[GRLUG] Cheap Laptop Needed

[Roberto Villarreal]

You know, that sounds (very) funny on the surface, but is actually a pretty 
darned good idea.... you are right that your 'typical' user would have no 
idea and wouldn't think to (nor why to!) do a clean install!

Roberto

On Friday 30 March 2007 11:40, Ben Rousch wrote:
> A crafty Linux user then would make the laptop dual-boot and default to
> Windows. Since the thief is unlikely to understand dual-booting, he will
> end up in the Windows partition, which will be full of the usual spyware so
> it does not appear out of the ordinary. Now some of that spyware could
> provide screen shots and keylogs which report back to the true owner and
> provide several clues about the identity of the thief.
>
> On 3/30/07, Roberto Villarreal <rvillarreal at mktec.com> wrote:
> > Also, assuming that the laptop was running linux (this is a LUG after
> > all!),
> > what are the chances that the thief, or the person the thief sells it to,
> > will actually know linux?  Odds probably aren't that good... it probably
> > gets
> > a pirated version of windows on it within ten minutes.
> >
> > And on the chance that this person does know linux, my guess is that it
> > still
> > gets wiped with a new install.
> >
> > I'd wager that the best way to find it and/or the person responsible is
> > to check e-bay...
> >
> > Roberto
> >
> > On Friday 30 March 2007 11:18, Collin wrote:
> > > Of course, that only helps a little bit. Seeing that your laptop is now
> > > on pool144.grmich.sbcglobal.net does not do you a lot of good. Sure,
> > > the laptop is still in GR but so are 150,000 people. Which one of them
> > > took it? You can forget the phone company releasing the records for who
> > > has that IP unless you happen to be the RIAA or federal gov't. So all
> > > you'll get is the nice, warm feeling that you were able to help someone
> > > in grand rapids to get a laptop.
> > > New Mastercard like commercial:
> > > IP info:  $0.02
> > > Feeling worse knowing a little bit of info but not knowing enough:
> > > Priceless For everything else there's a bullet to the head for anyone
> >
> > that
> >
> > > steals. I can't stand thieves.
> > >
> > > Unless, of course, they are dumb enough to connect it to an IP
> > > registered to themselves or a single business.
> > >
> > > Kaminski, Dennis J wrote:
> > > > If you have a receiving server available, perhaps a boot up and
> > > > hourly program that sends traceroute (laptop to server) data to a
> > > > time
> >
> > stamped
> >
> > > > file on your server.
> > > >
> > > > Dennis J Kaminski
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: grlug-bounces at grlug.org [mailto:grlug-bounces at grlug.org] On
> >
> > Behalf
> >
> > > > Of Michael Mol
> > > > Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 10:29 PM
> > > > To: grlug at grlug.org
> > > > Subject: Re: [GRLUG] Cheap Laptop Needed
> > > >
> > > > On 3/29/07, Jorge La <weeneedhelp at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >> Yesterday, I parked my car at work for 45 minutes and when i came
> >
> > out,
> >
> > > >> someone went and stole my messenger bag, the laptop that was in the
> > > >> messenger bag, my remote car starter (to my own car... they cant
> > > >> even
> > > >
> > > > use
> > > >
> > > >> that, so i don't know why they stoled it), my CDs, and cut the power
> > > >
> > > > wire to
> > > >
> > > >> my cop detector. Poop.
> > > >>
> > > >> Anyways, is their anyone selling or have a spare laptop laying
> > > >> around
> > > >
> > > > that
> > > >
> > > >> they are willing to sell? It doesn't need to be that powerful. The
> > > >
> > > > stolen
> > > >
> > > >> laptop was a Celeron Coppermine with 256mb RAM running Xubuntu. All
> > > >> I
> > > >
> > > > used
> > > >
> > > >> it for was surfing.
> > > >
> > > > I'll keep an eye out.
> > > >
> > > > But this really brings to mind a service/piece of software I was
> > > > thinking about writing.  My desktop has a cron job to wget a missing
> > > > file on my web server account.  When I need to connect to it, I check
> > > > the error logs to get the IP address. (Yes, I know I should use
> > > > dyndns or cjb.  I haven't bothered to look into it yet.)
> > > >
> > > > I've been thinking about replacing the missing file with a PHP script
> > > > which keeps a short history of accesses.  It wouldn't be much of a
> > > > stretch to add an identifying field to the GET method request, and
> > > > look up results by field.  That way, if your system is plugged in and
> > > > connected to the net, you can easily find out the network it's
> > > > connecting from, especially if it's configured to connect to any old
> > > > available network.
> > >
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