hitting the wire*

The cobblers kids are poorly shod - confessions of an inept home sysadmin.

For someone involved in telecoms and IT, I sometimes think I make poor use of technology.  My home network consists of a 512k DSL link to the Net, a Linksys WAG54GS all-in-one DSL router / LAN switch / DHCP server / WiFi AP / Firewall, into which my wife's PC is plugged and a Senao PCMCIA card (SL-5354CB) which I bought at an iWeek when WiFi was still young here.  My kids are blissfully unaware I could network their PC and provide them with the joys of online gaming - right now the likes of Age of Empires and Sacred fulfil their thirst for death and destruction by design, with no threat to our traffic-cap.

I bought the Linksys from Miro about a year back and have been quite happy with it.  Until last week.

All of a sardine, the damn thing stopped issuing my laptop with an IP address.  Nothing I tried seemed to work.  I resorted to my fallback, and hauled out the HSDPA card I use when I'm out of town.  One or two automated backups later (I run Attix5 every night now after learning the hard way that dead hard drives don't talk) and my traffic limit is trashed.  Time to get the link to the DSL line sorted!

I find some other guy has had similar problems, but can't find an obvious fix anywhere.

Part of the suggested fix from Miro was to uninstall the driver for the card and reinstall.  Nice idea. Only no one told me Senao have discontinued the card and no longer supply driver files (and the ruddy install disk has eloped with my favourite pen and has not been seen in years).  Not good.  Fortunately, Miro managed to dig up the correct install file, but still no joy from the DHCP server.  Grrrr!

Decided it must be the AP - either a factory settings reset will sort it out, or it needs a brain transplant and I'll have to take it in.  Now, few things raise my wife's ire like a broken Net connection when she has a deadline to hit and is embarking on an all-nighter.  The time she caused it herself during a DSL network wobble by pressing the reset button for too long and inadvertently reverted to factory settings (while I was away from home)... she was ready to throttle her inept sysadmin!  So, with my heart in my mouth, I hit reset and went through replacing all the settings.

I can't tell what a relief it was to have connectivity back to normal.

If you need driver files for a Senao PCMCIA card (SL-5354CB) - drop me a mail.  If your Linksys AP's DHCP server goes on the fritz... start all over.  If it starts this crap again soon I'll be ditching it for a Netgear.

Now, if anyone can tell me what I can do to speed up my wife's PC that has slowed to a crawl, I'll be delighted.  So far, I've tried most of the usual tricks, so bar laser surgery to the registry file... or wiping the hard-drive, I'm stumped.

that's me.  admin'd out.

Flash AHA!

Check out these flashmob scenes from Uno de Waal's blog.  The Japanese one is damn funny if you're not the victim.  Oh dear - I've got tears in my eyes!

Riding for a Lightwriter

This is a bleeding heart appeal – straight up and unashamed.

Alan Falck, a veteran of the IT industry (I seem to recall he has worked for iTouch, USKO and a whole posse of UK firms) is once more raising funds for Gerald Hopkins as a part of his Argus Cycle Tour.  Last year I ponied up a few rand/km to try and buy Gerald a Lightwriter, which would make a HUGE difference to his ability to communicate – there was not enough, but the funds were well used.  Imagine being an active individual, being struck with MS and now being unable to do almost anything for yourself?  Some quotes from Alan Gerald’s mom.

He can no longer do anything for himself........... no speech, no eat (has food through a tube in his tummy), has a catheter in permanently. He is going to be 33 on 14 February. Gerald used to do loads of things like diving, cycling ( he took part in the Argus Cycle Tour 3 times) motorbikes, cars, in fact he was extremely active and it is now so sad to see that he cannot do anything for himself. Family and friends have deserted him because he can no longer speak but we have a way of communicating which seems to be ok at the moment but when he has a relapse it leaves him so weak that he cannot even lift his fingers to communicate.

All I’m asking is to think about joining me in giving a few bucks to Alan’s effort to make a difference to Gerald’s life.  I’m in for R2/km.  Imagine if we get this guy blogging?  C’mon... drop Alan a mail at alanf(at)voiceamp.net!

Gerald as he is now and one of his Argus certificates.

pimp my poo?!

Every now and then one of the deluge of joke mails flooding my inbox has a gem.

My vote for World's Best Father

Last night I took Sven, a mate of mine, through the basics of blogging in return for a few beers. As usual when the two of us get together, we ended up discussing business opportunities in the tech space, as well as our amazement at how many people can find the negative side of anything, and so few the positive.

Received this from a colleague today.

This has to be the most inspirational story I have ever heard.

If I EVER complain about my lot in life, someone near me give me an AAK OK?

(AAK = Attitude Adjusting Klap)
(Klap = Afrikaans word for a hard smack - usually against the head)

That's me.  Inspired.