Netgear wg111t

Linux Support
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Hi Mark - I burnt the CD at the slowest speed offered - x48 I think it said.

I am going to try a DVD and will burn that one at the slowest speed too. Since this worked for the Live Mint DVD burning that at the slowest speed then I know that it should work for Peppermint too.

The drive rattled around like crazy booting up from the Mint Live DVD and I thought that it was not going work but I ran it several times at it worked every time.

There are two USB things in the System Preferences for boot order but there are three USB slots so that might be another red herring.

Fingers crossed for the Peppermint DVD - I will let you know how it goes :slight_smile:

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Jeez … X48 was the SLOWEST ??? … I’d expect sommat like X4 :wink:

Anywho … a lot of ageing optical drives do better with burned DVD’s, IIRC the drive uses a different laser/frequency for DVD’s, so though it might first seem counter intuitive try a DVD (as you are doing) :wink:

I’ve seen hundreds of (usually laptop) optical drives that wouldn’t read CD’s but had no problem with DVD’s … odd eh ?

Just because the BIOS mentions “USB” in the boot device list doesn’t necessarily mean it can boot a USB memory stick … early BIOS’s could boot from a USB hard drive or USB optical drive, but saw USB memory sticks as “removable media” and wouldn’t boot them.

I’m not saying your system cant … it may well be able to … and if it came with Vista pre-installed there is actually a good chance it can, so if you have no luck with the DVD we can try it.

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ha ha! :slight_smile:

I am using InfraRecorder to burn as that was what was recommended on the Mint site.

It gives me loads of options for DVD - the lowest is x2 but there were only two options for CD - I can’t remember what the default was - maybe just “Maximum”.

I've seen hundreds of (usually laptop) optical drives that wouldn't read CD's but had no problem with DVD's .. odd eh ?

Handy to know that, though!

My old Amilo PC has Windows XP and it drove me mad crashing all the time. A friend borrows it now and then to use it for some car testing program that only runs on Windows and apart from that it lives in the cupboard. Although it is older than the HiGrade it might be a better spec? I might try that with Peppermint too :slight_smile:

Woooo! Peppermint Live DVD has booted! :slight_smile:

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Certainly worth a shot on the Amilo :slight_smile:

Please be aware Peppermint may not seem much quicker than Mint from the LiveDVD’s … they are both limited by the optical drive speed … but Peppermint will be much “snappier” than Mint once installed, specially on a low RAM system, as Mint will have used most of your RAM just for the OS, Peppermint on the other hand has a very small memory footprint :slight_smile:

[EDIT]

In Windows I always use ImgBurn (free) for burning CD/DVD’s, particularly for burning ISO images … hell It’s the one (and only) Windows application I still use in Linux (runs perfectly in WINE) :slight_smile:

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In Windows I always use ImgBurn (free) for burning CD/DVD's, particularly for burning ISO images .. hell It's the one (and only) Windows application I still use in Linux (runs perfectly in WINE)

Thanks for the tip :slight_smile:

Peppermint now installed - XP Gone Away!

Not sure if you are still up and about at this time of night - if you are - what was this bit all about? Will these commands need to be run just the once?

Ubuntu not being able to read commercial DVD's out-of-the box .. that just needs libdvdread4 installing to handle the CSS (content scrambling system) on commercial DVD's .. that is installed by default in Mint .. but you'd need to run 2 commands in Ubuntu or Peppermint .. we'll get round to that later

I will also need to check if this setup can use LastPass easily or if I need to set up something else.

This whole nightmare started about a month ago with a conversation . . .

[i]“Can you look at my computer, there’s a thing on it that I don’t know what it is and it won’t go away?”

“OK - what’s your password?”

“What . . . password?” [/i]

I checked my own computer on a site called “ShieldsUp!” and it reported was that it was one of the 2% connected to the internet that was properly secured. I didn’t dare check the HiGrade on the same site. I would imagine, from the state it was in, that it was one of the 2% that had a big “Eat Me!” neon sign on it.

After a lot of messing around trying to make sure that it really was cleaned up I decided that the best way to be sure it was OK was to ditch XP and start afresh with Linux. I am hoping that I was right in thinking that I didn’t need to reformat first? Happy to go back and do that if there is any doubt.

Anyway, next aim is to set it up with Linux so that it is as secure as possible. Which includes as easy as possible arrangements for the user to avoid accidentally leaving the door wide open and broadcasting how anyone or anything can break in and trash it again :slight_smile:

I know Linux is meant to be way more secure than Windows OS - but I am quite keen never to have to go through this again.

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Nope … if you told Peppermint to “replace Windows” during the install, it will have reformatted the whole drive anyway :slight_smile:

OK, I’m going to suggest you go here:
http://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=10313.msg76517#msg76517

and do what’s in stages 4, 5, 6, and 7 of that tutorial (be aware, you will need an active internet connection whilst doing this … so connect to your router with an ethernet cable)… skip the java stuff at the bottom of stage 7 if security is an issue, or unless java is necessary.

once you’ve done that, (to add commercial DVD support) back in the terminal run these 2 commands:

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4

then

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

(YES, those commands only need to be run once)

Security …

As long as the PC is going to be connected to the internet through a NAT router (such as your Netgear DG834), the only security measure you’re likely to need is to tell him never to give out his Linux password … no anti-virus, or anti-malware necessary :slight_smile:

If you REALLY want to lock it down … you could create a second account, set it as a “user” account (no root access) … then don’t give him the password to the account you’re currently using, that will lock him out of everywhere on the system except his home directory but it will also mean he can’t install software so will likely call you more often :wink:

Seriously … you don’t have to do anything … it’s already secure … this is NOT Windows, and is more secure than even your Mac :slight_smile:

The only thing he needs to know is not to download software from the internet (as you would in Windows or even your Mac) … instead install whatever software you want through your package manager(s) … then it all comes from trusted software repositories that are checked for malicious code.

And NEVER give out his Linux password.

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Hi Mark - thank you VERY much for all that information!

I was hoping that Peppermint installation would have reformatted so I am very pleased to hear that that is the case.

I already gave my partner a virtual clip around the ear for connecting to the internet with Windows as an “admin user” without password protection on the account. I explained all about the reasons NEVER to do that again, so to introduce exceptions now might confuse and dilute the message. He will be using public access wifi points and wifi around at friend and family homes as well. I think it is probably safer to instil some good habits - and they are more likely to stick if there are no “ifs, ands or buts” attached.

I will give him the passwords for both the “admin” and “personal” accounts, so he shouldn’t need to call for help - and will threaten him with as fate worse than death if he ever discloses them! No, better than that, I will help him to construct some memorable gibberish so that he will be less likely to have to write them down.

Without going into details, I know that I am following “best practice” guidelines for good passwords. As an aside, I discovered that in Windows XP and Mint Live CD, but not Peppermint, the initial log-in screen on this machine uses a US rather than UK keyboard layout. Including any character that is generated by different combinations of keystrokes depending on the keyboard layout, eg. @ or " in a login password can cause problems. With those two characters, for example, if you included either of them when setting the password then you would have to type the other one in order for the password to be recognised when you try to log in. (Maybe this is a well-known issue but it took me a while to fathom out what was going on!)

Seriously .. you don't have to do anything .. it's already secure .. this is NOT Windows, and is more secure than even your Mac

After the recent Mac Flashfake aka Flashback malware campaign and even more recent sale of gremlins targeting Linux as well as Windows and Mac, I think a healthy dose of security-paranoia is the best medicine.

The only thing he needs to know is not to download software from the internet (as you would in Windows or even your Mac) .. instead install whatever software you want through your package manager(s) .. then it all comes from trusted software repositories that are checked for malicious code.

Ah - that is very helpful to know too! He has got an Android phone too and is used to only getting apps from . . . Google Play? Anyway, hopefully this habit should be an easy one to boot him into - in the nicest possible way.

Off to follow the tutorial you have written and do those code thingies now - and many, many thanks again for all your help!

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You’re more than welcome :slight_smile:

Linux’s software repository system is the envy of both Microsoft and Apple … and one that Apple have copied (ish) for the iPhone, and M$ are trying to copy with Windows 8 store … ALL software is downloaded (through the package managers) from secured repositories, so it would be hard to get malicious code in there … most software is also open sourced, so the code is open for scrutinisation, and with everyone getting it from the same place, any malicious code would VERY quickly be found and removed from the repos.

It is possible to download software directly from the interweb, but Linux tends to make installing it difficult.

Anything that comes over a network will have the execute bit disabled and would need the user to enable it “as admin” … so there’s little risk of anything “self executing” … without you expressly giving software root privileges it wouldn’t be able to write ANYTHING outside the users home directory, so the system as a whole is safe.

I’m not saying it’s impossible to write malicious code for Linux … I’m saying it would find it difficult (nigh on impossible) to get into the software distribution channels, and without some hard work from the user even directly downloaded software can’t install.

So you’d pretty much have to do something stupid (and work at it) to get any malicious code onto your system in the first place :wink:

Further reading: -

Rick’s Rants - Should I get anti-virus software for my Linux box?

The short life and hard times of a Linux virus

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Thanks Mark - that’s really helpful.

Just had another thought about security . . .

Peppermint installation gave me the option to encrypt the home folder. I chose this option but with some misgivings. As you will know, you can do the same thing, or something similar, on a Mac. Never again! The encrypted “file vault” home folder on my Mac became corrupted. Not only could I not get in but it thought that it was 20 times bigger than the whole memory available. (I won’t add any more details of this horror - life is too short.)

My questions:

  1. What are the pros and cons of Peppermint home folder encryption?

(I am sure that this must be answered already somewhere.)

  1. What would you do, if it were your machine? :slight_smile:
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Only advantage I can think of is if you loose the laptop … someone else would not be able to read the contents of the files in your home directory without your password.

But I’m with you on this … unless there is a need, I don’t encrypt the home folder, it can cause issues with troubleshooting in the future and can loose you all your data if you ever forget your password.

If I NEEDED to store something in my home folder that was sensitive … I’d encrypt it with something like truecrypt, or just compress it with a password.

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That’s reassuring :slight_smile:

Having initially selected encryption, is there any way to undo this? I have had a good root around in the Peppermint GUI and I can’t find anything that seems relevant.

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Oh dear … I should have known that was coming :slight_smile:

YES, it can be undone, but is major surgery.

If you feel up to it, I suppose I can attempt instructions … but it would probably be quicker just to reinstall.

it requires you to -
backup your home directory
create a second administrator account
log onto the second account
delete your encrypted home directory
delete the hidden .ecryptfs directory in your backup
remove the encryption utilities from your system
then rename your backup to whatever your original home directory was called.

Then you’ll probably need to fix the swap partition … and remove the second user account.

it’s PARTIALLY explained here:
http://www.howtogeek.com/116179/how-to-disable-home-folder-encryption-after-installing-ubuntu/
but you’d need to install gnome-system-tools in Peppermint first … and that doesn’t cover fixing swap.

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Good job I am still playing around with this :slight_smile:

I think a reinstall looks easiest - by the time he gets back from the allotment he’ll not know the difference :slight_smile:

I can’t move from the computer anyway, every time I stand up the poor dog scrambles free from my clutches and tries to climb up the chimney. I love fireworks but there’s no reasoning with her ;-/

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Light a fire :wink:

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Ha ha! I wish I could - it’s absolutely freezing! Not been swept for about 10 years. It is only “boarded up” by a piece of hardboard propped up across the grate. I have blocked it off as best I can but she keeps wriggling in behind it all, trying to scrabble and nose the hardboard out of the way.

I realise this is a bit “off topic” but I just couldn’t find the subforum for “How to stop your dog climbing up the chimney while you are trying to install Linux” - bloody inconsiderate penguin-huggers!

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Hey, don’t knock penguin huggers … you have to be VERY brave to hug a penguin, Tux is armed, dangerous, and can have a serious mean streak :wink: