Hi,
just moved from windows to linux.but the two programs i terribly miss are Zonealarm firewall and Babylon (a OFFLINE dictionary program). yes i know linux is far more secure and stable than windows and also has an in-built iptables firewall,yet i would like to use an software like zonealarm which shows me what is going on when im on net,whats being blocked,which programe asked for net-access etc.in a nutshell,an iteractive program which keeps me informing in real-time.i tried firestarter but it doesnt stop me being paranoid.
there are 2-3 dictionary programes in-bulit on my dist. but they all work only when i am on net.is there any OFFLINE dictionary program which functions like babylon. (& not obselete).
thanks in advance
bill

firestarter or guarddog or iptables

The first two are gui-based firewalls. Linux kernel includes a program called NetFilter that does packet filtering (firewalling) and the first two use that program to give you a graphical utility to build a firewall. The last link is for reference.

iptables gives you a way to open and close ports and it is highly configurable. If you want it to tell you what's going on then that is not such a good firewall. A good firewall should be set up keeping in mind the best security policy...after which you don't have to constantly keep an eye on it. You will still have to monitor logs regularly for any lapses.

Tux,

i had tried firestarter before but it looked quite silly then.i am impressed with the term 'real-time' on its webpage.which one would u recommend for a zonealarm-obsessed fan like me?
and isnt any program like babylon available for linux?
thanks
bill

Real-Time means it shows what's hitting your firewall. If you choose to make decisions based on those hits you can do that. Real time also means you can make changes on-the-fly and don't have to restart the firewall for the changes to take effect. As I already said, A firewall's sole purpose is to restrict services. If you build a firewall carefully allowing only essential and needed services there should be no need to constantly monitor what's going on.

If you want to see what program is accessing the internet, you can see firestarter's main window which shows what programs are accessing the internet and what ip addresses. Here's a screenshot.

search www.google.com/linux for program similar to babylon. I don't have any idea what that is.

Tux,

thanks.i am trying firestarter.the link provided by tinkster list too many softwares but i am unsure if they are OFFLINE dictionary programes or not.
bill

If 4 is "too many" I really can't help you :)


Cheers,
Tink

I have found no good firewalls which run on a workstation. They all cause innumerable problems, are not very configurable, don't have much, if any logging. I found a solution. It is called Smoothwall firewall. It requires a totally separate computer all for itself, but not much of a computer. a $25.00 computer off eBay will work fine. All you need is a bootable CDrom, at least 1 GB HDD, 64 MB ram, 2 NIC's, and a temporary monitor and keyboard for installation. Then you have an entire firewall. You can manage it via https from another machine. It has a DNS server, a network address translator, many tools, excellent logging, a web cache, proxy server, vpn, etc. All I did was take a bunch of old parts and a case, slapped together a celeron 650 machine, popped in the smoothwall CD, booted, configured the system, shut down, disconnected the monitor and keyboard, hooked up my internet to the firewall box, hooked up my hub to the firewall, booted all the machines again, and everything was securely firwalled. When someone does a port scan on me, I know about it, but I have tried it, and my IP looks totally dead to a port scanner. That is because most firewalls are packet "filtering" firewalls. What you really want is a packet "dropping" firewall. packet dropping firewalls don't send reject notices to unsolicited packet addresses. They simply drop the packet and don't reply with anything. My smoothwall installation is the most stable thing about my whole network. I have booted it once in a year. That was just because I thought I probably should do it sometime.

What awesomemachine is trying to say that he prefers
to set-up Iptables via smoothwalls web-interface.

The fact of the matter is that smoothwall, too, is nothing
but iptables with a few gimmicks thrown at it, and it's
nothing that one couldn't do on any linux-host anyway.


Cheers,
Tink

As for the dictionary, I have Ubuntu, and it came with a dictionary program that I think works offline. I don't remember what it's called, but you should be able to find it.

the babylon applications on freshmeat are actually not exactly dictionary programs.i have got lots of dictionary programs but im unsure which one works OFFLINE.thats what i meant by lots of programs.
anyways i downloaded but firestarter is giving stupid error device sit0 is not ready.now whats all this.

can i use Ubuntu's dictionary program on Mandrake?i have a live cd of Ubuntu.pl advice.

bill

for babylon take a look at this

i found this, just tonight.
the only thing i miss with windon'ts is Babylon 8...
this guy suggests StarDict: http://www.poluxycastor.com.ar/2008/...for-linux.html.. it's a sourceforge project: http://stardict.sourceforge.net/download.php. i'm looking for a RPM version of the install. found your post will looking.. headed to packman's site now.

//edit//
found at sourceforge:
http://ktranslator.sourceforge.net/
found at packman: http://packman.links2linux.org/package/dictconv

LandisReed.

well, i think i've said it all in the title.
i looked in YaST (i'm running, always have and always will, SuSE) on my openSuSE 11.1 install and ktranslator is in the package list, but is not installed...
i'll let you know if it's anygood when it's installed.

LandisReed.
p.s., StarDict is also avilable in YaST via OSS Repository from openSuSE 11.1

there are No good dict. for ktranslator..
working on porting my Babylon 8 dictionaries..

i'll get back.
don't bother with stardict... installed it and can't find it.

LandisReed.