Monthly Archive for February, 2008

Considering Router Changes

Published
by
Chris Meller
on February 26, 2008
in Commentary, Daily Grind, Hardware, Internet, Links, Networking, Public Opinion and Questions
. 0 Comments

I’m considering snagging a cheap refurbished Dell from HCDI Trading to use as an IPCop or m0n0wall firewall / router.

Both Belkin and Linksys have gotten on my ho-hum list for consumer grade routers recently with some poor performance overall. Two different Linksys WRT54G models (the early ones, pre-WRT54G-L branch-off) seem to freak out every few days to a week and die, requiring a power cycle to fix. The Belkin wants to restart itself every time you change absolutely anything in the admin interface, and its wireless seems to phase in and out of quality, even sitting 6 feet away.

I’m hoping that if I move the router / AP out of the ‘central’ role to a more peripheral AP role on the network, things will improve. I also miss some of the flexibility having a real OS and real hardware brings to the table1.

Another option I’m considering, although a bit more pricey (yet more ideal as well), is a small “appliance” device, similar to the Linksys and Belkin offerings, yet more flexible and powerful.

Due to the increased shipping costs associated with overseas orders, the company I would prefer to deal with, Linitx, is kicked out. Instead, I would probably go for something very similar to the Logic Supply box George Ou at ZDNet talked about in this exact scenario.

Anyone have any opinions? Other great small devices that would make ideal (preferably cheap) solutions? What do you use at home?

  1. No, DD-WRT, Open-WRT, Tomato, et al are not real OSes, they just play one on TV. [back]

Vista SP1 Now Availble on TechNet

Published
by
Chris Meller
on February 15, 2008
in Announcements, Daily Grind, Internet, Links, Microsoft, Windows and Windows Vista
. 1 Comment

Hurray! Vista SP1 is now available to TechNet Plus subscribers, just like it should have been all along.

If you’re looking to download, be sure to read the notes about it only being available under Top Downloads for the time being.

The original article I read said it was also now available to MSDN subscribers, but I’m too lazy to find that link…

What’s with the Vista SP1 Delay?

Published
by
Chris Meller
on February 11, 2008
in Beta Testing, Commentary, Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and Work
. 0 Comments

Vista SP1 was RTM earlier this month, and they announced a laid-back release schedule.

Their plans for slowly rolling it out to end users sound great, but I have to wonder why Microsoft doesn’t plan on releasing SP1 to IT Pros through TechNet until it’s publicly available for users to download.

This seems like negating the entire point of the TechNet community if you ask me. It’s there so its members can get their hands on essentially all of Microsoft’s software for testing and pre-deploy purposes. Several Windows 2008 Server builds have been on TechNet, and it was available for full download the day it went RTM. Why, then, is Vista’s service pack different?

Update: Per the rumors, the release schedule for SP1 has indeed been changed, so that technical users get updates sooner than expected.

  • Beta testers got it Friday (RC2 was identical code, so they actually already had it), because that makes so much sense.
  • Volume License customers will get it the end of this week.
  • MSDN and TechNet users won’t get it until later this month.

I still don’t understand why we’re waiting for TechNet. If nothing else, those users should get it at the same time VL customers do - they’re likely one and the same people.

I was waiting to rebuild my Vista box at home1 until SP1 was available, but it looks like that’s still going to take too long. Maybe I’ll move ahead with my plan to make that box a Windows 2008 Server and using my Ubuntu laptop as my primary machine…

  1. Which I’ve pretty thoroughly trashed. [back]

What would you say… you do here?

Published
by
Chris Meller
on February 11, 2008
in Public Opinion, Questions, Random and Work
. 3 Comments

I’m at a bit of a loss as to what title I should have put on my business cards at work (yes, at the job I want to leave). It seems that no matter what title I come up with, I feel I’m selling myself short in some area or another.

You guys have a vague idea some of the things I do at work… If not, check my about page for a huge list of crap. Any suggestions?

Yes, We Can.

Published
by
Chris Meller
on February 9, 2008
in Announcements, Commentary and Links
. 2 Comments

In the past on this blog, I’ve supported Ron Paul for President and Chris Dodd for fighting the FISA immunity bill. Throughout both, I’ve always realized that there was something uplifting and inspiring about Barack Obama, but have been unable to put my finger on it.

Thanks to Nick Harris of NewsGator’s Inbox product, I no longer have to wonder:

After you’ve enjoyed the motivating musical adaptation, I encourage you to watch the entire speech, given by Obama after the New Hampshire primaries: Yes, We Can.. The really good stuff starts at around 9:45…

While others constantly demonstrate how wrong our country is and point out the seemingly endless list of things that are broken in our society, Obama has spoken positively of the great things America has accomplished and that it has yet to accomplish. You don’t have to like all of his positions — when was the last time there was a candidate you did? — but how can you deny that this man has our best interests at heart after watching that moving presentation?

While I still think Ron Paul would make an amazing President, it’s clear he’s not going to win this election. Faced with the prospect of a McCain or a Hillary Clinton term, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama represents our best hope for changing the negative path we’ve been on for far too long. So with pride I say: Obama for President!

Yes, we can!