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Linksys Incorporates HomePlug Networking
mattyohe writes "It seems that Linksys is one of the first to prepare release for their ethernet router that uses the HomePlug 1.0 spec. Linksys claims the Instant Powerline EtherFast Router performs well by using the OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) scheme. OFDM forms numerous signals into a single signal for transmission and then is used again to find and automatically adapt to the specific frequency combination that enables successful communication. This product currently uses 56 bit DES encryption and would be excellent for networking in the home enviroment. Never worry about not having enough rj-45 jacks at a lan party, bring some power strips!"
It was created by an employee of Clare Micronics in his own spare time. The person who invented this technology is named Shun Ueda and is currently working for Clare Micronics on a work visa from Japan. Visit Clare Micronics' homepage at www.mxasic.com and maybe you'll be able to contact him via eMail. His technology makes every AC power connection in your house, all of which on the same grid, a viable network connection. Long distance is in mind... Mr Shun Ueda has been developing it in his free-time and is looking for someone to make the drivers. I told him to contact Mr. Brenner, but I think he may be busy at the moment and is working on something for the company in all his available hours.
I'm guessing it's not gonna work through a power line transformer (the grey garbage can up on the pole or the green box in your flowerbed). However, any of your neighbors who happen to be on the secondary side of your transformer will most likely be able to share your broadband connection.
You didplan on sharing, didn't you?
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
Did they choose 56 bits because of export requirements?
Got friends?
Nah, you wouldn't need one of these routers in each room. The router only goes at the point where your Power-line network needs to interface with another type of network (in this case, the rj-45 network that most dsl and cable modems use). For each computer you just need a power-line network card. Granted, I have no idea on the pricing for those or for the router, but this definitely will be easier than running cat5 all over creation. Probably works better than 802.11b, especially if you've got a lot of walls.
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---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
What happens on the PC side of the question? Like, do I have to buy a device that takes up a slot internally or is USB? Or can I just plug that device into a pre-existing ethernet slot? Obviously, some type of PC->poweroutlet adapter is necessary, but where are they? [Oh, and less importantly... can I run this through my surge protector?]
IAAL,BIANLY
Is it just me, or is this product useless?
I mean, really. Your average non-savy user won't try to share a connection because they don't know it's possible. The Wireless product makers are cleaning up the partially-savy and geek markets. Hardcore geeks are wiring their houses with cat 5, etc.
Remember the telephone-over-powerline products to give you extra extensions? People just purchased cordless phones instead. Nobody bothers having a ton of wired extensions. And the network-over-a-phoneline? Just about nobody uses that one, either.
If people aren't wiring with the cables the designer intended (power on the power plug, telephone on the phone jack, network on the cat 5, cable on the coax, etc) they'll use wireless.
Gentoo Sucks
From Linksys's page (http://www.linksys.com/edu/part6.asp):
"Q. Will there be problems if I turn on or plug in devices like a power drill or hair dryer?
A. No. If the powerline characteristics change during a session, the Instant PowerLine products will sense the change and automatically adapt to provide the most reliable data path connection."
Will this "automatic adaption" interrupt data transmission? How would this affect latency?
Imagine people complaining about getting fragged by a hair dryer.
Between this story and the one about setting up a dedicated server room at home, I'm thinking of tossing my PC completely and buying a used Atari 800. Well, not seriously, but it crosses my mind occasionally.
The amount of system administration required to run a PC home takes much of the fun out of computing for me. I'm a programmer and a technical kind of guy, but I really don't want to to be a sysadmin as a hobby. It's bad enough chasing down video card drivers and keeping track of all the related software incompatibilities--and having to upgrade everything every 18 months or so, even when I don't need it, as a brute force method of reducing conflicts--but having to deal with running servers and such at home is crazy. Sure, sure, the people who love recompiling kernels and running video card benchmarks and so on might not mind, but that's what those people _want_ out of a computer. Not everyone is like that.
Seriously. A PSU with built in networking... plugs into the USB headers on the motherboard.
Too sensible, it'll never happen.
Dave
I write a blog now, you should be afraid.
In other words, I wouldn't sweat it for audio uses. If it really bothers you, power your audio equipment through a real UPS with a lead-acid battery and inverter. That should brick-wall filter any noise from your mains.
... with your neighbors. How long before my cable company re-writes their terms and conditions to prohibit me from connecting any device to the cable modem that also that connects to an electrical outlet ;)
"Good things don't end with eum, they end with mania or teria." - H. Simpson
Aren't they basically low pass filters for power? Will the networking signals survive going through them?
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
I'd like to use this to network a small school I've been supporting. We've put a lot of work into running 10baseT cables, but haven't found a solution for getting to the other building. Wireless would be nice, but even that is still out of the budget for now. (We're talking really small school here!)
Your Servant, B. Baggins
Im sure no business would ever even consider this. Think of the security implications.
You don't even need to find an open rj-45 jack on the raceway. Just an electrical outlet. Aren't those every 6 feet?
You could get on the network from an obscure maintenance room hidden from view...
This would be ideal for my girlfriend's family's house. They have GHz cordless phones in their home, so they can't use wireless. They have a huge, huge house (it's been expanded from the original, smaller house), so ethernet just isn't a viable option for them. Consequently, I've got 5 of their computers networked and sharing a 56k, but the other 3 still have to dial out. (Thus using up the line and preventing any of the other 7 computers from being connected.) This PowerLine Router will be ideal for their setup, and I'm quite pleased to see it becoming available.
-Waldo Jaquith
Buy an always-on UPS. It will take the "unclean" power and re-create it for your stereo etc.
Tellyawhat: You show me any kind of high frequency getting past the 50/60Hz transformer in the audio power supply and/or the switchmode power supply secondary inductor (DC choke) and the filter caps sprinkled all over the PCB and I'll be surprised. Show the same noise appearing in the output of said audio device and I'll buy you an always-on UPS.
The kind of noise you describe getting through is such utter bullshit. The DC power supplies in practically all electronic equipment are capable of filtering this crap out and the measures for A/V devices are double. Remember that in a linear power supply you have a huge laminated-core transformer that will absorb high frequency noise as eddy current losses. In switchers you have a high-frequency (usually 60kHz and up) oscillator and the chokes and filters on the output are designed to give you as-close-to-zero ripple as possible. And after that you have high frequency, low-ESR caps across every IC and tons of filtering on the audio inputs and outputs to keep things sane.
Always-on UPSes are useful for really shitty lines and equipment which is sensitive to the fast switchover of traditional UPSes. It's once again proven that you can get superb advice from an AC.
This had to have been designed by somebody as a side-project, then was commercialized when "the higher-ups" heard of it. Really, why would you choose DES, unless you had the code already lying around, or something?
-Mark
He's not talking about coupling through the power supply. He's talking about capacitive coupling.
Yes, he has a valid concern. The power lines carry 60 HZ and a lot of harmonics of it - all low frequency stuff - plus switching noise - higher frequency stuff but more intermittent, except for commutator noise which (as you probably know from listening to AM while running an electric drill) is all over the map. Not to mention fluorescent and other arc lamps and switching power supplies - all over the ultrasonic-to-radio ranges.
The higher the frequency the easier it couples - in direct proportion. Beyond the audio range it can still cause some trouble, but not as much.
This technology is running in the tens of megabits over a noisy channel, so it will be running a goodly fraction of that in bandwidth. The question is mostly whether the LOW end is well above the audio and FM multiplex subcarrier range.
Don't bet on that. The audio range is just as useful as an equivalent bandwidth above it, so unless the designers were trying to avoid hi-fi and telephone interference they probably used it.
I have a few other concerns:
How does it behave in the presence of interference from commutator-based motors (drills, vacuum cleaners, blenders, mixers, hedge trimmers, etc.), switching power supplies (computers, peripherals, compact fluorescents), and arc lamps (standard fluorescents, high-pressure vapor)?
How does it behave in the presence of other similar devices in other houses attached to the same power transformer? (Like X10 it probably won't go THROUGH the transformer enough to notice.)?
Will you need a coupling capacitor between the two sides (or in industrial situations, the three phases) of your feed to get the other half (two-thirds) of your outlets to work?
Will the default configuration share your internet and intranet with your neighbors?
On the other hand, can you feed a neighbor deliberately, to cut a deal to share a DSL or Cable drop?
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way