Most Linux distributions include attractive graphical interfaces, but you can do a lot more from the command line interface once you know your way around. For tasks like controlling and monitoring the distro’s underlying system, the command line remains indispensable.

Yuppers another list for the beginner to learn and grow as they dabble in Linux,  Baldy

10 Linux commands for beginners

A currently ongoing ransomware campaign is using a novel approach to extort money from end users whose PCs have been locked down.

By pretending to be the fake ICPP Foundation (icpp-online.com), the ransomware locks down the user’s desktop issuing a “Copyright violation: copyrighted content detected” message, which lists torrent files found on the infected PC, and forces the user to pay $400 for the copyright holder’s fine, emphasizing on the fact that “the maximum penalties can be five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.
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Gullible end users who fall victim to the scam, will then be asked to pay $399.85 for a “Legal license purchase“, “Copyright holder fine“, a “Copyright protection organization fee for the use of software tracking illegal file downloads” and a “Traffic fee“.

Basically, you’ve got a profit margin driven ransomware business model, that’s ironically charging you a fee for the development of ransomware “software” itself.

Pay attention folks this is another attempt by idiots to take advantage of you, Baldy

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Ransomware Taking A Novel Approach To Extortion

What happened to the old “sysadmin” of just a few years ago? We’ve split what used to be the sysadmin into application teams, server teams, storage teams, and network teams. Now look at what we’ve done — knowledge is so decentralized we must invent new roles to act as liaisons between all the IT groups.

Now this I personally have first hand experience the old idea of one admin to rule them all is now a part of history as much as windows 3.1, Baldy

IT Strangled by Overspecialization

Apple’s newly launched iPad may be taking up the majority of consumer mindshare in the tablet category following its launch earlier this month, but Google is furtively working on a device of its own that will be powered exclusively by Android. That’s according to reports of comments made by Google CEO Eric Schmidt at a recent Los Angeles party. Google has been experimenting in stealth mode to explore content delivery options on a tablet device, according to New York Times sources who declined to be named.

Humm looks like Google has decided to chase the Mac Boys for a while, Baldy

Google May Engage Android to Flatten the iPad

While it’s hard to make the claim that there aren’t enough Linux distros out there, it’s also hard to escape the fact that no distribution is all things to all people. There are all kinds of reasons to consider rolling your own, but many people never make the attempt because it seems like such a huge undertaking. Fortunately, with modern software we can create new distros, remixes, and custom configurations in a matter of minutes instead of months. Here, we’ll showcase some of the current software tools that make this so easy.

Okay so some are remastering tools but hey they all work folks give them a look, Baldy

6 Tools to Easily Create Your Own Custom Linux Distro

I still have my copy of the 1975 issue of Popular Electronics with the Altair on the cover.

H. Edward Roberts died this week at age 68. If you don’t know the story of how Roberts helped launch the personal computing revolution, let us fill you in.
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Even with $250,000 in debt and a collapsing business, Ed. Roberts didn’t waver from his commitment to personal computing. He persevered building the prototype of the first personal computer, the Altair 8800, named unofficially after a planet visited in the Star Trek episode Amok Time.

The Altair 8800 saved the company. Ed. Roberts had brokered a deal with Intel to buy Intel 8080 chips in bulk for $75/chip (normally they were $360/chip). The cheap CPUs allowed the Altair 8800 to retail for $439 ($621 assembled) at the time when Intel’s Intellec-8 Microprocessor Development System, another Intel 8080 based system, sold for $10,000.

The cheap Altair 8800 not only proved a mild commercial hit, but it helped launch the world’s biggest electronics company today, Microsoft. In 1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen, students at Harvard at the time read about the Altair. They contacted Ed. Roberts telling him they were developing a programming language interpreter and asking if he was interested in purchasing in it.

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R.I.P. Ed Roberts, Personal Computer Pioneer