I think I’m officially a geek now. I got my first black computer. It has a multicolored blinking lights on the inside and everything.

… then again its just some (really nice assuming everything works) old junker that a family member was getting rid of and not one I built myself. :\

Oh well. I’ll swap out a drive or something and take all the credit. (That’s just as good, right? :-P)


Dec 2 14:19:52 myHostname sshd[8843]: Did not receive identification string from someip
Dec 2 14:20:31 myHostname sshd[8846]: Invalid user fluffy from someip
Dec 2 14:20:33 myHostname sshd[8848]: Invalid user admin from someip
Dec 2 14:20:35 myHostname sshd[8850]: Invalid user test from someip
Dec 2 14:20:38 myHostname sshd[8853]: Invalid user guest from someip
Dec 2 14:20:41 myHostname sshd[8855]: Invalid user webmaster from someip
Dec 2 14:20:46 myHostname sshd[8859]: Invalid user oracle from someip
Dec 2 14:20:48 myHostname sshd[8861]: Invalid user library from someip
Dec 2 14:20:52 myHostname sshd[8863]: Invalid user info from someip
Dec 2 14:20:54 myHostname sshd[8865]: Invalid user shell from someip
Dec 2 14:20:57 myHostname sshd[8867]: Invalid user linux from someip
Dec 2 14:20:59 myHostname sshd[8869]: Invalid user unix from someip
Dec 2 14:21:02 myHostname sshd[8871]: Invalid user webadmin from someip
… more like this …


So that’s what a brute force attack on an SSH server looks like!

Fortunately, I took time to read and secure the SSH as best I know how and no damage appears to be done. (If the output of less can be trusted) There were only two real attacks.

All in all I learned from the whole thing. I should probably start getting into the habit of reading my logs, and I learned a couple of user names not to use. (my favorites being fluffy, gopher, and Zmeu) I think I also want to look for an ipchains rule to limit access to only IP addresses in my state.

I think Mega Man X remains my favorite video game of all time.

It was one of the first video games I bought, (if not the first) and I still remember the day I bought it. I was about 7 and payed $20 for it at Walmart. I was so mad it cost that much, because up until then most Super Nintendo games ran about $15. (Now I’m ecstatic if I can get a game for $30!) It was also before they started locking up their video games.

It was years before I could beat the first level, (With loooong breaks in between) and years before I could beat all the bosses before Sigma’s levels, and longer to get all the upgrades. I had no idea how to save the passwords. (I kept trying to keep track of the Mettaurs that would pop up.) The chameleon was the easiest boss to get to, but the most difficult to beat. (The armadillo comes in a close second) I remember the accomplishment I felt beating my first boss. (Chill Penguin) The spider boss was also insanely hard. I now am at least decent at the game, but I still can’t beat Sigma’s final form. (Yes, I am the most awesome gamer ever! )

I’m glad Capcom released an anniversary collection. Now I can play all the Mega Man X games I never had a chance to buy, and be entertained for decades to come.

I decided to make the switch to Mercurial from Subversion.

One of the first things I noticed is the speed difference. Mercurial, despite the name and the reputation of distributed SCMs, seems to be slightly (half second or less) slower than Subversion. (despite hg being nicer to type than svn )

The other thing I noticed is that Mercurial doesn’t ignore certain files by default. Backup files show up in the status listings and are added if you try to add a directory.

Another thing that bugs me is the way Mercurial handles adding files. First, it doesn’t seem to want to add empty directories. hg status isn’t as nice as svn, but I’m sure it’s just something I haven’t got the hang of yet.

The main thing I like about Mercurial is the configuration. Give me an rc file over a directory any day!

What is the exact minimum you need to get Apache to start? Here it is:

Listen 80

User apache
Group apache

ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/error_log

That’s all you need to get Apache to start serving pages. Pages are served from /usr/htdocs. (not sure if that’s set during compile time or if it’s hard coded) Pages are also served without MIME detection so you will probably wind up seeing the HTML code in your browser instead of a nicely formatted document unless you set the DefaultType directive.

Here’s a hint for those trying to set up an Apache web server: turn off your browser cache, or refresh the page using ctrl+shift+r.

While trying to come up with the minimal httpd.conf needed I disabled the mime module. After I re-enabled it I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why the MIME type was incorrect at http://localhost/index.html but not http://localhost.

My inverter board arrived today and the surgery was a complete success!

I basically followed the service manual from HP. There are serveral steps in there that you really don’t  have to do. All you really need to do is remove the key cover and the outside of the monitor. (you don’t need to take the display off first) The inverter is sort of a pain to unplug, but otherwise it’s a really simple procedure. (If you don’t spend a half hour trying to take off the keyboard only to find out you don’t need to! > )

This was my first laptop repair.

I just noticed that in the Slackware boot process ldconfig finally got its ‘&‘

For years putting ‘&‘ after ldconfig has been one of the most widely used ways to speed up the boot process. I guess Pat finally got tired of the extra wait.

One of the things I love about Linux is learning about all the different package mangers. It is so cool to see how the same problem is tackled in hundreds of different ways, and even how those different solutions are applied differently.

Many people think that a program is not a package manager unless it can keep track of dependencies. (Just never say that to a Slackware user ) If your distribution keeps a centralized package repository dependency tracking really isn’t too much more convienient than using a package manager that doesn’t track them. There are only a few instances when dependency trackers have the advantage.

The biggest advantage of dependency tracking package mangers (abreviated DTPMs) is abstraction. You don’t have to know or care what a program needs to run. All you need to know is the name of the program and everything else is installed. This is great for novice users and a nice time saver for power users.

The next biggest advantage of DTPMs is with dependency heavy applications. (*cough * MPlayer) These applications are also those that have several dependency’s depencencies that need to be tracked down or very modular programs like X11. After a certain number of dependencies the command to install an application becomes error prone. There is also the need to visit several web pages to find out the dependencies of a dependency.

Once you have a working system the need for a DTPM decreases as time goes on. The more packages you install, typically the more dependencies you install and therefore less are packages need to be installed later on. Also, once you have a stable working system with most of the apps you use, you really don’t spend too much time installing stuff.

I’ve been tinkering around with setting up an SSH server on my home computer. I would prefer having a dedicated server at home instead of running everything on my laptop, but I’m not sure how much I can trust the hard drives on the Pentium II computers lying around the house.

I’m a little uncomfortable having my computer open to the world (or the windows box ) so I look up some stuff about hardening ssh. It seems to be a really easy process. Basically just change the default port, disable the version 1 protocol, hostbased authentication, root logins, and allow only public key logins. Also set up a list of allowed users or groups and use /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny to block access to certain hosts. Finally put in place a nice iptables firewall to block traffic to anything outside the parts of the world you plan to be in. (I’ve read mixed messages about the last one, but mainly just performance concerns.)

Now your SSH server should be as secure as the underlying OS.