We had a fun breakthrough in #netatalk in recent days: the SRP (Secure Remote Password) user authentication method is now reverse engineered and supported by the open source AFP server.

Apple quietly added SRP to the AFP protocol some time in 2010 (our testing indicates OSX 10.7 Lion) but never acknowledged or documented it.

SRP caught my eye since it would offer roughly twice as strong encryption as DHX2 which is the final "official" UAM from Apple.

Luckily, SRP is an open standard and not an Apple proprietary technology: described in RFCs 2945 and 5054. So the reverse engineering was straight-forward, using consumer products that are known to support SRP, then brute force a few dozen potential parameters afforded by RFC 5054.

I did this write-up about the protocol and cryptographic mechanism as a sort of community specification.

https://netatalk.io/spec/SRP_UAM

The upcoming Netatalk v4.5 will support SRP!

Powerbook Duo Installation Disks

https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/powerbook-duo-installation-disks

Early Powerbook Duos shipped with seven floppy disks that contained the operating system (version 7.1) and various enablers and other extensions and utility specific to the Duos.

#macgarden #OperatingSystems #1992 #Apple

🌟 Project Release Announcement Time! 🎉

I wrote a WebUSB extension for Firefox.

This lets web pages access USB devices (with your permission). This has long been supported by Chrome, but Mozilla has not wanted it, at least by default. Fortunately, because add-ons are a thing (for now. make sure to keep fighting for this!), it's possible to change that!

Common reasons for wanting this include programming microcontrollers, 3d-printers, smartphone bootloaders, and similar "physical computing" projects.

This works on Windows, Linux, and macOS

You can get the source code here: https://github.com/ArcaneNibble/awawausb

In order to make this work, you will need to install a small program on your computer. This is explained in the README. You can then install the .xpi file (on the GitHub Releases page) into your browser (which was _just_ auto-approved while I was typing this announcement up).

Please boost (if you want), test, report bugs, etc. etc. (although do keep in mind that this code is entirely written by a single catgirl)

i think this is the perfect type of project to drop late on a sunday / very early on a monday?

I'm looking to connect with the #retrocomputing community here in the fediverse because I'm restoring an #appleii and I really want to avoid things like youtube, reddit, etc.

I know this makes it hard, but frankly, those places suck and if I have to choose between going there and doing it all the hard way, fine.

But I really think there's a third way here in the fediverse, and I'd love to prove it 😁

If you're hacking on Apple II machines, I want to hang out.

If you have a bug zapper up, it's time to take it down.

A University of Delaware study analyzed nearly 14,000 insects killed by zappers over one summer. Mosquitoes accounted for less than 1%. The other 99%? Moths, beetles, midges, fireflies, and other beneficial insects.

It's even worse than it sounds: mosquitoes find you by carbon dioxide, body heat, and skin chemistry. Your zapper is completely invisible to them.

Meanwhile it's running all night massacring the pollination night shift.
#Nature #Insects #Bugs #Pollinators

Venezuela After Maduro: Stable, Richer—but Still Not Voting

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/venezuela-after-maduro-stable-richer-but-still-not-voting/

Inside of you there are two Microsoft Outlooks.

One Microsoft Outlook is not working.

The other Microsoft Outlook is not working.

#shitpost