I had to put the Topcom SKYR@CER WBR 254G router to sleep after its exposure to electro shock therapy. I'll keep it, of course. It may be completely useless as it is now, but with tomorrow's technology, I may be able to revive it. To replace the Topcom, I opted for a Asus WL-500g Premium, which I received this evening.

I chose the WL-500gP over another WRTG54G because the WL-500gP has more juice (266 MHz CPU, 8 Mb flash, 32 Mb RAM vs. 200 MHz CPU, 4 Mb flash, 16 Mb RAM), plus several neat features that I'm eager to try out:

• Two USB ports for connecting external drives, a webcam or a printer.
• Built-in BitTorrent client
• External drives can be accessed by FTP or Windows shared drive

My only initial beef concerns the WL-500gP manual, which does not appear to cover more advanced configuration settings. For instance, the WL-500gP is being hyped as featuring Afterburner (speedbooster) and BroadRange (increases wireless signal coverage), but the manual mentions neither. The hyped features may just be marketing mumbo jumbo, but this forum post suggests otherwise…

A couple of links:

• Brief rundown of Asus WL-500g Premium specs at Melbourne Wireless
• Download different versions of Asus firmware
• Official Asus WL-500gP forum
• (Un?)official WL-500gP forum
• Asus' list of printers supported by WL-500 series devices
• Lists of compatible hardware as reported by users (webcams, printers, HDD's etc.)

I have just finished setting up the WL-500gP and it was no biggie. My Linksys WRT54G running DD-WRT firmware in client-bridge mode hooked up with the WL-500gP without any problems and my home network is now fully functional again, w00t!

I'm running Asus firmware on the WL-500gP and it seems to work well despite the clunky web interface. I must be spoiled from working with the slick Linksys interfaces.

I bought the WL-500gP from Proshop and it was an altogether pleasant experience: shipping was fast and I received several emails with updated information on my order, including shipment track 'n' trace.

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Continues to be very addictive…here's a couple of picks:

The Nucular Option Was in the Pre-Nup

Blonde model: I can't believe she wants President Bush at her wedding!
Brunette model: I know. What if he says "nuc-u-lar" or something!?
Blonde model: Why would he say "nuc-u-lar" at a wedding?
Brunette model: Helloooo? Because he's the President!
Blonde model: True…

–67th & Madison

via Overheard in New York, Aug 29, 2006

She Used Paint to Color Her Blonde Hair Brown

Dumb blonde #1: Yeah, so, like, Photoshop is better for, like, for photos, and Illustrator is better for, like, illustrations, and InDesign is better for, like, designing stuff.
Dumb blonde #2: Wow, I could never be a graphics person; that's so much software.
Dumb brunette: I could! I use Paint all the time!

–Metro-North

via Overheard in New York, Aug 29, 2006

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Giver det mening for en ryger at bruge cykelhjelm?

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The Topcom SKYR@CER WBR 254G I use as the main router in my home network is down. At first, I thought I was just the power supply that had somehow been fried, but despite getting a replacement power supply, I was not able to get in contact with the router.

As a last resort before definitely deeming the router either fried or "bricked", I reset it to factory defaults and took it with me to the room in which I have my computers and the wireless bridge. And what do you know - without working any of the revival magic the router suddenly came up! I loaded the previously saved configuration and everything appeared to be working, the wireless bridge was able to connect etc.

I then put the router back into the room where it usually sits, next to the ADSL modem - went back to the other room and discovered that nothing was working - no connectivity. I took down the router and brought it back to the other room: everything worked. The router must be fried, but not completely: it is able to transmit a very weak signal ranging 3 meters or so.

So the Topcom 254G is definitely gone and I am looking for a replacement. I am trying to decide if I should get another reliable Linksys WRT54GL (similar to the "old" WRT54G Linux versions from before Linksys changed firmware and downsized the amount of flash memory), or if I should try something new: the ASUS WL-500g Premium? Both routers appears to be vell suited for both OpenWRT and DD-WRT firmware, but the WL-500g Premium is more powerfull and comes with USB 2.0 ports for connecting hard drives, which might come in handy. However, the WL-500g Premium is also more expensive…if only I were not such a cheap skate…

While searching for a new router I came across this discussion of DD-WRT's "client bridge mode" (which I use for my wireless bridge). It appears the "client bridge mode" does not result in a *proper*, wireless bridge since clients sitting behind the wireless bridge router does not have unique MAC addresses on the network. To other clients on the network, the clients behind the bridge all appear to have the same MAC address as the bridge router. While this may be true, this technical irregularity has never given me any problems (that I know of). Just for the record…

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This weekend, a freakish incident involving a massive power tool and repeatedly popped fuses somehow fried the power supply of my main router. My trustworthy wireless bridge is thus rendered completely useless and the rest of the house is without internet connectivity.

My good friend Richard at the Maersk Institute came to my rescue and directed me to elfa.se, where I found a multi-purpose, 5 - 24 VDC switching power supply. It should be on its way as I write this…

Meanwhile, I have turned off the wireless bridge, dug out an old NorthQ NQ91000 Broadband Router and hooked it up with the cable modem to - at least partially - restore internet connectivity.

BTW, this post is a first for me in the sense that I am writing and posting it using the BlogDesk blog client. So far, it's been a pretty good experience, except for DirectUpload of images not working. I'm using FTP instead, which appears to work.

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Minutes ago, I received an email from my ISP in which they offered me a permanent reduction on my monthly service fee. I took them up on their offer, of course…immediately…that goes without saying.

In Sweden, the same ISP - Tele2 - offers an 8 MBit/s connection at SEK 289 (approx. DKK 234 or $40). So we are not in Sweden yet, but we are closing in on them…

Way to go, Tele2!

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O'Reilly Radar has the story about overheardinnewyork.com, a site that enables people to submit snippets of conversations they have overheard in New York. The result is hilarious and if you don't watch out, it'll ruin your day:

He Was Still Struggling to Follow These Instructions When the Police Arrived

Guy: How do you get to Astor Place?
Old man: You go up 2 blocks, make a left, then go fuck yourself.

–10th St & 5th Ave

Overheard by: andy

via Overheard in New York, Aug 3, 2006

Hamas Has Won Here, Too

Man: Is this kosher?
Vendor guy: Um…there's kosher salt in the bacon.

–Union Square

via Overheard in New York, Jan 31, 2006

A mashup - overplot - combines the snippets submitted to overheardinnewyork.com with Google Maps, so you're able to look up overheard conversations for a specific New York area.

Can't resist adding this one too:

Her People Love Fashion at a Bargain

Older woman: Excuse me, miss?
Younger woman: Yeah?
Older woman: Your veil, your burqa is very beautiful. I didn't know your people were allowed to wear it in bright colors.
Younger woman: It's not a burqa, it's a poncho. I'm Jewish. It's for the rain. I got it at TJ Maxx.

–53rd & 7th

via Overheard in New York, Jun 9, 2006

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