I dual boot windows and EndeavourOS. Every 6 to 12 months I make a concerted effort to make the switch 100% but it hasn't worked out yet. So while Linux is great windows is unavoidable. In this use case I suspect managing Windows tools will be simpler, though I agree that effectiveness next to Linux options won't be equal.
That was kinda my point. Securing a laptop that will have access to data you want to protect from loss is a near bottomless pit of issues. There comes a point you have to do a risk assessment and apply a level of security that meets your legal requirements and contractual obligations. I'm sure this is all doable on Linux as well but the low cost / easily available tools are mostly for Windows.
I suspect that taking the "secured remote session" approach is probably good enough for their needs. It just needs a client app you can trust to respect the security rules they want to enforce (no screen shots, no screen recording, no data transfers for any sort, etc).
OCRing what is on screen is not really stoppable unless you force them to keep their camera on so you can monitor them 24/7. But if you try hard enough there is usually a way around most security measures.
Either way, they need to decide what the risk impact vs likelihood profile is, and what the business can tolerate. They'll need to discuss it with legal and data protection folks to assess that.
One tip is to embed records and values that look meaningful, but are unique, into the copy of the data given to the specific employee. This can be used to potentially prove that a data breach was a result of something that employee did. We like to put QUID's as invisible watermarks in document headers. These trigger our DLP systems which is always funny cos its usually an employee who is leaving and wants to keep something. I love those conversions.
"Easy" from the point of view there a lots of off the shelf tools to help you do it that are easy to understand.
Yes, it is still excellent even by today's standards, and you can see why so many new shows followed their big budget approach.
There are a couple small parts that can be a bit hard to get through, but for me that's just part of the situation they are in, and it is all totally worth it.
No matter what anyone thinks of the ending, it does at least have a conclusion. You are not left wondering or half expecting a sequel.
This is the only reliable solution. To expand:
- Provide a Laptop with Windows on it, because that is easier to lockdown.
- apply desirable OS lock downs like blocking usb ports prevent storage devices, don't give the user admin rights, etc.
- Setup a VPN server (openvpn should do) and configure the laptop with a VPN client. Configure the client so it blocks network connections that don't go via the VPN. If you want to give them internet access you'll need a proxy and firewall and DLP solution. At this point it all gets very complex and expensive.
The real answer is you are probably screwed without investing a bunch of time, effort, and cost.
You might get away with more basic security measures if the user has very limited IT knowledge.
I suggest getting legal advice before you give the user access to your data in the manner you intend.
The phrase is "I Couldn't care less".
Sry. Long day. Still in pedantic mode.
To be consistent on a physical level.
I play guitar and games like rocket league, things that require excellent physical dexterity, and consistency is a big factor. I struggle to repeat physical actions the same way every time. I practice lots, and I'm reasonably good at both things (imho), but I know I screw up more than most people because I can't repeat things the same way every time.
Can confirm. There are a few web sites that have video evidence. Google it, and thank me later.
Omg now they're trying to profile where you keep your shit so their hackers can find your porn stash more efficiently. Don't tell them Pike!
I'm looking for evidence that this post is real. It is too perfect, like the stuff chatgpt produces. But I'm old and very cynical.
One alternative is her low IQ diagnosis was off. I suggest seeing someone to have that rechecked. If it turned out to be closer to the average 100 it could make her feel more positive about her own potential.
Like I said undertaking is bad. No excuse for doing it, except where it is legal. If someone goes under speed limit in lane 3 you can undertake I believe, though I would still be super cautious.
Obviously speeding is illegal, and I'm not suggesting anyone should support do so. But we should let the police deal with it.
Just to clarify, you don't think it is ok to sit in lane 2 or 3 at the speed limit if there is room to move over ? Not doing so is also illegal in the UK.
While the majority of people stay within the law (+/- 10%) there are enough people behaving badly on the roads that you should always take that into consideration.
This is a great example of the is/ought problem. You can try your best to make the "ought" true, but don't neglect what reality "is". On the road that means; assume there is an idiot nearby, and drive in a way that keeps you safe from their shit.
In the UK it goes lanes 1, 2, 3. You stay in lane 1. Lane 2 and 3 are for passing only.
You will often see members of the lane 2 owners club just cruising along in lane 2 but this effectively closes lane 1 (undertaking is illegal and very unsafe).
Sitting in lane 3 closes the entire motorway.
I agree there is a speed limit. But the law says you cannot just sit in lane 2 or 3 if you are not overtaking someone. They even updated the law recently. If you hog lane 2 or 3 the police can report you and the penalty is 3 points and £100 fine
People who sit in lane 3 at 69mph are breaking the law and likely to cause an accident by forcing people to pass on the wrong side out of frustration (yes illegal but they will do it) and this is why they are over taking lanes, not just cruising lanes.
Never be the reason someone else does something stupid on the road. Always do the safest thing.
Speaking from my own experience here is my method.
- Start by accepting that you will suffer, but think of the suffering like having a bad cold or the flu. You'll hate it but it will pass.
If you are quite a light smoker (handful per day) I would just quit and ride it out. If things get really bad allow yourself 1 but no more. You'll be surprised how quickly the worst cravings go away after a week.
If you're a heavy smoker take more of a run up to it, as follows.
Put off the first smoke of the day for as long as you can. E.g. if you usually smoke as soon as you get up then hold off until after breakfast. Next Day try for just before lunch, and so on over a week or so. Try to also put a gap between eating and smoking. Once you are down to a few a day then do the cold turkey thing.
The trick is actually not buying more cigarettes. If you have them till probably smoke them. But if not, that barrier helps.
I smoked from about 19yo until I was in my early thirties (about 1 pack per day). I also spent the nights smoking a lot of spliffs as well (that's weed with rolling tobacco). Now I only smoke Weed when I go down to see my friends which is like twice a year. I bring back enough tobacco to make 3 or 4 small roll ups which gets me through the come down over the following week. Then it is done.
Quitting the first time is fuck hard but the cravings pass. Now I find it quite easy because I'm used to doing it.
Good luck. You can do it.
Depending on which bit of the market you look at I suspect it could also go up.
Put all the various questions together and you have lots of good info to profile.
Can I fix an AUR package myself?
There is an AUR package that errors when I update it, and it has been like that for a while so I wondered if I could fix it myself?
The Package is here https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/filebrowser-bin
You can see my comment explaining the error under the username "mub".
On a dual monitor setup, how to set which display is the default for the Logon prompt in SDDM ?
I'm using EndeavourOS (Arch btw) with KDE plasma 6.x (Wayland), SDDM, and systemd as boot manager. I have 2 displays, one HDMI-A-1 (1080p) and one on DP-1 (Ultrawide).
When I boot the password entry cursor defaults to the HDMI display, but I want it to default to the DP-1 display.
I've tried a few things, mostly suggestions from ChatGPT. But nothing has worked. The weird thing is at boot the boot menu and boot messages all appear on DP-1, and it is set as primary in KDE and that works fine as well. It is just the logon prompt that defaults to the wrong display.
Things I've tried so far.
- Adding video=DP-1:e to the options in the systemd entry - (No effect)
- Edited /etc/sddm.conf.d/wayland.conf to run a script that did the following: kwriteconfig6 --file startkderc --group General --key PrimaryScreen DP-1 (didn't fix it, actually broke the logon process so had to remove it)
I'm just not familiar enough with how SDDM works so hoping for some good pointers to provide the answer or point me in the right direction.
Looking to have a common disk for my Linux / Windows dual boot pc. with BTRFS the way to go?
I'm running EndeavourOS and Windows 11. Each OS is on a separate disk, but I have a data disk that is currently NTFS that mount in both OSes. NTFS causes problems for some things in Linux, and I'm worried it'll bork the drive for windows eventually, so I'm keen to find an alternative. I've read about the WinBTRFS driver so wondering if that is a better way to go?
I don't want to run a server with a share to access this data because it is way to slow for my needs.
How do I change the default login screen?
I have 2 screens attached to my EndeavourOS (KDE Wayland) PC. The secondary is HDMI the primary is Display Port. The boot menu and boot messages all appear on the primary display, but once the login appears the password entry defaults to the secondary. How do I force it to default to the primary?
Things I want to be functional in Linux
I've been trying various Linux flavours every year for 10 years or so. The last year I tried Arch, then EndeavourOS, which has been my most successful Linux exploration I've ever had, and given me huge hope. However, there are still a few things preventing me switching it to my default OS.
I'll put aside Games that need Anti Cheat, as I doubt that will ever be fully fixed, unless Governments force game devs to support more than just Windows.
Here is what doesn't work for me:
- Streaming services like NowTV. (Works in Windows in browser only)
- DRM proected VST's for use with Reaper (not via Wine)
- Roblox (Using Waydroid was not very successful)
- Office 365 (I like Libreoffice and OnlyOffice but fact is Word and Excel are just required for some stuff)
What happened to glibc-widevine ?
I watch the F1 on NowTV. In windows this works fine in Firefox but not in Linux. My research turned up various posts linking to the "widevine" package that depends on "glibc-widevine" but that seems to have disappeared. What happened to it? did it work? where can I get it? is there an alternative?
Example - Here is a reusable systemd timer template that will run a script on a schedule under a specific user id
I recently moved to Arch (EndeavourOS) from Mint. Arch doesn't have cron installed as it uses systemd timers instead, and while I could have just installed cron that felt like a lazy answer.
Systemd timers are easy enough to use and I got it working straight away, but I bumped into a comment in the Arch wiki about using a template for the timer so it can be re-used. I'm a bit slow, so I spent a hours trying to work this out, but I couldn't find a good example. Anyway, I now have it working so I thought it would be useful for someone in the future for easy reference .
This is how you create a timer template that can be reused to run a oneshot service under a specific user. In this example it will run on the hour every hour.
Create the timer file.
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/everyhour@.timer
Paste the following into that file, save and close.
``` [Unit] Description=Run %i every hour
[Timer] OnCalendar=--* *:00:00 Persistent=true Unit=%i.service
[Install] WantedBy=timers.target ```
Create the service file for the script or command you want to run. (using "myscript" in this example)
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/myscript.service
Paste the following into that file, save and close.
``` [Unit] Description=My Script
[Service] User=username group=username Type=oneshot ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/command -parameters ```
Now enable and start the timer
sudo systemctl enable everyhour@myscript.timer sudo systemctl start everyhour@myscript.timer
Hey Linux devs - Build a GUI or gtfo
Not everything actually requires a GUI, obviously. But anything that requires configuration, especially for controlling a hardware device, should have a fully functional GUI. I know Linux is all about being in control, and users should not be afraid to use the command line, but if you have to learn another bespoke command syntax and the location and structure of the related configuration files just to get something basic to work then the developer has frankly half arsed it. Developers need to provide GUI's so that their software can be used by as many people as possible. GUI's use a common language that everyone understands (is something on or off, what numeric values are allowed, what do the options mean).
Every 12 to 18 months I make an effort to switch to Linux. Right now I'm using Archlinux, and it has been a successful trip so far, except my audio is screwed, I can't use my capture card at all, I had issues with my dual displays at the start, and the is no easy way to configure my AMD graphics card for over clocking or well anything basic at all.
I'm not looking for a windows clone, I love that I can choose different desktop environments and theme many of them to death. I even like the fact there are so many distros. Choice is a big part of linux, but there is clearly a desire to get more people moving away from Windows and until that path is 95% seamless most people just won't. Right now I think Linux is 75% to 85% seamless depending on the use case and distro but adding more GUI front ends would, imho, push that well into the 90% zone.
GUI is not a dirty word, it is what makes using a new OS possible for more people.
EDIT: Good conversation all. This is genuinely not intended to be a troll post, I just feel it is good to share experiences especially on the frustations that arise from move between OSes.
Distorted audio from Focusrite 2i2
Using KDE plasma, Archlinux, Pipewire, Focusrite 2i2 3rd Gen
Audio from built-in audio and via GPU into display speakers all works fine but audio through my Focusrite is badly distorted, like it is running at super-low quality.
I've spent most of today trying to work out how to make pipewire use the right bit/sample rates. It. This should be a basic GUI feature, and certainly shouldn't need to sudo edit cryptic files to configure this stuff. I use Reaper and I'll need to change bit / sample rates from time to time, so having to make with config files is just nuts. This should be a basic function available in the control panel (Like windows has had for decades). / rant
Anyway, I genuinely want to fix this problem and would really like a GUI tool for it, but a working config edit will do at this point. I can' also make a script to tweak it on demand I suppose.
There is a video that suggests building a new kernel driver for it, which is even more nuts for something so basic.
Multi-monitor and Adaptive sync issues hold me back from making the switch to Linux
System spec - Ryzen 3700X CPU - AMD RX 7900 XT GPU
I got an AMD GPU specifically because I wanted to switch to Linux. I've done a bunch of testing over the last year while I still had an nVidia card. Now I've got an AMD GPU I feel ready but it has not gone well.
When I use multiple monitors I get a range of odd behaviours, including a white screen, lock ups, failure to display anything on second screen. I've unplugged the second screen for now and all is OK except that adaptive sync does not work properly.
When I set adaptive sync to "Always" in the settings the screen sort of flickers when I move the mouse. To be more precise the screen gets a bit brighter when the mouse is moved, then returns to previous slightly dimmer brightness when the mouse is stopped. There are no errors that I've found.
Both of those issues happen in fresh Fedora 38 and Arch Linux installs. I'm running KDE-plasma (using Wayland not X) so it seems like a KDE issue. Though I'm about to test it with a Fedora and gnome install next, though I doubt it will be any different.
EDIT: Small update. Running Arch/KDE. I have found I can get it sort of working. I boot the PC with a single monitor (my 165Hz ultrawide) and set it to 60Hz, then turn on the second (1080p 60Hz) monitor. At this point I can set the then changing the ultrawide to 165Hz and set adaptive sync to automatic, but I have to do this process everytime I turn my PC on. Also, if it goes to sleep or I want to shutdown/reboot it goes mad again and things lock up. I have to turn off the second monitor off before I reboot/shutdown, or before I goes to sleep. Then I have to go through the whole process again. Obviosuly not ideal.
EDIT2: Turns out it was the old LCD I was using as a second display. It has been around a very long time, and while it always worked OK it clearly doesn't like something about how Linux talks to it. Anyway it is working now. Though Adaptive sync on the desktop is still flickery.
Worlds cutest mini server and comms rack
Server
- Lenovo M700 Tiny Mini PC i7 6700t / 16GB RAM / 256GB M.2 + 1TB SSD
- OS - Linux Mint
- Hosting - Plex, qbittorrent, SMB, Minecraft, Terraria
"Core" Switch
- TP-Link 5 Port Gigabit Switch
WIFI and Internet Router / Firewall
- Ubiquity Unifi Dream Machine