Yahoo! News is running a very interesting article called The Open Source PC.
You should check it out, as it offers a set of open source solutions to replace proprietary / closed source applications in your computer.
Another interesting Yahoo! News article that you might want to check out is "Open Source for all", which discusses the basics (very basics) of Open source for the regular, non-geek computer user.
Both links provided via slashdot.
Another very interesting article on this topic comes from newsforge.com: Free Software's replacements for Desktop Applications.
Be sure to check them out and have fun! ^_^
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Opera Browser turns 10 years old
Oh, Opera turns 10 years old today and opera.com is giving out free registrations for their browser. If you want to get rid of the banner ads on top of it, you might just crash the party site and get yourself one.
Hurry, the offer will be up only while the party lasts. ^_~
In less happy news, Creative Zens ship with worm. If you own one of these digital music players and you bought it recently, please check out the article.
Now, yes, have fun.
Hurry, the offer will be up only while the party lasts. ^_~
In less happy news, Creative Zens ship with worm. If you own one of these digital music players and you bought it recently, please check out the article.
Now, yes, have fun.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Talk about google-talk
Google-Talk encryption
I'm taking a look at the dev's pages again and also at the KDE wiki, and what I'm gathering is that:
a) Google talk uses QCA for encrypted connections, just like jabber (because it's a jabber spin-off).
b) Apparently they use SSL protocol encryption.
c) Their (buggy) dev page is here.
Because this is very new and google talk is in beta, I guess the information changes all the time and tends to be somewhat incomplete.
How to use Google talk with gaim.
Forget Google talk's howto because it contains errors. If you follow their instructions you'll never be able to connect.
Follow Michelle's instructions instead and you'll be able to talk to your friends through the newest IM and prove that you are a cool nerd. =P
1) Open Gaim, and click on the "Accounts" button (bottom, left).
2) A new window will pop-up. In this window you will see a list of all the accounts you have added to gaim. Click on the "Add" button.
You will get a dialog that says "Add account"
3) Chose the following:
Protocol: Jabber
Screen name: The part of your gmail account before the @gmail.com (example: if your gmail address is johndoe@gmail.com, your screen name is johndoe.)
Server: gmail.com
Password: This should be your gmail password, but you don't need to type it now. What's more, if I were you, I wouldn't type it.
Alias: A fancy nickname that you want to call yourself. The Google Talk pages say you don't have to type anything here, but you can go ahead and type something if you wish. Nothing will break.
Remember Password: If you want to use this feature and you typed your password before, go ahead. I wouldn't, but that's just me.
Auto-login: It will log you in every time you start gaim.
Now, to the fun part:
Before you click "save" you will see a "+" sign that reads "show me more options". Click it.
You will see the window expands and you get more options as promised. XDD
Here is where we get the most dissimilitudes with the Google talk pages, because if you follow their instructions at this point, you won't be able to connect.
Fill the options as follows:
Jabber Options: Check the box next to 'Use TLS if available,' AND the Force old SSL box.
They actually tell you to check only the TLS box and leave the others unchecked. Unfortunately if you do that, it won't work.
Port: 5223
They say port 5222. AFAIK nobody has been able to connect through port 5222. Port 5223 seems to work fine though.
Connect server: talk.google.com
Proxy type: Use Global proxy settings.
Click save and login.
To add people you need to add their gmail addresses. (johndoe@gmail.com) which supposedly you know because they are your friends.
I'm taking a look at the dev's pages again and also at the KDE wiki, and what I'm gathering is that:
a) Google talk uses QCA for encrypted connections, just like jabber (because it's a jabber spin-off).
b) Apparently they use SSL protocol encryption.
c) Their (buggy) dev page is here.
Because this is very new and google talk is in beta, I guess the information changes all the time and tends to be somewhat incomplete.
How to use Google talk with gaim.
Forget Google talk's howto because it contains errors. If you follow their instructions you'll never be able to connect.
Follow Michelle's instructions instead and you'll be able to talk to your friends through the newest IM and prove that you are a cool nerd. =P
1) Open Gaim, and click on the "Accounts" button (bottom, left).
2) A new window will pop-up. In this window you will see a list of all the accounts you have added to gaim. Click on the "Add" button.
You will get a dialog that says "Add account"
3) Chose the following:
Protocol: Jabber
Screen name: The part of your gmail account before the @gmail.com (example: if your gmail address is johndoe@gmail.com, your screen name is johndoe.)
Server: gmail.com
Password: This should be your gmail password, but you don't need to type it now. What's more, if I were you, I wouldn't type it.
Alias: A fancy nickname that you want to call yourself. The Google Talk pages say you don't have to type anything here, but you can go ahead and type something if you wish. Nothing will break.
Remember Password: If you want to use this feature and you typed your password before, go ahead. I wouldn't, but that's just me.
Auto-login: It will log you in every time you start gaim.
Now, to the fun part:
Before you click "save" you will see a "+" sign that reads "show me more options". Click it.
You will see the window expands and you get more options as promised. XDD
Here is where we get the most dissimilitudes with the Google talk pages, because if you follow their instructions at this point, you won't be able to connect.
Fill the options as follows:
Jabber Options: Check the box next to 'Use TLS if available,' AND the Force old SSL box.
They actually tell you to check only the TLS box and leave the others unchecked. Unfortunately if you do that, it won't work.
Port: 5223
They say port 5222. AFAIK nobody has been able to connect through port 5222. Port 5223 seems to work fine though.
Connect server: talk.google.com
Proxy type: Use Global proxy settings.
Click save and login.
To add people you need to add their gmail addresses. (johndoe@gmail.com) which supposedly you know because they are your friends.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Updating from an onion
Last night I managed to install Tor and get it running, although I didn't manage to route the connection through a proxy. Why? Because I was stupid enough to not run the proxy. (DUHH!!!!) Right now, as I type, the next tab says I'm in Sweden. The fascinating thing about this is that I am absolutely certain that I am NOT in Sweden.
So, how did I manage to do this? Very easily. In fact, a lot more easily than I had expected.
Steps to installing and using Tor with GNU/Linux.
1) Download Tor from http://tor.eff.org . Config, make, make install. If you are using Debian, apt-get install tor. You will need libevent to configure and install and make it work.
2) Donwload and install privoxy. (Same procedure)
3) Run privoxy by positioning yourself in the /etc/privoxy folder at the command line and type privoxy (easy, hehe.) Some distros make it run by default. You can find information on how to tweak settings at privoxy's home page: http://www.privoxy.org .
4) Add the following line to /etc/privoxy/config
forward-socks4a / localhost:9050 .
Don't forget the dot at the end. You can add it at the very beginning of the file (I did that).
5) Open Firefox, go to Edit > Preferences > General > Connection Settings and redirect your http traffic and ssl traffic to 127.0.0.1 port 8118
5.a) You can use the "switchproxy" extension for firefox if you wish, it works too.
6) OK everything. Empty your cache, close firefox and re-open it. Point it to http://config.privoxy.org It should tell you whether you're using the proxy correctly.
So far so good.
7) Go to the command line as REGULAR USER. DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING AS ROOT. type tor
Tor will start and if it's correctly installed, it'll say so.
8) Open a new tab in Firefox, and go to http://www.whatsmyip.com/ Supposedly, you know what your ip is, and if everything is working fine, the site will show you a different ip which can be in any country.
9) That's it. Have fun. ^_^
So, how did I manage to do this? Very easily. In fact, a lot more easily than I had expected.
Steps to installing and using Tor with GNU/Linux.
1) Download Tor from http://tor.eff.org . Config, make, make install. If you are using Debian, apt-get install tor. You will need libevent to configure and install and make it work.
2) Donwload and install privoxy. (Same procedure)
3) Run privoxy by positioning yourself in the /etc/privoxy folder at the command line and type privoxy (easy, hehe.) Some distros make it run by default. You can find information on how to tweak settings at privoxy's home page: http://www.privoxy.org .
4) Add the following line to /etc/privoxy/config
forward-socks4a / localhost:9050 .
Don't forget the dot at the end. You can add it at the very beginning of the file (I did that).
5) Open Firefox, go to Edit > Preferences > General > Connection Settings and redirect your http traffic and ssl traffic to 127.0.0.1 port 8118
5.a) You can use the "switchproxy" extension for firefox if you wish, it works too.
6) OK everything. Empty your cache, close firefox and re-open it. Point it to http://config.privoxy.org It should tell you whether you're using the proxy correctly.
So far so good.
7) Go to the command line as REGULAR USER. DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING AS ROOT. type tor
Tor will start and if it's correctly installed, it'll say so.
8) Open a new tab in Firefox, and go to http://www.whatsmyip.com/ Supposedly, you know what your ip is, and if everything is working fine, the site will show you a different ip which can be in any country.
9) That's it. Have fun. ^_^
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
