I know the OS comes bundled with the XeroBank line of software (i.e., xb Browser, xB VPN, etc.). However, the numerous ads on the website and offered subscriptions leave me beffudled: does running this OS require me to shell out money in order to operate all the features? For instance, would p2p software work in an encrypted, anonymous manner? Is the XeroBank network freely accessible, or is Tor offered for the stringy? (I am.) And, there is a link to the source code on the page for xB Machine, but the hyperlink is broken. (The same applies to xB Browser, actually.) Thanks.
Kryptos, Here's a quick rundown: The OS communication is encrypted / anonymized or you get no connection at all. If you were to load up a P2P program, everything would be encrypted / anonymized. You can use the Tor network connection for free, and the high-speed XeroBank network for pay. We've got another build of the OS coming shortly, and it will include the source link, but I think it will be a little too frightening. The build environment is extensive, and the source code for the OS itself is about 4,000 MB in size. So I think the plan is to release the source via torrent. But it will be coming shortly. It's just evolving so fast, once we have a new core built (any hour now) you'll see the updates. Steve
We have a beta of xB Machine 0.9.5, with XB2 network support. It has a small boot warning but it shouldn't stop you from booting it. Upload from the build box should be completed in about 5 hours. When the link is active, it will be here: http://update.xerobank.com/beta/xB_Machine_0.9.1.5.exe http://update.xerobank.com/beta/xB_Machine_0.9.1.5.exe.sig
Just a couple of questions: 1. Do you have an idea when the stable version will be released? 2. Does XB machine run from a USB stick like the VPN?
xB Machine 0.9.5.0 does have a stable release now, and will be uploaded in a few hours. And yes, it will run from USB.
Excellent. Should this version be used with VMware or the other one (Qemu?)? And to use this from a USB stick, would both the XB machine and the vm player be on the USB stick?
It comes with QEMU built in, but if it locates you have VM Ware installed on the host machine, it will use that.
Help! I downloaded and burned XB machine to a cd. The problem is i can't connect to the internet. When i boot from the cd i open a terminal window and ping google.com - looks like it can connect, only a few packets lost, but when i open xb browser it cannot open any web page. Worse, if i run xbmachine within windows xp not only the browser does not connect, also the ping command reports a 100% packet loss. I tried to disconnect all services and starting tor again but to no avail. Am i missing something? Do i need some passwords or client id to enter? What is the xb profile/credentials? I thought the os was distributed for free. Thanks
Completely free. It sounds like you're trying to connect over either Tor, or you haven't selected your connection method. Contact us over on the xerobank forum to continue: http://forum.xerobank.com
heh, when I visited http://xerobank.com/ it says $1 for signup. So it's not free if I want an account. And using Tor is useless as it's always lagged and slow as snails. And how can we be certain that there is no "monitoring backdoor" to all the Xerobank applications? And to be honest, in my personal opinion, I think it's very unethical and rather deceptive in how you are offering "free" applications, when all along you know Tor is crap to use as it's so slow we can have a nap in between webpages loading. You are using a rather deceptive marketing strategy to try to get people to upgrade to using your faster service. Just say it as it is, not gimmicks, no side-stepping, no deceptive comments.
All the software is free, and works on many anonymity networks. The $1 signup is a demo for xerobank's private vpn service, which is an upgrade from Tor. They're all open-source. Take a look inside. Compile your own copy. You saw the latest batman, right? You know when the heath ledger's character is talking and they ask him "Well why haven't you done it yet?", and he responds "If you're really good at something, never do it for free." I think it's like that. You know, we used to offer free SSH (~500kbps) for a week. However, we don't offer SSH tunnels anymore: we're a premium brand offering the best commercial anonymity on the net. Now we offer $1 VPN (ours is uncapped) demos for a month. Intelligent clients definitely see the value in our offer.
No I didn't see the latest batman movie. I have better things to do with my time, and better things to feed my mind, than watching some satanic, demonic and dark things like batman. I would never feed my mind, like a brain dead zombie, garbage like that. But thanks for your reply. I realise you are trying to offer people a service and value that is focused on privacy. But as it is, I cannot use it, because Tor is crap.
I don't think Tor itself is "crap", but the experience does leave a lot to be desired. It doesn't conform to being a transparent security benefit because it's so slow, as you well know. Unfortunately, I think it may always be slow. No matter how fast the protocol gets, or how much bandwidth people share, there will always be leaches who abuse it, who take and give nothing back. So you have to get resources from somewhere, thus funded network resources.
