May 2010 - main - earth.li

Re: [ALUG] ssh assistance please
by mick 09 May '10

09 May '10

On Sun, 9 May 2010 15:29:18 +0100 "Martin A. Brooks" <martin(a)hinterlands.org> allegedly wrote: > You might have better luck using a regular VPN such as OpenVPN. > Here's a HOWTO: > > http://hinterlands.org/wiki/index.php/OpenVPNQuickstart > Martin/Brett Thanks - but unless I'm missing something obvious, the VPN solution won't work easily in my scenario. Bear in mind that I want 90% (or so) of my web browsing to go out normally (unproxied). I only want my tor traffic (from separately configured browsers on various clients) to go via the proxy to the external VPS. And I want a simple configuration which means I point to a local proxy. If I set up a VPN from my local proxy (say 192.168.1.20) to my VPS (say 195.195.195.195) that will give me a route to the VPS which is independent of the normal default route to the outside. That would mean that I would need to reconfigure my clients to add a new static route to the VPS via the tunnel on the local proxy. That adds a complication I don't want. Of course, if I could set up a VPN from my external router that would make it slightly easier, but I'm pretty sure my cisco wont run openvpn. So autossh looks like the way to go (thanks Brett). But I'd still like to know why the tunnel dies. Mick --------------------------------------------------------------------- The text file for RFC 854 contains exactly 854 lines. Do you think there is any cosmic significance in this? Douglas E Comer - Internetworking with TCP/IP Volume 1 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc854.txt ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: [ALUG] ssh assistance please
by Martin A. Brooks 09 May '10

09 May '10

On Sun, May 9, 2010 13:01, mick wrote: > I have a problem with ssh tunneling that is puzzling me. > > I run tor on a VPS. My tor node also runs privoxy (chained to tor) so that I may use the VPS for my own tor browsing. > > When I want to use tor myself, I have for some time simply set up a tunnel to my VPS as so: > > ssh -N -C -l mick -f -L 2000:127.0.0.1:8118 tornode > > (so I am listening locally on 2000 and forwarding to privoxy on the tor node.) You might have better luck using a regular VPN such as OpenVPN. Here's a HOWTO: http://hinterlands.org/wiki/index.php/OpenVPNQuickstart

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ssh assistance please
by mick 09 May '10

09 May '10

I have a problem with ssh tunneling that is puzzling me. I run tor on a VPS. My tor node also runs privoxy (chained to tor) so that I may use the VPS for my own tor browsing. When I want to use tor myself, I have for some time simply set up a tunnel to my VPS as so: ssh -N -C -l mick -f -L 2000:127.0.0.1:8118 tornode (so I am listening locally on 2000 and forwarding to privoxy on the tor node.) Locally I use a completely separate browser (opera, suitably locked down) set to proxy through localhost:2000. This all works fine and I connect through tor as I would expect. But, I have several different client machines around (including one used by my wife). Rather than have the same setup on each machine (and possibly cause my wife difficulty she does not want) I have recently been experimenting with using one of my small debian devices (a sheevaplug) as a proxy so that all I have to do is set up the browser on each client machine. On the proxy machine I used: ssh -N -C -g -l mick -f -L 192.168.1.20:8000:127.0.0.1:8118 tornode (so I am now listening on 192.168.1.20 port 8000 and forwarding to privoxy on the tornode. The -g switch lets other hosts connect.) Again, this all works fine. The proxy has a listener on port 8000, it forwards correctly and my modified client browsers can successfully connect through tor. But here's the rub. The listener dies after some (as yet to be determined, but > 30 mins) period of inactivity. This means I cannot rely on the proxy being up when I (or more importantly, my wife) want it. I have searched for obvious timeout configuration options, but I confess I don't know enough about ssh to know what I should be looking for (ClientAliveCountMax, ClientAliveInterval server side? or ServerAliveCountMax, ServerAliveInterval client side? ) Any ideas anyone? Mick --------------------------------------------------------------------- The text file for RFC 854 contains exactly 854 lines. Do you think there is any cosmic significance in this? Douglas E Comer - Internetworking with TCP/IP Volume 1 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc854.txt ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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Large box of computer crud
by Martin A. Brooks 09 May '10

09 May '10

Hello I have finally got round to sorting out my office a bit and I have compiled a box full of stuff that's of no use to me but might be to you. This box contains (at least): * Dust * A 56k modem (ooooh!) * A USB TV tuner (ahhhh!) * A 128Mb pen drive (gasp!) * A USB ethernet adaptor * A CD-ROM drive * A boxed usb internet phone * A PCI TV tuner A many many more cables, fans, adaptors, convertors, screws, nuts, bolts, thermal paste, weird backing plates etc etc. Claiming this wonderful prize is easy. Please be the first person to say "I can come and collect this from your house -today-, I know you live at approximately RM3 7EG." The amount of money I would like for this is £0.00. I will even throw in an antibodyMX tshirt (please indicate your size M, L or XL).

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Grub Menu Editing Xubuntu
by Simon Royal 09 May '10

09 May '10

Hi. How do you edit the list in the grub menu in Xubuntu. Since installing 9.10 and upgrading to 10.04 I have been informed of updates to 'linux headers' and it keeps adding to entries. How do you delete older versions from the list? Simon --- http://twitter.com/SimonRoyal - http://www.tinyurl.com/macspectrum (sent using Sony Ericsson P990i)

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Deleting directories which only contain old files
by Mark Rogers 08 May '10

08 May '10

Starting in a directory on my server, I need to delete all directories below it which only contain files older than a certain age. To be clear, I don't just want to delete old files; if a directory has any new files in it then I don't want to delete the older files that might also be in there. Background: I run dspam on a server, and it creates a directory for each mail address it scans, containing a log and a quarantine mailbox, amongst other things. I have many many directories that were created automatically for non-existent users and haven't seen any changes in months or even years, but "active" directories do have old files in them (preferences files, etc). So I want to find directories that haven't had any of their contents change in (say) 6 months, and then delete the whole directory. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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Bluetooth - help!
by Chris G 07 May '10

07 May '10

I'm trying to get my desktop Linux box to talk Bluetooth and I'm *very* lost. I've plugged in a USB Bluetooth 'dongle' and it's sitting there happily flashing its blue LED. So now what do I do? :-) If I run bluetooth-wizard it loses me completely, I don't really know which 'end' it's asking for information about. The other end I'm trying to communicate with is a Nokia E71 phone. Can someone describe in simple terms what I should be doing to pair my computer with the phone? (Note: I have successfully paired other Bluetooth devices before now, in particular a SatNav and a bluetooth equipped crash helmet) -- Chris Green

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concatenate two jpeg images
by Ian Thompson-Bell 07 May '10

07 May '10

I have two jpeg images that I can arrange to have the same height. I want to combine then into a single image of the two, side by side. I cannot seem to find a way to do this in GIMP. Any ideas? Cheers Ian

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Thunderbird 3 Smart Folders
by Wayne Stallwood 06 May '10

06 May '10

Ok after an initial "ugh" when Thunderbird got updated to version 3 as part of my upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04 I have sort of adjusted and it *is* better. But one thing that I can't get is adding smart folders properly...has anyone done this and how ? At the top of the folder tree I have an "Inbox" smart folder which is a combination of my local (pop collected) inbox and an imap work one I want to add another smart folder that only shows unread items in the same way just under this. I can change the filter on the existing "Inbox" smart folder so that messages are only shown if status-isn't-read and that works fine (although annoyingly it only updates if you leave it and navigate back) but what I can't seem to do is add an additional folder that behaves like this. I worked out that the easy way to add new smart folders is to perform a search and then in the search options click "save search as virtual folder" but this only allows me to add the virtual folder as a subfolder to one of my existing accounts...not put it at the top with the other smart folders.

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Keyboard is king?
by Anthony Anson 06 May '10

06 May '10

Can anyone suggest why, occasionally, I turn on the Eee (t's still running Tellytubbies Xandros) and no keyboard function works. Right arrow, left arrow, tab, nuffin. Order is restored when the mouse is tweaked. -- Tony Anson www.girolle.co.uk/

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