Entries for RoyalSchrubber

SecurityTube - something to bookmark [SecurityTube - something to bookmark]

RoyalSchrubber — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:17:23 GMT

http://www.securitytube.net/

New tube here, I think it might be useful for niner devs and admins here. Check this subpage for a list of videos.

There's also a video from one elf that managed to escape C9. If you're reading this - that was cool presentation. :)

in reply to SecurityTube - something to bookmark

Digital pens - any recommendations? [Digital pens - any recommendations?]

RoyalSchrubber — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:58:26 GMT

I was thinking of getting one, but can't decide on which one - I've read some reviews and it seems many of them are not completely reliable as they sometimes leave out sections of writing. At least that's what some people at Amazon think, but it might be that they are just not using/holding it correctly.

So I am wondering if any niner has any experience with these things, are they just toys or can they be used in real environment like college lectures where you have to write lots of condensed text very fast. Any particular product that you like?

in reply to Digital pens - any recommendations?

Census - Linux [Census - Linux]

RoyalSchrubber — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:36:36 GMT

So Ubuntu (sirhomer?) has been crying bout how everybody is dissin' (lol) him because he's using linux..

Just to keep nuts like him from playing this card let's make a list of niners that prefer and/or use Linux daily that also think other niners don't ridicule or attack them because of their OS preference. I know this proves nothing to trolls like him, but we can just shove them this thread when they start crying how this is some kind of fanboi site conspiracy... bah...

Everybody using linux, raise your hands.. :)

in reply to Census - Linux

heya [heya]

RoyalSchrubber — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:00:22 GMT

EDIT: I see channel9.msdn.com/forums/Test/ is linked to channel9.msdn.com/forums/Feedback/.. didn't actually want to post in feedback, I was just looking if you guys use some hidden forum for testing.. :P

in reply to heya

After Pandora, Last.fm joining axis of evil too? [After Pandora, Last.fm joining axis of evil too?]

RoyalSchrubber — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:11:50 GMT

Last.fm decided they don't want to stream their radio service for free anymore and next month to start charging money. How selfish! The exception to this are US, UK and Germany. (http://blog.last.fm/2009/03/24/lastfm-radio-announcement).

So in this darkest hour I'm asking fellow niners to join rebellion and become member of free-is-free group (http://www.last.fm/group/FREE+IS+FREE). Optionally you can change last.fm avatar picture to picture of free-is-free group and send this call to arms message to other people that you have in friends list so they too can join this just cause.

in reply to After Pandora, Last.fm joining axis of evil too?

Command prompts [Command prompts]

RoyalSchrubber — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:27:33 GMT

So I've decided I should try to use unix/linux as day-to-day OS, not because I've got something against Windows (I love it..), just because I think I should get some experience in the other camp. Am sure it won't last long.

Anyway, I've read "Why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby" - didn't like it much because it doesn't go into any details, the text is something between tutorial and a real book.
I think I like ruby, now I am thinking about learning ruby on rails (after one real ruby book). So I've installed netbeans 6.1 on opensuse. I know netbeans rocks for java, now in version 6 it even has support for few other languages, ruby among them.

Now netbeans detected it has to update rails (it's 1.2, newest rails is 2.1, and I don't see any button to update it in OS package manager - thank you novell), but it complained because root permission is needed for update.
Fine let me just go to terminal, maybe netbeans has special binary like in windows, maybe simple 'netbeans' will work.. not. So I did 'ps aux' to get command that fired this process. No matter how much I resized terminal I couldn't get command. Ok, so 'ps aux > lol.txt'.

I got this:

/bin/bash /usr/local/netbeans-6.1/bin/../platform8/lib/nbexec --userdir /home/myself/.netbeans/6.1 --jdkhome /usr/lib/jvm/java --branding nb --clusters /usr/local/netbeans-6.1/nb6.1:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/ide9:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/java2:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/xml2:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/apisupport1:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/enterprise5:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/mobility8:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/profiler3:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/gsf1:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/ruby2:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/visualweb2:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/soa2:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/identity2:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/uml5:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/harness:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/cnd2: -J-Dnetbeans.importclass=org.netbeans.upgrade.AutoUpgrade -J-Dnetbeans.accept_license_class=org.netbeans.license.AcceptLicense -J-Xmx339m -J-Dcom.sun.aas.installRoot=/usr/local/glassfish-v2ur2 -J-client -J-Xss2m -J-Xms32m -J-XX:PermSize=32m -J-XX:MaxPermSize=200m -J-Xverify:none -J-Dapple.laf.useScreenMenuBar=true -J-Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true myself 8553 11.0 7.2 723436 140872 ? Sl 18:48 0:20 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-sun-1.6.0.u7/bin/java -Djdk.home=/usr/lib/jvm/java -classpath /usr/local/netbeans-6.1/platform8/lib/boot.jar:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/platform8/lib/org-openide-modules.jar:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/platform8/lib/org-openide-util.jar:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/platform8/lib/locale/boot_ja.jar:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/platform8/lib/locale/boot_pt_BR.jar:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/platform8/lib/locale/boot_zh_CN.jar:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/platform8/lib/locale/org-openide-modules_ja.jar:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/platform8/lib/locale/org-openide-modules_pt_BR.jar:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/platform8/lib/locale/org-openide-modules_zh_CN.jar:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/platform8/lib/locale/org-openide-util_ja.jar:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/platform8/lib/locale/org-openide-util_pt_BR.jar:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/platform8/lib/locale/org-openide-util_zh_CN.jar:/usr/lib/jvm/java/lib/dt.jar:/usr/lib/jvm/java/lib/tools.jar -Dnetbeans.system_http_proxy=DIRECT -Dnetbeans.system_http_non_proxy_hosts= -Dnetbeans.dirs=/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/nb6.1:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/ide9:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/java2:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/xml2:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/apisupport1:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/enterprise5:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/mobility8:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/profiler3:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/gsf1:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/ruby2:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/visualweb2:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/soa2:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/identity2:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/uml5:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/harness:/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/cnd2: -Dnetbeans.home=/usr/local/netbeans-6.1/platform8 -Dnetbeans.importclass=org.netbeans.upgrade.AutoUpgrade -Dnetbeans.accept_license_class=org.netbeans.license.AcceptLicense -Xmx339m -Dcom.sun.aas.installRoot=/usr/local/glassfish-v2ur2 -client -Xss2m -Xms32m -XX:PermSize=32m -XX:MaxPermSize=200m -Xverify:none -Dapple.laf.useScreenMenuBar=true -Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true org.netbeans.Main --userdir /home/myself/.netbeans/6.1 --branding nb

Got to say this is the biggest command I've ever seen. It's the king command. Ruler of command prompts. I'm amazed. Wow. Where is it even saved? :O

Now that this is out (and rails updated successfully), I'm asking - is it worth learning rails. It's a skill sure, but after reading this and this, I think rails is useless skill. As you've probably learned I'm trying to teach myself little about web developing (long ago I knew classic asp and sql and.. but time passed).

On the one hand I want something that will save me time, but on the other hand I'm afraid rails will go too much in my way with its forced ORM and MVC and whatnot and I won't be able to touch bare metal (html and sql in this case) as easily. And I don't want to spend dozens of hours tryng to "get it" and then figure framework plain sucks. So what do you think about Rails. Any good? Or should I first go with standard php and asp.net (and its shiny webforms)?

in reply to Command prompts

offtopic - FF customization [offtopic - FF customization]

RoyalSchrubber — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:13:06 GMT

just want to share -

so I was again lurking on ubuntu forums, when I found this plugin - I completely unintentionally made firefox pretty:

Don't you hate default FF look/theme with that fat blue menu? I'm not fan of third-party extensions, but I'm making exception with 'glasser' and 'hide menubar' (hides menu bar, but you can still access it with alt key - like in IE7).

I'm though staying with IE, as by the time ff get 'protected mode' we will probably already have ff3 'awesome bar' in IE8..

:)

in reply to offtopic - FF customization

Java update - anyone else upset? [Java update - anyone else upset?]

RoyalSchrubber — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:19:35 GMT

So after JRE update I get this dialog every time I open IE:

First Apple, now Sun. I'm saddened how multinational corporations treat security currently. WTF does Sun think, I'm not going to run IE in root. Of course I disabled Add-on, but many will just click 'Allow' and complain later about UAC (and insecurity). Malicious. Stupid Sun, grrr :S

in reply to Java update - anyone else upset?

Floppies [Floppies]

RoyalSchrubber — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:26:47 GMT

Last time a friend was complaining about Vista I dismissed him with "I use it over a year and I had no major problems with it".

A bit latter he asked me for stuff I had on disk - "sure, I'll give it to you on usb flash key" - and here pops this well known bug - file transfer from hard disk to usb disks is /slow/ on Vista. I usually don't care for speeds but this time I cursed a bit, and assured him and myself that SP1 is supposed to fix that. Well I hoped that MS would fix this issue with Service Pack 1.

Today I installed SP1 via Windows Update. Tried copying largish file (700 MB) to usb. Hmmm 5 minutes. Jumped to Ubuntu which is installed together with my Vista. Same 5 minutes. Guess a little bit more than 2 MB/s is max speed for my key.

Then we go to a usage scenario that is more common with me - copying VS project folder containing dozens of smaller files. The project is actually very small (it's my hobby project), 860 KB, so I've duplicated it 4 times - now it's 3.22 MB in 188 files and 56 folders.

Let's copy that. Clock stopped at 2:15. That's 135 seconds. Freaking a lot for 3 MB these days.

So let's visit Ubuntu again - copied that same folder with 3 MB of files to the key, unmounted the key (Linux works a bit differently, you have to "unmount" usb key in menus for data to be actually written). It was so quick I couldn't even measure it reliably. So I copied that folder 5 times, now I got 20 project in a folder.
At this point unmounting lasted 25 seconds. As you can see this time Linux doesn't write at full 2 MB/s too, but it is far far far (and I stress the word far) ahead from windows. 5 (25/5 = 5) seconds against 135 seconds. 27 fold speed difference.

I've updated second PC, the one that has Vista installed for less than two weeks and has no junk like you might suspect previous system had. 2:25.
You can argue measurement was not performed reliably - remove 50% of measured time in favour to Windows and Linux still beats it heavily.

I also don't do that to bash windows (go and see my previous posts, I actually hate Linux with passion), but this thing really bothers me.

I will be happy if anybody can convince me I made mistake and this complete post is a pile of nonsense and if that happens I'll remove it, else the post's staying.
It's high time for some execs to actually respond to this, some people inside MS have been sitting on their asses more than a year not doing anything to fix the problem. XP performed much better, this kind of stuff gives bad name to Windows and Microsoft.

Why's the title "floppies"?

According to these two pages:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/fdd/confSpeed-c.html,
http://www.usbyte.com/common/floppy_disk.htm

copying to floppies would actually work better for me - on Windows 3.1 most common 1.44 MB diskette works at 60 KB/s...

sorry...

:|

in reply to Floppies

Optimization question [Optimization question]

RoyalSchrubber — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:19:43 GMT

So I have a couple of floats (ok millions) that I convert to bitmap (it's my pet project - madelbrot renderer - floats come from f(x,y), then I use color gradient info to convert it to RGBs).

I do this in two steps - first generating floats (that's usually slower), then rendering (converting to RGBs/bitmap) - I do this in two steps so that user can dynamically change gradient in real-time.
I can do 20 fps at 800x600 with no anti-aliasing on core2, but that's too slow if somebody wants to view fractal over whole screen.

Right now I use 24bit RGB format - but the question is - will my code run faster if I use 32bits per pixel (aRGB) format and use int to write color to a pixel array instead of using 3 bytes?
That way I'll use 1/3 more RAM bandwidth and use few shift and OR instructions, but on the other hand have 3x less ram operations.

It's really not that much code to change (couple of hours), but I'm lazy and if you know answer from experience please do tell it to me. I've got a feeling aRGB will work better, am I right? :)

Oh I use C#.

in reply to Optimization question

Re: Optimization question [Optimization question]

RoyalSchrubber — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:19:43 GMT

longnight wrote:
I’m curios here, I have a lot of fun playing with the Bitmap image buffer in managed C++, but I haven’t found a good way to do this using C#. Can you shed some light on how you’re accessing the image buffer in C#?

Hey, real magician never reveals his tricks... j/k, it's really easy:

Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(width, height, PixelFormat.Format24bppRgb);
BitmapData bmpData = bmp.LockBits(new Rectangle(0, 0, bmp.Width, bmp.Height), System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageLockMode.ReadWrite, bmp.PixelFormat);
int stride = bmpData.Stride;
byte[] rgbValues = new byte[stride * bmp.Height];
//fill rgbValues; make sure to jump (stride - width * 3) after each line
IntPtr ptr = bmpData.Scan0;
System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.Copy(rgbValues, 0, ptr, stride * bmp.Height);
bmp.UnlockBits(bmpData);
pictureBox1.Image = bmp;

here I don't use buffer directly but rather copy managed bitmap array back to bitmap object - the advantage is safer code as you don't have to use unsafe keyword and fiddle with pointers, the bad side is performace - that's why I'll probably change code and use ptr directly - (along with using PixelFormat.Format32bppRgb).

(dunno if you know this - c# can use pointers just like c and c++ - http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/y31yhkeb(VS.80).aspx)

in reply to Optimization question

minor annoyance with text anti-aliasing (vista vs .net) [minor annoyance with text anti-aliasing (vista vs .net)]

RoyalSchrubber — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:34:07 GMT

This really doesn't bother me very much, but if anyone knows the reason why text is rendered differently then enlighten me please. :)

So here's the crime scene:

Magnified:

Left button has text rendered on Paint event of that button, right button has Text property set to the same text.

You can see there is not much difference, though I think right (vista) version of button looks slightly better.

Code that generates .NET button looks like this:

e.Graphics.DrawString("Infinity color", button2.Font, new SolidBrush(button2.ForeColor), x, y);

I don't see why these two buttons don't render the same. Does Vista use newer version of anti-aliasing technology that is not available in .NET?

(guess I'll have to go fiddle with win32 api - but I don't want to :P)

in reply to minor annoyance with text anti-aliasing (vista vs .net)

Bug or feature? [Bug or feature?]

RoyalSchrubber — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:15:50 GMT

What's up with this?

It's rather annoying - I'm logged in, but it keeps asking me for username and password every time I open new page.

in reply to Bug or feature?

Missing shortcuts in vista [Missing shortcuts in vista]

RoyalSchrubber — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:38:42 GMT

Hmm, it started when I pressed Windows button, entered 'Notepad', probably only first few letters and expected to write my notice in no time (I use notepad a lot for short notes). Nothing happens, turns out shortcut for notepad is missing.
Ok probably I've accidently deleted it when I was managing folder with start button shortcuts. I create shortcut to notepad.exe and place it back where it ought to be.

Few months later some random application's shortcut is missing - yep, my fault, creating shortcut to exe again.

Today, shortcut to Command Prompt is missing. This doesn't look so innocent anymore. Yep, it's not innocent at all, according to internets it's not happening to just me.

So is this bug eating your shortcuts too, any idea what would cause this problem, any solution?

:)

in reply to Missing shortcuts in vista

Re: What do you want to see in Windows Seven? [What do you want to see in Windows Seven?]

RoyalSchrubber — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:29:39 GMT

CompGuy101 wrote:
What do I want to see in Windows 7?

Luna and the old file explorer.

Why do you need old explorer, what feature do you miss?

in reply to What do you want to see in Windows Seven?

Few words for admins [Few words for admins]

RoyalSchrubber — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:22:41 GMT

about this thread

Is it possible for this forum to receive features in future that would uncover linked accounts? Maybe first two bytes of IP number that would reveal ISP?

:D

in reply to Few words for admins

Re: HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE [Re: HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE]

RoyalSchrubber — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 03:54:07 GMT

Burger Chef wrote:

Why is it perfectly ok to post a topic called "how to get to hell when you die" but I can't post "how to get to heaven when you die" in the off topic area?

Heh, I wanted to point out on how many levels your posts are wrong but I wont.
You see (as far as I know) we don't have samples of your species in EU, so as this is my first time interacting with your kind I would like to ask you only one question: How old is the Earth?

:D

in reply to Re: HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE

Statistics [Statistics]

RoyalSchrubber — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:36:10 GMT

Anybody else thinks this chart is just a little bit cuckoo?

http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20071119

I've found it on digg, it's kinda funny so I think I need to share it.

Also, apparently graph is flawed bacause of mountain of Windows-based spam bots - else Linux would have even higher share!! :P

"but the sheer number of search and spam bots which access the web site daily and which invariable identify themselves as arriving from a Windows client make the result look overly flattering for the Microsoft operating system"

Priceless. Lol. :P :P

in reply to Statistics

Re: This Just In [Re: This Just In]

RoyalSchrubber — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:23:52 GMT

Look, a kitty-tree, isn't it pretty?

This is spartacaaaaturday!!! :P

in reply to Re: This Just In

Image Resizing - Siggraph 2007 [Image Resizing - Siggraph 2007]

RoyalSchrubber — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:52:27 GMT

I thought you might find this interesting - yt movie about amazing new technology presented at Siggraph 2007 for resizing pictures / retouching.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/08/28/adobe-hires-co-inventor-of-image-resizer-technology/

This is witchcraft! :O

in reply to Image Resizing - Siggraph 2007

ubuntu & security :S [ubuntu & security :S]

RoyalSchrubber — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 21:53:25 GMT

lol, today I spentwasted a lot time on ubuntu forums. In one topic someone reported potentially very severe privilege escalation bug. The problem is really few realized how bad it is and generally everybody was saying it's unlikely that the bug could make any harm. Fine - but please make concrete explanation why it isn't vulnerability - don't just ignore everything I've written and discard my every word.

So the debate went very hot, I 'spammed' a lot and at the end we didn't come to any conclusion. Thread is now locked and any additions need to be approved - they censured me. I’m also sure they won’t fix it in this or future releases of Ubuntu.

Little explanation of the bug:
File in /home/<user>/.bashrc is writable to unprivileged user account. Broken application could append 'alias sudo=<fakesudotrojanexecutable>' which would make bash run fake sudo instead of real one. This fake sudo could then read root password when user runs sudo and essentially computer is from now on in hacker's hands.

Anyway I’m not able to confirm these claims, because I don't have Ubuntu installation available at the moment, but if what has been described is true it means Ubuntu has potentially very severe bug.
Can any niner with Ubuntu confirm it? No loony from Ubuntu forums was actually able to make definite confirmation. :S

It's just soooo unlikely for them (for whatever reason) that any application could buffer overflow and then take advantage of this bug. It's ridiculous - they just dismissed it. They have no clue about how computer systems are broken. I'm disgusted with their attitude - it shows how ignorant this crowd is.
Windows systems were massively hacked because of similar holes, however it appears even now Linux users can dismiss such bugs and get away with it and only because their market share is so low.

To all niners: please don't take any further measurements to get this bug fixed. Let's just wait till next release and find out if they are ignorant enough to let the bug live in new version too. Btw, the bug was already officially filed and I made quite a lot of wind there. Just sit and watch.

:|

in reply to ubuntu & security :S

Linus on revision contol and git [Linus on revision contol and git]

RoyalSchrubber — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 02:00:37 GMT

I've found interesting video taken at Google with Linus Torvalds speaking particularly about Git and generally about revision control systems.

I haven't really used revision systems, so for me it's new thing and it's nice because Linus talked in a tone that even newbies can enjoy (it's quite a show :) ) however if you use revesion control systems daily maybe this video can be even useful to you.

BTW, if you do use it, what kind of revision system do you have?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpnKHJAok8

in reply to Linus on revision contol and git

When in Japan do as... / some blog story [When in Japan do as... / some blog story]

RoyalSchrubber — Mon, 28 May 2007 23:10:15 GMT

Blog entry about Australian living in Japan and his return. Somewhat interesting story. :)

http://firefly.yourjapan.jp/post/2/358

in reply to When in Japan do as... / some blog story

Zune for iPod [Zune for iPod]

RoyalSchrubber — Sat, 26 May 2007 04:28:06 GMT

http://flickr.com/photos/fimoculous/503637222/

Appearantly in Redmond we can get free Zune for iPod. To the bin with iPods :P

Apple - Bite me.

Good joke ms. [H]

in reply to Zune for iPod

The simplest puzzle to keep whole highschool busy for a week [The simplest puzzle to keep whole highschool busy for a week]

RoyalSchrubber — Sat, 19 May 2007 19:28:54 GMT

Yes, that's true. This is probably the most simplest and the most trickiest puzzle and it is guaranteed to keep classroom of highschool students including their teachers busy for at least a day. :D

My sister (who is currently in high school) brought it to me - it's kinda funny because she said that one of her classmates came up with it and said he saw it on internet and that the puzzle is solvable. As outcome the whole class became obsessed with it, including one teacher (who reportedly did not listen to one pupil's homework report, because she was busy with solving :s ).

Anyway, do you think you have what it takes to solve this puzzle? [H]

If you do, then here are the rules:
You have 16 lines connected like this.

Your objective is to draw one continuous line (that means you cannot hold up your pencil and start drawing somewhere else), which will cross all lines once and only once. The line you draw doesn't need to be straight, is allowed to cross itself any can begin or end anywhere and you don't need to finnish where you started drawing it.
Sounds pretty simple? Well, it often happens that you think you've solved it, but what really happen is that you forgot to cross one line or you crossed a line twice.

Try it yourself or show it to other people and watch how they'll waste tones of paper and go nuts with it.

Btw, I've solved it, tell me if you need any hints :P

in reply to The simplest puzzle to keep whole highschool busy for a week