Tech/Computer advice from me

[Fear The Spear]

I think I found a tutorial that will solve my problem, seemingly much easier !

Nice find! Didn't watch the whole thing, but it looks like a simple linux kernel.

Use ISORecorder to burn the ISO file to a CD. It works on Xp really well. There's tons of those software programs but ISO recorder is super lightweight/quick
ISO Recorder
You want V2

I'm attempting this now, but stuck, big-time
I put in both CD with the ISO version of the PLOP file on it, as well as the flash in the USB, with the ISO version of the Ubunu installation file on it, and no other files. Then rebooted.
It got as far as that menu he shows in the video (@3:07) where it gives you the choice to boot from USB.
So I clicked on USB, then it comes to a black screen with a flashing "dash cursor" and it's been doing that for such a long time, that it seems evident that it's stuck, and not going to advance.
So, it seems like it read the PLOP file from the CD, but then when it got to the USB, it got stuck and couldn't read it.
But I have no idea why. The Ubuntu installation file was successfully converted to a ISO image file, and it's
the only file on the flash drive, so could you tell me why it's apparently not reading it, or what else might be going on ?

 

[tshile]

The iso file is essentially a representation of a CD. You use that file to burn the contents to a CD (using iso recorder or a similar product.)

If you're going to use a usb then you have to rip the contents of the iso to the usb drive. Just dragging the file into the drive won't do anything. Computers don't know how to boot to an ISO file.

Unfortunately I'm not in a position to look up instructions for you right now. I would think they would be in the Ubuntu boot to usb instruction.

 

[Fear The Spear]

Unfortunately I'm not in a position to look up instructions for you right now. I would think they would be in the Ubuntu boot to usb instruction.

Yea I double-checked the Ubuntu instructions for USB, and the only thing it told me specific to USB installation was to try pressing F12 - which still did not work

"Using a USB drive?
If your computer doesn’t automatically do so, you might need to press the F12 key to bring up the boot menu"

Install Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS | Ubuntu

 

[tshile]

Yea I double-checked the Ubuntu instructions for USB, and the only thing it told me specific to USB installation was to try pressing F12 - which still did not work

"Using a USB drive?
If your computer doesn’t automatically do so, you might need to press the F12 key to bring up the boot menu"

Install Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS | Ubuntu

Those are the instructions for after you make the USB drive bootable.

How to create a bootable USB stick on Windows | Ubuntu

Follow those first, using the xubuntu iso you downloaded, then go back to the ubuntu instructions

 

[Fear The Spear]

Those are the instructions for after you make the USB drive bootable.

How to create a bootable USB stick on Windows | Ubuntu

Follow those first, using the xubuntu iso you downloaded, then go back to the ubuntu instructions

Thanks so much, that worked perfectly for installation. Finally got Xubuntu to completely replace Windows successfully.
My frustration continues though.
Really intimidated, that Ubuntu relies so much on manual commands in the Terminal. It's like learning a new language, and I'm clueless, because so many things require long complex entries in the Terminal that I can't figure out.
For example, I can't even get Adobe Flash Player to work, as youtube won't even play videos in firefox. The software center shows Adobe is installed, but apparently I need another add-on or plug-in for videos to play correctly. I've tried Googling and using the Ask Ubuntu forum, and gone to the Adobe website, and the Firefox Help, but they all give different answers, and I've attempted them all, and either they don't work, or I can't understand the instructions.

For example, tried all these suggestions
firefox - Adobe Flash Player is not working in 12.04 - Ask Ubuntu

When I tried the Firefox help, it led me to these instructions, but again I got stuck figuring out the commands. First it told me I needed to install manually - then in Step 5 the command they give me to open the directory in downloads, doesn't work.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/k...talling-flash-using-the-plugin-finder-service

I am sooo frustrated. Again, I look for answers, and either I get 100 different answers, and they either don't work, or the computer language is way above my head. Please help
I am really trying, and doin my best to use internet resources, so I don't have to keep bothering you guys so much, but the answers I'm getting are scattered and confusing and outdated, etc

 

[Fear The Spear]

I have literally been working the entire day on this - and it is the worst headach ever.
I have made zero progress despite combing every possible internet source, and experimenting with every suggestion.
My head is about to explode, and I feel like crushing this PC into pieces.
Between trying to get the adobe flash player plug-ins to work so I can play streaming videos, to the beyond-confusing commands that it requires that I enter into the Terminal or CLI, it is more overwhelming than anything I have ever done.
Why do they have to make flash plugins so complicated on this system ?
Is there an easy answer or troubleshooting that I am somehow missing ?????

 

[Chris]

I'm sorry you're having such a tough time. But your experience is a cautionary tale for anyone who gets a bug up their butt to try something so ambitious. My guess is that anyone with the technical skills necessary to successfully navigate such a complicated task doesn't need to come here for help.

Do yourself a favor and buy a Mac or a new Windows machine. You'll live longer.

 

[tshile]

I have literally been working the entire day on this - and it is the worst headach ever.
I have made zero progress despite combing every possible internet source, and experimenting with every suggestion.
My head is about to explode, and I feel like crushing this PC into pieces.
Between trying to get the adobe flash player plug-ins to work so I can play streaming videos, to the beyond-confusing commands that it requires that I enter into the Terminal or CLI, it is more overwhelming than anything I have ever done.
Why do they have to make flash plugins so complicated on this system ?
Is there an easy answer or troubleshooting that I am somehow missing ?????

I can't seem to find my power adapter for my mac, which has all my virtual machines on it, so I can't test it right now. I think it's in the office - but my house is a disaster because of remodeling, so I don't know. I'll check my office when I go in this afternoon.

So, here's what I found searching. Here's my google query: flashplayer, firefox, ubuntu
The second link is to Ubuntu's help page for plug-ins: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FirefoxPlugins
That has links for all the popular plugins. If you click on flash player it brings you to a page where you can choose the different flavors of Ubuntu. Following the links eventually takes you here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/Flash

I can't test it, but give it a shot. If it doesn't work then I'll see wtf I have to do to get it working on my virtual machine as soon as I find that damn power cord...

As for all the terminal stuff - That's Linux for you, and that's why Linux struggles to be accepted as a major desktop environment. Ubuntu is among the more robust, user friendly distributions of Linux. It has a Software Package Manager you can run as a GUI (Graphical User Interface, instead of a CLI - command line interface, ie: terminal) to do this stuff. It should accommodate the more popular stuff (flash player, for instance), but the more obscure stuff may require terminal commands. You can normally find these in the instructions, or by googling for it.

Yes - it's a little more of a pain in the ass, but you get what you paid for The OS is free. It is what it is

On a side note - this is why we said to use the windows install of ubuntu for a week To find this stuff out, so when you had a problem you could simply boot into your xp machine to get done what you wanted while you waited for an answer on how to solve a problem You're not the first person to change OS's and go "Erm... wait... wtf how do you do simple stuff"

Once you get the hang of it the ride will smooth out for you a bit.

The answers for all the questions you'll seek on this are out there, you just have to find them. If you find yourself getting really frustrated then post your problem here and step back away from the situation until one of us comes back with some suggestions. It'll stop you from throwing your PC out the window

That said - I'm going out of town Wednesday - next Tuesday, so if you don't hear from me don't think I'm ignoring you.

 

[Fear The Spear]

I'm sorry you're having such a tough time. But your experience is a cautionary tale for anyone who gets a bug up their butt to try something so ambitious. My guess is that anyone with the technical skills necessary to successfully navigate such a complicated task doesn't need to come here for help.

Do yourself a favor and buy a Mac or a new Windows machine. You'll live longer.

The only thing I can afford is free.
My financial situation is worse than you can imagine.

I can't seem to find my power adapter for my mac, which has all my virtual machines on it, so I can't test it right now. I think it's in the office - but my house is a disaster because of remodeling, so I don't know. I'll check my office when I go in this afternoon.

So, here's what I found searching. Here's my google query: flashplayer, firefox, ubuntu
The second link is to Ubuntu's help page for plug-ins: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FirefoxPlugins
That has links for all the popular plugins. If you click on flash player it brings you to a page where you can choose the different flavors of Ubuntu. Following the links eventually takes you here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/Flash

I can't test it, but give it a shot. If it doesn't work then I'll see wtf I have to do to get it working on my virtual machine as soon as I find that damn power cord...

Yea I already had that "ubuntu-restricted-extras" from that first link you gave, and the vidoes still did not work.
When I used the 2nd link you gave, and then clicked on "Flash Links", it took me to that first link you gave.
Although, on the 2nd link you gave, there were other links on that page, that I wasn't sure if they were relevant.
In the first paragraph it states, "If you are using other, unsupported versions of Mozilla Firefox and would like to install or update plugins, see the Mozilla Browser Plugin Support Documentation. ". That links me to this page for plugins.

PluginDoc: Home

But there is nothing there for Ubuntu/Xubuntu. Only for Linux. Will the Linux files work ?

I have a similar question on Linux. Often when I go to play a video, it indicates the need for a plug-in, and sends me to this page.
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

But again, when I drop-down on that menu, the closest thing I can find is Linux. I actually tried downloading all of those files, in case any of them worked. But when I extract the files after download, there is no exe file in the folder to install the plugin. So I assume that IF it works and it's the right file, then I probably need to enter the commands manually in Terminal.

Another thing I noticed is this.
I have another PC, in which I installed the dual Windows & Xubuntu. And the video works perfectly on that, just like it did on this PC, when it ran on the dual Windows & Xubuntu. It wasn't until I switched from the dual OS on this PC, to replacing Windows completely with Xubuntu, that I started having major video issues.
So I determined that the PC with the dual OS's that's playing videos correctly, actually has Xubuntu version 12.04.4 on it. While the PC that is running solely on Xubuntu, which the vids do NOT play on, is Xubuntu version 13.10
So, the older version is actually running better than the newer, as far as vids go apparently

 

[SkinnedAussie]

The CLI is rarely used these days (or at least was!) as nearly everything that isn't pre-installed can be installed by using the Ubuntu Store. However, I don't know if it exists in Xubuntu.

What you might need to do is install the restricted-extras pack.

Get rid of the default media players, and install VLC. This has EVERY media codec you'll ever need. If nothing plays, then you might have a graphics card problem.

That's about all I can think of for now.

 

[servumtuum]

Worse in what respect?

In terms of sending email - they all get your email to where you're trying to send it

In terms of spam protection? No idea, I don't use them all. Gmail does a good job. That should be the next topic I cover... preventing spam...

In terms of privacy? No idea. I default to - there is no privacy. 8 years ago I would have said you have nothing to worry about with GMail. Maybe even 3 years ago. But I don't trust that company at all anymore. It's a damn shame. I don't even know who rocketmail is but I'd trust them more than google at this point...

Security - Gmail has top security. No idea about the rest, I believe yahoo had a data breach not too long ago (not related to email, but still...)

I think most of them are probably on the same level across the board and you're probably best off making your decision based on: what kind of email address you can get (firstname.lastname@gmail.com might be better than lolinternet42@yahoo.com or whatever) and how much you like using the interface. To be completely honest.

I'm sure there's email providers dedicated to privacy and security above them, and probably aren't being tapped into by the NSA due to their lack of public recognition, but I wouldn't know one from another.

You may not have gone far enough in your declaration of "you have no privacy". Let me relate what happened to me over the past couple of days in discovering just how little "privacy" there is.

So I was expecting a UPS package delivery and went into UPS tracking to follow its progress-I didn't want this particular package to be left at my door when I wasn't home and noticed a UPS app called UPS MY Choice offering a more detailed listing of where the packakges I was tracking were-essentially informing me of every time it was scanned from one location to another-so I signed up for it. It is quite useful but what raised an eyebrow occured during the process of UPS verifying my identity for the initial sign up. I was asked a series of questions of the following type; a listing of streets or cities with the request being to check qany I had actually lived at. Three questions all had streets I had lived on.

They covered most of the places I have lived over the last 25 years.

25 years.


Remember the old X-Files meme "The truth is out there?"

So is your history, apparently.


Right after encountering this divulging of how "available" information about me seems to be I received a notification about "Heartbleed"

Some of you may already know about this one. It's been around for about the last couple of years or so, and what it is is a hack taking advantage of a vulnerability in the coding for secure socket layers/transport layer security (SSL/TLS), the protocol for encrypting information for transmitting sensitive personal information across the internet-things like passwords, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, email and similar. If you see "https" rather than "http" in your address bar, like in Facebook, your email, bank, or another site, it's using SSL/TSL.

It's apparently not all that secure.

Here's a more detailed account for you to enjoy: Heartbleed Bug

 

[fansince62]

Ok all.....fairly major vulnerability was exposed the other day to the OpenSSL implementation. Without going into details...SSL (or TLS) is the protocol used to secure most public Internet connections these days. When you see a URL that begins that's SSL. Well, this particular vulnerability is exploited through a buffer overflow that allows complete access to memory - all keys, passwords, credentials, credit card info, etc., are exposed. The exploit has been demonstrated and the vulnerability has been in the field for nearly two years now. Much of the Internet web service infrastructure is Apache based - which uses OpenSSL.

Fol is a link to sites that have engineered OpenSSL into their architecture AND have implemented the needed patch. Rec you visit, determine if you have accounts at any of these sites. If so, change your passwords. The providers should also be generating strategies downstream for replacing certificates.

Vulnerability is labelled Heartbleed if you want to run a search for more details. Punchline: coders looking to expedite memory management operations employed a wrapper short-cut that got them in trouble.

The Heartbleed Hit List: The Passwords You Need to Change Right Now

addendum: just caught Serv's post.

 

[fansince62]

You may not have gone far enough in your declaration of "you have no privacy". Let me relate what happened to me over the past couple of days in discovering just how little "privacy" there is.

So I was expecting a UPS package delivery and went into UPS tracking to follow its progress-I didn't want this particular package to be left at my door when I wasn't home and noticed a UPS app called UPS MY Choice offering a more detailed listing of where the packakges I was tracking were-essentially informing me of every time it was scanned from one location to another-so I signed up for it. It is quite useful but what raised an eyebrow occured during the process of UPS verifying my identity for the initial sign up. I was asked a series of questions of the following type; a listing of streets or cities with the request being to check qany I had actually lived at. Three questions all had streets I had lived on.

They covered most of the places I have lived over the last 25 years.

25 years.


Remember the old X-Files meme "The truth is out there?"

So is your history, apparently.


Right after encountering this divulging of how "available" information about me seems to be I received a notification about "Heartbleed"

Some of you may already know about this one. It's been around for about the last couple of years or so, and what it is is a hack taking advantage of a vulnerability in the coding for secure socket layers/transport layer security (SSL/TLS), the protocol for encrypting information for transmitting sensitive personal information across the internet-things like passwords, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, email and similar. If you see "https" rather than "http" in your address bar, like in Facebook, your email, bank, or another site, it's using SSL/TSL.

It's apparently not all that secure.

Here's a more detailed account for you to enjoy: Heartbleed Bug

Privacy is a very sticky problem.

1) It's not well defined. What is private information turns out to be highly context dependent. So, what's the response when context changes?

2) It runs smack counter to other objectives - detecting, attributing and catching bad actors.

3) Data aggregation is an age old problem that is incredibly hard to solve. One can go to different information repositories, find personal info that isn't normally considered private - but combine these data pieces and now someone can pretty easily build quite a profile on your identity, patterns, etc. on the flip side...and I'm not sure this is good or bad....data management practices across different organizational entities is not good/consistent...making it exceedingly difficult to combine these different sources to deliver credible results. for example, you'd be surprised how...in the medical community...the same malady can be classified in drastically different ways.....hugely complicating a simple question: are we documenting the same thing?

4) This is largely a data management problem in the sense of data science. There are ways to de-identify and re-identify information. But there are no standards.

 

[Henry]

I just heard about this heartbleed bug yesterday. I've changed a couple of my passwords, but just how big a deal is this?

 

[Boone]

I have to wonder if the folks publishing every detail of how our privacy can be breached in excruciating technical detail are helping or hurting us. It's basically putting up a billboard alerting anyone interested in malicious activity advertising 'how to' accomplish it.

 

[fansince62]

I have to wonder if the folks publishing every detail of how our privacy can be breached in excruciating technical detail are helping or hurting us. It's basically putting up a billboard alerting anyone interested in malicious activity advertising 'how to' accomplish it.

Yea...that's the dilemma.

break break

Henry...they really don't know because it near impossible to detect.

 

[fansince62]

Yeah, I remember in the 90s when the local DC news station ran a story about how easy Toyota Corolla's were to break in to the numbers for break ins to them skyrocketed and people think the story of "how they do it" taught some people as well as warned others to watch out.

you live in San Dog. I remember going through the RAG there and hearing local radio stations broadcasting how to beat drug tests!

 

[Fear The Spear]

The answers for all the questions you'll seek on this are out there, you just have to find them. If you find yourself getting really frustrated then post your problem here and step back away from the situation until one of us comes back with some suggestions. It'll stop you from throwing your PC out the window

The CLI is rarely used these days (or at least was!) as nearly everything that isn't pre-installed can be installed by using the Ubuntu Store. However, I don't know if it exists in Xubuntu.

What you might need to do is install the restricted-extras pack.

Get rid of the default media players, and install VLC. This has EVERY media codec you'll ever need. If nothing plays, then you might have a graphics card problem.

That's about all I can think of for now.

It appears that I have fixed this thing. I switched to another version of Xubuntu.
I was previously running Xubuntu version 13.10. Then replaced it with Xubuntu version 12.04.4
That has seemingly taken care of the video/flash issues, as far as I'm aware.
Word on the street is, that the newer version 13.10 has some bugs in it.
Don't know if that's true, but the older version actually worked better for me.
Thanks again Tshile, for showing me how to format the flash drive, to boot an OS installation file from it. That was a huge difference maker. Don't know what I would have done, without that knowledge.
And of course, thanks SA, and all the others who have offered suggestions

 

[fansince62]

It appears that I have fixed this thing. I switched to another version of Xubuntu.
I was previously running Xubuntu version 13.10. Then replaced it with Xubuntu version 12.04.4
That has seemingly taken care of the video/flash issues, as far as I'm aware.
Word on the street is, that the newer version 13.10 has some bugs in it.
Don't know if that's true, but the older version actually worked better for me.
Thanks again Tshile, for showing me how to format the flash drive, to boot an OS installation file from it. That was a huge difference maker. Don't know what I would have done, without that knowledge.
And of course, thanks SA, and all the others who have offered suggestions

take a look at what the newer version was intended to fix - not just I/O. always helps to know where the vulnerabilities might lurk.

 

[Chris]

Reading today that Heartbleed can also infect home modems and routers and even wi-fi enabled devices like Blu-ray players.

What can and should the non-IT person do about that?