For all of you ldap fans out there (like me) it's important for you to know that slamd has been updated and a new version has been released! If you don't know about slamd it, it's a distributed, multi-threaded, load testing tool for ldap servers. At a previous job I used it to speed up our ldap servers something like 1000%, so it's basically awesome.

slamd.com - visit today

Labels: ldap

tech-userlevel might not seem like the most exciting mailing list, but it usually has some good stuff.

It looks like Ian Hibbert has reworked bluetooth service discovery so it's easier for your headphone to tell your computer that they also have 256MB of storage. ;)

Message on tech-userlevel

Labels: NetBSD

I'm not sure why this wasn't announced yet, but it looks like the desktop-gnome meta-pkg was added. This is a big step for the Desktop NetBSD project.

It looks like this package is mostly the normal gnome metapkg plus some stuff. Try it out!

Labels: NetBSD

Brian Seklecki just posted a new wiki page about how to run a netbsd source mirror. I have helped him with some of this stuff (although not very much), so I thought I would advertise the page here.

Labels: NetBSD

So I think a newer soekris (the 6000 or 7000 series) will probably meet my needs, but I'd like to spell out exactly what I would like to see in a new system for home:
Tiny form factor, fanless, and silent
686 class processor for Xen support,
Support for a CF card,
Support for upto three 2.5" SATA disks for easy RAID5,
IPMI and serial bios support,
Two network ports,
At least two external usb ports,
support for more than 2GB of RAM,
built-in crypto acceleration,
full netbsd support.

Labels: NetBSD

echo | openssl s_client -connect server.com:443 | openssl x509 -text

Just a little shell quickie for validating ssl certs. Replace server.com with your real site and look for "Not After" for expiration.

To fix the "verify error:num=20:unable to get local issuer certificate" message you need to add the -CApath /etc/openssl/certs argument to s_client.

echo | openssl s_client -CApath /etc/openssl/certs -connect server.com:443 | openssl x509 -text

Labels: shell programming

I have created a web template to look like the NetBSD installer. I did it so I could proof stuff on the web:
sample 1
new disk layout?

What do you think?

Labels: NetBSD

As you may now find here: Desktop Project some very capable NetBSD developers have taken it upon themselves to create a meta-pkg of useful desktop utilities and add it into the base install. This should allow one to install NetBSD and get more than twm and no web browser. :)

Obviously, this is fodder for extreme criticisms by anti-bloat advocates, various window manager aficionados , etc, but an improved installer and more modern options are certainly welcome changes. The new user experience is, after all, important to future growth.

Furthermore, I hope this helps bring to light the needs for better tools in general for a few key areas. (like keeping a netbsd system up-to-date) At least this weakness has found some traction. :)

Labels: NetBSD