Ask Ubuntu General Room

Eliah Kagan

10:00 PM

@Seth There's plenty of users with lots of bad answers...

Seth

You should also leave a comment or post an answer if my answer is bad.

user19161

Do you know that some people seem to downvote just to change the order the answers appear?

Seth

@EliahKagan I'm not saying there isn't.

@JasonBourne yes, I know. Wrong use of the system.

user19161

So there are two great answers but they downvote one so that it appears below another they like more.

Seth

23

Q: What is the Unity HUD and how can I install it on my system?

I have read about the Unity HUD. Is that a mock up or a real thing? Can I install it on my current Ubuntu 11.10 installation or do I need to upgrade to 12.04?

every single post on that Q has one downvote

user19161

10:01 PM

Also, some seem to downvote the answer because they think the question should not be answered.

Seth

oops. It did last night...

Eliah Kagan

@JasonBourne Sometimes that is valid. Usually it is not. When the motivation is "that question is offensive to me!" it pretty much always is not.

If a question solicits pure opinion, and people answer with pure opinion, it's just as reasonable to downvote the answers as the question.

Seth

I don't agree with that.

user19161

It's kind of scary that the math room always has people flagging and starring things secretly.

user19161

I mean they don't seem to be in the room when they do that.

Seth

10:08 PM

@JasonBourne you don't seem to be here until you talk.

user19161

Yet they are reading the transcript like some serial killer.

Eliah Kagan

@JasonBourne Yes, I've seen some strange posts flagged.

Seth

I don't see any blue, and BAM!, Blue and your talking.

user19161

To flag something while not in a room, just log into chat. Then fire up the transcript.

Eliah Kagan

I think they developed a secret code for communicating information to each other by starring and flagging for moderator attention, and the actual text in the room is unrelated to what they're really talking about.

Seth

10:09 PM

really?

Eliah Kagan

@Seth No. :)

Seth

lol

Eliah Kagan

Although an abuse of the system ....that would be pretty cool.

FEichinger

@EliahKagan That sounds like something math would do, though. :P

Seth

loooooooooool

it's so boring without anymore spam :(

FEichinger

10:10 PM

Also, hi! :P

user19161

But yes these days after the gaming room the math room seems to get the most flags.

Seth

you should see the chess room.. maybe one message a day

well, I'm out. later folks.

FEichinger

o/

Eliah Kagan

Nice analysis here:

14

Q: default.php file found on the server, is this a security threat?

I found a file named "default.php" on the server with following code eval(gzinflate(base64_decode( "DZVFrsUIggTv0qsqeWEmjXphZrafYdMyM7NPP/8IGcrILK90+Kf+2qka0qP8J0v3ksD+V5T5XJT//IdPfvI3u+k82yi0muQTczltOrzRR6OjCqMeqZYbZjBJA4weAR5ZqUaDguuBI6tSoHpFqpD2Tm0FhckHRfiHgsK9R+L00O9VtHlYnUzEbiuOLQ...

php

FEichinger

@EliahKagan Oh, I prefer what we found on one of our servers recently: paste.ubuntu.com/1583841

gertvdijk

10:31 PM

@FEichinger ah nice PHP obfuscated piece of code. probably malware.

askubuntu.com/q/248778/88802 <-- close or answer?

Seth

close

> What questions should I not ask here: Shopping Recommendations

questions like this normally get closed for that

FEichinger

@gertvdijk Yep. It's a full-access site ... Which I found out after a bit of tinkering with the eval. :P

Seth

@gertvdijk I added a comment.

@gertvdijk go ahead and answer it then.

we'll see what happens

gertvdijk

One day I found a server at the company to respond a bit weird and found the Bluetooth kernel module being loaded at 3am in the morning.. hmmm... It was a plain piece of malware that got in by a bug in the Linux kernel via regular sockets opened in a C-program, exploiting the Bluetooth part. Wonderful day of reverse engineering the breach.

Some idiot had installed an old phpMyAdmin on his own user account... not updated it, not removing the install/ part...

jrg

11:13 PM

wow.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

Hello!

gertvdijk

@ObsessiveSSOℲ hi!

@ObsessiveSSOℲ are you serious? Putting a 500 bounty on this one?

5

11

Q: How to install ubuntu on iPad

I'd love to install ubuntu as a standard standalone on my ipad, is there any way to do so!?

apple tablet arm ipad

ObsessiveSSOℲ

@gertvdijk Yes, I am crazy.

I really don't care much about rep.

gertvdijk

No, I mean, it's not possible, right?

Are you looking for an answer stating it's not possible?

ObsessiveSSOℲ

I highly doubt it is totally impossible.

Seth

11:21 PM

it would take more than 500 rep to make me want to mess with Apple :/

5

ObsessiveSSOℲ

Well, I don;t care that much about rep, I haven't bountied recently, and I have an iPad I hate,

I mean, it is a CPU, GPU and some lockout code. Even if it takes desoldering and charge pumps stunning loxkout chips(as on the NES-10), I'd love to see it.

3

Eliah Kagan

That people are afraid to mess with Apple is precisely the reason why questions like this are necessary.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

@Seth You may want to mention command-line, also, as I think that was the OP's intent.

0

A: Mouse configuration file

The settings for the mouse shown in your screenshot can be accessed from the gconf-editor. If it is not installed you can install it by running: sudo apt-get install gconf-editor. Open gconf and navigate to: desktop -> peripherals -> mouse. Here are some screenshots that show how each ...

Seth

@ObsessiveSSOℲ In what way?

gertvdijk

@Seth gconftool?

ObsessiveSSOℲ

11:30 PM

I think they were trying to access the configuration file so they could interface over CLI, so maybe mentioning a command-line interface to gconf would be helpful...

Seth

Is there a command line interface for gconf/dconf?

gertvdijk

@Seth yes, i just told you: gconftool

Seth

@gertvdijk ah, well, you didn't explain.

I'm updating it for dconf though

I read it was newer.

gertvdijk

ah yeah, that's true

I'm still from the GNOME2 age in that sense. Moved away to KDE.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

@jrg When looking at your small gravatar on Meta, it looks like it's suffering from JPEG compression. On your profile page, though, it isn;t.

Eliah Kagan

11:33 PM

@ObsessiveSSOℲ I think there's a bug report on MSO for this.

Let's see...

ObsessiveSSOℲ

OK.

Eliah Kagan

Here we are, I think this is it:

10

Q: Uploaded avatars are displayed in very low quality in combined flair

Uploaded avatars are displayed in a very low quality in the combined flair. They are displayed fine in the per-site flairs. This bug only affects uploaded avatars. Gravatars still work fine.

bug flair combined-flair

ObsessiveSSOℲ

No, this looks like the scaled down gravatar on-site(not flair) is jpeg-compressed, but not the one on the profile page. No need to find it though, I remember it exists.

mateo_salta

@ObsessiveSSOℲ except that now it really is illegal to jailbreak(root) tablets readwrite.com/2012/10/28/yup-jailbreaking-your-ipad-is-illegal

Seth

WHAT!

mateo_salta

11:45 PM

yeah, ikr. crazy.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

You have got to be kidding me!

Seth

and I can't make a backup copy of my DVDs anymore?!?!

nor unlock my cell phone?

I'M MOVING!

RolandiXor

Hi

Eliah Kagan

@Seth I don't think jailbreaking/rooting a phone was affected by the new rules. "In 2010, tinker-happy iPhone owners breathed a sigh of relief (and Steve Jobs likely just sighed) when it was ruled that jailbreaking smartphones was perfectly legal under the DMCA. This remains the case, but the updated list of exemptions explicitly excludes tablets..." same source

ObsessiveSSOℲ

@Seth Do you think anyone would object to a CW "staging" answer to manage things like legal disclaimers?

Eliah Kagan

11:49 PM

@ObsessiveSSOℲ I'm not sure I know what a staging answer is.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

Just a CW "answer" to manage the legal disclaimer and other legal aspects? On the post, or meta?

Also, would SE or the post authors be liable if such instructions do get posted with a disclaimer?

FEichinger

Since it's technically not illegal, no worries about liability.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

OK.

FEichinger

The issue is simply that Apple has every right to show you a big fat middle finger if you do it.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

OK.

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