Dominik Kovacs SPEAIT

Hello everyone! In my weekly blog, I would like to compare two Ubuntu-based distributions with its parent itself. So this week I will write about Xubuntu and Linux Mint. A small history and why they can be better than Ubuntu itself. Xubuntu Xubuntu was released on 2006 June 1 st by Jani Monoss as part of the Ubuntu 6.06 “Dapper Drake” line, which also included Kubuntu and Edubuntu. “The target audience for Xubuntu is users who are interested in having a modestly lightweight, slim, fast desktop experience while retaining the usability and functionality that is required to provide an easy to use desktop environment”. Xubuntu’s desktop environment, called Xfce was intended to use fewer system resources than the widely spread Ubuntu Gnome Desktop. Xubuntu developers claimed that the minimum RAM for Xubuntu could be run on was 128MB and 256 MB of RAM was strongly recommended at that time. Martyn Honeyford at IBM said that “It uses approximately 25MB less application memory and also...

This week’s blog topic is going to be a reflection and a description of the applicability of the modern hacking ideals. It was really interesting to read, that there was hacking even before computers even existed. There was a part about the birth of hacking/linux culture, that described the important inventions until today. However, I would like to talk about ethics their applicability. Let’s see the hacker ethics of the early days and the ones in the new world. Early days of hacking; 1. Access to computers I agree it must be unlimited until it teaches you something. Breaching things can be extremely useful, both for the intruder and the victim. It is how security develops. Of course, accessing and notifying the victim is one thing and breaching and stealing data is another thing. The last should be always illegal, but how should we know what is happening in the background? 2. All information should be free. Information should be free. IT information especially, products, ever...

  This week’s exercise was to choose two interesting cases related to privacy and then censorship. I immediately thought of one example, which was FaceApp. I understand sharing photos are fun, even in a way necessary. Some of my friends are addicted to post pictures and get likes on social media and then there is me, who is putting out 1 picture every 2 nd month to show that I am still alive. I think the perfect line is between these two. I can not explain why, but I think none of the edges is healthy. Back to the story, it was 2019 when everyone started to post pictures about making themselves old and the pictures were incredibly precise. It became a huge trend on the internet. Then, it became public what are the terms that the users are accepting when using this app. Unfortunately, I can not find the link with the exact sentence, but the user is giving unlimited, permanent access to use and manipulate their pictures and be stored on a server. After all, the CIA stated, “FaceA...

 Mitnick formula in Hungary   This week I have read an interesting writing about the Mitnick formula, [1] probably named after the “scam master” Kevin Mitnick. It describes the technology, training and policy with examples and it is what I would like to compare with my home country’s security situation. First of all, Art of Deception by Kevin Mitnick is an awesome book. I read it last semester and it is really a fun reading that I can recommend for everyone, that loves to hear about people getting information that should not be public. On the other hand, for me, it was quite interesting, that Kevin was the first person in the world, that was diagnosed with “hacker addiction”.   As far as I know, my county puts more money into security than the average. Our nation has its own National Cybersecurity Institution (NBSZ). I also know, there are regular checks about GDPR and another country/EU specific policies with the companies and huge fees if there are any omission...

Today in my blog I would like to bring you an example, which was a great ergonomics design in a sport called waterpolo and two another devices that were designed by Playstation then became disasters. Before 1956, waterpolo was played with leather ball, which was really slippery and ugly. It was almost impossible to grab it, so players had to hold it from the bottom. [1] After 1956 Olympic, there was a guy called James R. Smith, who redesigned and introduced the new official ball, which was made of a rubber fabric. It improved the performance and the speed of the game, also the ball was not stinky after using it for a while. [2] Maybe it does not sound that big of an invention, but I think many sports was much faster and enjoyable after forgetting leather balls. The wrong example is really funny. Actually, I brought two of them. I can’t believe what was the plan of these designers. Jogcon, [3] was invented to help people at 3d racing games, because there were no cursors on contr...

  IT Pro During the years, being an IT Pro became much easier, because of the tools and resources. I don’t have that much knowledge about what was going on 20 years ago, so I can only guess and compare that guess with nowadays, however, I didn’t meet with many IT Pro’s, so I can’t be sure about it either. In my eyes, the IT Pro is someone who is prepared for everything or at least try their best. It will always have a plan B and will respond fast. It is why, an IT Pro must have great problem-solving skills, which means it knows where to look for help, how to read a document and how to implement these things to solve the problem. Really important, that an IT Pro must be helpful because it is how a company will get more IT Pros one day and that will split the work in the future. An IT Pro should be respectful for the field and with other’s work, while eager to study new things day by day motivated by its passion. To do all these things requires great time management. Something t...

  Ten Commandments  by Virginia Shea This week’s reading was about the Ten Commandments by Virginia Shea and I think it basically explains everything that we need to know before entering to cyberspace. I have chosen the topic; Know where you are in cyberspace and I would like to share my opinions regarding it. For me, knowing where I am in cyberspace means that I should be able to pick the “language” that I want to use on different websites, communication channels. It is really not the same to be a part of the community in your workplace or a community with your friends where you share your funny videos. In many cases, emojis, abbreviations, and informal language are not acceptable. In other cases, if you use formal language, you will get the opposite effect from others. Both of these cases will have the same effect; People won’t take you seriously. Now that almost everyone has the internet in their pocket, response time is decreasing rapidly. Being part of different...