|
Headlines!
|
News Front
|
|
|
|
| Friday June 30, 2006 | | 21:41 PM - bktoh |  Just an update on this whole networking upgrading I was working on for the last couple of months.
Remember when I was asking if anyone of you guys had experience with this?
Well, no one responded. GEE THANKS GUYS!!
Anyway, I was getting progressively pissed off with the horrendous 2wire's router/wireless capabilities, even though it did work pretty much flawlessly as an ADSL2+ modem.
As you may remember, the 2wire did not support any form of MAC address filtering, so I initially tried WEP, but the weak wireless strength coupled with the overheads of running WEP made it pretty much unusable.
WPA was broken too, not that I could use it since some older systems I had didn't even support WPA.
My XBox360 USB wireless connector would often just fail to see any wireless signal and interrupt my XBox Live downloads.
So eventually, I caved and bought the NetGear.
I mean on paper, it sounded really good.
It had the RangeMax MIMO wireless was supposed to improve the range and strength of the wireless network for my other 802.11b/g devices.
And of course, it supported ADSL2+ standards to work with my 10Mbps connection.
Initial setup seemed fine...
Installation was hitchless as you would expect from an integrated modem/router device like the 2wire.
But the wireless connection didn't seem to be a huge boost from the 2wire. Never having used RangeMax or other MIMO devices before, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Sure it was a disappointment, but it wasn't a deal-breaker.
What WAS the deal-breaker was the modem part itself.
Man, this thing disconnected like 5 times in the 2 days I had it running. Checking the Netgear website was useless. The Singapore section didn't even list it and I already got the most updated firmware, so no luck there.
*sigh*
The worst part was that I was running an AMD LIVE! demo on my home network (will talk about that in another rant in the future).
Part of the demos included being able to log in to my PC from wherever I was, and control my PC as well as seamlessly stream stuff off my home "media server".
But if my ADSL modem was facing connection issues, I was basically "screwed".
So today, I brought the set back in for a replacement at South Asia in Funan. I did get some grief initially because they wanted to replace it with another unit. But I had already enough with the NetGear and they finally relented.
I did some research beforehand and found out Aztech was one of those brands that was tested with Singnet, so I decided to reconsider my options.
Aztech had a ADSL2+ modem/router/wireless 54G gateway as well as a standalone Ethernet/USB modem. Both were Singnet "certified".
In the end, I opted for a more complicated two box solution. No point getting another basic 54G wireless solution.
I know, it's not pretty, but as an engineer, function before form, any day  Build quality felt pretty sturdy and the power adaptor was pretty nice and chunky with a proper UK 3 pin connector.
This was then supplemented by this
PreN MIMO specs with supposedly better range. Again, build quality of the Belkin was good. If anything, the power adaptor was a much sturdier unit than any of my previous routers.
And then for my notebook, a matching preN MIMO adaptor.
Setting up these two devices were a tad more convoluted, though I doubt it would phase any of our readers.
First, I had to switch the modem to bridged mode, then verify it worked using Windows to initiate a PPPOE dial up. That worked flawlessly and I was able to do a quick Singnet bandwidth test: abt 99xx Kb/sec (close to the theoretical 10Mbps)
Next I disconnected the modem from the PC and proceeded to configure the Belkin using the Wizard on the CD. I would have preferred to use a web based interface, but the CD wizard was still quite painless.
Once that was done, I proceeded to test my other networked devices and they all seemed to work just fine. I was particularly impressed with the network strength on my XBox 360 USB wireless adaptor. It was now a healthy green status as opposed to the usual yellow with the 2wire or the Netgear.
On the notebook front, things weren't so rosy. For the life of me, my notebook's Broadcom wireless just couldn't see the network. Maybe it was because I disabled SSID broadcast. In any case, guess it was good foresight that I got the pre-N PC Card. With a full pre-N setup, am getting a good 108Mbps connection with abt 78% signal strength in my bedroom where I would normally get 11Mbps with a weak signal on the 2Wire and NetGear. Though to be fair, this is with a full pre-N setup.
So overall, I am pretty happy with the setup now.
Now, just fingers crossed that the connection remains stable
|  Print Today's News
| | Saturday June 10, 2006 | | 20:05 PM - kan |  So there I was trying to fix my watercooling kit which had developed some piping issues and what started out to be an eventful day turns into nightmare (as usual). I was trying to perform a delicate surgery by separating the waterblock from the processor when I accidentally pulled my Opteron 165 processor out from the socket without unlatching it!
Arghhh!! I think I nearly jumped out from my apartment window if not for the fact that my window is too small for me to squeeze through.  Here's an image of the bent pins.
Looks like I need to pass my Opteron 165 processor to someone skilful enough to bend the pins back. Hey, can I send it back to AMD for RMA?
A quick check with our local suppliers confirms that the prices of the Opteron dual-core series didn't drop for the past 6 months! In fact, it has been rising steadily!
On a personal front, Wilfred just got married last week. Congratulations!
| Print Today's News
| | Sunday May 21, 2006 | | 22:04 PM - bktoh | As you may recall, just yesterday I was griping about how my HomePlug Ethernet over Power adaptors from Aztech didn't work cos my main power lines and the ones used by my contractor for my Home Theater/HiFi rack were on different phases?
Earlier today, I recalled that I got a second contractor to put in a power point in my patch panel room to power my Ethernet (now Gbit) switch.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I got the 2 adaptors and hooked one to my hifi rack and a second one to the patch panel room.
VOILA. Real handy cos I just hooked the Cat5E cable straight into the Ethernet switch. Am getting around 53Mbps throughput. Not too shabby and it does appear that the connection is more stable and the throughput more sustainable in initial tests.
Now, all I probably gotta do is to get a MIMO type ADSL2+ modem/router with stronger wireless transmission. Saw a NetGear one that looks promising.
http://www.netgear.com/products/details/DG834PN.php
Anyone used one of these with Singtel 10Mbps line before? Drop me a mail and let me know how you are getting on.
| Print Today's News
| | Saturday May 20, 2006 | | 18:01 PM - bktoh |  Man, I really went nuts yesterday.
Ever since I switched to Singnet 10Mbps ADSL subscription from SCV, my wireless network had gotten seriously crippled.
The 2Wire wireless modem/router was seriously bad. Sure the internet connection was good, but it just wasn't quite as robust as my old SMC as a router. No WPA, no MAC filtering and the wireless signal was uber weak.
I got some ideas from local forums and friends. One was to get a Ethernet over Power adapter. It was pretty cool being able to use home power lines to provide Ethernet cabling. Can imagine it would be a lifesaver for older apartments, where wireless can be less than ideal.
http://www.aztech.com.sg/prod_homeplug_hl105e.html
Not bad since they could get 85Mbps throughput. So that was my first purchase.
Also, I was running low on storage space and I wasn't really keen to get YET another external USB2 storage box. I already have 4x3.5" USB2/1394 devices and all the cabling and power to those 4 devices was just adding a lot of clutter to my PC desk. And that's excluding my 3x2.5" USB2.0 portable drives.
I was really looking at building a new PC/storage box using salvaged parts. But I really wanted a low power system I could leave on all the time. My current 1.6GHz@2.1GHz P4 had served me well but it was a little underpowered as a media server.
My 3.2GHz S478 from my old HTPC was the closest one I could find.
My first stop was in TakNet in Sim Lim level 5 where they had a 5xSATA drive bay with hot plug capabilities. You just plugged the enclosure into a 3x5.25" drive bay in your casing and voila. Instant 5 drive upgrade.
That was about S$350.
But the thing was I had a much much nicer P4 2.73GHz XE and it didn't seem right to upgrade such an old system. Then I thought about getting an Athlon64 FX based one. And quickly shut down that idea.
A couple of stores down in Chamoxa, I found this
Specifications- CPU Intel IOP
- 1st Network Interface Gigabit Intel 82541
- Optional 2nd Network Interface Gigabit Intel 82541 or Wireless 802.11b/g
- SATA Controller - Intel SATA controller (4 SATA hard drives)
- Flash 16MB
- HDD 4x bays of 3.5” SATA HDD,
- Single capacity supported 80/120/160/200/250/300/400GB
- AC/DC 200W ATX power supply
- Adapter AC 100~240Volt, 50/60 Hz
- LED
- 1 x Power LED
- 1 x System busy LED (booting, upgrade, shutdown)
- 2 x Network link + activity LED
- 4 x Hard drive power LED
- 4 x Hard drive activity LED
- Dimension 167mm(W) x 199mm(H) x 223mm(D)
- RAID Levels 0, 1, 5, JBOD
- Auto Rebuild Rebuild new hard drives by inserting HDD to and existing RAID system
- Hot Swap Hard drives are allowed to be removed and inserted on the fly and N4100 still provides service during swapping
- Client
- Platform Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP
- UNIX/Linux/BSD (by CIFS)
- Apple OS X (by CIFS)
Pretty decent specs. HW IOP RAID and hot plug to boot. And it was cool enough to leave running for most of the day as well. That was I can keep using my P4 1.6GHz as a dedicated surfing/email/download PC. Bought 2x300GB of HDD as well
Thing was this thing supported GBit connection. As did a number of my newer machines. So next thing I knew, I bought 2 of these:
One for my patch panel room for the home network and one for the desk.
And to top it off, a Linksys Gigabit NIC for the old P4 1.6GHz.
Got home and hooked everything up.
First the bad news.
The power over ethernet plugs didn't work. That was because my contractor used a different phase of the power supply for my hifi rack. From what I can tell, the plugs that came with the house all used the same phase so the 2 plugs couldn't see each other. *sigh*
Damn.
I was getting 85Mbps within the same room and abt 45Mbps in the living room.
But hooking up the GBit switches and the NAS turned out to be surprisingly easy.
And voila! 600GB of storage on the network (faster than USB2.0 to boot when copying stuff from my Gbit PCs!)
| Print Today's News
| | Monday May 15, 2006 | | 14:43 PM - bktoh |  I actually have gotten used to the size, and when you are travelling, it can be an immense livesaver.
It's not perfect (dammit gimme 128MB RAM dammit) but it does just about what I want to do from it...
Let's see.. rushed off from office to the airport on Thursday for a long weekend break. After clearing customs, I checked my Blackberry client and got 3 work emails fired off before I took off. Felt a vague sense of accomplishment.
Reached Bangkok. Despite telling the airport taxi counter staff the name of the hotel, the cabbie assigned still didn't know where we were headed. The reservations we printed were in English so that was no use as well. We were already on the highway and since I spoke no Thai and he no English, it was a deadlock.
Whipped out the dopod, and with GPRS connected, I googled for the address and contact number. Called reception and then got the hotel staff to tell the driver the directions. Cool!
While wifey was walking down Siam Square, I parked myself outside the new Toyota F1 cafe with free wireless hotspot and got connected to check my emails, get on MSN Messenger. Pretty liberating experience.
Keyboard was just handy for typing "professionally spelt" emails (without having to resort to SMS-ish abbreviations all the time)
640x480 is a far cry from my notebook's 1650x1050 resolution, but it still displays most websites in a pinch, and still slips into my baggy jeans (albeit making is sag a lot)
Overall it has been growing on me.
| | 14:17 PM - bktoh |  I wish I still have time to write more detailed reviews. But just started new job so been kinda occuppied.
First, a bit of background.
I was using an *ahem* XBox to double up as a media center for my home theater. Basically, with a 120GB HDD, it worked pretty well as a player of recorded TV shows and partnered well with my projector (supporting 1080i and 720p modes)
Thing was, I was using a Maxtor hard drive, and I am not sure if it is symptomatic of these drives but I had a lot of Maxtor drives of around this vintage die on me within pretty much the same time window.
So then I used parts of an old PC to built an HTPC (details of which can be found in an earlier rant/post I made earlier).
Thing is, the PC is pretty noisy and when I found out about the HD MediaBox, it seemed exactly like what I was looking for.
http://www.pixelmagicsystems.com/products/media_players/hd_mediabox.htm
What really attracted me was the 1080p output over HDMI and I have been really itching to try the HDMI connection of my Amoi 37" LCDTV with 1920x1080 resolution that has been touting 1080p HDMI input compatibility.
So I succumbed and tested. Can confirm it works! Can't wait to use the LCDTV with BluRay and HD-DVD when they finally appear.
Anyway back to the MB100. I wanted a less flaky and simpler to use interface. The HTPC worked well for the most part but with VLC for HD files, I often had to go into menus (using a wireless keyboard) to adjust settings for playback.
Personally, I can only give a qualified (not full hearted) recommendation for the MB100.
If you are willing to use the MB100 primarily as HDD based media player, then no questions. You will love it.
Most of the .ts .wmv(hd) 1080i and 720p hidef files I threw at it worked fine.
I think I only encountered TWO problematic files. Not a bad track record in the scheme of things (considering how many files I threw at it).
One was a hidef .avi file (which plays on my HTPC) which refused to play at all (not sure of encoding). The other was an odd DIVX/xVID .avi encoded with 5.1 that gave no audio (again played back in 5.1 in PC)
Everything else is just great.
Over the network, things tend to get a little less than perfect. My wife never noticed the slightly less than smooth playback but I did. Some of the fwd/rew controls are also a bit retarded and you can't do time searches.
More importantly, it needs a really good network connection. My old SMC wireless G router with SMC wireless G bridge was pretty decent. But when I switched to Singnet, the bundled 2wire wireless modem/router was just not strong enough. Worse, the 2wire didn't support MAC filtering so I had to impose WEP which I think added more overheads. Playing the MB100 over the network was just too flaky.
In the end, I went back to dismantling the MB100 every few days to copy files manually from my PC/server to the MB100. Good thing I have another external HDD which uses the same power connector as the MB100 or that process would really piss me off.
What I do like abt the MB100 is how great the support is. The guys over at PixelMagic seem to be listening to our problems and are always directly engaged to help troubleshoot with beta/release firmware coming out at pretty good intervals.
I think right now, the one I am really looking forward to is the option to copy files directly to the internal HDD over network. This would give me the "pseudo" network connection to transfer files easily without resorting to dismantling all the audio/video/network and power connections each time.
Generally the MB100 works best in the following way- HD content on local HDD
- DVD ISOs on USB2.0 direct connect or local HDD
- DIVX/XVID on Ethernet, USB2.0 direct connect or local HDD
I believe they are also putting in support for a USB2.0 DVD-ROM as well.
ps Happy Annniversary, HW1-ers!!
| Print Today's News
| | Sunday May 14, 2006 | | 17:19 PM - kan | Was just chatting with bktoh who came back from his Bangkok trip and he lightened up my day by saying someone could possibly donate a server to HW1. Time flies and today is the 8th year anniversary of HW1! I would have guess most of the folks who used to frequent this website have moved on with their life – getting married and having kids. This website is still running to serve as a remembrance for the good-old times.
On behalf of HW1, I wish everyone good health! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hello New User!
|
