How I Roll: sshfs

I’m not exactly a road warrior, but most of what I do is in the field. I’ve written in various forums that there are a few applications and utilities essential to me and “how I roll.” One of them is GNU screen. Another is SSH. These two allow me to work from the same session anywhere without ever stopping.

I’m also a huge fan of sshfs. This is a FUSE filesystem that allows a user to mount a remote home partition via SSH as though it were local.

Here’s a little tip if you’re working on a laptop in a situation where you have limited space on its hard drive, or if you’re in an area where there’s significant risk of losing your data through computer theft or some kind of disaster. It’s also cheaper than buying a new laptop hard drive.

Let me give an example. Let’s say you’re on your laptop at the university. There’s significant risk of theft of laptops and everything else. You need to work on your project but you want to insure you don’t lose all your effort in case your laptop “disappears,” if it gets dropped, whatever. You can lose an entire semester’s (or longer) work if something bad like that happens.

WIth sshfs, you can keep your work on your desktop (or server) computer at home. It doesn’t end up on your laptop’s hard drive, but you still have the easy and fast access as though it were because it uses the Unix idea of “everything as a file” in joining remote to local.

You would only need to run ssh on the computer at home so that you can access it remotely (and as securely or insecurely as you desire). On the laptop, you would run the fuse module and then enter the command:
% sshfs username@path.to.desktop.or.server: laptop.mountpoint/

So if your account name at home is “lucky” and you want to set a mount point (directory) on the laptop for “remote” it would look something like this:
% sshfs lucky@my.home.network: remote/

You’re asked to enter the password for user lucky and then that mounts the entire /home/lucky directory on the other computer to ~/remote on the laptop. Once you do that, you can transfer files back and forth as though it were all local — the same as any other files or filesystems mounted on your computer.

If you have a similar/compatible set of applications on both computers, you can also just get with it and use your remotely stored data files with your local applications. If you’re using Open Office’s calc or Gnumeric for your spreadsheets, you would just open whichever files from the remote computer on the local one. Then when you save, you’re saving remotely.

This minimizes the need to sync files between laptop, desktop, and/or server or keep up with multiple versions of the same data because you can use the same version universally. You can get by with less space on your remote/laptop hard drive if you have large files to work on. Just use your larger (cheaper) hard drive on your desktop/server for all your storage.

When you’re finished and want to unmount the remote system and terminate SSH, you enter:
% fusermount -u ~/remote/

Since it uses SSH, it’s more secure than a lot of other options including keeping data on tiny USB devices that can disappear even easier than laptops. And while there can be risk of theft of your desktop computer while you’re away, that risk is much lower if you use a bulky old (cheap) computer for such purposes. The more stuff you put in it to weigh it down (six combined floppy and optical drive slots don’t have to be filled with working — or even connected — drives), the less likely a thief will be interested in carrying it. Instead of adding another working computer (or broken floppy and Zip drives) to your local landfill, why not put it to good use?

It doesn’t need to be bleeding edge, you just need to be able to shell into it to access your safe data and have enough storage to make it worthwhile. It also doesn’t have to be big and heavy as described above — you could carry a “craptop” on campus and leave your good laptop in the safety of your home. Whatever you use can serve other duties as well if you put your mind to it.

And you can get by without ever touching your laptop hard drive (or needing one). Some Linux live CDs, including Damn Small Linux, come with FUSE and sshfs. Since DSL contains extensions like Open Office, Abiword, Gnumeric, etc., it would be quite easy to work remotely like this.

Both FUSE and sshfs are available with nearly all Linux distributions or should easily be added if not, as well as for FreeBSD and NetBSD (possibly other smaller ones, but not to my knowledge in OpenBSD). More FUSE fun soon.

Forrester Surveys Find Momentum for Green Computing

In Search Of Green Technology Consumers by Christopher Mines - Forrester Research:

A distinct segment of green technology consumers ready to put their dollars behind eco-friendly product choices is becoming visible. Forrester’s Technographics® surveys reveal that consumers who care about the environment and the environmental impacts of their technology purchases and usage tend to be female, older, and somewhat less well-off than those who are not sensitive to environmental issues. With 12% of US adults already “bright green,” and another 41% poised to join them, marketers and designers of consumer technology products and services must change product marketing and product design to embrace green principles like lower-impact manufacturing, longer product life cycles, and recycleability.

Extending hardware lifecycles should be paramount. I have a Mac that’s fully functional but abandoned by Apple. I have computers that can’t run XP or higher, abandoned by Microsoft. The latter are still useful thanks to Damn Small Linux and FreeBSD.

The Mac is a dead end product and a testament to Apple’s non-green approach. Apple’s quirky and non-standard configuration, from NuBus slot to their funky connections, may have been targeted at consumer-friendliness but insured that customers were locked into Apple-centric computing. I can’t update the hardware (very much), and OSX won’t run on early PowerPCs. Unfortunately, the quirkiness of the component selection also means there’s not much in the way of support with NetBSD or Linux, either.

Standardization in the PC market, though, assures me of a steady supply of parts for most of my old computers. And constant development of DSL assures that my old computers can benefit from a modern OS with a small footprint suitable for those older machines. That keeps them out of the landfill. The one drawback is they’re not as energy efficient as some of the new computers, especially ITX-based boxes with lower power demands.

Another shameless plug for the Damn Small Machine: fanless, low power demand, portable, and it can run off a USB stick so there’s no moving parts or sound from it. Cool.

Weak Encryption in Wireless Keyboards

Wireless keyboard encryption easily broken, say researchers:

Through their work, the Dreamlabs team discovered that a wireless keyboard transmits three types of packets. Synchronization packets are generated when the keyboard connects to, and is associated with, a specific receiver, or when the connect button on the keyboard is pressed. Data packets transmit encrypted keystroke information from the keyboard to the receiver, and management packets are used to identify when all keys have been released.

When the keyboard transmits a data packet to the base receiver, only the actual keystroke data is encrypted—both the metaflag (use of Alt, Shift, or Ctrl) and identifier bits are sent in the clear. As for the keystroke data, it’s encrypted in a one-byte USB Hid code using a simple XOR mechanism and a single byte of random data generated when the keyboard synchronizes with the receiver. Encryption keys are not changed at any time interval, save when an end-user reassociates the keyboard.

Because there are only 256 possible key values, intercepted keystrokes can be translated by brute force without any need to actually break the encryption key; the research team was able to decrypt the transmitted data and recover the encryption key within only 20-50 keystrokes. This has the practical effect of rendering keyboard encryption meaningless—it’s literally simpler to ignore it than it is to break it.

Interview with gOS Founder: “Linux For Human Beings (Who Shop At WAL*MART)”:

At first look, the systems specifications seem pretty meager, until you have a gander at the list of applications. Instead of utilizing applications on the computer locally, the gPC leverages online applications that are delivered via web browser, such as Google Docs and Spreadsheets. This is an absolutely brilliant idea. All you need is a fast internet connection (and a monitor) to use the computer.

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, but this is too smart to pass up. You get a Mini-ITX computer running a derivative of Ubuntu that uses enlightenment window manager and is web-based (mostly Google). It also comes with Open Office, and the whole thing can use Ubuntu’s repositories. I’m going to be interested in finding out how well it sells at WalMart. I have a hunch gOS will outlast this Everex computer, even though it should be ideal for people looking for an entry-level box for their web lives they don’t intend to expand.

Robert Watson on Multi-Core Threats

Attacking multicore CPUs | The Register:

These attack techniques target an architectural vulnerability in the wrapper approach, and readily apply across operating systems and hardware platforms. I was able to use the same C language exploits across several operating systems, including Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD. They should apply equally well on other operating systems.

Bloatware Update

Here’s another sign that there’s really no difference between the mindsets of Microsoft and those churning out Linux distros . The latest abortion is Ubuntu’s decision to enable Compiz by default. Why do I have a problem with this? Because it means users will have to weigh their options between OS upgrades and hardware upgrades.

The hypocrites at FSF joined forces with a few leftwing organizations recently to attack Microsoft for doing this very thing. With so many Linux distros now using Beryl and Compiz by default, maybe it’s time they focus their attention to what’s happening under their own noses.

Ubuntu Technical Board votes on Compiz for Ubuntu 7.10:

The Ubuntu Technical Board voted yesterday to ship Ubuntu 7.10 (”Gutsy”) with Compiz enabled by default. Although Compiz has been featured in Ubuntu 7.10 Tribe prerelesases, the board has had difficulty determining whether or not it is reliable and functionally complete enough to warrant inclusion in the final release.

Here are some plugs for users of older hardware who want continual operating system updates without having to accommodate it with new hardware or hardware upgrades:

• Damn Small Linux is targeted at users of older hardware and minimal systems, as well as users who want a variety of options in how they run their systems. DSL will run on a 486 with 16 MB of RAM. It can also be run from USB, directly from the CD, or installed in a couple different ways on hard drive.
• Slackware and Debian both allow minimal installs. This remains a good option for users with vintage hardware who want up-to-date options. Note that Slackware has moved to Linux 2.6 by default; this may or may not be in the best interest of those running older, leaner systems (2.6 also deprecated support for certain hardware which is still supported in 2.4). It also requires a bit of knowledge about the kind of system you want to build. One of the problems encountered with such systems (and this also applies to DSL) is when users have unrealistic goals of adding the latest versions of resource-demanding software like Gnome and KDE. Match your apps to your hardware and you’ll do fine.
• FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD all have very low hardware requirements. Each has its own method for installing binaries (packages) or source (ports), but NetBSD’s pkgsrc is portable across all three. I use FreeBSD and can report, anecdotally, that it seems to schedule processes much more effectively than Linux (2.4). Like the two previous suggestions, the idea of using one of this Unix-like operating systems (much more Unix-like than Linux) is to add applications suitable for the hardware you have.

One more note PCBSD: It’s in the same boat as Ubuntu and bloated Linux distros. PCBSD includes Beryl by default. It’s not suitable for older hardware.

Walt Mossberg Reviews Dell Ubuntu Offering

Walt Mossberg notes Ubuntu isn’t for people who want a computer that doesn’t require tech-oriented tweaking and writes, “Even in the relatively slick Ubuntu variation, Linux is still too rough around the edges for the vast majority of computer users.”

Linux’s Free System Is Now Easier to Use, But Not for Everyone:

Dell and Canonical tell me there are complex workarounds for some of the problems I encountered, and that built-in improvements are planned for others. But for now, I still advise mainstream, nontechnical users to avoid Linux.

iPhone Hacking Update

There were two early morning messages from the gang at iPhone Dev Wiki:

1. They’ve been able to set up their own activation server so they can by-pass AT&T for activating iPhones.

2. They’ve cracked the encryption of the 39.dmg image and dumped the system files.

They’re now going through them and looking for vulnerabilities.

Other Developers on Core 2 Bugs

My previous entry about Theo de Raadt’s comments on the level of severity of bugs in Intel’s Core 2 processors needs a little update. Linus Torvalds brushes off the alarm and says it’s nothing new. Matt Dillon of Dragonfly BSD isn’t as nonplussed as Torvalds by the errata disclosure in his quick run through of the list.

Notably, he says, “AE3 scares the hell out of me, and for the others AE5, AE8, AE21, and AE30 look serious.” He wrote in his bug-by-bug list:

AE3 - POPF/POPFD that sets the trap flag (aka when single-stepping a program) may cause unpredictable behavior. Holy shit. This one is serious.

He was a little less concerned about the other four, noting in the case of AE5 (memory aliasing with inconsistent dirty and access bits may cause a processor deadlock) how DragonflyBSD and FreeBSD (safely) handle access bits.

Serious Intel Core 2 Vulnerabilities

Lead OpenBSD developer Theo de Raadt has mentioned some problems with Intel’s Core 2 processors that “will *ASSUREDLY* be exploitable from userland code.” Here’s an easy to view (i.e., non-PDF) image of the errata list.

Theo adds:

At this time, I cannot recommend purchase of any machines based on the Intel Core 2 until these issues are dealt with (which I suspect will take more than a year). Intel must be come more transparent.

(While here, I would like to say that AMD is becoming less helpful day by day towards open source operating systems too, perhaps because their serious errata lists are growing rapidly too).

He says that serious problems could (or will) persist because “some are things that every operating system will do until about mid-2008, because that is how the MMU has always been managed on all generations of Intel/AMD/whoeverelse hardware.” Out of the 20-30 bugs that can’t be worked around by operating systems, Theo says he’d be willing to bet money at least two or three of them is exploitable.

The thread is available here.