Open Unlocks the World’s Potential
An article was published in the Financial Times that was headlined “Log4j hack exposes problems with open-source software” which was
Category: free software
Tech tip: using mutt to access mailfence.com
tl;dr: make sure smtp_url definition starts as smtps. I needed to set up access to a paid-for email provider, mailfence.com
Of trust, transparency and privacy – TraceTogether
It was announced in parliament on 4th January 2021 (first time the proceedings were livestreamed which means item 7 in
Let’s Encrypt and self hosting at home
I have a NextCloud instance running at home and I need to make sure that the SSL certificate on it
The vibrancy of open source projects/products
On 8th December 2020, the other shoe dropped: the project known as Community Enterprise Operating System (CentOS, and I pronounce
My ESP8266-01 Adventure
I undertook many projects this year, some that I did not even think would be something I would be doing
Being part of a tradition
I am really glad that I am able to contribute something back to the community and society around amateur/ham radio.
Of trust and obfuscation
[image above from http://chloescheffe.github.io/trust.html%5D Last Friday, 19th June 2020, I was part of a group of four from the local
Seriously? NRIC for TraceTogether?
[Image from https://www.solarwindsmsp.com/blog/what-pii-and-phi-and-how-do-you-secure-them and added NO to it using gimp.] I wrote earlier that asking for a phone number when
Looking forward to a recyclable, open sourced, wearable, contact tracing device
So, the other shoe is about to drop. Gov is planning on providing everyone a wearable contacting tracing device to
A flawed idea. Zoom does not get it (or maybe they are pretending).
Earlier this week, a report came out that the video conferencing provider, Zoom, would be providing End-to-End-Encryption (E2EE) but only
Curated playlist of videos
I did not realise that there are plenty of videos of events at which I spoke, interviews I gave and
Working Remotely with FOSS tools
These last few months have been really wonderful in enabling me to catch up on making sure that as much
Jit.si if you care and Zoom if you don’t.
So, last week, from 8th April onwards, the Singapore Government imposed a partial lockdown (PL) – or as they say
A tip to play audio (and video) in a browser
So, the teacher in the house, aka my wife, asked me to help with the online teaching she has to
No. Internet voting is still a No Go.
I was asked by a friend why is it that we can’t do voting over the Internet. With all of
BuildTogether – data, code, people for the world
The Singapore Government Technology Agency released, at the end of last week (Friday 20 March 2020) a mobile phone app,
Of NUCs and Bastions
[image above from https://www.redhat.com/sysadmin/ssh-proxy-bastion-proxyjump%5D Just documenting the systems I have on my home network so that I know what to
xrandr – note to self
This is really a note to self because every now and then, the external monitor at my desk, a Dell
Handwaving. No surprises.
So, the Singapore Parliament and the Ministry of Communication and Information replies to my question about the plan to track
Two statements that I live by
Knowing how to think empowers you far beyond those who know only what to think. I would rather have questions
Fa(r)cial Recognition + Parliament = Smart Parliament?
If the Singapore Parliament aspires to be a smart Parliament, it should live stream proceedings in full on the Internet with no delay (Facial recognition system to track MPs’ presence in Parliament, Nov 8). By doing that, MPs’ attendance can be tracked using software that is already available.
Standard C150 handheld – manual and schematic
I am just putting this here more for archival purpose than anything. I have a Standard C150 handheld transceiver that
The Enormous Empowering of Free and Open Source Software Ecosystem
It is quite disappointing to see the escalation of bad behaviour on the part of some of the partners in
Good bye and On on!
Today, a second person that I know, decided to be euthanised. He was suffering from a very rare brain tumour
Start-ups and patents
I have been part of a few start-ups and there has always been the conversations around “are we patenting our
Congratulations to the new SCS president and council
I have been in the SCS executive council for many years. I am deeply thankful for the camaraderie and friendship
Why am I running for the presidency of the SCS?
Yes, I’ve decided that I will run for the post of the President of the Singapore Computer Society. The Annual
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” – Blaise Pascal
This. There was a time when I was so happy to be able to connect to the Internet with my
Electronic voting and trust
There was s series of letters published in one of the daily papers here in Singapore about the apparent anomaly
Simple life hack
Turn your mobile data to the OFF as a default when out and about. Why? Read on. Since about October
Working around censorship
The Internet is a wonderful and absolutely essential resource that needs to be looked after, managed well and secured so
NASA Space Apps Challenge 2018 – Singapore
It was wonderful that Red Hat’s Open Innovation Labs is a sponsor of this year’s NASA Space Apps Challenge event
Not allowed to code? Really?
[image from: http://cdn.blog.safe.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/no-coding.png%5D Lots of interesting, but not surprising, information is being made public about the Singhealth data breach. The
Happy 35th Birthday GNU!
The GNU project was officially announced on 27 September 1983 by Richard Stallman. Thirty-five years of a project that has
A healthcare IT foundation built on gooey clay
Today, there was a report from the Solicitor General of Singapore about the data breach of the SingHealth systems that
What I’ve learned in 15 years at Red Hat
[image credit: https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Spock-shades.jpg%5D In September 2003, I was asked by Gus Robertson to consider joining Red Hat – essentially to
You gotta love the UNIX way of doing things
A colleague was asking for some help in a demo he was planning on that would involve him editing a
My updated GPG keys: 0x61AFA27B
I have just updated my GPG keys. The fingerprint is: 0x61AFA27B And my public key is: —–BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY
SingHealth, PDPA, Smart Nation, sigh!
Looks like I am clear from the data breach at SingHealth. My Mom’s data, however, is not. This is the
ssh tunnel via userspace systemd service
[image above is a screenshot of 0pointer.de – in place of a systemd logo] This is short how-to on setting
And, they are online now
Over a week ago, I was pinged by @l00g33k on twitter with a picture of a description of a piece
You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep**
Lots of what we take for granted found expression in the thoughts and writings of John Perry Barlow. He crafted
Seeking a board seat at OpenSource.org
I’ve stepped up to be considered for a seat on the Board of the Open Source Initiative. Why would I
Wireless@SGx for Fedora and Linux users
Eight years ago, I wrote about the use of Wireless@SGx being less than optimal. I must acknowledge that there has
Three must haves in Fedora 26
I’ve been using Fedora ever since it came out back in 2003. The developers of Fedora and the greater community
Quarter Century of Innovation – aka Happy Birthday Linux!
Happy Birthday, Linux! Thank you Linus for that post (and code) from a quarter of a century ago. I distinctly
This is quite a nice tool – magic-wormhole
I was catching up on the various talks at PyCon 2016 held in the wonderful city of Portland, Oregon last
UEFI and Fedora/RHEL – trivially working.
My older son just enrolled into my alma mater, Singapore Polytechnic, to do Electrical Engineering. It is really nice to
A blast from the past
I was searching for advertisements that I recalled seeing in the Linux Journal back in the mid 1990s that was
Getting a good grip on the haze conditions
I feel that with DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s speech this past Monday, June 17 2013, at the eGov Global Exchange event
This is too cool!
[harish@phoenix ~]$ traceroute 216.81.59.173 traceroute to 216.81.59.173 (216.81.59.173), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets 1 registerlafonera.fon.com (192.168.10.1) 2.473 ms 2.937
In a word, wow!
I am not sure if this is a report that contains stuff taken out of context, but if its true
Doing the right thing and a proposal
I am glad to read the the Prime Minister has decided to probe the sale the applications (built and paid
It’s not a contest per se, it’s a Sahana-moment!
So, my 3 am post from January 3rd 2013 is now on http://www.tremeritus.com, probably not a good thing, but then this is
Why Open Standards and Open Source Matters in Government
I have offered to the powers that be (TPTB) running the various Town Councils in Singapore an opportunity for the
My Conscience Is Bugging Me
I cannot let the media statement put out by the “Coordinating Chairman of the PAP Town Councils” regarding the sale
Software for Public Sector Applications
The ongoing egg-in-the-face of the PAP over the “tender” (thanks to Alex for posting it via an anonymous source) awarded to AIM
A helper note for family and friends about your connectivity to the Internet from July 9 2012
This is a note targeted at family and friends who might find that they are not able to connect to
And it’s live now – SCO Open Server 5.0.5 running in a RHEL 6 KVM
As promised earlier, the final bits of getting an application that runs on the old hardware on to the VM
Fedora 17 before it is released
I decided to take the plunge and run Fedora 17 before it’s officially launched in May. My system has been
ACTA 2.0? Are more secret negotiations underway?
So, is the ACTA now failing and governments secretly doing a version 2? I don’t know and the fact that
Microsoft’s “open technology” spinoff
While I would like to stand up and cheer Microsoft on them setting up the “Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc”, I
Exposing localhost via a tunnel
I came across this tool, localtunnel, that offers a way to expose a localhost based webserver (for example) to the
What does it take?
I am an organizer of a programming contest that will be using some really cool technologies (HTML5, Python, OpenShift, just
The Value of being Heard and Consulted
Some of you would know that I am employed by a company called Red Hat since September 2003, it will
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 comes to the rescue of SCO Open Server in a VM!
After about two years ago to the day (plus or minus), I’ve finally gotten around to moving a friend’s ancient
Cool tech tip
Saw this on identi.ca feed: “@climagic youtube-dl -q -o- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zscrs94_pFc | mplayer – cache 1000 – # Watch youtube streaming directly to
OSCON 2011 – Tuesday July 26
Finally, I’ve found time and motivation to attend the O’Reilly organized Open Source Convention 2011 in Portland, Oregon. It has been
Change and Opportunity
Change and evolution are hallmarks of any open source project. Ideas form, code gets cut, repurposed, refined and released (and
Now all machines at home are on Fedora 15!
I spent 30 minutes this morning upgrading my sons’ laptops to Fedora 15. I used a Fedora 15 LiveDVD (installed
Printer/cups tip
Every time I update the OS on my laptops, I have to add the CUPS printer settings for the in
Early thoughts on GNOME 3
I must admit, the first time I installed Fedora 15 alpha, I did it only to test out what GNOME
My must-haves on any new Fedora installation
So, I’ve taken the plunge and gone ahead and updated my Fedora 14 to the next rev of Fedora 15.
Is Vietnam blocking Facebook?
I am sitting at a lounge in Ho Chi Minh City’s international airport and connected to the wifi. Interestingly, I
Managing open source skepticism
I had an opportunity to speak to a few people from a government tender drafting committee on Wednesday. They are
Glad to have participated in the Cloud Workshop in Penang
I am pleased to have spent two days at the National Cloud Computing Workshop 2011 held in Penang, Malaysia April 11-12
Cloud for Academics
I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak from both a Red Hat and an open source presective about
Believing in your own BS
I spend pretty much 100% of my waking hours in the IT world. A world that changes and evolves rapidly.
True Leadership and The Open Source Way
I live in the Free and Open Source World. A lot of what the FOSS movement’s ethos and principles are
NASA’s inaugural Open Source Summit
I missed the live streaming of the NASA OSS Summit but it is mostly all captured and available on ustream.tv.
Taking the higher ground
I am disappointed with the kinds of ad hominem attacks being made at the person from the PAP who is being
Interesting post from a non-techie moving to Fedora
A good friend of mine sent me a note about his friend’s experience in moving to a Fedora and Red
RMS in Singapore
I was invited by the Singapore Management University to be a participant at a talk by Richard M Stallman of