tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278Sat, 29 Oct 2011 07:39:42 +0000command and conquerDNSgns3BCSfishbooksRPGbeta testingsaudiAndersonMembershipDefConfilmsXBMCadobeWindowsAppleSkypeVPNencryptionciscoTouchmouseapplicationsjobImagine CupAsusKubuntuOpensourceLogitechSchoolsvideo callingappsUbuntu Servertheory testprinter sharingvideomotherboardBectaMicrosoft LivereviewtravellingunderwaterxmlracismTVVMWareMSNSSHcavessecuritywebcamWatchmenfiestaKDE 4spaingamingnetworkinghome userscreativeJay BealeobamaVirtualisationEvonyiPhonedivingtripwolfNICfestivalcodingsecurezipst juanubuntunvidiasnorkelBackTrackWirelessmediaVistatcpdumpproxyMicrosoftSchneierXPMongoose Systemsmass effectcomicsVirtualBoxfaith no moreIT7Deep ZoomhackingDraytekISSAred alertphotosAriaMCSAgraphic.lyOS XPicasagigssocial networkingfyodortrailerFrank MillerservicesdrivingSciFihardwareWindows 7messengerAlan MooreFITS FrameworksunderlandairNetwork ManagementpoliticstattooXMAmigrationmusicgamesbackupswebsitemediacentredegreeGooglenerjafree softwarecertificationPKIpentestingjobsThe SpiritLinuxtwitterAtherosMicrosoft Updateserverfile sharingttcpdataTraininguniversitySilverlightMutterings of an evil genius in training.http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/noreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)Blogger168125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-4073217801934378863Sun, 03 Apr 2011 17:47:00 +00002011-04-03T18:58:14.130+01:00SchoolsmigrationXPWindows 7WindowsI've been doing a fair amount of rolling out of new systems recently, both OS X and Windows based. While the OS X based stuff has been an interesting look at a reasonably recent and up to date operating system (10.6), it occurred to me that the Microsoft side of things was the same old irritating process of fighting with Windows XP that I've been doing for God knows how long. With Windows 7 now http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/aDS0BL55A84/xp-to-windows-7-migration-in-schools.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)2<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/aDS0BL55A84" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2011/04/xp-to-windows-7-migration-in-schools.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-1598707310998447535Sat, 12 Mar 2011 23:24:00 +00002011-03-13T01:10:31.227ZserverservicesUbuntu ServerLinuxVirtualBoxVirtualisationI run a headless VirtualBox instance of Server 2k3 on my Ubuntu 10.04 Server and I wanted a way to be able to cleanly startup and shutdown the host machine without having to manually control the virtual one. The following is what I've come up with after cobbling together various things found on Google. Particular thanks to Brendan Kidwell on Glump.net for his info on setting up VirtualBox to http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/9vonybo9SVU/ubuntu-server-scripting-virtual-box.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/9vonybo9SVU" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2011/03/ubuntu-server-scripting-virtual-box.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-8849337491423240781Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:46:00 +00002011-02-14T10:05:24.867ZSchoolsOS XFITS FrameworkTrainingBectaVirtualisationLooks like I might actually have some Interesting stuff to do ahead of me. Two bits of training, and one of my schools being the pilot school for the first of our new virtual server builds. The training is on two separate things: The first lot is on doing Mac OS X builds properly, on both desktop and server, and then efficiently rolling them out. I've done builds and deployments before using http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/lG7uJb-oQEQ/interesting-times.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/lG7uJb-oQEQ" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2011/01/interesting-times.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-4010385144660176245Tue, 11 May 2010 19:32:00 +00002010-05-11T21:12:43.786+01:00NICWirelessVMWareLinuxBackTracknetworkingTo use a wireless adapter from within a BackTrack (or indeed any other) virtual machine using VMware Workstation, get a USB wireless adapter and once inserted go to VM > Removable devices > USB > Your USB Wireless Device. Bingo. Guest machine drivers permitting, you now have a wireless card in your virtual machine. I'm pretty sure this solution would work with the vast majority of the http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/ubWIDBSISIY/using-wireless-nic-from-backtrack.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)3<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/ubWIDBSISIY" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2010/05/using-wireless-nic-from-backtrack.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-7251967982672453486Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:35:00 +00002010-04-18T20:18:30.497+01:00comicsbeta testingadobegraphic.lyairI meant to do a post about Graphic.ly a while ago when I joined the beta testing program. Graphic.ly is an app for buying and reading comics. There are two versions of it - What they describe as a desktop installation for Windows which is currently still only available to beta testers, and the recently released Adobe Air based version, currently in a public alpha testing phase. There is also an http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/Ayypaqz5WD8/graphicly.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/Ayypaqz5WD8" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2010/04/graphicly.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-8705422881627828394Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:46:00 +00002010-02-07T13:24:42.843ZMicrosoft Updateprinter sharingUbuntu ServerLinuxWindowsVistafile sharing7I've recently had to rebuild my Linux server following a hard drive failure and have had to go through the hassle of once again getting my file and print shares correctly configured. As with all system rebuilds, you learn from the process of last time and add in the improvements and extra features that you wish you'd thought of then. This time around I've gone with the x64 version of Ubuntu http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/GmvlSjv93DE/connecting-to-ubuntu-shared-printer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/GmvlSjv93DE" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2010/02/connecting-to-ubuntu-shared-printer.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-9186715385567180850Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:29:00 +00002010-02-04T21:51:17.317ZgamingEvonyRPGPlayers of the online RPG Evony have apparently logged on today to find there's something missing. Something as in everything. Nothing left. Gone. The forum dwellers are going mental.The game has been running for quite some time now and people plough real cash into it, so there's going to be some seriously pissed off gamers out there! The companies' main site says that they are doing some server http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/6pskY1QFMfI/evony-interupted.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/6pskY1QFMfI" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2010/02/evony-interupted.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-2586678444467690388Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:04:00 +00002010-02-04T01:02:45.551ZiPhonemediacentreappsTouchmouseLogitechAppleFor my media centre at home I have pretty simple system of a PC connected to my TV via S-Video and the sound run through my stereo system. I'd previously been controlling it either via a wireless keyboard and mouse, or by using the free version of VNC. Both of these have drawbacks. The keyboard and mouse are an absolute bitch to keep paired. They both run through the same receiver and every time http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/TNHjf4NrX54/logitech-touchmouse-app.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/TNHjf4NrX54" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2010/02/logitech-touchmouse-app.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-3688258766162648960Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:44:00 +00002010-01-17T21:17:24.055ZWindowsSSHencryptionproxyI've been playing with SSH tunnelling for a little while for things like forwarding RDP sessions into my home network, and encrypting web traffic. I've usually done this either by using the tunnelling options within Putty, or I've done it via command line (e.g. 'ssh -ND 9999 you@example.com' - do a 'man ssh' in your terminal for a full range of options).I had had suspected that there was a http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/iAwhS7nZCbg/myentunnel-ssh-based-encrypted-web.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/iAwhS7nZCbg" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2010/01/myentunnel-ssh-based-encrypted-web.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-7853823739261138658Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:05:00 +00002009-12-06T23:54:55.387ZOpensourcefilmsXBMCTVmediaI've been looking for some decent media centre software for a while. Most of the ones I've tried had some sort of killer flaw, whether it be a horribly complicated interface or a database backend that hogs far too much of the system resources.A friend recommended that I have a look at XBox Media Centre (XBMC). I'd seen it before, a few years ago on a friends chipped XBox, but I hadn't realised http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/xd0bVizRLSM/xbox-media-centre.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/xd0bVizRLSM" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/12/xbox-media-centre.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-7880963782619876153Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:15:00 +00002009-11-01T21:21:42.770ZserverMCSAMicrosoftnetworkingIt's amazing how work tends to eat up time. All my good intentions for putting more into this blog seem to have come to naught for now. At least I'm starting to get into the swing of the day to day stuff for the job meaning that it's no longer one big constant frantic rush to keep on top of things. I've had an interesting variety of things to deal with over the last couple of months. It's ranged http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/Y-HK_CjgmhE/busy-busy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/Y-HK_CjgmhE" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/11/busy-busy.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-2211544059612697777Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:03:00 +00002009-08-09T13:17:51.969+01:00VPNserverDraytekWindowsnetworkingStill loving the new job. A generally brilliant opportunity to start applying my skills. It's quite a surprise to see how much I'm finding myself starting to do something, scratching head, looking up how to do it, then the penny dropping - I know how to do this! Definitely a matter of learning how to apply things in certain contexts. At the moment it's still very much a case of learning the basichttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/38RkYkaOk_w/it-gets-better.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/38RkYkaOk_w" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/08/it-gets-better.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-4821221898333667523Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:34:00 +00002009-07-14T22:47:30.810+01:00universityjobnetworkingWell, that's graduation over and done with. Was pretty tedious in places, but overall I'm glad I did it. It draws a line under things, so to speak. For anyone who's interested, have a pic of me in my academic finest.I also started my new job today. Pretty promising so far. Did a couple of client visits today - simple stuff, but all part of the job, built a server, set up my work machine, etc. andhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/1EUCwpqyFS4/graduation-and-new-job.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/1EUCwpqyFS4" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/07/graduation-and-new-job.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-5327911844593577067Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:57:00 +00002009-07-12T17:01:52.320+01:00servicesappsGoogleProviding a blinding example of how much attention I've been paying, I've just found out that Google have ceased development of their excellent Notebook service back in January. Seems a shame as I find it an excellent tool. The reason I haven't noticed is because Google are still providing the service to those who were already using it, but not letting new users sign up. Seems a bit odd to me. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/PEiqktMBWhI/google-notebooks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/PEiqktMBWhI" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/07/google-notebooks.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-6978824734472291373Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:38:00 +00002009-07-12T16:28:29.859+01:00DNSGoogleIf like me you use a domain name provider that doesn't let you use CNAMEs for your DNS server entries, and you use Google services (such as Blogger) with your private domain name you may have noticed a problem with accessing your page/service/whatever in the last few days. This seems to be because the IP address of ghs.google.com that was floating around on various forums (72.14.207.121) no http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/4hDDyA7QOfQ/change-to-google-dns-ip-address.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/4hDDyA7QOfQ" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/07/change-to-google-dns-ip-address.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-2184399254930855286Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:26:00 +00002009-07-10T17:36:28.263+01:00serveruniversityjobsnetworkingGot me a decent sounding job at last. Officially titled ICT Support Technician, it'll be working with a local IT service provider doing things like network and server installation for small (or less small) companies, supporting them once the systems are in place, etc., performing backup services, loads of stuff - basically doing the work for those without the specialist in-house knowledge, or whohttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/c4hTfSERCXE/job.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/c4hTfSERCXE" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/07/job.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-7385265772046045055Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:20:00 +00002009-07-01T20:23:40.064+01:00universitydegreenetworkingGot notification through today that I've passed my honours degree. Now I can put letters after my name and everything. The foolish hat wearing ceremony (or graduation,) is in two weeks time.On with the job hunt... Someone give me something interesting to do!http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/QsF3_j_qH0E/degree-results.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/QsF3_j_qH0E" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/07/degree-results.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-3947592825094780419Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:34:00 +00002009-06-26T21:44:49.815+01:00securitypoliticsSeveral sites are reporting on the UK government's recent announcement of its "cyber" attack and defence capabilities. The closeness of the timing between this announcement and a similar one from the US government may raise a few sceptical eyebrows, as will the likelihood that this is old news being pushed out by the government to divert attention from their recent failings and make it look like http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/ZHCgoG1Ew5s/uk-cyber-strategy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/ZHCgoG1Ew5s" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/06/uk-cyber-strategy.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-3525018102266554696Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:02:00 +00002009-06-24T12:55:19.999+01:00PKIencryptionsecuritysecurezipI've just been reading about an interesting product from PKWare. SecureZip is your bog standard compression program with public key infrastructure bolted on allowing for encryption and/or digital signing of the contents. I haven't had much of a chance to use it yet, but setup was very easy, and hopefully I'll get an excuse to put it into action soon.Nobody who has a clue what they're talking http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/X4l6uUD43Go/securezip.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/X4l6uUD43Go" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/06/securezip.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-222289012850951410Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:35:00 +00002009-06-18T18:51:31.484+01:00Schneiersecurityfree softwarebackupsnetworkingIt's often said that the computer savvy are the worst at practicing what they preach, and in the case of a decent backup system I've been no exception. I decided that my lack of regular backups was probably pretty foolish and the result of just not bothering. I don't even currently have the excuse of no time. So, after a hunt through the different suggestions offered on LifeHacker I decided to http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/_7yV_O8xn2o/backups.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/_7yV_O8xn2o" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/06/backups.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-4012360210543226318Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:53:00 +00002009-06-16T19:04:59.725+01:00Network Managementjobsfaith no moreBeen a week of ups and downs. The Faith No More gig was amazing. One of the best things I've ever seen and I hope they keep going for long enough for me to see it again. I saw them at the Download festival, which seemed generally very good. The crowd seemed very relaxed and was clearly just there for the music, unlike other music fests I've been to where a large proportion of people going were http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/I7HGTGk_VBM/good-stuff-bad-stuff.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/I7HGTGk_VBM" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/06/good-stuff-bad-stuff.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-1575104576961017387Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:08:00 +00002009-06-09T14:11:32.197+01:00gigsmusicfaith no moreFAITH NO MORE ON FRIDAY!! Going to be amazing!http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/PiwtfrakdSo/oh-yeah-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/PiwtfrakdSo" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/06/oh-yeah-and.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-912777892879458124Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:01:00 +00002009-06-09T14:08:04.323+01:00ITjobGot myself a job. First line IT support. Maybe not the challenge I was hoping for, but I guess one can't be too picky on the first one, and I'm sure it'll be easier to get a decent networking position from an IT job, rather than a bar job. It's temp to perm, so that gives me a chance to see what I think as much as it does them. Fingers crossed and all. It'll be nice to be working with computers http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/4B-P_XYHAXk/new-job.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/4B-P_XYHAXk" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/06/new-job.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-4374442048895494376Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:34:00 +00002009-06-03T13:47:46.955+01:00universitybooksSciFiThat's it. The degree is finally finished. Now the long wait for the results and the start of the job hunt. Not a great time to be doing it, but never mind. Now hopefully I'll actually have time to do stuff that people with lives do. Got a stack of books to get through - a friend gave me a load of Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. And I should hopefully have more to say on here. Lack of posting http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/LNKhhQLP7Fg/done.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/LNKhhQLP7Fg" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/06/done.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19280278.post-8695357937388862520Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:04:00 +00002009-02-04T20:15:19.347ZKDE 4KubuntuThe Kubuntu page saw the announcment a few days ago of the projects release of their KDE 4.2 packages.I added the repository, updated my system and (a couple of small glitches aside) am very impressed so far. It looks brilliant. Much better than 4.1 (which was itself quite pretty). All of the annoying glitches in things like the system tray have disappeared and the menu and other moving features http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IMongoose/~3/UCxwxvs7yE0/kde-42.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Stevens)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IMongoose/~4/UCxwxvs7yE0" height="1" width="1"/>http://blog.mongoosesystems.co.uk/2009/02/kde-42.html