Community Matters

I was running this blog (and a couple of others, as well as a mail server for a few domains and a few misc other things) on a Mac Mini Core Solo running Mac OS 10.4. But as much as I like OS X as a client OS – for a server it’s just more trouble then it’s worth. Yes, I can get most open source unix software for it, but then I need to maintain all this manually (OS updates just bring security fixes for the software Apple provided – so you keep having to look to make sure you are running the latest versions of everything else). And with the artificially messed up file system structure and some of the very odd defaults that Apple picked… I simply decided to give up.

Right now I am in the process of migration – and in order to make this smooth and easy and not to risk prolonged downtime, I decided to do this as a two step process. First migrate the server onto a different system running Linux, then once everything is tested and works and all data has been transferred, install Debian on the Mac Mini and transfer the server duties back to that (I just love the Mac Minis as servers – fast enough for a low traffic site like this and cool and quiet).

What are we running on right now, you ask? A PowerBook G4 12″ running Debian Etch ppc :-)

My apologies if the server feels a little slower than usual…

There were many very interesting talks at DefCon. Definitely worth the price of admission – actually, if I compare the $100 for DefCon to the several hundred and often more than a thousand dollars that other conferences charge, I have to admit that it might be the best conference in term of value for dollars that I have attended in a long time…

One of the highlights today was the talk by Oskar Sandberg about “Network Mathematics: Why is it a Small World?”. Here are two of my favorite quotes: “… for some definition of ‘most’, which is different from most definitions of ‘most’” and “Not knowing how to count is a basic skill if you want to be a mathematician!”

Before people wonder – I have a degree in math…

I’m at DefCon in Las Vegas. One of the more interesting conferences, if I may say so. Cash only – no name on your tag – the organizers actually don’t want to know your name at all; that way even if someone were able to force them to release the list of attendees, they simply couldn’t do it. Neat.

And the things that you can learn here are interesting, too. Lockpicking. How to get into WEP protected wireless networks. Why the security model of web browsers is fundamentally flawed. How to detect if your ISP is routing fairly or whether they are doing traffic shaping. Lots of cool stuff.

Oh, and there’s an interesting warning on their web site. Yes, there’s a free wireless network. But it is not recommended to connect your computer to it, unless you are ok with hackers breaking into the computer and potentially installing software on it… very cute!

Overall it is clear that the sense security of most users of the internet (and of other technologies like Bluetooth or RFID) is completely unjustifiable. Thankfully the people here are the good guys. But of course that makes me wonder what the bad guys can do…