In the following example, we will change the screen resolution in BackTrack 5.

We are running BackTrack as a guest in a VirtualBox 4.2 and we have installed the Guest Additions within BackTrack in order for this to work.

We will use the xrandr utility to list the current available screen resolutions and to do the change.

xrandr
xrandr -s 1024x768

In order for your VirtualBox guests to achieve better mouse pointer integration, shared folders, better video support, seamless windows, generic host/guest communication channels, time synchronization, shared clipboard and automated logons, you can install the Guest Additions for VirtualBox. The Guest Additions is a single ISO file and should be mounted and installed within the guest operating system. The Guest Additions should match the version of your VirtualBox. The Guest Additions can be downloaded from the following VirtualBox download address.

http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/

You can read more about the Guest Additions in chapter 4 in the VirtualBox manual.

This is the procedure for building and installing a custom kernel with support for firewall, network address translation (NAT) and traffic shaping in FreeBSD 8.1. This process will also provide benefits, such as faster boot time, lower memory usage and additional hardware support.

If sources for the system is not installed, then run the system installer, go to configure, go to distributions, select sources for the system, select all sources except games and install them. Make a copy of the generic kernel, add support for firewall, NAT and traffic shaping, build the kernel, install the kernel and reboot.

cd /usr/src/sys/conf
cp GENERIC OT
nano -w OT

ident OT
options IPFIREWALL
options IPDIVERT
options DUMMYNET

cd /usr/src
make buildkernel KERNCONF=OT
make installkernel KERNCONF=OT
reboot

Read more about building and installing a custom kernel in FreeBSD in the FreeBSD Handbook.

A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output, also known as a video screen capture or desktop recording, often containing audio narration. The term screencast compares with the related term screenshot. Whereas a screenshot is a picture of a computer screen, a screencast is essentially a movie of the changes over time, that a user sees on a computer screen, enhanced with audio narration.

In this article, we will test the desktop recorders, that are available for Ubuntu 11.10 with the Unity desktop. We will be looking for a desktop recorder, that can record all desktop windows with audio and mouse movement into an open source video format, such as the OGG Theora format, that is in the same class as the well known MPEG-4 and DivX .

We open the Ubuntu Software Center and search for “recorder”. This search gives os “Istanbul The Istanbul Desktop Session Recorder“, “RecordItNow” and “Desktop recorder“.

We install the Istanbul Desktop Session Recorder. An icon is added to the launcher. We click the icon. Nothing happens. We open Terminal and try to launch “istanbul” from the command line. Nothing happens. It seems, that the Istanbul Desktop Session Recorder does not work.

It seems, that “RecordItNow” is for the KDE desktop – and depends on “Desktop recorder”. We install it, launch it, choose a framerate of 25 fps, record the entire desktop and review the video. It it seems to work. However, it does not seem to catch mouse movement – and seems to be quite CPU demanding during the encoding proces. It stores the recording in OGG video format – and includes audio.

We open the homepage for “Desktop recorder” and the website of “recordMyDesktop” appears. recordMyDesktop is a command line driven desktop recorder. We open Terminal and runs “recordmydesktop”. All desktop windows are recorded, including audio, and stored in “out.ogv”, which is the OGG format. The video includes mouse movement.

The best desktop recorder seems to be “recordMyDesktop”.

OpenSSH is a free version of the SSH connectivity tools, that technical users of internet and networks rely on. Users of telnet, rlogin and ftp may not be aware, that their password and data is transmitted unencrypted. OpenSSH encrypts data traffic, including passwords, to effectively eliminate eavesdropping, connection hijacking and other attacks. Additionally, OpenSSH provides secure tunneling capabilities, provides several authentication methods and supports all SSH protocol versions.

The following commands and configuration will install, configure and start an SSH server on Ubuntu 11.10. The default configuration are backed up to your home folder. The root account are not allowed to login for security reasons. Only the specified users are allowed to login for security reasons.

sudo apt-get install openssh-server
sudo cp /etc/ssh/sshd_config ~
sudo nano -w /etc/ssh/sshd_config
PermitRootLogin no
AllowUsers ann bob charles
sudo restart ssh