The Linux Virus: how it can be

Downloaded the virus for Linux.

Unzipped it.

Installed it under root.

It didn't start. Spent 2 hours googling. Realised that the virus instead of /usr/local/bin installed itself into /usr/bin where user malware does not have the write permissions. That's why the virus could not create a process file.

Found the patched .configure and .make files on the Chinese site. Recompiled, reinstalled. Virus announced that it needs the cmalw-lib-2.0 library. Found out that cmalw-lib-2.0 only exists for CentOs, but not for Ubuntu. Googled couple of hours, found a manual how to compile .deb from source. Compiled, installed, virus happily started, beeped in a speaker and terminated with a core dump.

The hour I spent reading syslog (via Papertrail) told me that the virus thought I have ext4 and called its api to encrypt the disk. This api is deprecated in btrfs, that's why Linux realised that inconsistency and made the partition read-only.

Opened the virus source code, grep'ped the bitcoin wallet and sent $5 just out of compassion.

Went to bed...

Source (in Russian), translation by DarkDuck

Why Is Linux More Secure Than Windows?

When choosing an operating system, there are many different factors that are taken into consideration. However, security is becoming increasingly important. You only need to look at the news to see the increasing number of data breaches that are occurring around the world at present. Choosing an operating system with care is your first step when defending your personal data. With that in mind, read on to discover the reasons why Linux is more secure than Windows.

Ubuntu MATE 17.04 - Fast Forward to the Past

Linux notes from DarkDuck has recently published reviews of two of the most popular flavours of the Ubuntu 17.04 family: Lubuntu and Kubuntu got most of the orders from BuyLinuxCDs.co.uk site, on par with Ubuntu 17.04 itself. Another flavour with a popular demand is Ubuntu MATE. And again, I used the opportunity to write a review of Ubuntu MATE 17.04 Live using the customer disk before posting it.

You can download Ubuntu MATE from the official web site https://ubuntu-mate.org/. Both torrent and direct downloads from many mirrors are supported.

The ISO image of Ubuntu MATE 17.04 32-bit is 1.7 GB in size. I burnt it onto the DVD-R disk.

The disk is in the drive of my Dell Inspirion 17 laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from DVD. Fasten your seatbelts! Let's go!

Solus - how far will it go?

Solus is not a new operating system for this blog. There were a couple of reviews of Solus OS 1.2 back in 2012, one of them I wrote myself while another was a guest post.

However, there were a lot of changes since then. Solus OS changed the name to Solus, the approach to the system build has changed, and there have been few new releases already. The newest version now is Solus 2017.04.18.0. As you can guess from the name, it was released on the 18th of April 2017.

Solus is available with many desktop environments, but on the top of the list is Budgie, the new player on the scene. The team behind Budgie is the same team that stands behind Solus. This DE gains more and more popularity, and there is even an official Ubuntu Budgie flavour now. Budgie is the flagship flavour for Solus, of course. I decided to try that desktop environment for the first time.

I downloaded the ISO image of this operating system, which is 1.2 GB in size. Only the 64-bit version is available for this release of Solus. After downloading I "burnt" it onto my USB stick.

The USB stick is in the port of my Dell Inspirion 17 laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from USB. Fasten your seatbelts. Let's go!

Lubuntu 17.04 - simple evolution

Some of you may find it bizarre, but BuyLinuxCDs.co.uk, the commercial arm of this blog Linux notes from DarkDuck really gets orders for disks with different operating systems. We recently looked at Kubuntu 17.04 that was the leader for the number of orders this April when the newest version of Ubuntu family of operating systems was released.

Lubuntu was also in the top 3 of these distributions, along with Ubuntu itself. As long as I had a disk to be sent to the customer, why not use the chance to write a review of this operating system for you, my readers?

So, I downloaded the ISO image of Lubuntu 17.04 32-bit, which is 916 MB in size, and burnt it onto a DVD-R disk. This disk is in the drive of my Dell Inspirion 17 laptop.

Reboot. Choose to boot from DVD. Fasten your seatbelts! Let's go!