September 2011
1 post
5 tags
RVM + rSpec = Compatibility Fun!
Rubyists make a decision which version of which flavour is their preferred, either generally or for that project. But, does it not seem that sitting inside their chosen one a little closed-minded and unfriendly to others’ preferences? It does to me, so I’m combining the magic of RVM with my rSpec testing to make my software cross-version — and even cross-Ruby — compatible.
Erm…...
April 2011
1 post
fsfe UK Meet #1 →
The evening of Thursday 7th April saw the inaugural meeting of fellows in the Free Software Foundation Europe’s British branch. Generously hosted by MaDLab, Manchester’s…
March 2011
1 post
3 tags
RVM: Ruby Projects in a World of their Own
Whether you’re just starting to use Ruby or have been for a while, when you pull in the first Gem you had better be using RVM, the Ruby Version Manager. Why? Well, RVM allows you to easily set-up not only multiple versions of Ruby but also per-project sets of Gems, and for you to seamlessly switch between them. By having a number of persistent Rubies on your system simultaneously, each...
November 2010
1 post
3 tags
On Firewood And Kindling
Thursday saw the latest monthly meet of Linux users in and around Chester; its Liverpudlian counterpart to follow this Wednesday. A member of each has recently added to their gadgetry a popular proprietary electronic book reader, the Kindle from onile retailer Amazon.
The thin, “revolutionary wireless reading device” aims to bring books into the digital age, both at leisure and on the...
September 2010
1 post
5 tags
Ruby/GTK+ Development in SliTaz: Part II
Last time, we got off to a flying start with a simple desktop application powered by Ruby. We shall run through completing the wizard with a simple selector widget (a spinner) and displaying that result in the final page. This is just to use one of the many widgets, show off the wizard and how to do some magic in it.
Before we get back into Glade³, you may notice a small ‘feature’ in...
August 2010
2 posts
5 tags
Ruby/GTK+ Development in SliTaz: Part I
One of my recent adventures has led to packaging the bindings I promised, so you can now develop GTK+ desktop applications that are powered by Ruby! The package I created is for SliTaz Linux, which I’ll be using in this series of posts to get you up and running. We shall walk through the process to get a basic application designed, built and running with the help of a couple of tools. I came...
5 tags
Ruby, Gtk+ & SliTaz... Nearly!
Just shy of two days was enough to let me make the lives of Ruby scribblers using the ever-awesome SliTaz Linux distribution that little bit sweeter. Sure, anyone with Ruby and its add-on system RubyGems can run web apps via Ruby on Rails in a snap, but what about desktop apps? Well…
Coming soon to a package manager near you: Ruby/Gtk+ !
The package is oh-so-very-nearly ready to be...
May 2010
1 post
4 tags
Who Are You? And What Do You Want (to do with my...
Facebook has been hitting the headlines recently as users are enraged, frustrated and disappointed by the ways in which the company handle the users’ data. Well — according to Facebook’s Terms of Use the data doesn’t really belong to the user but Facebook Inc., the company behind the site. Go and have a quick read through them if you don’t believe me; you may be...
April 2010
2 posts
4 tags
On Your Docs, Set, Sprint!
Internet giants Google run a Summer of Code programme, in which ‘students’ each work on an open-source project, guided by mentors from their selected project. It’s a fantastic idea with good momentum and hype behind it; 3,400 students in nearly 100 countries have been accepted since its 2005 inception.
On the back of this, an article recently asked where the “Summer of...
3 tags
I'm Free!
As a software developer, the issue of copyright and distributivity can be a contentious issue. Some coders want to keep total control over their work, others want to share it among users.
Usually, software developed in a proprietary manner; I define this as many developers working for one company, which hides the wares from anyone else. This one company wants to capitalise on their idea —...
February 2010
1 post
4 tags
Don't Miss DEFT: v5X Review
Almost two months have passed since Stefano Fratepietro released the ‘100% Italian’ forensics distribution, DEFT Linux v5X. With support to its development given by the Italian Information System Forensics Association, this 660MB+ Xubuntu-based distribution is one not to miss.
Start-Up
Similar to the high number of *buntu derivatives, the boot screen presents the option to start...
January 2010
1 post
2 tags
Pitfalls of mounting file systems - Suhanov Maxim... →
This short paper identifies requirements of forensic Linux distributions regarding boot-time file-system handling. Maxim identifies a couple of issues with boot-loaders & initialisation scripts and compares leading products for their vulnerability.
December 2009
1 post
3 tags
FreeBSD: 101... and a bit
In the last post in this three-parter, we installed FreeBSD on to either a physical or virtual computer. Now we need to apply some basic configuration to adjust permissions, choose a graphical log-in manager and start the desktop. Don’t worry, though: it’s very straightforward!
We have a basic FreeBSD installation, ready and waiting to be started. If we do so, we are presented with...
November 2009
3 posts
4 tags
CAINE 1.5 - "Shining" Example of Concious...
Four weeks ago I reviewed CAINE v1.0, the first full release of the Italian computer forensics LiveCD. It took the development team a mere six weeks to release version 1.5; how much an improvement is this edition? How far can one distribution go in such a short time to reach such an increment?
Well, should you look at the ChangeLog, the answer would be not very far. The changes listed are just...
1 tag
Computer Forensic Analysis in a Virtual... →
Discusses the use of virtualisation to facilitate analysis of imaged suspect storage. While the virtualised environment differs greatly from areal-world set-up, this method can prove powerful for live file analysis and/or re-creating the basics of the system.
4 tags
One Step to Admiration and Appreciation
So often doing something is simply not enough. You need to show what has been achieved, talk about it, point out how other people can use it, build upon it. Most importantly of all, though: write about it.
Words on paper cement your actions and efforts for everyone to admire. This is more true in the digital world than ; describing your code is arguably more important than writing code in...
October 2009
2 posts
4 tags
CAINE v1.0 Released & Reviewed
It may be said that Linux distributions are like buses: we can wait at the roadside and see many interesting things go by, when we are waiting for our favourite to come around the corner it seems an age and we worry we’ve missed something, the old adage that we wait and - eventually - many turn up at once. No more true is that than now because Ubuntu has just had a new release, Fedora is...
3 tags
FreeBSD: 101
The majority of content here focusses on the GNU/Linux operating system because it is freely available to obtain, install and use. An alternative lies in its perhaps lesser-used cousins, the BSD family. While slightly more technical, they are an equally ultra-reliable bunch. If Linux isn’t quite your thing, you may wish to use FreeBSD instead. It’s good idea to at least acknowledge...
September 2009
7 posts
3 tags
Harden a Linux Kernel
At the core of any operating system is its kernel, the basic software code that manages system resources and where all code between application and computer passes through. One can imagine that as this software is at the most basic level, it is a prime target for exploitation.
This disadvantage can be turned around, however; by introducing or imporving security measures at this level means that...
2 tags
Excellent Trick on JPG Images. An Image That... →
Interesting tutorial to create one file that is both a JPEG and a ZIP.
2 tags
Bringing the Basics Together
From the previous few posts, I’ve touched on a number of resources that focus on the concepts of digital forensics. From the outset, digital forensics is often seen as a classy, high-tech operation bringing reams of information at the quick touch of a few buttons. The reality, however is slightly different. While an investigator can often find what they were looking for quickly, more and...
3 tags
Digital Forensics using Linux and Open Source... →
Consise yet wide-ranging overview presentation of many of the concepts of using F/OSS in forensics. If you don’t understand some of the terms used, research them as background.
2 tags
Concepts of Digital Forensics -- P. Gladyshev... →
For the techie or experienced computer user; this paper introduces some procedures that investigators will use in a broad yet reasoning sense. Well written and understandable to those with a good background in computing.
2 tags
Crash Course in Digital Forensics -- Brian... →
This presentation by Brian Carrier provides a good outline of the digital forensic process. He points out the basic approach to a digital forensics investigation and the issues that one needs to be familiar with while doing so, such as file formats. Various resources provide greater depth. Some popular terms such as ‘known-good hashes’ are also defined.
2 tags
Also, while you're there...
Since leaving college with the highest award for my Multimedia course, my creative side has given way to my more proficient technical one. Gone were the days spent hunched over sketchbooks and snappily-taken photographs, designing for print and/or web; it has been the eye for detail, thinking in code and conundrums for Computer Science at university.
It’s balancing out now, though. I want...
July 2009
1 post
2 tags
About Me!
Why, hello there!
I’m Ben and this is my little corner of the web. I’m spending three years of my life being a bit of a geek at university, studying for a degree in Computer Science. I’ve a keen interest in Linux & free / open-source software, web technologies & design, security & forensics.
Amongst some of the great people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in...
May 2009
1 post
1 tag
“You wake me up early in the morning to tell me I am right? Please wait until I...”
– Johann von Neumann, on being phoned at 10am.