Very sorry for your loss. I too have family where either I or the other family member has chosen to not contact the other. I'm sure that John and I had talked over the 20+ years I've been a member of this list.
I've been hacking on computers in one form or another for somewhere north of 40 years. I managed to turn it into a career despite my dad telling me in 1975, "Computers are a flash in the pan. They'll be gone in 20 years." As I recall, I was an 8th grader begging for a TRS-80 Model 1. I had to wait almost a decade before I could buy my first one. However, one of my special fields of interest is computer security, from the CPU to the network gateway. I'm not an expert. I feel the field is way too wide to be expert in all of it. Your comment about what not to do prompted this message. One of the best positions I had was "Lab Manager" for Tripwire, Inc. downtown from 1999 to 2009. When I was there, we had a saying, I'm sure it's a wide spread idea. "If you can get physical access to a computer, it's not secure. It's only a matter of time." That goes with the joke, "The only secure computer is one that is in a bunker with no windows or door, no power, and no connection to the outside world. And we're not sure about that one." I hope this journey isn't too arduous and hopefully John didn't make it too hard to deal with his end of life. I did this for my sister about 10 years ago, and I still have some things popping up that I had no idea about. Mostly innocuous, but some that could have had significant consequences were I at a different point in my life. Good luck, and I expect you may not get this because someone probably efficiently removed John from the list already. -Russ On Sat, Mar 23, 2024 at 2:04 PM John Jason Jordan <joh...@gmx.com> wrote: > First: My brother, John Jeddeloh, was found deceased in his home > January 14. He was known on this list as "John Jason Jordan." From his > computer files it looks like he has been active here for many years. I > have even found boxes with meeting posters dating back to 2013. > > Second: I need to unsubscribe 'joh...@gmx.com' from this list. Somebody > please help. > > Third: Frankly, I was quite surprised to find he was running Linux on > all his computers. I was last able to contact him 27 years ago, and he > was running early word-processing systems at that time. Personally, I > first started using Unix at Tektronix back ca. 1980 and the Usenet days, > and continued through my retirement, lastly working on DSL, Cable, > Ethernet, and Fiber-to-the-Hut home gateways. > > However, as to how I am on this account: Pro Tip: > a) Use a password manager. Share the master password with a > trusted family member or close friend, or leave it in a safe deposit > box, or with you lawyer and a copy of you will. > b) Have a will while we're at it. > c) Encrypt your hard drives, and > d) Don't leave a Debian live thumb drive on you desk next to your > laptop. It can be trivially easy for someone to break into the BIOS to > boot the thumb drive, clear the password on an account, then reboot the > system and log into the account without a password. This not only works > for the guy administering your estate, but also the guy you steals your > laptop from the coffee shop. > > -Alan Jeddeloh > Personal Representative, > Estate of John Jeddeloh > arjedde...@gmail.com >
