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Posted by
seahawks
promoted 3 months 1 week ago, posted 3 months 1 week ago
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Hey all. I came across an HP POS computer from a closing corporate retail store. I got it for $60. I added an optical drive, a usb wireless internet stick and am adding a PCI card that supports HDMI. You get the idea why I got this thing. Here's the problem. It had a tailored version of XP on it (XP embedded with all of this "Borders" bookstore shit). Went into and tried to hack the pieces out that I didn't want but couldn't get XP to start up again. So I'm rockin' Ubuntu and so far am liking it, but I'm pretty noobish in general. I had help with the XP hacking I was doing and had some questions about Ubuntu. Thought this forum would be fun to ask questions and watch you all talk about shit.
Whachu think?
ubuntu
linux
help
seahawks
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My first question is about IP protection. The whole reason I'm getting another PC is so that I can arrrrgh matey. Ubuntu has an app called "Transmission" that works great for Torrents. It also has a generated list for IP block and protection. Does anyone know how reliable this is? Was going to go with Peer Guardian 2 but it isn't available for Linux. I tried to install Moblock, their alternative, but it requires a lot of command prompt and speak I am relatively naive with. So I'm wondering if Transmission will be sufficient or is there something else I should go with. If it is Moblock, it is supposedly on my comp but I'm having trouble working out if it is put on well and running... :D HELP THE NOOB!
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I say "until last week" because I tried installing nvidia drivers from the control panel and now it don't work right. So I've been using my xp for pretty much everything until i can figure it out.
I seem to recall someone on here (maybe tuoni?) saying linux was safer for doing shit. That's primarily why I installed it.
I say "until last week" because I tried installing nvidia drivers from the control panel and now it don't work right. So I've been using my xp for pretty much everything until i can figure it out.
What do you mean you triend installing the nvidia drivers from control panel? Are you meaning the restricted drivers application that automatically pops up? That is what you should probably be using and, if it is, often there are 2 or 3 options for nvidia restricted drivers. Make sure you only install one (installing all three can create conflicts), and if one didn't work, uninstall it and try a different one.
As to Transmission, what you're describing isn't really meant for proxying, but more for restricting who might be leaching off you (useful if you have one using trying to take 10 different torrents from you at once and are hogging all your upload bandwidth). Proxies can be useful, but less so if you're downloading torrents, and a lot of proxies put restrictions on that kind of usage anyhow.
-VLC for movie play.
-Rhythmbox for your music, last time i tried banshee it was a bit unstable.
-You will find that you can't play dvds by default (legal bullcrap), download dvdcss (or something similar) to enable dvd play
-But you probably need to just install the package ubuntu-restricted-extras which contains codecs and other useful plugins (obtained from ubuntu software or synaptic... see below)
-Brasero; cd/dvd burning software
-Calibre for reading comics and ebooks
-Gimp (a hybrid of photoshop and mspaint), it probably gets installed by default though.
-Synaptic (repository for software), it just a duplicate of ubuntu software center but faster.
-AWN, eye candy dock (task bar)
-If your computer is powerful enough, compiz manager is a good window manager for eye candy theme effects.
-Okular for handling pdf documents (adding comments, notes, bookmarks etc...)
-RAR or Unrar: it's the same as winrar or winzip.
-Konversation... IRC program
-Thunderbird; email client app
-qBittorent for downloading torrents.
-Firewall to block unauthorized and or allow in/out connections (probably gets installed by default nowadays).
-Gparted (for playing with partitions or virtual page files)
-Weather indicator: apparently it's no longer installed by default on the latest distro :(...
-And many more.
These two pages are now your bible:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/
http://ubuntuforums.org/
Linux mint was probably a better choice for you.
Use a decent VPN (BTGuard/Torrent Freedom) if you want anonymity.
Also you could just reinstall XP Embedded...there is a copy floating around on TPB, even W7 Embedded.
I say "until last week" because I tried installing nvidia drivers from the control panel and now it don't work right. So I've been using my xp for pretty much everything until i can figure it out.
What do you mean you triend installing the nvidia drivers from control panel? Are you meaning the restricted drivers application that automatically pops up? That is what you should probably be using and, if it is, often there are 2 or 3 options for nvidia restricted drivers. Make sure you only install one (installing all three can create conflicts), and if one didn't work, uninstall it and try a different one.
As to Transmission, what you're describing isn't really meant for proxying, but more for restricting who might be leaching off you (useful if you have one using trying to take 10 different torrents from you at once and are hogging all your upload bandwidth). Proxies can be useful, but less so if you're downloading torrents, and a lot of proxies put restrictions on that kind of usage anyhow.
had to go back and look. It was Control Center on the main menu. Then I think it was Additional Drivers listed under Hardware. I think that's what I clicked and it did some searching and said there were nvidia drivers to install. Ithought that was maybe why I wasn't able to play quake live or the few fps for linux that I had downloaded. So I had it install them and now when I boot her up, the desktop "stalls" when it starts. Almost everything comes up except the menu button isn't there and the "ethernet is connected" pop-up stays on the screen and I cannot click on anything. The mouse seems to work, as I get a pointer that I can move around the screen, but the desktop is frozen.
Hope that made sense.
Also- I can get it to work if I unplug the video card and plug into onboard video. But screen is reeeeaaaallly shaky and epileptic.
edit- sorry this got off topic hawks.
i dont see the point in even trying to hide your IP, it is harder than it is really worth doing.
i been pirating for 15 years, never once a cease and desist letter, i even pay extra to get 30mb up and down
Homebrew, its all good. Mint is interesting, have been looking at it since you brought it up...
Hmm... maybe first and foremost, have you been running your updates (not just the ones in the automatic update center).
Also, what version of Mint are you using (11, 12, lmde), what what desktop environment are you using (Gnome-shell, Mate, Cinnamon)?
Open terminal and run "sudo apt-get update" then "sudo apt-get upgrade". Log out and then log back in. If things are still wonky, log out and try logging in with a different desktop environment (Mint 12 comes with both Gnome-shell and Mate by default, so just switch to whichever one you aren't using and try again)
Hmm... maybe first and foremost, have you been running your updates (not just the ones in the automatic update center).
Also, what version of Mint are you using (11, 12, lmde), what what desktop environment are you using (Gnome-shell, Mate, Cinnamon)?
Open terminal and run "sudo apt-get update" then "sudo apt-get upgrade". Log out and then log back in. If things are still wonky, log out and try logging in with a different desktop environment (Mint 12 comes with both Gnome-shell and Mate by default, so just switch to whichever one you aren't using and try again)
use "sudo aptitude update" and "sudo aptitude dist-upgrade", if you don't have aptitude install it "sudo apt-get install aptitude". aptitude is better than apt-get as it handles reverse dependences on unistall. and dist-upgrade is a more complete upgrade. that's all i have to say. that and reboot, not just logout, incase there's any lowlevel upgrades...
Hmm... maybe first and foremost, have you been running your updates (not just the ones in the automatic update center).
Also, what version of Mint are you using (11, 12, lmde), what what desktop environment are you using (Gnome-shell, Mate, Cinnamon)?
Open terminal and run "sudo apt-get update" then "sudo apt-get upgrade". Log out and then log back in. If things are still wonky, log out and try logging in with a different desktop environment (Mint 12 comes with both Gnome-shell and Mate by default, so just switch to whichever one you aren't using and try again)
use "sudo aptitude update" and "sudo aptitude dist-upgrade", if you don't have aptitude install it "sudo apt-get install aptitude". aptitude is better than apt-get as it handles reverse dependences on unistall. and dist-upgrade is a more complete upgrade. that's all i have to say. that and reboot, not just logout, incase there's any lowlevel upgrades...
Well, yes, but dist-upgrade can run into its own dependency issues (this is precisely what the Mint Update Center is meant to avoid). I hadn'te realized there was a difference between 'apt-get' and 'aptitude'. Good to know.
VPN: too hard to set up and maintain a library of data. It all has to be downloaded from somewhere else first by one person of the group and the initial download is still risky.
Downloading from private torrent sites such as demonoid is probably safer than using public sites.
I was once a member of a private torrent site where only people who physically knew one another could join (which also used a couple of backdoors to avoid ISP traffic counters) and I consider that to have been about as safe as you can get with torrents. I transferred over 400gb of data within the first two days of joining the site and it didnt show up as traffic at all on the isp traffic counter. The only people who could access the torrents were all people who were friends of friends.
That said for a lot of stuff that I download I dont use any condom at all. It's just if I was to download a new release movie / game that I consider to be 'high risk' then I am willing to spend 5 bucks for a months access and not get any letter. I have previously received a letter / email from my ISP regarding my *ahem* data usage. From ancedotal evidence in australia I dont think any 'normal' torrent downloader has been prosecuted but someone who uploaded various (unreleased) games a few suburbs over ended up in court with a massive fine.
Although a proxy isnt failsafe it does make it alot more difficult to track the download to your computer especially if you route it through one or more unfriendly jurisdictions.
You could also use usenet or irc for downloads but thats a whole nother kettle of fish.
The only completely safe download is the one you pay for and even thats arguable!
VPN: too hard to set up and maintain a library of data. It all has to be downloaded from somewhere else first by one person of the group and the initial download is still risky.
Downloading from private torrent sites such as demonoid is probably safer than using public sites.
I was once a member of a private torrent site where only people who physically knew one another could join (which also used a couple of backdoors to avoid ISP traffic counters) and I consider that to have been about as safe as you can get with torrents. I transferred over 400gb of data within the first two days of joining the site and it didnt show up as traffic at all on the isp traffic counter. The only people who could access the torrents were all people who were friends of friends.
That said for a lot of stuff that I download I dont use any condom at all. It's just if I was to download a new release movie / game that I consider to be 'high risk' then I am willing to spend 5 bucks for a months access and not get any letter. I have previously received a letter / email from my ISP regarding my *ahem* data usage. From ancedotal evidence in australia I dont think any 'normal' torrent downloader has been prosecuted but someone who uploaded various (unreleased) games a few suburbs over ended up in court with a massive fine.
Although a proxy isnt failsafe it does make it alot more difficult to track the download to your computer especially if you route it through one or more unfriendly jurisdictions.
You could also use usenet or irc for downloads but thats a whole nother kettle of fish.
The only completely safe download is the one you pay for and even thats arguable!
Has anyone looked into using seedboxes?
i dont see the point in even trying to hide your IP, it is harder than it is really worth doing.
i been pirating for 15 years, never once a cease and desist letter, i even pay extra to get 30mb up and down
Well after being chased after by ACS:Law and it nearly costing me £500 I'd have to disagree.
I'm surprised you even know how to torrent at all, setting up a VPN only takes a few clicks, example:
http://www.giganews.com/vyprvpn/setup/windows-7/pptp.html
Hmm... maybe first and foremost, have you been running your updates (not just the ones in the automatic update center).
Also, what version of Mint are you using (11, 12, lmde), what what desktop environment are you using (Gnome-shell, Mate, Cinnamon)?
Open terminal and run "sudo apt-get update" then "sudo apt-get upgrade". Log out and then log back in. If things are still wonky, log out and try logging in with a different desktop environment (Mint 12 comes with both Gnome-shell and Mate by default, so just switch to whichever one you aren't using and try again)
Been running just the auto updates (lower right hand corner of desktop).
Using Mint 11 w/, I believe, the gnome shell.
Booted it back up this morning and desktop still freezes with video card installed (geforce 7300 gs). after work I'll try it again inna onboard vid and try to run the updates you & bigs suggested.
VPN: too hard to set up and maintain a library of data. It all has to be downloaded from somewhere else first by one person of the group and the initial download is still risky.
Downloading from private torrent sites such as demonoid is probably safer than using public sites.
I was once a member of a private torrent site where only people who physically knew one another could join (which also used a couple of backdoors to avoid ISP traffic counters) and I consider that to have been about as safe as you can get with torrents. I transferred over 400gb of data within the first two days of joining the site and it didnt show up as traffic at all on the isp traffic counter. The only people who could access the torrents were all people who were friends of friends.
That said for a lot of stuff that I download I dont use any condom at all. It's just if I was to download a new release movie / game that I consider to be 'high risk' then I am willing to spend 5 bucks for a months access and not get any letter. I have previously received a letter / email from my ISP regarding my *ahem* data usage. From ancedotal evidence in australia I dont think any 'normal' torrent downloader has been prosecuted but someone who uploaded various (unreleased) games a few suburbs over ended up in court with a massive fine.
Although a proxy isnt failsafe it does make it alot more difficult to track the download to your computer especially if you route it through one or more unfriendly jurisdictions.
You could also use usenet or irc for downloads but thats a whole nother kettle of fish.
The only completely safe download is the one you pay for and even thats arguable!
yeah I do go to demonoid when I do want something. But I know for a fact that Peer Guardian, every once and a while, would reassign my address. I didn't know WHY but they did. It became a problem with my employer as many apps quit synching properly and whatnot. So I had to quit it. But now I'm running the Ubuntu at home and wanted to have a look.
$5 a month is pretty reasonable, I could just quit netflix and call it even...
I'm surprised you even know how to torrent at all, setting up a VPN only takes a few clicks, example:
http://www.giganews.com/vyprvpn/setup/windows-7/pptp.html
Clearly we define VPN differently and my definition is probably incorrect. To me VPN stresses the word "PRIVATE" which in turn I view to be a network set up by yourself or one of your friends where only friends can join. Any network that can be publically joined is not a VPN in my books no matter whether I'm technically correct or not.
Therefore the difficulty lies in having enough trustworthy friends who have enough valuable data to share. Even on the private torrent network I was involved in with almost 1,000 members the data was still quite limited and somebody had to acquire the data before it could be shared.
For the record, dude—that's just a good start.
I'm surprised you even know how to torrent at all, setting up a VPN only takes a few clicks, example:
http://www.giganews.com/vyprvpn/setup/windows-7/pptp.html
Clearly we define VPN differently and my definition is probably incorrect. To me VPN stresses the word "PRIVATE" which in turn I view to be a network set up by yourself or one of your friends where only friends can join. Any network that can be publically joined is not a VPN in my books no matter whether I'm technically correct or not.
Therefore the difficulty lies in having enough trustworthy friends who have enough valuable data to share. Even on the private torrent network I was involved in with almost 1,000 members the data was still quite limited and somebody had to acquire the data before it could be shared.
VPN Is tunnelling from the outside to inside a network using authentication schemes. It actually has nothing to do with setting up a private network or being isolated from an external network. You're simply using a secure tunnel/connection between the two points, and an intermediary encryption protocol that no other external signal can decipher unless they are on the same network or have access to your network's cert salts. Hence, Virtual Private Networking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network
That is VPN. Not to be a dick, but what you define VPN as does not matter, it is a defined standard worldwide. Your definition of a virtual private network is actually a LAN.
Oh yeah and I can wiki too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAN
Oh yeah and I can wiki too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAN
Seems to me you were explaining a local area network set up, which is not publically joinable that your friends could join to and play games easier. You failed to mention how your friends were getting access to your network, if you're running non-public hosted games or emulated servers, that's still LAN gaming by definition, no matter how far the distance, and it's also not anywhere near private.
Please point out where you were saying that is, in fact, a VPN. Simple request, no? I just refute your obviously flawed definiton of a Virtual private network, which of course doesn't matter because VPN is a defined standard that cares not of your opinion. And considering you know you're incorrect, there is no debate here. Good day to you sir :)
VPN depends on the authentication scheme that joins you to the network. The encryption is only keeping things safe and discrete. The whole point of a Virtual Private Network is how you authenticate and join the network to access it's resources, such as AD and Samba over VPN. Example : Accountants accessing Quickbooks/Sage data from home. Municipality workers accessing records from a wifi link onsite at a residents home.
Clear enough yet?
So just anybody can access software and databases over an AD authenticated connection, AD GPO'd shares (with mapped drives), database connections, (AD Credentials only, as it always is)? I think you may be confusing the whole purpose of a VPN with simple file sharing.
I was wondering if anyone might help me get "flash" worked out. Yeah yeah, everyone hates flash, but I need it for some stuffs. I've tried a few DL options with no success. I download a self-installing version and one where I'm supposed to find the damn thing and execute, but no luck...anyone?
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/flash
I hope that helps you out buddy, seemed pretty straight forward to me, i'll open up my vm and give it a shot
EDIT : Yup, worked for me. Downloaded the Ubuntu Flash APT, installed it, went back to flash download page and sure enough plug in was missing, but downloader fetched and installed flash no problem after the flash apt was installed
I was wondering if anyone might help me get "flash" worked out. Yeah yeah, everyone hates flash, but I need it for some stuffs. I've tried a few DL options with no success. I download a self-installing version and one where I'm supposed to find the damn thing and execute, but no luck...anyone?
Can't you download that easily in ubuntu software center? Search for flash and install the package with the most nice reviews :)..
*************
Homebrew,
Looks like you were abandoned, welcome to the world of Linux :)...
Quite a folly on Ubuntu's part, third party browsers with add-ons shouldn't need dependencies in the OS.
So I then went to Adobe and it asked me which Linux setup I wanted to install. Chose Ubuntu, no luck. Tried a few others, no luck. I think proof in life has it...gonna give it a go later.