Bristol Digest, Vol 574, Issue 2

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Today's Topics:

1. Re: OT: TiVo and streaming boxes (Alex Butcher)
2. The DNS Mystery is (re)solved! (Y Martin)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 12:22:11 +0000 (GMT)
From: Alex Butcher <lug@assursys.co.uk>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] OT: TiVo and streaming boxes
Message-ID: <alpine.LFD.2.03.1410271201230.11973@nffheflf.pb.hx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-15"; Format="flowed"


A late reply from me...

On Sun, 28 Sep 2014, Sebastian wrote:

> Ok I got a nice enough HD TV, but a few years old or so V+ Box connected to
> it, and from what I know about the TiVo it has never really seemed worth the
> upgrade as such in my case.
>
> Now days these streaming boxes seem to be the thing, the Chromecast that
> Peter was emailing about is one of them. It's cheap and then it seems the
> idea is to get people buying music,etc, from Google Play. There's Apple TV
> to, and soon Amazon Fire which looks like it's going to be a good one,
> especially if the being able to search using the microphone in the remote
> works properly. However of course with Amazon Fire people are then meant to
> use Amazon Prime really with it as well, which would be about the same price
> as the box itself per year. Although Netflix and Spotify will work on the
> Amazon Fire as well.

Other significant devices are <http://www.nowtv.com/entertainment> and
<https://www.roku.com/uk/choose-your-roku>, both of which would provide
access to Sky channels that you mention you watch.

> I also know that in Linux land we can do magical things with XBMC, which no I
> don't think I have used.
>
> Not a major TV watcher, mainly channels such as Sky One and BBC One. I also
> have no additional move channels such as Sky Movies, but would be nice to be
> able to stream more movies onto the TV via Netflix or possibly something else
> maybe even.

If you're not a big watcher of TV and movies, then it would seem that you
would be best-served by a subscription-free Freeview/Freesat PVR of some
description (MythTV if you want to build your own, a Humax of some
description if you want to buy something off-the-shelf).

You could then supplement that with either a DVD/BD-by-post subscription
such as Lovefilm (?7.99 per month for two discs at a time), Cinema Paradiso
<http://www.cinemaparadiso.co.uk/rental-dvds/HowItWorks.aspx?#prices> -
?11.98 for two discs at a time, or your local library, or
<http://www.20thcenturyflicks.co.uk/> depending on your tastes (i.e.
mainstream or arthouse/cult/foreign language). Or, you could use a
Pay-as-you-go movie streaming service such as Blinkbox (by Tesco), or Google
Play Movies.

If you're using an Android device of some description, you might be able to
use a cheap MHL-to-HDMI or Slimport-to-HDMI cable/adaptor (depending on what
if anything your device supports) rather than a more-costly Chromecast.

And don't forget used DVDs/BDs too - I've found zOverstocks on Amazon
Marketplace and Play.com to offer discs in typically great condition at very
low prices. <http://www.xvmarketplace.ie/Offers> is worth keeping an eye on
for ex-rental DVDs/BDs.

> It's all a bit confusing really, because I am not sure really if it would
> be better really in my case to get the TiVo or some sort of streaming box,
> or carry on without anything like that for now anyway. So any suggestions?
> With a thanks in advanced.
>
> Also Peter how have you been getting on with your Chromecast more recently?
>
> Regards
>
> Sebastian

HTH,
Alex

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 16:40:30 +0000
From: Y Martin <ym2013@riseup.net>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: [bristol] The DNS Mystery is (re)solved!
Message-ID: <544E757E.1050004@riseup.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hi everyone

It was nice to meet some of you AFK at the meetup last Saturday.

Because of no DNS, apt-get didnt work, so I was dreading manually
sorting all the dependencies bitmask required and then installing
bitmask itself. Even worse, a full OS reinstallation was also on the
cards! :-(

But then.. I noticed that bitmask has a standalone bundle:
https://dl.bitmask.net/linux/#install-stand-alone-bundle

I downloaded that and was excited to see the "bitmask-root firewall
stop" command was available which was said to fix internet woes. Next
thing I was dancing to the screen of successful pings to www.google.com!
Never have I been happier to see the word "google" on my screen!

What it was that it did actually remains a mystery...

Anyway, thank you all for your support and help over the past week :-)

Best wishes,

Yousef

P.S.

$ sudo pkexec /tmp/Bitmask-linux64-0.6.1-4/apps/eip/files/bitmask-root
firewall stop
bitmask-root: done
$ ping www.google.com
PING www.google.com (74.125.230.146) 56(84) bytes of data.
...
...
64 bytes from lhr08s05-in-f18.1e100.net (74.125.230.146): icmp_req=7
ttl=55 time=53.0 ms
^C
--- www.google.com ping statistics ---
508 packets transmitted, 508 received, 0% packet loss, time 507727ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 24.913/43.983/55.628/6.687 ms

P.P.S
Please excuse the "DNS (re)solved" pun


Y Martin:
> There was a bitmask chain remaining but it was empty. Just to be safe I ran:
> $ iptables -X bitmask
> $ iptables -L -v
>
> This now shows that the bitmask chain has been removed but DNS still
> doesnt work :-( I wonder if I'm missing anything..
>
> But perhaps youre right and I should reinstall bitmask to make use of:
> $ bitmask-root firewall stop
>
> What is it they say about the old cure?.. 'Hair of the dog that bit you'!
>
> Dave Addison:
>> On Sunday 19 Oct 2014 12:46:52 Y Martin wrote:
>>> Hi Ian
>>>
>>> Thank you for your reply. Yes bitmask is a better implemention of
>>> encrypted communication because I believe in giving our Article 12 Human
>>> Right to privacy a healthy exercise (use 'em or lose 'em!)
>>>
>>> Sorry, I should have mentioned that I have uninstalled bitmask but the
>>> problem persists.
>>>
>>> So I am trying to find out what bitmask has changed in my DNS
>>> configuration and how to undo it :-(
>>>
>>> ohh dear, the price we pay for privacy!!!
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Yousef
>>>
>> Hi Yousef,
>>
>> Reading the web page Ian linked to, it would appear that bitmask install rules
>> into the firewall to redirect DNS queries. The web page also lists the command
>> to disable this for debugging so it should be possible to check if this is the
>> problem
>>
>> sudo bitmask-root firewall stop
>>
>> Regards
>> Dave
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Bristol mailing list
>> Bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
>> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bristol
>>
>



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End of Bristol Digest, Vol 574, Issue 2
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