Helix3Pro

Out of curiosity as a thread troller;

How can they charge money for this distro (albeit customized by their dev team) while including all of those GNU/GPL tools they've stacked up in there?

How can they charge money for this distro (albeit customized by their dev team) while including all of those GNU/GPL tools they've stacked up in there?

First, the GPL doesn't say that you cannot charge for a distribution, in fact, it explicitly recognizes the right to sell the software.

What they cannot do under the GPL is refuse access to any GPL sources that they've modified if they distribute the modified GPL code in any form.

They can also add proprietary code to the distribution containing the GPL code and as long as they don't distribute modified GPL code they are under no obligation to supply their sources.

They cannot sell GPL source code for more than the binary distribution.

GPL does not mean free, only open.

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

Firstly, when I receive the email from e-fence, I got a little bit upset. That was my first reaction, and then I thought that I have used Helix for several years and it helped me a lot in what I do (locking up crooks). So, I‘d like to say BIG THANK YOU to the developers of HELIX for all of this time I was using their (not always perfect) product for free.

I can’t see a problem with farmerdude’s comments though. Whilst some people may easily get offended by his communication style on some forensic forums D , he is always helpful and knowledgeable. It is funny that this morning I was talking to my boss about something else, and he mentioned farmerdude and described him as a “very bright & knowledgeable person with a great sense of humour”. He also explained, where “farmerdude” nick came from lol .

Perhaps Helix3 Pro going commercial is great news for farmerdude, because he can now compete on even terms with Helix (Commercial vs. Commercial product). I haven’t used FDBC yet, but it is on my list to try, especially after Helix goes commercial.

I recently had a chance to briefly look at FCCU, CAINE, Penguin Sleuth Kit and DEFT Boot CD’s. Some are very promising projects, but my feeling was they are not quite there yet (compared to Helix of course).

Regards from Sydney/Australia

Now 24°C
75.2F

I'm not entirely clear what everyone's going on about…FarmerDude has shown incredible restraint with Jonathan. I mean…honestly…how many times does Thomas need to post the same thing, all because someone isn't willing to do a bit of their own research? Really?

Of course, I'm a bit biased…largely because I get similar questions every now and then. Hey, get upset at me or Thomas all you want, when I respond to your questions with "it's in the book" or Thomas responds with "…click on this link…". What's really funny about this is that one individual I do this to a LOT actually has a copy of my book on his bookshelf, and yet, he'd still prefer to get online and have me rewrite an extensive treatment of a topic that I've already written once, rather than walk around his desk and open the book!

To respond to Jamie's question, as someone who's written open-source code, I don't necessarily think I've been harshly treated here…but then, I've been treated harshly by professionals and folks who have elevated treating others harshly to a high art form, so I guess it's all relative! 😉

Jeff,

I like Jamie's suggestion - can we get some interviews and maybe a whitepaper discussing the various forensic live boot CD options?

Any chance of you kicking this off?

Here are some resources
http//www.livecdlist.com/?pick=All&sort=&showonly=forensics
http//www.darknet.org.uk/2006/03/10-best-security-live-cd-distros-pen-test-forensics-recovery/
http//www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/CategoryLive_CD

I'm not entirely clear what everyone's going on about…FarmerDude has shown incredible restraint with Jonathan. I mean…honestly…how many times does Thomas need to post the same thing, all because someone isn't willing to do a bit of their own research? Really?

You think? I'm new to the FBCD and don't see an issue with asking the manufacturer of a product questions about that product. Nor did farmerdude have a problem with responding as his lengthy emails to me have proved. Following this exchange I'm now in a position to decide that I will indeed devote some of my otherwise chargeable time to evaluating the FBCD.

"I was talking to my boss about something else, and he mentioned farmerdude and described him as a “very bright & knowledgeable person with a great sense of humour”."

I think, after _many_ pints of VB, that your boss confused me with another. 😉

Now, I've heard _wicked_ sense of humor … 😉

I'll look forward to your evaluation of the FBCD and feedback.

Cheers!

farmerdude

www.onlineforensictraining.com

www.forensicbootcd.com

I recently had a chance to briefly look at FCCU, CAINE, Penguin Sleuth Kit and DEFT Boot CD’s. Some are very promising projects, but my feeling was they are not quite there yet (compared to Helix of course).

Hi, I am CAINE Project manager… Thank you for the "promising project", we are really doing our best down here in Italy!

Could you express what you think should be the limits of CAINE that make you still prefer Helix? It would be useful to know what we should improve in our distro! We are desperately in need of feedbacks!

Hi Gianchi,

I only briefly played with it but here it is.

Non-English keyboard layout at start-up — need to enter manually "setxkbmap us" every time

Caine interface
Main Tab should contain some useful forensic tools and Information about Cain Interface should be somewhere at the last tab. Making the interface modular and customisable (add remove various apps) would be a benefit.
Guymager imaging tool has no hash verification, but Air 1.2.8b is good.

No Windows apps for Live Imaging etc.

Adding a GUI based hex editor, vinetto, rifiuti and pasco would be nice.

Would be great to have a contemporaneous notes app similar to QCC CaseNotes for Windows http//www.qccis.com/?section=casenotes

—
I forgot to thank you and your team members for the good work.
-)
—
As far as Helix goes, to me it is now just another UNKNOW commercial forensic distribution that has nothing to do with the old free Helix, except its name. It could be good or bad, but unless I play with the demo version, I am not spending any money on it. If there will be no demo/trial version available, I will be using something else, CAIN for example D