S0E5: "Textual Attraction"

Posted 2015-04-22 07:25
Modified 2017-07-16 17:57
Comments 0

We talk about alternate keyboard layouts, learning Vi(m), email attachments, and the Truecrypt audit

• Notes
• Errata
• Music

Notes

• Jthan’s twitter is @jrdemasi, his Facebook is jrdemasi, and his blog is (will be) http://jonathandemasi.com/. These have been added to our bio page.
• ‘Get On with It!’
• vi is originally released under a BSD / CDDL license. Proprietary implementations exist, but most implementations are under some FLOSS license. It was formed as a rewrite/improvement upon ex.
• vim is under a Free Software/“charityware” license (“charityware” meaning you are encouraged to donate to needy children in Uganda as a form of thanks to the author), with its own license- the Vim license.
• Regular expressions, or “regex(es)”, are actually really easy to learn. And yeah, it only takes about a day. Learn what the following do and you’re very well on your way: [] {} . * + ? \ \n
• You can see the differences between emacs/vi(m) commands here.
• The Interactive Online Vim Tutorial is here. vimtutor(1) is typically installed as long as you have vim installed.
• But basically you just need to know Esc, *:q, :q!, and :wq!.
• We mention SysAdmin Day. It’s coming up!
• TrueCrypt’s audit has finished. I mention BitLocker, FileVault, and LUKS / cryptsetup, along with CipherShed, the TrueCrypt fork (and their wiki), the OpenCrypoAudit Project, GELI, and tc-play.
  • We didn’t mention it, but BitLocker doesn’t have any known vulnerabilities (aside from things like, you know, the Cold-Boot Attack and such). However, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist just that they aren’t known, and it hasn’t undergone an unbiased, third-party audit. Nor can it be, since the only way to access the code is through being a Microsoft-certified Partner/Enterprise, and even then- only under an NDA. They’ve also seriously weakened it recently.
• You can read about Android being sneaky bullshitting bastards here.
• The Twitter conversation I reference can be found here, the article it linked to is here. If the Twitter exchange gets removed, you can view a screencap here. (created via the ScreenGrab! Firefox plugin)
• GnuPG GUIs (more listed here:
  • Enigmail, a plugin to Thunderbird to help incorporate usage (key management, signing/encrypting emails, fetching keys automatically, etc.). My personal recommendation; if you use Enigmail, you can perform all of your GnuPG tasks rather comfortably without ever needing to use the command-line.
  • Seahorse, GNOME’s GnuPG GUI. It’s alright, but kind of hard to use and very dumbed-down. I don’t recommend it.
  • KDE users can use KGpg. I haven’t even used KDE in years so I can’t vouch for this one.
  • Windows users can use GPG4Win…
  • Whereas Mac OS X users can use GPGTools.
• Plus the FSF has a guide to GnuPG, and the EFF does also. Both are very good.
  • The FSF’s is a little easier to follow, it’s very straight and to the point.
  • The EFF’s is much more comprehensive and is designed for those who perhaps take special interest in GnuPG’s encryption abilities.
  • Yes, both have screenshots.
• I mention the WoT (“Web of Trust”). You can read more about it here, but one of the best (if not ugliest) explanations of it can be found here.
• The episode I was referring to (when we talk about Moxie Marlinspike) was actually S0E1.
• XMPP, encrypted (via the Pidgin plugin)
• If you want to share ideas on encryption, you can get in touch with us via our contact page.
• You can also use our contact page (linked above) to connect to our IRC channel.
• We DO offer GPG-signed episodes!
• RFC’s, or Request for Comments, are documents written and submitted by members of the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). They’re basically like blueprints for how the Internet works.
  • If you ever hear me reference an RFC, you can look it up here (official) or here (use the “Doc fetch” search bar on the left).
• The Android XMPP client we used a lot was Xabber.
• And the OpenPGP implementation I mention for Android is APG
• The Sholes/QWERTY-US keyboard layout looks like this (for our international listeners), and typically sees very little deviation. Some may have more keys, or more modifiable keys, or the Enter/Return button in a different shape, but generally this is what you can expect if you sit in front of a QWERTY/Sholes keyboard.
• For contrast, this is the Dvorak keyboard layout here.
• And this is the Colemak layout.
• I mention several typing tutors:
  • DvorakNG
  • Dvorak7min
  • Klavaro
  • KTouch
  • Dvorak.nl
  • TypeYourWay.com
  • Programmer-dvorak.appspot.com
  • And, my personal favourite/recommendation, GTypist

Errata

This episode had to be put on hiatus initially because I totally had a nonstop vomit rollercoaster of a night the first time we tried to record it. TMI? 2BAD.

• We ‘‘totally’‘ absolutely forgot to talk about documentation. Whoops! It’s been pushed to a later episode.
• I was… sort of right about OpenPGP and XMPP. The XEP (“XMPP Extension Protocols”) for it is XEP-0027. However, it was obsoleted and not made a part of the official XMPP standard.
  • But Pidgin still totally has a plugin for it.
• IANAD (I Am Not A Doctor): I personally started using Dvorak to ease physical strain of extended typing periods, and I have found it to be a positive difference. What works for my body may not work for yours. Be sure to seek professional, accredited, licensed medical counsel before switching to Dvorak (or any other alternate keyboard layout) to ease typing discomfort, as it may be a sign that you should stop typing for a little while altogether or else risk making a serious health condition even worse.

Music

Author r00t^2
Categories (Pilot Season)