MIS 470 - News and Views 
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This page last updated on Saturday, January 01, 2005 18:56:09
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CU IP
Network Number Assignment
Other resources used in the class and assorted stuff
Which fire station is closest to you?
It won't be long before wintry weather threatens the Omaha area. If poor weather conditions force the University to close for all or part of a day, your most reliable source for accurate information is the Creighton University weather hotline at 280-5800.
After Class
Thanks to everyone who took the class this
semester! I had fun and hope you did as well. I have your
graded material outside my office door and you can pick it up whenever you
are around. The Wade/Seagate lab hours for presession (May 17 to
June 4) are Mon-Thurs Noon-10pm; Fridays Noon-4pm, and Sundays
2pm-6pm.
Monday, May 3, 2004
Final Exam time - presentation of network
configuration. I am open to a change in venue - any ideas?
No one suggested anything, so let's meet in BA 111.
I would also like everyone to turn in to me a confidential memo detailing the evaluation of the efforts of their team members. Pretend that you have $100 to allocate to all your team members - how would you allocate that amount? Base it on their amount of work and effort expended on the hands-on work. Please get this to me by 4:00pm on Friday, May 7th.
Gateway nabs Best Buy exec
Monday May 03, 2004 03:16PM PDT
Scott Bauhofer will become senior vice president at Gateway and oversee the company's direct sales business.
Bauhofer comes from Best Buy, where he served as senior vice president of online
stores.
Monday, April 26, 2004
"More than 70% of people would reveal their computer password in
exchange for a bar of chocolate, a survey has found." Wow!
What would you tell me in exchange for a box of donuts
(especially the KK
donuts!) or a dinner?
Get me that thumbprint
device! That retina
scan might not work either!
The sex.com case
has finally been settled. This case set a legal precedent for
domain name transfers, ownership, etc. I don't think the rightful
owner will get his $65 million judgment though.
Monday, April 19, 2004
Be sure to read Chapter 3-A!
Could your LAN be taxed? It could be if you are in Florida...
Is technology making cars too expensive to repair?
Some people are happy with dial-up Internet access. Ugh!
Monday, April 12, 2004
Yes, we have class tonight! The plan is to do some
lecturing, maybe a quiz, and then the rest of the class after a break will
be spent working on the OS. I know some of the groups are
finished
Intel has reverse-engineered the AMD64 microprocessor. What makes this interesting is if you recall from MIS 353/253 about the "chinese wall" and how AMD reverse-engineered various Intel processors over the years. I guess what is good for the goose is good for the gander!
The FCC is close to deciding if they will reorganize the 800mhz frequency band to accommodate Nextel and reduce interference. This is a big problem in some areas -no including Omaha, yet - where Nextel equipment blocks out public safety signals. (you can check out the new Omaha Fire's new website. The first photo is of one of six new aerial ladders purchased quickly from Emergency One. They are on HME chassis. Interesting to note that the old Millard Grumman is still at Station One. First aerial response to my house is Aerial 34, a new E-One. First response to my house is Engine 33, a Central States pumper sold by our family and personally delivered by me - 1 2 3.)
Monday, April 5, 2004
Any of you AOL members need a Porsche?
Some bozo is threatening legal action against companies who have subdomains, saying that they have to license this from them. What a joke! Here's the article.
Do you work in a restaurant? If so, don't consent to a strip-search!
Speculation about gmail. Google to launch free email service with 1 gigabyte of storage and search technology. Here is the Google press release. Oh, and check the date on it. Slashdot story here. On a Google-related note, how many different ways can you misspell Britney Spears?
Monday, March 29, 2004
Online
porn - the technology testbed?
Only one in seven IT professionals describe themselves as being happy in their work - compare that to one-in-three plumbers and one-in-four florists.
Please DO NOT slide your quiz under the door of the Wade Center. Today
I was opening the lab at the same time the cleaning people came in, and
they nearly took the quiz that one of you slid under the door. I can not
be responsible for quizzes that are slid under the door of the Wade and
Seagate labs!
A detailed analysis of the Witty Worm
A keystroke logger faces federal wiretapping charges. What is a keystroke logger? Or available in software. Another product. Think you are being watched?
Senator Leahy calls for RFID monitoring hearings
Introduction to the Domain Naming System (DNS). This is how addresses like 147.134.144.2 are translated to an FQDN like eden.creighton.edu.
Senator John McCain is talking about re-regulating the cable industry. It was deregulated in 1996 and prices have risen 3x faster than the overall inflation rate. One choice that McCain is suggesting is that we should be able to go a-la-carte and only pay for the channels we want. I'd agree with that, why should I pay for those channels I tune out?
Monday, March 22, 2004
Guest Speaker: Jack Winslade (pronounced
wine slaaaahhhd) of Sitel
Corporation. Jack has been in the network and telecom business
for a long time as evidenced by this
and DRBBS and OMAHUG.
Jack also loves
old computers as evidenced by these pictures from a vintage computer
festival. He was also part of the BBSes
(longtime Omahans check
this list). Please be on time for our guest speaker!
Are you on this list of users who are pirating software? Did you download this application and run it, and now your machine is broadcasting that you are a pirate? See this Slashdot article for more information.
Everyone: How
IP masquerading/Network Address Translation works.
Linux groups: here is some information on IP
Masquerading that you should read. Also, check it out on Google.
Windows groups: here is some information on Routing
and Remote Access service that you should read.
My notes from Jack Winslade's presentation
Monday, March 15, 2004
Guest Speaker: Rick
Brokofsky (in charge of CU infrastructure and new/remodeling
installations) and a tour of the Creighton switch room. Be sure to
be on time for this class as we will be walking over and going deep under
the ConAgra Plaza to see where the CU network and phone equipment
lives. We'll meet in the classroom and then I'll lock it up as we go
on our tour. If you are late and the classroom is locked, wait for
us and we will be back. Be one of the
few students to see this! As a special treat, I'll also show you
where the COBA network equipment lives, and if we have time I will take
you down to where Eppley joins the campus underground tunnels.
Your assignment for
this speaker is to be on time for class.
After the tour, we will do News and Views and then TechTips. The rest of the class will be spent on installing your operating system. The goal for today is to 1)get it to see the Internet and 2)seeing and configuring the second network card.
Midterm Grades - I have graded your assignments and found that quite a few of you did not put your names on them! So, you did not get credit for the assignment on your midterm grade. I will pass them out today and you can identify them, and I will give you credit for the assignment. So if your midterm grade is low, that is most likely the reason.
Online Bell System Memorial. Do you remember the day that Bell died?
DARPA would like to rework the Internet Protocol
When I win the Powerball, after I buy Creighton a tow truck for Public Safety, I am going to buy this place and make it my TEOTWAWKI bunker.
Yet Another Reason to hate Hotmail
City officials fall for an Internet prank and draft a law to curb the risks of dihydrogen monoxide - don't believe everything you read on the Internet!
Remind me to tell you a little story about the warwalking I did over break in my neighborhood.
Monday, March 8, 2004
No class - Spring
Break Week!
Monday, March 1, 2004
My fault! I gave Jack Winslade the wrong
date. He will guest-speaker on March 22.
My notes from Ken
Mattson's guest speaking appearance.
Pictures of the whiteboard. <- never got them! Did anyone take
pictures?
Qwest to begin offering naked DSL. No, not that! What Qwest is offering is a DSL-only line, so you don't need phone service. They are charging $33 a month for that, as opposed to $26 a month for DSL and then add on the voice line charges. It appears the phone companies are trying to woo away cable modem customers.
Daily Internet activities - here is a study that shows what the (on average) 69 million Americans do when they go online each day. You can read more at this page. What is #1?
As an Admiral in the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska, I am proud to announce that today is the 137th birthday of the State of Nebraska! (click here to see a copy of an Admiral's certificate)
Monday, February 23, 2004
Guest Speaker: Ken Mattson, network
admin at Creighton and recently promoted to Chief Network/Data Officer. Your assignment for this
speaker is to prepare a (typed) page asking at least one question about
1)Creighton's network infrastructure, and 2)at least one question about
network policy. These will be due at the beginning of class.
Assignment Two will be handed out.
I have graded the last quiz and also the questions for our non-showing guest speaker. If you have a flag stamp on the question page, you have received credit.
Monday, February 16, 2004
Guest speaker: Ms. X (to be
identified later). She runs an adult website in town. Your
assignment for this speaker is to come up with at least one
question dealing with the problems in hosting an adult site. Use
your knowledge gained from Assignment
One and our class discussion of it on February 9th so that you can ask
intelligent questions. UPDATE:
She is ill and will reschedule for later in the semester. I would
like you to still hand in your question and I will forward them to her.
Deliverables due at class
1. A typed sheet with your name, date and at least one question for the
guest speaker
2. Your group report
Verisign's sitefinder: An idea that won't die. Slashdot article.
Remember the TechTip about the Apple supercomputer? Now you can buy a piece of it!
Battlestar Galactica (this) or (this) or (this) has been renewed for 13 more episodes
Cell phone jammers - should I get one and install it in COBA? Heck, with our Alltel service it's just about jammed anyway.
When a phone call is not a phone call. Look up VOIP.
Bid on Jenny's number! (I sent this via email) Newsday article. Or can you buy a phone number? Oh, and here is one-hit wonder Tommy Tutone's site. Oh, and look what else you can buy on eBay UPDATE: Sorry, eBay has pulled the auction until they find out for sure whether or not you can transfer a number.
Microsoft's monoculture - is this good for a network? Talk amongst yourselves!
Just how hard is it to get off of AOL?
Microsoft Windows NT and 2000 source code was stolen. Now, an exploit based on recently-released Microsoft source code.
College students are "So not intimidated" about being sued for downloading songs. So what is your take on it? When was the last time you bought a CD? Here's the last CD I bought and this one and this one. I also had Foreigner Double Vision on 8-track (what a sweet setup) and cassette (traded up).
What is the fastest-growing Linux distribution?
Monday, February 9, 2004
For class, continue reading chapter one and into two.
Prepare for the guest speaker on February 16th.
Turn in Assignment
One and discuss it.
Monday morning I will be out of the office. I have a dentist appointment and someone coming over to the house to do my furnace inspection. I plan to be back in the office sometime around 1:00pm. If you have any questions on the assignment, please email me.
No harm in extended Internet use. This counteracts other studies that say heavy Internet users are loners and social misfits. So, where do you fit in on the Likert Scale?
Interesting email to my Yahoo account. This is the first one that I have gotten, although there are lots of variations of this going around. Don't fall for it! (and no, I didn't reply or click on it!) Maybe I should use this random password generator.
Monday, February 2, 2004
Someone asked about TechTips.
We will do last weeks and this weeks today.
Here's a review
of the latest version of FreeBSD,
version 5.2. Those of you that are going to use a *BSD should take a
look. Also
look at this page that compares BSD to Linux and the various flavors of
BSD.
For those of you that are using Linux, how about Debian?
According
to this article, it is the fastest-growing distribution out there.
The inventor of the CTRL+ALT+DEL key sequence is rebooting his career
Installing Slackware Linux. Slackware has the reputation of being the most Unix-like distribution, with one of the most un-friendly installation programs. I would not recommend this as your first Linux distribution!
Assignment One is handed out, due at the next class on February 9th.
I have gotten the PowerPoint slides for chapters 2, 4 and 4A to replace the corrupted ones.
MyDoom begins it's attack on Sunday and SCO is down. Wait and see what happens when version B begins it's attack on Microsoft on Monday... And ID software is releasing MyDoom version 3!
Here is the link to download the Windows (32 bit) version of Putty so you can SSH into Grackle.
UPDATE on Saturday at 17:15: The
weather forecasters are predicting another 8"-12" inches of snow
by Monday afternoon. Same kind of storm as before, with snow dropping
for over 24 hours. OK, start your betting pools now! Will we
have class on Monday? Ha!
UPDATE on Sunday at 10:45: The weather
service has issued this statement: PERIODS OF MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW ARE MORE LIKELY TONIGHT. WINDS
SHOULD INCREASE TONIGHT & CONTINUE MONDAY. CAUSING DRIFTING SNOW.
AREAS OF REDUCED VISIBILITY & DIFFICULT TRAVEL. EVENT TOTAL SNOWFALLS IN THE WARNING AREA SHOULD MAINLY BE IN THE
6 TO 12 INCH RANGE BY MON EVENING. PARTS OF SW IA AND THE SE CORNER OF NE MAY SEE SNOW TOTALS FROM 8 TO
15 INCHES. Who wants to bet on the amount of snow and if we have a
late start, or cancelled classes? Stay tuned!
UPDATE on Sunday at 13:50: Supervisor
One (physician in charge of all Omaha
Fire Medic Units) has said that hospital of choice has been
changed to the paramedic in charge of each med unit. Not quite as
severe as suspending it, but driving around is getting worse.
UPDATE on Sunday at 16:10: NEW SNOWFALL IN THE PERIOD FROM TONIGHT THROUGH MON IS EXPECTED
TO BE FROM 3 TO 10 INCHES IN THE WARNED AREA. THIS WOULD PUSH SNOW TOTALS FROM THE EVENT INTO THE 6 INCH TO 15 INCH RANGE. THIS WILL
BE HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON YOUR EXACT LOCATION. THE HEAVIEST AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE ALONG & SE OF A LINE FROM AROUND SEWARD
TO FREMONT & LOGAN IA. Anyone watching the World
Poker Tour?
UPDATE on Sunday at 22:20: All
elementary schools are closed, it's not too bad. My prediction is
business as usual at CU tomorrow!
UPDATE on Monday at 06:30: UNO is
closed all day, CU is going to open at noon today. Wade and Seagate
labs will open at noon. See you in class tonight!
UPDATE on Monday at Noon: The
phone message has changed and the University is open. WooHoo!
Clean the snow off your car, brave the streets, and like Arnold says, "Get
your a** to Mars!"
Monday, January 26, 2004
Weather Update: At 5:20am the
University announced that it is closed until Noon today. Hmmm, all
other area schools are closed all day and the Omaha area is under a winter
storm warning until Noon. The weather
hotline, 280-5800, does say to
stay tuned, so watch this space. (by the way, Fabian sounds like she
just woke up when she recorded that message :-). At this time we are
still having class. UPDATE 11:20am
- the recorded message says that all afternoon and evening classes are cancelled.
Who woulda thunk it? This gives me more time to play with my 4x4 and
the snowblower! See you next Monday.
The 2003 Stella Award winners!
Class starting time: I've looked at everyone's ballot, and it seems that we all agree to start at 6:00pm, beginning on Monday, February 9th. Class today will start at 6:15 and if everyone agrees, we will move the starting time up to 6:00pm.
More information has been coming out on the County's new radio system. It seems that the Radio Shack 96 does not work properly on the APCO 25 setup used here, as it clips out and does not correctly follow conversations. The only scanner working so far is the Uniden BC 250D, (alternate link) as long as you add the BCI 25D digital card. Also, the Omaha Sun is streaming out audio from the new system. If you are interested I will send you the URL in an email so as not to burden their bandwidth. UPDATE: Several people have gotten the newest Uniden scanner, the BC296D to work on our system. I also have the latest talkgroup settings if you are interested.
DSL Update: I received my ActionTec DSL modem via UPS on Friday. The enclosed letter says that service is not due to be activated until Monday. The modem is like a cable modem router, with four ports that serve RFC-1918 addresses. More on my DSL here.
Monday, January 19, 2004
Welcome to the first day of class! Please check
back here at least every day as I update this page with class items, interesting
things, and whatever else
or else or else
or else or else
and else
comes to mind. You can check out my interests at my main page at http://eden.creighton.edu.
Be sure to join our class mailing list, this is very important. Details are below.
Microsoft
is extending the life of Windows 98 until June 30, 2006. Story
here Story
here
Microsoft
Windows product lifecycle page
It's the 20 year anniversary of the Home Taping decision
It's the 20 year anniversary of the Apple Macintosh and here is a link to the (in)famous Superbowl ad
Notice that your scanner is a lot quieter these days? It's only going to get a lot quieter until you buy one of these
69% of adults use the Internet, a number that keeps climbing each year
Wasting time fixing computer problems?
Which operating system are you?
A student, Mike Rowe, is being sued by Microsoft since his domain name, http://mikerowesoft.com, is too close to that used by the Redmond giant! Here's a google cache of his page.
Check this out:
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 22:16:01 -0600 (CST)
From: Qwest Web Order <weborder@qwest.com>
To: tbegley@creighton.edu
Subject: Qwest Order Information for Order Number# XXXXXX
Here is a list of products ordered by each telephone number.
-----------------------------------------------------
For Phone Line (402) 556-4785
-----------------------------------------------------
Actiontec Modem Purchase
Qwest DSL Deluxe with MSN Premium
Thank you very much for your order.
Why this is interesting is that I am quite a far distance from the
CO. But according to some telecom friends, Qwest
is installing some DSLAMs
in Omaha to enable DSL. This
was too good of an offer to let go by, so I will be giving it a test this
semester.
Class Mailing List
Everyone needs to join our class listserv, as I will send
out announcements, sample questions, etc. to the list via email. I
cannot make you join, but you will miss out if you are not on the list and
I am not responsible for any material you miss if you are not on the list.
To join the list, do the following:
* send a message to majordomo@creighton.edu
* in the body of the message, put the words subscribe mis470
* send the message
This list is closed and unmoderated, meaning that you cannot join without
my permission. Once you are in, you can post a message to
everyone on the list. I recommend that you use your Creighton email
account, as free services such as Hotmail and Yahoo have quotas or stop
their SMTP services. I am not responsible should you use a free
service and do not get your messages from me.
Top Five Excuses for late assignments that will not be accepted for
this class:
Number 5: I partied all weekend
Number 4: I forgot to save my work, and I lost it all!
Number 3: My printer ran out of ink.
Number 2: My computer crashed!
Number 1: The dog ate my assignment!
Thanks to Dr. Lei-Da Chen for these
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