Ubuntu 6.10 but I long for the day when the VMware Workstation gets so fast I will not have to.

Rootkits...The Hardest thing Ever

Ok I am in a class called 'CSC595 Special Problems' which is a really awesome class because it is a directed study. My particular subject for the directed study is Root kits or r00tkits. I am suppose to find and install root kits for Linux and Windows install them and then use the tools that my professor purchased with grant money to see if I can get the root kit off the system or detect the system. AT the end of the directed study I am suppose to write a paper in which I detail my work over the course of picking and then installing the root kits.

It sounds easy, "infect your computer"....Problem is this is actually a lot harder than you think. To start with, one of the main problems, I keep running into is once I select a r00tkit is it will not compile or install. To boot, there is not a whole lot of working documentation on root kits out there in the world to assist in compiling or installing. I have an accomplice and he and I have to group our minds together in order to accomplish a goal of reverse engineering the root kit to determine what it does and how it will affect the system.

We have tried currently two, Override, a Linux 2.6 kernel mode root kit and FLEA the universal Linux user mode root kit. We struck out with Override but surprisingly today we have made some breakthroughs with FLEA. We came up with what it does, how it works, what files it manuipulates, and are now working on a clean image to install on because we screwed up two disks with FC5. We have now decided to go to Virtual Machines for the ease of use and the ability to use snapshots to step back in time to a working order before we screwed up with the root kit.

I am writing this in docs and spreadsheets and am adding little by little....

openSuSe 10.2 VMware workstation running Windows Partition

I finally did it. After reading a fascinating article on Digg.com about running your physical Windows Partition through Linux via VMware I decided I had to give it a try. The article http://rougebob.com/Running-a-Windows-Partition-in-VMware.htm this tutorial lead me down the path of enlightenment as far as running VMware. I followed the tutorial to the T made sure I dotted my eyes, however, there was on problem everytime I went to boot from the Windows partition I would get a BSOD. I made sure that I had created seperate hardware profiles but it still happened. I found another tutorial on line and it was again very excellent and it even helped me remove grub from the MBR that I had copied off with dd from the previous tutorial. Alas, when I went to boot I got the BSOD. I finally got smart though and just reinstalled Win XP through VMware by booting to install disk and then installing on to the previous Windows partition. Because of the fact that I had installed Windows this time it detected all hardware and booted perfectly. It was amazing to be on the same harddrive and not have to reboot but know that I can reboot if need be into Windows.

2007 - Switching it up

2007 is all about the changes.  I will be going through many personal changes pretty soon ( read the personal blog) but in my techie life not so much.  The most recent change is Linux Mint, I know what you are saying wtf mate last time I was on here I was on Fedora Core 6 and before that Ubuntu.  Ubuntu is my first love however, because of kernel restraints I needed bleeding edge, FC6 came in.  Now I want Ubuntu but I want a little extra without all the work of automatix and stuff.  So I just moved to a Ubuntu variant called Linux Mint hmm Minty.  Its Ubuntu but they don't care about the legal issues so I get all the good codecs and video codecs installed already.  I have had problems however, with the wifi card not work in Linux Mint, in regular Ubuntu no problem.  It took a little bit but I found the documentation and got it to work.  Another change for me is working with Gentoo linux, I am trying to install this in a VM right now but have good things about it as far as stability and good portage being a good updater.  I might be switching over to gentoo as a server plaform.  I am also trying PCBSD in a VM.

I will be continuing on with trying new OS s that is still the same but what isn't is having a Windows Partition no more dual boot.

Forensics Please...

Alright, I am not an expert at Computer Forensics I don't claim to be nor do I the expertise in the field, however, over the last semester and more importantly the last four days I have proven that I have learned the basics.

This past semester I have been studying the techniques to access data from corrupted disks, analyze records, and look for suspicious or malicious code. Over the last four days I got to put this to these techniques to the test.

Here is the back story as far as I can give you:

My boss comes in one day and says, "I need to come here for a second", now every time he does this I freak out, but I went into his office and talked to him about "the problem". He explained to me the current situation, how his boss had been subpoenaed for a court case and we needed to get some data off a disk in order for her to have it in case she got called in she would have it. This "data" would set up a time frame for a case. Alright, not a problem I have been getting data off disks all semester using tools like Access Data's FTK, Sleuth Kit, Autopsy, HexWorkshop, and various other tools.

He told me it was the old "stat server", this kept the statistical information of login and logouts or the labs. It was stored in a MySQL database by my old boss (badass ninja) and his counterpart (other badass ninja). I wasn't to worried about getting the record since the disk was supposed to be an old ext2 file system that use to run FC5. I loaded the disk up and attempted to mount the disk into my current Linux system, an error popped up about the super block not being intact and corrupted. My exclamation, "Oh shit!". I did not panic just exclaimed. This was going to be harder than I thought.

My next goal was just to get the disk to do a bitstream copy like I had learned in class. Pretty simple process just needed another disk the same size to hold the data. I used the dd command like so (dd if=/dev/hdc of=/dev/hdd) which copies bit for bit what is on the disk. The copy worked and I tried to mount that disk, no surprise here the superblock was corrupted. Ok, I took the copy and took to my "workshop" I placed it in a Windows XP SP2 box and used an ext2fs manager suite to get the disk to be able to be accessed via Windows. Here I used my tools HexWorkshop and FTK.

FTK is a really good tool to use on disks, I loaded the disk Logically into FTK. The logical analysis looks at the partition scheme and files at a high level. At the current stand point I didn't know how MySQL wrote to disk. I did a search for the name I was looking for, the person had been to the labs many many times and I was hoping to see a huge listing. 0 was the number I found. I was distraught.

The next day I went to my professor and told him of my situation. He said if you are looking for MySQL, then you have to look deeper. MySQL, SQL are not like Access that store in files. They write to the hard disk. Ok, I said if they write to hard disk I should be able to see them.

I went back to work and began another Analysis this time with the Physical tool in FTK. The only problem it took over 6 hours to load in. I had to go to Nashville for an interview (another story). I let it begin load and left for the night. I came back a day later and opened the "case file". Not expecting to find anything typed in a search query again. This time a smile crossed my face when over 221,783 instances were found. Yes, I had found the MySQL records. After finding out the assumed last date we located the last known record we needed and copied it out and finally saved all of are findings.

Needless to say it was a huge relief and I felt like was high. It was a good feeling. Like I said I am not a Forensic Expert by any means but it sure as hell felt good to use skills learned in school in a real world application.

Prepare for the Unexpected

The corporate world is not the most secure place ever. For this example I will use some things my friends told me this weekend. Number one there company holds and passes data in cleartext like passwords and other valuable data about a user. Number two, companies seem to think that they can open up ports to the entire world and get a way with it, however, "a rootkit and two Trojans later" (a quote by ffbe65743b28c076c49cd08b4d8c2479) they quickly find out that your system will get hosed and you are going to get owned. Some of these problems occur when people do not have a clue of how to handle them. My friends know how to handle them, however, there is the red tape and corporate big wig bureaucracy that does not allow them to do this. b55973de599d90b8fe09cf7199b9c490 said, you have to chip away slowly to gain trust enough to be able to do the things necessary to secure the information. I am not looking forward to the corporate world if this bs is everywhere. I mean come on there are so many laws that are being broken by companies everyday and most involve IT and cleartext information being sent over the Internet. This is why I am scared of the work world, I do not want to try and clean up the mess and get my hand slapped. I love security and this to me is not kosher.

Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Google Notebook, ? what's next

I am a Google person I like everything about Google, talk to me for a bit and I will begin to say all sorts of things about Google.  Today, I opened up Gmail and on the top of my page as I was clicking on my calendar link I stopped, it was a new link not Spreadsheets anymore but Docs and Spreadsheets.  Anticipation chills went down the spine as I clicked the link to see the Docs feature that Google had just shown to me.  I opened up the page and there before was a blank document ready for my keyboard quill and callased fingertips.  I then proceeded to type a sentence 'This is a test', low and behold it got put in.  My next test was to see what you could do with this new application. What if i wanted to save my document on my hard disk, yes, they tought of it.  I can save in either Word, OpenOffice document format (OH MY DAD), HTML, or PDF.  Not only can i Have a portable word processor but I can have my documents up on the web.  As well as these features are being able to collaborate and publish the document up so that others can either help me edit or view the document.  Long ago, I used a white board and my groups would work together on a project in remote locations this brings a new light in becuase now when I can actually type in the document together.  Along with this you have ablility to review the revisions of the documents life so that now one's work gets over written.  My God what have they done to me its not like I am not on Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Notebook, Google Reader, Goolge Home Page, Google Pages, Google Grups, Google Blogger, and Google Talk.  Now I can add Google Docs and Spreadsheets to the long growing list.  My only thing is what is next??  Goolge Presentation maker lol. 

The Broken

My life is complete they have finally reestablished 'the broken' on revision3.com.  I love this vodcast, it has Kevin Rose and Double D the original the broken crew.  They basically go over hacking and various other cool tech stuff that is border line illegal.  Check them out at http://revision3.com/thebroken . Another cool vodcast that I like is Diggnation with Kevin Rose and Alex Albreit.   Check them out ithey are some pretty entertaining vodcasts.

Cygwin

Cygwin is my next test on my Testwinsp2 Vm box.  I am interested in exactly what this software does as it looks very promising.  Here is an excerpt from the website about Cygwin:

" Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows. It consists of two parts:

A DLL (cygwin1.dll) which acts as a Linux API emulation layer providing substantial Linux API functionality. A collection of tools which provide Linux look and feel.

"
Hopefully, over the next few weeks I will be able to go over what it does and what is like.

Right now as we speak I am downloading the entire packages that is contained within Cygwin.  Several packages are pretty cool like apache, lightpd, clamav, and thousands more.  This will be a very interesting endeavor indeed.

Vmware Server

I think for a few months I have been using Vmware server.  I great product and I have mentioned it a couple of times.  Tonight while doing some stuff "upstairs" in my girlfriend's room.  I was on laptop and wanted to check on my boxes down stairs.  I VNC'd into them one a Win2k box and the other a Ubuntu box with Vmware server.  Once I was messing around to see what updates there were and what had been going on with the boxes (regular maintenance).  I proceeded to think I have Vmware server on my laptop and I don't have Mandrake as a test box but I do have it on my Ubuntu box.  So I fired up Vmware server on my FC5 laptop and typed in the address for my Ubuntu box and the username and password for it to authenticate and bam I was looking all the vmware machines I had downstairs which is quite a few.  I then fired up some of these boxes and they ran swiftly the best part is they don't take up any extra room on my upstaris machine a thought crossed my mind to take off vmware server on my laptop and just use my Ubuntu box remotely when I need those extra test vms.  Of course I am not going to but I realized that I had finally used Vmware server the way you were supposed to, remotley. 

Using technology is awesome but using it the way your supposed to is great.  I have only had Vmware on the local machine but with the use of having it downstairs and having more machines able to hook up on that box it is a good bet I will be using it in that manner from now on.  Of course this is not a huge discovery but it is pretty dang cool to me.  The next step is to implement it at work.

MeeboMe

About a year ago I was introduced to a small project called Meebo.  One of my friends told me about this really cool site for instant messaging.  When I checked it out I was surprised at how cool this site was logging in via web page to get on to the most popular IM protocols was really cool.  Needless to say I was hooked on Meebo for a really long time that year, but with everything it begins to fall back when you are working and classes and what not.  Just the other day I was surfing the web and decided to fall back to Meebo, lowe and behold they had a brand new interface with some really cool extra features.  Of these new features I found MeeboMe.  You might have noticed at the top of this page a chat box, this is MeeboMe, it gives the ability if I am logged into my Meebo account to chat with people instantly that fall on my site.  Its a really neat feature which allows you to talk to anyone instantly if they have a question about some stuff on your site.  Anyways, MeeboMe is one of the coolest features to come out of the Meebo project and is definatley worth a look.  As well if you have time please feel free to chat with me if I am online about this site and about techno crape.

Finally, CrossPlatform Bitch

You know its hard to find apps that are Cross Platform that float from the Linux to Windows world.  I finally found four awesome applications that are crossplatform.  1.) Vmware server, 2.) Truecrypt, 3.) KeepassX, and 4.) Gaim

Of course everyone knows about Gaim, but you might know about the rest.

Vmware Server is my saviour it is like Vmware workstation (costs money) but Vmware Server allows you to create virutal machines like a Windows machine so that you can do tests and troubleshoot problems with no problem.  Awesome app if you want to all linux but need to support Windows.  Anyway you can create all kinds of Virtaul machines and use Virtual networking to test.

Truecrpyt creates large files that are encrypted with AES and can have multiple files in them in order to keep several encrypted.  Great app.

KeepassX is an awesome app as well even though I am a devoted Defygo user and fan Keepass allows me to have migration from Windows password vault and Linux password vault. So I have all my password between my Windows machine and my linux machine its awesome.

Gaim everyone knows about but its just a program I have open right now.  I love it.

Anyway with Alien (a rpm, deb, tar, converter to rpm, deb, tar) I can take rpms and convert them .deb and easily install these apps on my Ubuntu machine.  An awesome experience to get it up and running.

Linux or Windows the age old question

Linux or Windows that is the question.  I like both, I like Linux a little better because of the free rain that I have and software that comes with it.  I have problems with some wireless cards that I have in a few of my boxes.  Windows had problems as well but I could get a driver that worked for it.  Installing different programs that make life easier though is actually easier in Ubuntu.  Easier in the since that the software is listed in a repository and I can add more and more repositories if need be.  Windows gives me a more of a variety of software because of all the manufacturers and other software companies that use these products.  Linux however wins in virutualization ease.  I installed vmware server in a few seconds with the help of the Ubuntu forums and had mulitple virtual servers going at once which was great to see running at a much lower resource rate than in windows.  Windows is what I use at work and most places use Windows as a desktop and servers.  Windows is easy to manage in a large environment.  Linux however is great for home use as a desktop, most organizations use Linux on servers as a cheap and very powerful method of having some very good server products. 

The question then is asked again Linux or Windows and that is where my delimma is, I want to be able to enjoy linux but I also want to be productive.  However, I do not want to dual boot.  I guess I could try the Linux Host and Windows guest and see what happens with it.

Hopefully, it will work out in the best.

iPod Shuffle

Alright so I am about a year or two behind with the ipod stuff but when you don't have the money to spend you don't have the money. For my birthday my beautiful girlfriend got me a 512 MB iPod Shuffle. i know what you are saying Shuffle smuffle, but I love the Shuffle even though it is only 512 MB around about 120 songs can fit on it and that is a ton of music and my podcasts fit well within the confines. Now at work when I grab a minute or in the truck I can listen to good music and good podcasts. The really cool thing about it is that it is very small and compact and is great for taking with you and hiding it.

Even though it doesn't have the really nice display to see what songs are coming but the shuffle doesn't need its too easy to just move on to the next song.

In short I have finally arrived as a iPod user.

FullSync 0.9

Fullsync 0.9 portable sychronization

Fullsync is one of the best tools for the on the go person who doesn't have a laptop or just needs to keep files up to data in between two computers. It is faily easy to use and makes putting the current data up on the media. There are several different types of syncing in the program there is a publish/update type which is commonly used for oneway updating from usb to home, there is exact copy updating, there is backup copy, and there is Two way sync probably the best way i think. This means that when you update something on one side it gets updated on the other. This is great especially when you have a usb drive you use often to do work on other computers on and need to do some updating.