In an earlier post I talked about UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) for Ubuntu.
If your looking for a firewall to protect your entire network have a look at SmoothWall Express 3.0. Smoothwall is an Open Source firewall based on Linux, which is developed by SmoothWall Ltd who also provides commercial software.
The firewall distro has been hardened and the entire download is 81MB. Installation and setup is easy and straightforward with the documentation made available. After the initial installation all configuration is done via web-based GUI over a secure port. The distro is also feature complete allowing you to setup a DHCP server, NTP server, Intrusion Detection System, and manage VPN connections along with many other features.
Smoothwall is really a set and forget distro requiring very minimal specs to run. If you have old hardware collecting dust give this distro a try. Having more control over your network is a good thing.
Links:
www.smoothwall.org
Installation Guide
Setup Configurations
SmoothWall defines sections of your network as colors.
Red = Internet
Green = Local inside traffic
Orange = DMZ (web server, etc.)
Purple = Wireless access
Sample Diagrams
Basic
Basic with router
With DMZ
With wireless access
The Developers over at
Skynet-Solutions have just released EasyIDS 0.4. This is an excellent turn-key solution for someone wanting to learn about open source security programs up to medium size businesses needing network security. I was fortunate to be included in the beta testing and I think you’ll like what the developers have added and/or improved. Also, a forum has been set up for the community HERE and be sure to check out the screenshots HERE. I have posted the changelog below.
0.4 Changelog
- Designed around Centos 5.4 cd1 with updates.
- Upgraded Snort to 2.8.5.1.
- Upgraded Snort rulesets to 2.8.
- Upgraded BASE to customized version 1.4.4.
- Upgraded ntop to 3.3.8.
- Added Arpwatch 2.1a13.
- Upgraded Nmap to 4.11.
- Added stunnel 4.15.
- Added network traffic graphs (Daily, Weekly, etc).
- Added system usage graphs (Daily, Weekly, etc).
- Modified Snort performance graphs (Daily, Weekly, etc).
- Web selectable management/monitoring network NICs.
- Bridging support for inline placement if 3+ NICs.
- Multiple remote sensor support with Stunnel encryption.
- Added auto restart of failed services with notification script.
- Added customized branding and themes.
- Added upgrade script for future enhancements & replace Snort rule updates script.
- Added basic user with read-only privileges (user:user,password:easyids).
- Added web-based system log viewer.
- Added web-based nmap scanner.
- Added e-mail alerts on ethernet/ip address changes.
- Added specific enabling/disabling of individual ruleset rules.
- Added snort_rules.conf file for inclusion of enabled rulesets.
CrossWire.org is an organization with the purpose to sponsor and provide a place for engineers and others to come and collaborate on free, open-source projects aimed at furthering the Kingdom of our God.
I ran across this organization while looking for a desktop and a web-based bible study program. All of the programs on CrossWire.org are based upon The Sword Project bible study program and they all use the same module library. The module library contains plugins that allows you to expand your functionality in the bible study program you choose. For example, the modules are different translations of the bible and/or commentaries to help you study.
The bible study program that I choose was Xiphos, because it is included in Ubuntu CE and it has a really polished UI. Adding different modules in Xiphos is really simple also.
I did find a web-based program on CrossWire, but I haven’t tried it out yet. I’m still looking as I’d like to find something a little more updated and with active involvement. If I could code my way out of a box I’d like to start my own web-based project.
So if your looking for an expandable bible study program look at CrossWire.org. Some if not all programs also run on Windows.
More to come on this subject.
FLOSS Weekly is a 
podcast/netcast from Leo Laporte and Randal Schwartz over at TWiT.tv. The show is very informative on Open Source topics and has high profile guests each week. I admit I haven’t keep up with the latest episodes, but I plan to and I will post/link episodes that I find interesting.
Ok so none of my readers will ever use this software, but I found it too cool not to write about it and post some screenshots. FOSS in medicine is pretty cool.
OsiriX is an open source imaging program developed specifically for the Macintosh and is dedicated to DICOM images, which is associated with a MRI, CT, PET, PET-CT, SPECT-CT or Ultrasound scan. The following quote from OsiriX explains a little bit more.
OsiriX has been specifically designed for navigation and visualization of multimodality and multidimensional images: 2D Viewer, 3D Viewer, 4D Viewer (3D series with temporal dimension, for example: Cardiac-CT) and 5D Viewer (3D series with temporal and functional dimensions, for example: Cardiac-PET-CT). The 3D Viewer offers all modern rendering modes: Multiplanar reconstruction (MPR), Surface Rendering, Volume Rendering and Maximum Intensity Projection (MIP). All these modes support 4D data and are able to produce image fusion between two different series (for example: PET-CT).
Now for some cool shots
Hello all,
If you’ll notice I’ve recently added a reading page to my website. This page is linked to my Google Reader and any stories or posts that I decide to share will appear on this page. The posts on this page mostly will come from tech blogs and I recommend you give them a look. So far all of my shared posts come from users that I have meet on UbuntuForums.org. I hope that this helps me and you better connect to users who enjoy open source software.
For the past few months I’ve been seriously considering dropping my Blackberry data plan
and just picking up an iPod Touch for my email, web browsing, and gaming since I’m usually around wifi. Yesterday I finally dropped my data plan and was patiently waiting for Christmas to pick up the Touch, but I started to look for an Android based mp3 player and to my surprise one does not exist.
Since I’m waiting for Christmas to pick up a Touch, I’m hoping somebody will announce a competitor. With the release of Droid on Verizon Wireless and Android 2.0, a mp3 player running Android is a prime market just waiting for some company to take advantage of. I know the iPod Touch is a sweet device, but I prefer using Open Source software and not something that will have every aspect of the device controlled by one company.
Do you know of anybody working on an Android based mp3 player? Any rumors floating around?
UPDATE: I just found the Creative Zii Egg, which looks to be a real promising device. Engadget is reporting several bugs, but maybe we’ll have something good in a few months.
My favorite Open Source media streamer recently released version 3.8. The developer Sindre Mehus made several bug fixes and added numerous features with most of them to support the Android app. The changelog can be found on Subsonic’s website HERE.
If you haven’t tried Subsonic and like web-based software, then give this program a try. The best part of this program is the ability to open up a port and listen to your collection on the road or share with roommates anytime. It’s easy to install and can be used with HTTPS/SSL encryption. A fully functional demo is also available on the website for you to check out.
With Android 2.0 releasing within the next month and Verizon Wireless welcoming it to their network, I’m now curious to see the hype of this OS. I’ve been with the Blackberry Storm for almost a year now and while the OS is decent (I’m running .148) the device is slow at critical points for me. The critical points being dialing and switching between apps. Well I started researching the phones that will be released by Verizon and I noticed that Android comes in different flavors. The following points was originally posted on Engadget.com
- Google-free: Free to download version of Android without Google applications like Gmail or Google Calendar. Access to Android applications is at the whimsical fancy of the manufacturer.
- Strings attached: Same as above but manufacturers sign a distribution agreement with Google and pre-install the Google applications.
- The Google Experience: Phones featuring the Google logo with all Google apps installed and includes unrestricted access (neither the carrier nor handset maker can block applications they find objectionable) to the Android market.
According the information from Engadget it appears phones with “The Google Experience” on the back is preferred. Hopefully Verizon will release the unrestricted version. If they do I just might be a former Blackberry user.
From http://www.skynet-solutions.net/easyids/:
September 23, 2009
Next release delayed
The next release has been temporarily delayed to fix the issues that were reported during long term testing and work in some additional feature requests that were submitted. Rest assure that the project is not dead but because EasyIDS isn’t our day job we are limited to working on it nights and weekends. We thank everyone for their continued interest in EasyIDS and will release the next version as soon as we can.
I can assure you the Devs are working hard on this next release. I’ve been lucky to download a couple of beta versions and all is looking good. I’ll update when .4 releases.
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