Posts filed under 'Hardware'
I can finally come out of the shell and talk about Smart’s latest technology release — Plug ‘n Talk. I met with Smart representatives earlier today and I was able to witness a demonstration of this very cool gadget. It is a hybrid VoIP unit. In a nutshell, the unit which is essentially a thumbdrive accepts a Smart Buddy Simcard, plugged into a Windows computer with internet connection and can take outgoing and incoming voice calls and SMS/MMS messages incurring Philippine local rates. The hybrid nature of the technology is derived from the model whereas the party using the unit uses an over-IP technology which connects to Smart’s network in the Philippines and from there a circuit-switch communication occurs. The reciprocal applies when the unit becomes the receiver. In other words, it’s a VoIP-Circuit-switch technology.
Though I know the launch date, I will not provide that information as well as any pricing. I’m just to excited to post the technology’s overall concept. For more information, visit the hyperlinked site above.
During the demonstration, the call is quite loud and clear, however I won’t be too optimistic. There still is that VoIP characteristic. I’m only after the text messaging because it only costs P1/outgoing message to any Smart/TNT and P2 for Globe/TM/Sun and the MMS which costs the same as what they charge in the Philippines. I’ll have my dongle hooked into my PC and find TXTM8S.
September 3rd, 2008
I have had Verizon FiOS for more than a year now and as the service areas continue to grow, with the technology’s excellent service, I’m sure a lot have signed up for it. If Verizon provides you with an Actiontec modem/router then let me advice you to purchase another router because Actiontec will drive you crazy in the long run. I have 10mbps/3mbps down/up throughput and I download a lot as in I average 1GB/day (that’s a modest number). They aren’t illegal downloads per sé because they are distributed openly (KDrama). If I have more than 3 huge files in my μTorrent (or any other bittorrent client), others in my network wouldn’t have Internet access. That’s because I have NAT running and the routing table in Actiontec is not enough to handle huge amount of traffic. Therefore, overloaded packets are dropped giving my users nil resource.
My recommended router is D-Link DGL-4100. It’s best for serious gamers. It’s easy to configure and maintain. Below is a simple diagram of my network using this technique.
Stay tuned for the step-by-step guide on doing this.
August 20th, 2008
I’ve been out of Eee PC news for a while, so I decided to check on what ASUStek has in store for us. They have a 10.0″ beauty in the 1000H 80G model. I strongly recommend the unit for Windows-slave users because it has a gigabyte of RAM and 80GB hard drive running on Genuine Windows XP Home. It’s not a solid state drive before you get your hopes too high.
The model I’m speaking of is using a regular hard drive which explains the minimal cost at huge storage space. Nonetheless, there’s a model sporting a 20GB SSD if you’re interested. The unit weighs 3.2lbs which is not bad. It’s a decent replacement for MacBooks that cost ridiculously high, Toshibas, or Sonys. The battery life is estimated to run at about 7.5 hours. That’s excellent provided the weight. It has Bluetooth capability in addition to WiFi. The webcam is stil mediocre, but it’s not an important peripheral for me.
I’m still not replacing my 701.
August 7th, 2008
Here I am again ranting about data integrity. For years, I have been criticizing all kinds of data protection systems. I’m referring to backups, not security. I can’t really trust any kind of RAID system. My site is a perfect example of it. Yes the backup is nearly instantaneous, but if both the running disk and the backup disk go down, the system won’t be able to recover the very latest data. The problem with my site is that my host never tells me they used my backup to recover my data. If the data recovered is the last memory bank entry, ten I don’t need a heads up, but if it’s a day old, then they should inform me. That way, I know which part of my data is lost. I also run a separate backup daily for this kind of situation, but it’s useless because I don’t know where the gap is.
Well, on a happy note, I received my LinkStation yesterday and I’m running RAID1 on it. It’ll help me criticize the technology more hehe.
August 6th, 2008
Before leaving the house, I saw on the news that the Philippines’ Commission on Elections (COMELEC) will pilot an electronic voting process in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the coming gubernatorial (regional) election in the region. The machines are provided by Avante.
Electronic voting is still a huge issue in the United States and we debated the issue in one of my classes. A few nations have been using this technique for their elections, to some degree. The system is said to be “very” secure according to Smartmatic Sahi’s Vince Dizon because it uses an encryption similar to internet banking.
I’m pessimistic (once again) with this advancement. Firstly, ARMM is a very significant region in the current world affairs. If it was local government we’re talking about, then it would be okay, but this election affects several provinces. My pessimism lies on the technology. Any electronic device that we know of is insecure. Unless the system is using quantum encryption (which is not 100% secure anymore) then my pessimism would go away. If they are using an encryption that internet banking is using, then they are using decades old technology and have been documented to have been broken.
Government is more crucial than banking. If the system in banking catches an anomaly, they can always revert the numbers. In the government, you can’t ask the people to vote again. Election is not stateful, while banking is stateful. There’s a reset in banking, but none in election.
Do I need to mention the possible hackers? I think I’ll leave that to your imagination.
July 21st, 2008
The weekend was dismal. Rain was pouring most of the time, but that didn’t ruin my fin de semana. I finally got a new pair of jeans. The only “decent” pair I had is no longer decent, so I had to buy a new pair. I also went to see Kung Fu Panda which I rate 2.5 stars out of 5. I was thinking of checking out The Incredible Hulk but I opted out at the last minute. I also had a couple of rounds inside a batting cage. I’m kind of getting a hang of hitting them softballs. I kind of bruised my ring finger because I was wearing a ring while hitting. It’s not a good idea. I’ve been hitting the balls where I want them, but I wasn’t getting strikes and that’s the downside of the rounds I had. I wasn’t also able to watch the performances of the boys from Pinoy Idol because the weather wasn’t so good that we lost all satellite signal. I was really looking forward to the performances because I saw a couple of good ones from the girls. I hope I can find streams online.
I’m on the ferry this early because I have to change router at work. I hope it’s successful so that I can do other things. It’ll be a busy week for me because I’ll be out of the country in the next week. Once successful, I will immediately post a documentation of the steps I took for my own perusal.
June 16th, 2008
I’ve decided that next week I shall change the router in the office. It’s been due for two years, I just don’t have the courage to do it. Originally, the setup in the office has an Adtran router. I couldn’t maintain the router because of my limited knowledge, so I went the easy way out — Smoothwall. I turned off routing from the Adtran router and injected a Smoothie between it and the LAN (meaning it’s currently a bridge). If I was to bond another line in our current network, I’ll need to eliminate the Smoothie. The move also will enhance my MPLS connectivity and VPN capabilities. I can also move some services in their own public host (I have four public IPs to use). I will need to come in pretty early to do this.
After all these connectivity issues are dealt with, I really hope I can solve our heating problems in the computer room. Throw in power issues also. We’re on a tight budget, so I don’t want to spend a lot on battery. I need a new one because our batteries are pretty old and very annoying because they keep beeping every hour.
It’s very difficult to find Adtran tutorials so I will be posting them here for my own reference as well as for others.
June 5th, 2008
The other night, my 16-port switch at home gave in. No wonder my transfers were mediocre the last couple of weeks. Anyway, I resorted to using two 4-port routers so that gave me seven (7) slots only. The house is 50% off the network for two days already. I had to sacrifice the network printer, so nobody can print unless I’m home and temporarily unplug a slot. I can’t buy a new switch because I don’t want to invest a few dollars for a new one (I can’t afford apparently). I’ll be scavenging for old routers to uplink. That switch only had a year of lifespan? Heh! That’s what I get for buying a cheap one. It also reminds me that I should get new switches for work. Some slots are already dead and they’re more than 5 years old. I should get when I have my new T1 installed.
June 4th, 2008
The day is beautiful; it’ll be warmer today. The sky is clear, so wireless signal should be excellent. I guess it’s one of those days. A man took my usual seat before I arrived at the cafe, so I had to take another location. Too bad, the signal in this location is faint. I won’t bitch about my hardware because I was connected, but got disconnected when I lost the signal. I’m writing this in my offline server so I’ll be publishing it online later.
I’ll leave you with one thought:
I can feel a pleasure, that’s the pain.
May 23rd, 2008
I noted here that I constantly encounter WiFi problems. After searching the web, many have said that Linux is not WiFi friendly. I guess it could be true, but I’m not converting my Eee PC to Windows. I agree that hardware drivers are very tricky when it comes to Linux and I suspect it’s causing my troubles (the connection status is forever stuck in PENDING). Well, yesterday I slightly cleaned up my drivespace and my troubles seem to have went away. However, it’s still too early to conclude. If it really is true, maybe the system is unable to connect because it has no space to store data. I’ll be monitoring this in the next two weeks.
May 21st, 2008
Previous Posts
