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Sharing mouse and keyboard

Several computers and monitors

Actively using several computers is a challenge.

Setup using two computers each have a monitor, sharing mouse and keyboard using network.

Both computers is running Manjaro Linux Openbox Community Edition.

Install the AUR package barrier using Pamac

pamac build barrier

Server

On the server (with mouse/keyboard attached) launch the barrier app and configure the server. Save the configuration as ~/.barrier.conf

Barrier launcher script.

touch ~/barrier.sh
chmod +x ~/barrier.sh
nano ~/barrier.sh

barriers --no-tray --debug INFO --name servername --enable-crypto -c "/home/username/.barrier.conf" --address :24800

Edit the Openbox autostart to run the script at login

nano ~/.config/openbox/autostart

sleep 1; ~/barrier.sh &

Client

On the client (the one to be controlled) launch the barrier app and connect to the server. This has to be done manually as the server identity must be confirmed before first use.

Barrier launcher script on client login.

touch ~/barrier.sh
chmod +x ~/barrier.sh
nano ~/barrier.sh

barrierc --no-tray --debug INFO --name clientname --enable-crypto [serverip]:24800

Edit the Openbox autostart to run the script at login

nano ~/.config/openbox/autostart

sleep 1; ~/barrier.sh &

Autologin

Install the package lightdm-settings and launch the settings manager using sudo

sudo lightdm-settings

Configure autologin for the user and restart the client.

Log off the server and re-login

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Windows 7 EOL January 14. 2020

Windows 7 support

For years Microsoft has announced Windows 7 EOL on January 20. 2020.

Change to Linux

This is a golden opportunity to make the jump to an open-source Linux distribution.

Manjaro Linux

Manjaro is an operating system, suitable as a free replacement to Windows or MacOS. It has different editions, they all use the same base but provide a different experience, based on the diversity of desktop environments available. We also work together with hardware manufacturers, to design Manjaro dedicated hardware, visit the shop for more information on the available range of laptops.

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Your digital footprints

It is common knowledge we leave digital footprints when using computers and internet, but are you aware how many?

To map an ordinary persons relations and activity based on the digital footprints, requires a huge amount of effort.

To uncover a persons true identity, e.g. a person suspected to be military intelligence requires additional effort as it is expected the country’s military intelligence might have done something to hide the person’s identity.

This is why reading a report like this the one linked below is much more interesting as it describes how bellingcat.com has uncovered one person’s true identity and partly mapped the person’s activity in relation to different assignments the person in question might have been part of.

What I would like to emphasize is our digital footprints and how easy it is to map ordinary people over time.

The report is dated 2018-11-22 and can be read by following the link.

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Firmware updating and system recovery

Updating your system’s firmware can be a challenge. Why, because many manufacturers only supplies Windows based software for updating your systems firmware and this can be quite annoying.

Some times it might be necessary to repair your sytem due to damage boot area and/or files or you have a malware attack you need to clean up.

Below is listed some of the multiple choices you have when it comes to maintenance or emergency repair.

Boot CD

More options

Linux lightweight distibutions

Antivirus

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lshw – Hardware Info

Hardware Lister is console app listing system information, listing hardware components etc.

Ubuntu installation

Ubuntu comes default with the application installed so this command will list your what hardware your system contains.

sudo lshw

This command provides an abundance of info printed to your console.

To get an overview of the possbilities use the --help keyword.

lshw --help
Hardware Lister (lshw) - unknown
usage: lshw [-format] [-options ...]
lshw -version

-version print program version (unknown)

format can be
-html output hardware tree as HTML
-xml output hardware tree as XML
-short output hardware paths
-businfo output bus information
-X use graphical interface

options can be
-class CLASS only show a certain class of hardware
-C CLASS same as '-class CLASS'
-c CLASS same as '-class CLASS'
-disable TEST disable a test (like pci, isapnp, cpuid, etc. )
-enable TEST enable a test (like pci, isapnp, cpuid, etc. )
-quiet don't display status
-sanitize sanitize output (remove sensitive information like serial numbers, etc.)
-numeric output numeric IDs (for PCI, USB, etc.)
-notime exclude volatile attributes (timestamps) from output

Get a better overview

sudo lshw -html > ~/sysinfo.html && firefox ~/sysinfo.html

Explanation:

  • -html tells the app we want the info as html which can be viewed in your web browser.
  • > tells the system to send the data to other destination than default which is your console.
  • ~/sysinfo.html provides the system with the destination, which in this case is a file in your homefolder.
  • && informs the system to execute a command if the first command executed without errors – in this case we want to show the content of the file.
  • firefox ~/sysinfo.html is the instruction opening the Firefox webbrowser using the sysinfo.html just generated in your homefolder.

Manjaro installation

Manjaro does not default having this app installed. This is to be done with this command:

sudo pacman -s lshw