The Network Is Down

broderic on March 12, 2011

Last weekend I replaced the venerable LinkSys WRT54g router with the completely awesome AirPort Extreme.

The week prior I had noticed a whine coming from the LinkSys. That was strange as routers don’t have a spinning hard drive. What could be making that noise? So to shut it up, I unplugged it to reboot. That did the job no more whine.

I went about doing house chores for an hour before I had the chance to use a computer. When I did use my computers, I found that I couldn’t access the internet. I quickly glanced at the lights on the LinkSys. It looked okay.

I tried to access LinkSys’s browser-based configuration screen. “No route to host.” I tried pinging its IP address. “100% packet loss.” I looked closer at the router’s lights and noticed that the LAN LED wasn’t on. Since it was next to another LED that was on, it looked alright but, sadly, wasn’t.

The LinkSys router was kaput.

Luckily, I have had an AirportExtreme in my possession for a year now. I was going to replace the LinkSys a year ago, but was too lazy to shut down all computing devices, change out the router, then reboot all computing devices and configure them. Out of necessity, I now had to do it.

I shut down all laptops, except my main MBP. I took the Mac Mini down, too. IPhone can stay on but I switched to just the cellular network. The 0G iPhone I didn’t bother. Using the MBP, I began configuring the replacement network.

Apple’s Airport utilities make this easy. You could just follow the wizard to set it up, but I liked to have control of my configuration. Manually, I went about configuring the AirportExtreme router. Lots of same settings, I ported from the defunct LinkSys — network IP addressing, MAC address filtering. Others I changed — new wireless ID.

I brought online all computing devices and reconfigured them for the new wireless network. The TiBook gave me trouble because, I think OSX Tiger, didn’t like to remember the new wireless network name until I created a new Location for it.

Overall, it went smoothly. At work, I have to deal with networked software nodes, and it is a pain in the ass to debug network trouble. Who’s causing what to whom all happens in the invisible ethernet and it takes some understanding of how networks work to find and fix the trouble. My new house wireless network was stood up without too much hassles.

The sole issue I have with my new wireless network is what to do about the AirportExpress. I had originally used this to extend the LinkSys network via bridging, because I couldn’t get wireless coverage throughout the house with just the LinkSys router. With the new AirportExtreme, I don’t need it, but I didn’t know when I started reconfiguring the network. I tried configuring the Express for bridging, but it cause conflicts on the Extreme. Only when I abandoned the Express did I realize that the Extreme is powerful enough to provide coverage throughout my house (and my neighbors, too). Therefore, the Express sits silent on the floor waiting for a use. I’ll probably try to configure it with my stereo system so I can stream music through it.

The new network is up. I’m planning to put a network drive off of it, perhaps SSD. I want to try that back to my Mac feature. It’s also faster since there is only one wireless station.

I’m back online thanks to the Apple’s AirportExtreme router; it’s cold white face and unblinking, green LED comforts me.

The Adjustment Bureau

broderic on March 11, 2011

Did you know that The Adjustment Bureau was based off a Philip K. Dick short story? You could almost see a bit of the Dick in the movie, but it wasn’t paranoid enough. A group of people who watch over everyone, you find out about them, and you don’t look over your shoulder every damn day of your life? I’m just saying that it could’ve used a little bit more paranoia.

But what it really could use less of was the rom-com aspect to the plot. I thought I was watching Serendipity. There were rom-com plot points galore. They meet cute. They do well together. He breaks her hear. They make up. Fate! They were meant to be together!

So imagine this movie that was slightly funny for the rom-com aspects, throw in a little bit of Dick paranoia, and then spin in the science fiction aspect of it with the path keeper overlords, what have you got? Something that confuses my mom. Me? I was laughing all movie long. It’s the rom-comedy in me.

Needs more sci-fi and Philip K. Dick.

3 of 5 stars.

Link of the Day [3.09.11]

broderic on March 9, 2011

It's always great to read software development stories. Usually, because the writer is a software developer, he (or she) writes up things meticulously. Today's link takes you to the developer blog of pinboard, a del.ico.us-like bookmarking site. It's the story of the week after Yahoo decides to shutdown del.ico.us, and how its users migrated to pinboard. I find it fascinating and harrowing at the same time. It's fantastic and horrific because of the effort to keep their site stable as they get more users than they ever expected to have. I wish that would've happened for this blog.http://pinboard.in/blog/173/

Ending

broderic on March 9, 2011

Someone ripped the final scene from K-ON!! without the visuals. There can’t be anything as cool as this one. Can there? Check back again to find out.

Fizik Bar Tape

broderic on March 7, 2011

I’m putting the bike back together. Bought in 2006, ridden until 2010, I hadn’t changed out the bar tape. It was ratty. So along with a new stem, I bought new bar tape.

Now I didn’t want to do it myself because I am pretty anal about things. If I don’t put it on right, I’m gonna be sad. But I can’t always rely on the angry dude in the bike shop to do everything. So, here’s a step-by-step.

First, remove old bar tape. You’re gonna have to remove the shifter hood or just move it aside enough so that it isn’t in the way. Then cut the old tape off. Usually there’s some electrical tape holding it on the bar. Cut that. Unwind the tape off. There’s also an extra piece of bar tape around the shifter. Take that off.

Next, clean the bar. I used some rubbing alcohol so that the tacky residue of the bar tape is no longer there.

After it’s clean get ready to wrap the new bar tape. Set up some electrical tape for when you get to the end. That way it’s ready to finish up the taping.

Start wrapping the tape around the bar. Start at the bar ends. Do one turn parallel to the end of the bar about 1/3 onto the bar. This will make it easier to put the bar plug over the tape to hold it down. Put the bar plug on. Start wrapping. As you can tell, do it from the bar end towards the stem. Pull as you wrap to make it tight. When you come to the shifter, put that extra tape on the backside then wrap around it. Make sure you give some space for the tape around the shifting mechanism. When you run out of bar tape. Get out the electrical tape to tape it down on the end.

So that’s it. I put on the bar tape. I didn’t leave too much space on the right shifter. There’s some bubbling along the curves. One side is shorter than the other. I think I’ll be fine with this for only one season. I’ll return to this post next year.