[linuxrants7xpg]

waldojim, on 02 January 2012 - 10:59 PM, said:

I am not sure at the moment - I handed it back off to the wife! But it is the stock kernel from Mepis testing.

Well, if you can upgrade her to the 3.2 kernel, there's suppose to be some serious battery saving stuff in that release.

[waldojim]

linuxrants7xpg, on 09 January 2012 - 08:33 PM, said:

waldojim, on 02 January 2012 - 10:59 PM, said:

I am not sure at the moment - I handed it back off to the wife! But it is the stock kernel from Mepis testing.

Well, if you can upgrade her to the 3.2 kernel, there's suppose to be some serious battery saving stuff in that release.

I found a different solution for now that seems to work just as well for us. I have her machine set to boot up Windows, then launch (IMMEDIATELY) Virtual Box with Mepis. She uses the VM for all her web browsing, and can still use Windows for her games, and for Netflix.

Battery life nearly tripled using this method...

[LiveBrianD]

Really? Is mepis really that bad with battery management that you get 3 times the life running Mepis in a vm with Windows as the host? Dang...

[waldojim]

LiveBrianD, on 10 January 2012 - 03:36 PM, said:

Really? Is mepis really that bad with battery management that you get 3 times the life running Mepis in a vm with Windows as the host? Dang...

Dead serious. The battery life was down to less than one hour, now nearing 3 hours.

note: that machine came with a 3 or 4 cell battery, nothing large enough to use for any decent amount of time.

This post has been edited by waldojim: 10 January 2012 - 09:16 PM

[LiveBrianD]

I still wonder if this is extra hassle for nothing though - I mean, how likely is it that you'll get infected (though you got malware this time)?

[waldojim]

LiveBrianD, on 10 January 2012 - 09:21 PM, said:

I still wonder if this is extra hassle for nothing though - I mean, how likely is it that you'll get infected (though you got malware this time)?

How exactly? The only internet access Windows will be susceptible to will be Netflix, and Skype. All other internet traffic will be directed straight to Linux.

[Socosta]

waldojim, on 10 January 2012 - 11:56 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 10 January 2012 - 09:21 PM, said:

I still wonder if this is extra hassle for nothing though - I mean, how likely is it that you'll get infected (though you got malware this time)?

How exactly? The only internet access Windows will be susceptible to will be Netflix, and Skype. All other internet traffic will be directed straight to Linux.

Lol @ protect the wife, wait up sweet-heart I've decided that this really isnt what you need, you need Kerberos authentication for your Kernel so we'll deploy that as it's a far more secure protocol than anything else that currently ships on the market.

If its good enough for M.I.T then it's good enough for you. Kerberos takes its name from the three headed Guard dog who guards the gates of Hell!

Wait up now we need some mandatory access control's lets just configure SELinux and run auditd in conjunction with lynis... Yes this new laptop will be usable soon.. I just need to figure out how to finalise it.

Once you have SELinux & Kerberos the bad guys are not coming in.. Not EVER!

However deploying it easily.. Well thats what you pay someone else like me to do for you.

http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/

This post has been edited by Socosta: 29 February 2012 - 02:10 AM

[waldojim]

Ok, that is a tad extreme. I am looking to keep her machine safe for everyday facebook browsing, not trying to make her machine a PITA to use. I have to admit, the current method does leave a LOT to be desired though.

[Socosta]

waldojim, on 29 February 2012 - 02:13 AM, said:

Ok, that is a tad extreme. I am looking to keep her machine safe for everyday facebook browsing, not trying to make her machine a PITA to use. I have to admit, the current method does leave a LOT to be desired though.

There's no PITA in use with SELinux or Kerberos that is a myth, in fact usage is very simple, its very much a case of install it and forget. However what is a huge pitfall, is getting it setup. As it takes a fair few hours of reading material you have to read articles from MIT and other security groups about setting up a Kerberos Policy and then you have to define your SELinux policy although in the majority of cases leaving the default of permissive is totally acceptable especially when you take into account it's just the wife and she is hardly going to pop root on her own box.

Kerberos replaces the bog standard TCP/IP authentication topology with it's own authentication mechanism's thereby turning your humble install into an MIT Radius Server with Encrypted Mandatory Access controls as a standard.

If the bad guys start rooting applications it's got to be authenticated with Kerberos and this is where it gets funky, because Kerberos uses Encryption and without your encryption keys they're going to be presented with pure Garbage.

www.vultureproject.org <-- Sorry its in french but you can translate with google.

I love the name.. Vultures seldom attack healthy animals, but may kill the wounded or the sick. Picking through all that 00:DE:AD:BE:EF

This post has been edited by Socosta: 29 February 2012 - 02:48 AM

[Socosta]

Socosta, on 29 February 2012 - 02:20 AM, said:

I love the name.. Vultures seldom attack healthy animals, but may kill the wounded or the sick. Picking through all that 00:DE:AD:BE:EF

If that is not enough to sway you let me just interject that at one time the US classified Kerberos as auxiliary military technology and banned it.

And perhaps if STRATFOR had been using Kerberos the rest of the internet would not be happily reading their e-mail.

[Socosta]

Lock in your rate adjustment on 12 issues of PCWorld now — and we’ll also rush you a FREE PC Security & Privacy CD! <--- You have got to be kidding me. Since when @ PCWorld would someone who's using a Kerberised system, have even the remotest interest in a FREE Security CD??? You yourselves dont understand Kerberos and thusly you yourselves dont use it... Because its too difficult to grasp with your feeble mind, so free Security CD eh.. Whoopee free frisbee!

This post has been edited by Socosta: 02 March 2012 - 12:50 AM

[gdltek1]

waldojim, on 01 January 2012 - 11:52 AM, said:

Well... One major problem. Damn Mepis knows how to kill a battery. The laptop went from about 2.5 hours to 1 on the battery. Why can't Mepis solve this problem?

Make sure you disable anything related to Nepomuk, that thing will drain a battery quick! It runs constantly and it's so annoying. It's the equivelant of having Symantec AV running on a Windows box. And to be honest, I really can't see what value it adds at all.

You might want to also disable desktop effects if you have it enabled, that's also a big energy-drain. Of course check out the energy saver and power settings in the system config as well and set them up.

Problem with Mepis is by default it's oriented for a desktop system with a dedicated power source. It takes a little tweaking to streamline it for mobile computing. Other than that, it's one of my favorite distros. Loved your post, btw!