Category: Uncategorized

Lego Mindstorms robots might have a problem if you have their EV3 control computer connected to a network. Original message is from Heise (in German, Google-translated version is here). Seems like Bashlite is attacking these, building some botnet with them.

So should you have Lego robots with that EV3 computer, it might be a good idea to scan your own network, and/or to block port 23 (telnet). Should your school have these, inform the teachers as well.

Hmmm. These headlines in Twenty Sixteen are really bold. Plus it wastes lots of space. So for the moment I’m back to Twenty Fifteen.

Update from Thursday morning, December 10th, 2015:

– using a theme called Origin for the moment. Love its simplicity; let’s see how it goes, and if I still like it after a while.

A search input is missing here, so if I want to recall what I wrote about something or someone (like for instance Youn Sun Nah), that content will be hard to find. Found the search, which you can add as a widget like usual. But And this one sure looks good, even on different devices. Check here (also for your own webpage/blog).

I wrote about installing Linux on machines/mainboards with UEFI firmware in http://wolfgang.lonien.de/2015/08/done-with-rebuilding-the-computer/). This is how I did it on my upgraded computer at home, where I dual boot Debian “Jessie” and Windows 10. And since a colleague at work had some trouble with a new Lenovo machine, here are some tips which might help:

1. Check your boot medium (more help in happyassassin and in reddit)

[de153403@oc0654677850 ~]$ sudo tail -f /var/log/messages

Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: new high speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=058f, idProduct=6366
Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: Product: Flash Card Reader/Writer
Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: Manufacturer: Generic
Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: SerialNumber: 058F63666438
Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Nov 27 08:06:32 oc0654677850 kernel: Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
Nov 27 08:06:32 oc0654677850 kernel: scsi6 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Nov 27 08:06:32 oc0654677850 kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
Nov 27 08:06:32 oc0654677850 kernel: USB Mass Storage support registered.
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access Multiple Card Reader 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] 61071360 512-byte logical blocks: (31.2 GB/29.1 GiB)
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sdb: sdb1
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: ISOFS: Unable to identify CD-ROM format.

[de153403@oc0654677850 ~]$ sudo parted /dev/sdb
GNU Parted 2.1
Using /dev/sdb
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) p
Model: Multiple Card Reader (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 31.3GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 31.3GB 31.3GB Microsoft Basic Data

(parted)

From the article on happyassassin:

“See that Partition table: msdos? This is an MBR/MS-DOS formatted disk. If it was GPT-formatted, that would say gpt. You can reformat the disk with the other type of partition table by doing mklabel gpt or mklabel msdos from within parted. This will destroy the contents of the disk.”

2. So make sure it’s a GPT drive, and copy over your Linux OS image, then boot/install.

I just read an article on ZDNet which reminded me of it. There are possibly many ways to do it, but the two links above helped me to successfully get both Windows (first), and Linux (second) onto that new SSD, and even if I should ever upgrade any of these again, they won’t overwrite each others MBR – because there isn’t one anymore.

Hope that helps anyone who wants/needs this information.

As always, thanks for reading.

P.S. – Update from Sunday, November 29th, 2015:

Debian developer Andreas Metzler just did the same, with one of the newest self-assembly projects of c’t magazine (Skylake generation CPU). He describes it on his blog. And the keyword for an UEFI boot medium is Rufus.

Just tryin’ it. Disabled Javascript in about:config. See http://www.wired.com/2015/11/i-turned-off-javascript-for-a-whole-week-and-it-was-glorious/

No public content anymore:

I have enough. If Henry Cartier-Bresson would have lived today, he would probably have himself seen forced to do the same.

People are just not worth it. ‘nuf said.

Update:

Ok, I know this is unfair. And some people deserve an explanation. So here it is:

– Today I was forced to remove a picture made at one of Zuleikha’s birthdays, showing her with some friends. And although the focus was clearly on our own daughter, the argument was: “You didn’t ask”.

This isn’t – and wasn’t – the first time.

So I’ve decided that enough is enough. If people want to die without anyone even remembering how they looked, it’s their choice. If they force me to remove a perfectly fine picture of our daughter so that she cannot show it anymore after she grows up, it’s another thing. Yes, I could have placed black bars across people’s eyes – but that would have ruined the shot as well.

People are just overly anal these days about having their pictures displayed, and yet at the same time they take millions of crappy phone photos themselves and post them on public (so-called “social”) networks. All well and good and their choice entirely. But I get really mad when someone forces me to take away pictures where the focus wasn’t even on their kid, and where no names were displayed, and so on and so forth. That’s why I wrote that even HCB wouldn’t have had a chance today to become the hero he clearly is.

I do have some photos of people where I also have written model releases. But these are not my strong ones; I’ve made all of them while still learning, so keeping only these wouldn’t have any merit for those models, and also not for me.

Landscapes? Our cat? Flowers and bees? All not my strong points, with maybe the exception of the cat.

So I have to think, a lot, long and hard. But what I know already is that I’ll never again show people pictures. Except of course when I have a written contract (model release) with them (or their parents), and when I also consider the photo to be worth it. So chances are that you’ll never see people pictures from me again.

Hope that explains it.

Thanks for reading.

I ordered this one at work, to replace my older Logitech keyboard:

It has JK-0800 as the manufacturer’s number on its bottom, but it’s also known as KC1000, which is printed on the lower left of its top surface. It’s currently the #1 top selling keyboard on Amazon, and available there for under 10€.

Super nice, super quiet, and tho I changed keyboards with the machine running, all keys including the special keys worked as expected – even on Linux. These four special keys are: calculator, mail, browser, and sleep.

Recommended.

From 21 “lights” (single exposures), no darks, no flats, no bias frames:

Thanks for viewing.

Just saw that I now have more than 3 million views on Flickr:

I don’t look at these very often anymore, notice how bad everything renders in browser windows which are not enlarged to full screen size.

Programmers aren’t what they used to be…

But thanks for viewing and reading, like always.

This morning we had quite a bit fog outside, so I was a bit surprised that after arriving at work, there seemed to be a patch of clear sky above. And tho in the light-polluted Frankfurt morning sky you can only see a few of the brightest stars out there, I knew that there are billions of suns above. Or, like Zuleikha said when she was younger and meant a real huge number:

“Hundertmillionentausendeinundachtzigsechsundzwanzig”
(Zuleikha, while younger)

Thanks for reading.

Thanks for viewing.