Technology Insights

Terminal Initialization Failure Using OSX Terminal Window

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Earlier while trying to SSH to a device from a Terminal windows on my Macbook Pro running OSX version 10.8, also known as Mountain Lion, I received an error when attempting to connect to a 64 Bit Windows 7 Professional server. The error in the Mac Terminal window stated that the terminal failed to initialize. After troubleshooting I realized that the Windows 7 Pro server, which is running WinSSHD as an SSH server, didn’t like the default terminal emulation that the Terminal window, which is xterm-color256, in OSX Mountain Lion uses. Below we describe the error message in more detail and how to resolve this issue within the Terminal window itself or by installing iTerm2.

Technology Errors

svn co Error: Server certificate verification failed: issuer is not trusted

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When attempting to sync a repo to a server or to your desktop you will receive an error if the certificate being used to protect the HTTPS repository URL is not issued by the proper authority. Many companies generate their own certificates for repository URL’s especially if the repository is primary used internally. In this example I was attempting to sync a repository using SVN to a folder on the desktop of my Macbook Pro running OSX Mountain Lion. Below I describe the error in more detail followed by resolution to the svn certificate error.

Technology Insights

How To Change An Images Color Profile On Mac OSX Lion

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While looking into all of the specifics of the screencapture application on Mac OSX Lion I came across some interesting information about Color Profile. The Color Profile is assigned to each image captured with screencapture and I assume other media utilities function in the same way meaning they use the color profile that was configured when the image was created. The Color Profile stands for ICC Profile or International Color Consortium Profile and specifies a configuration file or set of configuration details that include color attributes. As you can image not all monitors display colors in the same way the same as not all graphics cards output colors in the same way so the Color Profile assigns settings that can be adjusted to make colors or any form of graphics look different.

Information Security

Calculate Disk Space Size Needed To Generate A Wordlist For Password Cracking

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Today I was having a discussion regarding wordlist size, the calculation to come up with the specific size the wordlist would be once generated, and various other items revolving around password cracking. Somehow the application crunch came up which in the past has been used to generate wordlists however its fairly slow compared to other technologies out there specifically Hashcat/oclHashcat’s Anyhow during the discussion I was doing some searching and had not used crunch in quite a long time but was pleasantly surprised by one of the features which generates a quick, accurate, and useful output of information regarding number of combinations that will be generated from the combinations length plus the character set/wordlists input and how much disk space those the list will take up on the hard drive. Anyhow a couple interesting things I realized tonight using crunch that I wanted to share.

Technology Insights

Install Prolific USB To Serial Adapter Drivers On OSX Lion, PL-2303 Mac Drivers

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Tonight I needed to console into a old Cisco 2900 switch to test a couple password related items and it was the first time that I would be using  USB to Serial adapter on my Macbook. Previously there had been a lot of issues with the adapter I have, which is a PL-2303, and getting the right drivers installed on Windows 7 64-bit so I was thinking there might not even be drivers available for OSX Lion. After a little research I cam across an article that purehate had written on QD however after following the instructions in the article the USB to Serial adapter still was not working. Below is information on installing newer drivers that will work on OSX Lion.