Wednesday 17 October 2018

OpenHabian Raspberry Pi 3 Installation Failure Error

I've been trying to install OpenHabian 1.4 on my Raspberry Pi 3 and repeatedly getting a failure error with the installation when it tries to update packages. My Raspberry Pi has been variously plugged into a wall socket charger, TV and router to power the micro USB supply which have all worked fine when the standard Raspian Operating system was used.

However it appears that OpenHabian is very susceptible to voltage fluctuations during the installation process and if there is any slight drop it can cause the process to fail giving an error in the package installer but not making any mention of the voltage being the cause. The only sign that there may be an issue was when I connected the Pi to my TV monitor to view the install and noticed the yellow power symbol flash on screen a few times.

After seeing this error I downloaded the image onto a fresh SD card and started the installation again but this time using my mobile battery charger with 2A output. The installation completed flawlessly and I now have a fully working OpenHabian install ready to use!

Monday 19 March 2018

Question From eBay Member - Email Virus Malware

One of the latest virus/malware attacks is an email that purports to be a question from an eBay member. Crucially the email is not shown as being from eBay but is spoofed as being a different sender - the ones I've seen are from wincanton.co.uk and meterreading@britishgas. The message says:

Hello Your ad is posted twice . Which is the right price ?Is this your product? 

The link below the question appears to be eBay but if you hover over (don't click!) then you'll see that the URL isn't the same as the link text. The link is to a compromised site so that when you click your PC will be infected with malware that can steal bank details or be controlled remotely.

This was quite an effective attack as I do currently have eBay listings running at the moment but fortunately the email came in on an account that isn't linked to eBay and all eBay emails come from them not the third party who has the question.