Things not to do with YesLinux and Elastix

I do funny things once in a way.

Edited on the 10th of September
I was doing search some search on Linux distributions specialized on telephony for one of Linux fan since he had some problem with the telephone card.
The intrusion made me to delay search and I found many telephony related utilities in BackTrack4.
In any case I was clueless about telephone industry especially the digital side.
Initially I could not get anywhere and finally found AsteristNow and tried to download AsteristNow and found a rouge script was in my system.
I could not download AsteristNow (Centos based) which was a free distribution supported by commercial venders of telephone hardware.
My search ended up ultimately my son getting Peo TV installed and a free router installed adding two more ports to my hardware.

I am thinking using one of them as a firewall when I have time.

The list of distributions I found were as follows
1. AsteristX now defunct
2. Amatix Live and Office
3. Alpine
4. Elastix
I had to find most of them in the archives of Distromania.

The Elastix is based on Redhat and it ripped my hard disk in few seconds.

In that scenario YesLinux was better only during the time I was sipping tea it ripped off my hard disk.

So if you are not like me taking any conceivable risk to investigate Linux (except my life) do not venture into unknown territory like browsing into pornography which is rampant in this country including temples.

Beware if you do not have a Linux Guru (hard to find in this country) to help you out.

Only yesterday I downloaded YesLinux from (probably not supported by anybody currently) Distromania archives.
It is only 300 MiB and the core based on Debian,
I activated the installation process and went to make a cup of tea,
Knowing very well Debian gives a written warning before any action.
This devil of 300 MiB distribution erased everything by the time I sipped the cup of tea without any warning.

I aborted the process and restarted the computer to find there was nothing and no boot record at all.
I kicked a high note what the hacker could not do I did it myself.
Of course after the minor hacking incident I was testing few of the non-live installable CDs and there was nothing of note except 5 GB of Isos which I did not copy (CDs were burnt but iso were lost) but burnt everything including Samity Linux (this another distribution that looked funny).

Most of the time you do your own damage so do not blame others for it.

Well it was Friday night, I do not get Saturday Night Palsy or Dropsy and partitioned the hard drive and put installation into action and went to sleep.
In the morning it was alive and running well.
So even a cup of tea can be deadly to your computer.

If you do not want to be like me please make an effort to record all what you do in a little notebook and read all the instructions before you click the mouse button.

The commonest mistake I do is to forget the root password and sometimes the user password.

In that scenario you have to reinstall everything once again which I have done hundred of times.
Little discipline built into your work habits carry you a long way.

One could laugh at oneself, that is what I do.

It is no fun!

Trusted Dowload Sites

Until recently I trusted all sites with Linux Isos.
Since things are moving fast and there is no site that can be spelled as specialist (in my view) I should write this brief note.

I was looking for Big Daddy of PClinux and I could not find one.

With some difficulty I found a link with Softpedia and started downloading it.

I keep them as my archive editions.

While I was downloading, the site webmaster decided to delete the image since it was not accessed by anybody recently.

This type of sites you must never trust.
They are just delivery system without cross checks.

No checks and balances.

I was very disappointed and finally accessed PCLinux Website and a kind gentleman there gave me a site to download Big Daddy.

If you are looking for archives the best site is Distromania.

1. Distromaina

2. Softpedia which give up to 5 years back issues.

3. Distrowatch which gives you current ones with fairly extensive literature on each distribution,

4. Live CD list site.

5. Linux question site

There are many more sites but beware if they are not properly maintained or they direct you to other sites, lest you may be directed to a rouge site.

I was looking for peanut Linux and finally found at Distromania.
Peanut Linux is now aLinux and aLive.

Security Warnings with Live CDs

It is high time I should write something on security on Linux.

Ever since I started using Linux I never worried about viruses or crashes and hence I never had a firewall to protect me.

If at all I used standard security or none at all since I started downloading Live CDs.

Incidents developing over this year and events most recently happened were eyeopeners.

One needs to have a Security Policy for each desktop in installation.

I follow the Standard Linux Principles.

1. Never use a distribution that is popular but without root as a user.

Unfortunately this principle applies to Ububntu, too.

That is why I use Ubuntu Linux as demonstration only and never for daily use.

Su is not a good option for me but it is a server administrator's tool as far as I am concerned.

Desktop is not a server.

2. Second Rule is always work as a normal user and never as the root.

3. 3rd Rule is to use high security options and firewall.

4. 4th Rule is to use child protection since there are lot of pornography in the web.

5. Firth rule is when downloading use only a trusted sites.

6. Use light versions of Live CDs for only relatively miner work like accessing your email but not for downloading.

7. Once you are happy with the distribution use the standard version of that Live CD for installation.

I will add up to ten when I have given thought to other current issues and that crop up with time.

For the developers I have this request.

For all light versions of Live CDs please add some enhanced security package bundled into one pack with instructions, how to use them for newbies.

I started using Linux distributions because of their excellent security.

We must not relax on that principle since the hackers that Microsoft hire are at work like worms eating the essence, now and forever, and some of them are modifying Open Source Distributions and posting rouge Linux distributions on sites that are not maintained properly.

Freespire derivatives is one example only.