Category5 Technology TV - Twenty Years of a Free World Wide Web

Twenty Years of a Free World Wide Web

S06E32
April 30, 2013

Robbie and Christa reminisce about the early days of the Internet in celebration of 20 years of the World Wide Web being made royalty-free. A Viewer Question Extravaganza follows as they work through a full mailbag.

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This episode is sponsored in part by: Adzerk, netTALK DUO, Netflix, Eco Alkalines.

Topics Covered:

Robbie Ferguson and Christa Wells present from the Category5 studios in Barrie, Ontario.
Category5 Technology Radio is now available during the live show, for those who wish to be able to listen to the show live (without the video portion).
{play 5:15}New Feature: Start any episode of Category5 at any point in the video when sharing a link, as per Robbie's blog entry.
{play 8:30}Featured Discussion: Thinking back on the early days of the Internet.
- The pre-internet way to send email: a Bulleting Board System (BBS), FidoNet.
- How a BBS sent email across the country.
- The early speeds (Robbie started at 1200 baud / 2.4 Kb/sec).
- DESQview allowed BBS operators to multitask their systems.
- RoboBOARD/FX was the first BBS software to provide a GUI (non-ascii). Since it was released just a year before the Internet became free, its hype died off very quickly.
- Christa's first Internet experience.
{play 19:19}Top Stories from the Category5.TV Newsroom.
{play 25:12}Viewer Questions.
Viewer Question: Can you suggest a live CD or other software that would help to test a system's specs and run benchmarks?
- Ultimate Boot CD: Main Page | Download Page
- Phoronix Test Suite: Main Page features a Debian/Ubuntu .deb download for easy installation.
{play 31:21}Viewer Question: I've been using Fogger in Ubuntu, but haven't been able to get the Flash plugin to work on it. I found a tutorial which shows how to get it working, but the .tar.gz file isn't found. How can I get this working?
- Understanding what is happening and how to modify the commands.
- Obtaining the libflashplugin.so file directly from the Adobe site.
Viewer Question: If I feel that I have received an email which is a phishing scam, is there any way to tell from the headers whether the email is legitimate?
- Reviewing a very real looking phishing email which looks like it is from PayPal.
- Looking at the links to determine that the email is not legitimate.
- Looking at the sender information in the email headers to confirm that the email is not legitimate.
- Viewer Comment: When you receive an email that requires you to login, don't click the links. Instead, go directly to the service (eg., PayPal) and login normally.
Viewer Question: I love how you brought back the fire effect from the old Beryl project. I installed Point Linux, but can't seem to get the burn effect working. How did you do that?
Viewer Question: How do I connect my Android tablet to my laptop using an HDMI cable? When I plug it in to the TV, it works, but when I plug it into the laptop, it doesn't. What do I need to do?
- Why you should shop at cat5.tv/bh.
- The USB 3.0 BlackMagic Instensity Shuttle provides HDMI input to a laptop, along with analog composite, component and S-Video. Check out the product here: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/686585-REG/Blackmagic_Design_BINTSSHU_Intensity_Shuttle.html
Viewer Question: We're starting our own broadcast using Wirecast. Having seen your video from last April, we're curious: could you let us know what kind of camera you're using for the Backstage Pass camera?
- Robbie recommends instead using something like a Microsoft Lifecam Studio, which will provide substantially better video quality for substantially less money.
{play 49:29}Viewer Question: I'm setting up an unRAID server using three 250GB hard drives. If I want to increase the capacity, what's the best way to do that?
- unRAID: http://lime-technology.com/download
- Understanding the capacity relationship between drives in unRAID.
- Replacing a drive in unRAID in order to expand the capacity of your array.
Viewer Question: Some friends were using my Internet connection and someone downloaded a movie. Now, I'm being fined €800. Is there any way I can figure out who did the downloading?
ESET Smart Security 6 ... buy a sizeable license for your business and Robbie will send you a really cool pen.