And using proper software to blank out the disks, and then donating the hardware to your local charity/school/whatever is too hard?
Don't want to sound troll-ish or anything, but to me that just seems like a waste. My dad runs the computer club at the high school he works at, and he's always getting computers ( everything from old 486 desktops to somewhat new servers ) from businesses and local universities, which he cleans up, puts Windows 98 on and gives them to local elementary schools for their computer labs. Just because you have no use for the equipment doesn't mean other people can't find a good use for it.
If the equipment has sensitive data on it, then I'm fairly sure that it's possible to erase the data to a degree that makes it cost-prohibitive for anyone not working at a government lab with specialized equipment to recover it.
I think that Batman/Gotham Police hadn't managed to round up all of the escapees from the last movie, and most of them gravitate towards the Joker ( I think the Bat said something to this effect to Harvey Dent ).
I was pretty certain the remotes were actually for the ships they were on.
I think it was a moment of brilliance when the criminal stood up and told the guy "Give me the remote, and I'll do what you should have done ten minutes ago"... and then throws the remote out the window. It was one of those "Oh shit, he really should have done that ten minutes ago, shouldn't he?"
That's always the case when upgrading network equipment. There's always going to be a bottleneck somewhere, an upgrade just moves the bottleneck. Even if you upgrade everything all at once, there will still be a bottleneck, it might just take you a while to find it ( or use up enough bandwidth to notice it ).
Except pretty much all packages of buns and hot dogs that I've seen are all even numbers, which means that you'll reach the lowest common denominator pretty quickly ( although, regardless of even or odd numbers, eventually you'd reach the LCD ).
However, this may be what they're counting on, people buying for larger groups ( or in bulk so they don't have to go out and buy hot dogs/buns as often ).
I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.
You missed that part there. The oath doesn't say that all doctors will not perform surgery. The oath is saying that a doctor will get someone who knows what the hell they're doing to perform the surgery. This is why there are specialists, doctors who are well versed in a particular aspect of medicine ( cancer, eyes, the respiratory system, spinal surgeons, general surgeons, etc ).
So when you go to see your family doctor about something, if you need to have your eyes checked out, they'll send you to a Optometrist/Ophthalmologist, they won't try and figure out what your glasses prescription should be.
Just out of curiosity, has anyone else had problems with Gmail and the 'Newer Version' of their UI with RC1? Firefox 3 RC 1 would eat up all my avaliable CPU and about 400,000k of memory when ever I opened GMail. Switching to the 'Old Version' fixes it. Using XP, all the fun patches, same thing happens on several other computers here at work.
Seeing as how the current cycle time on the bike is one hour, I doubt you'll be doing much road tripping.
It looks like the motorcycle is intended more for in-city commuting ( ie, getting somewhere quicker than your segway can get you there ). I have to say though, if they could increase the battery power so you could go on four or five our trips before needing to power up, I'd love to take that thing on a road trip.
But I'm still wondering what kind of interference to watch for... they don't have POTS, for instance, so no wireless handsets. Hand radios used by hunters...using 2.4 GHz? Stray satellite transmissions? These folks are in the BC interior mountains, nearest city is a long haul. If you're providing houses with internet, then cordless phones, wifi routers they have, or even microwaves could be a source of noise/interference. It's hard to know until you actually go and setup your equipment. If you're using antennas with narrow beamwidths, chances are you won't have much to worry about, but even in remote areas there is a possibility that there is something that can trip you up.
But you're most likely right, there probably isn't anything you need to worry about up there.
I'm curious how much noise and interference you expect they'll get since they're up in the mountains and remote? Well, see that's the thing. I didn't know that. And it's true that you'll probably have less noise and/or interference way out in a remote location, but you can never be sure. It's tripped people up in the past, believe me.
They need about 170deg of horizontal beamwidth and 30deg vertical So use two 90 degree ( 90 deg horizontal, 30 deg vertial ) sectors. Or even the 180 degree ( 180 deg horizontal, 10 deg vertical ).
Well, it really depends on how those nine houses are laid out. It's possible, use a sector antenna ( or two ). The FCC rules state that the more directional an antenna, the more powerful it's allowed to be ( or something to that effect ). So if you can use a sector antenna, you can tilt it down and not only get better coverage, you also don't have to worry about noise or interfernece from the area not covered by the sector antenna.
That's really the biggest issue with omni antennas. Since they're not only broadcasting but receiving in a 360 radius from the antenna, they pick up more noise and interference that you'd see with a more directional antenna.
Basically, unless you have no choice, go with a sector antenna. Even then, if you can, use a couple of sector antennas and you'll probably see some improvement. Of course, the only way to really be sure of what kind of improvement you'll see is to either try it, or to use a spectrum analyzer. You'd be surprised how easy it is to spot exactly what's causing trouble when you use one ( a spectrum analyzer ).
For 500 meters, you can use the 802.11a or 802.11bg ( TR-5a series and TR-6000 series respectively ) without too many problems, as long as you have good line of sight. If there are a few trees, then the 900MHz stuff might be a better idea, but if there's a forest or a lot of buildings between your friend and your dad, you're boned. Just make sure that regardless of what kind of radio you get ( and regardless of what manufacturer you buy from ), use an antenna with as narrow beamwidth as you can get, ESPECIALLY for the 900MHz. For a point-to-point install, omni antennas are not your friend. Yagi or dish antennas might be a bitch to setup, but you'll have very little noise or interference.
Disclaimer: yes, I work for this company, but I really don't give two hoots if you use our stuff. Just make sure you get the right equipment ( ie: NO OMNI ANTENNAS ). I can't believe how many people think that omni antennas are a good idea ( especially for 900Mhz, ouch ).
There isn't a high turnover where I work, but I think that's because we're not a high-volume call center. Our tech support department is just four guys, and we're not always busy. So the techs that handle the calls ( I pretty much always just answer and forward, I'm either too lazy or there are other calls waiting so I can't talk long enough to help the customer ) are pretty knowledgeable.
Although I do believe I'm going crazy, because where I work, tech support issues all the RMA's, but that's it. Once they arrive, they're handled by our production department who don't seem to care at all about radios that need to be fixed, they're more focused on getting more radios out the door. Which sucks, because when someone sends in a radio and we've had it for three months because production is too lazy to fix/test it, I'm the one that gets an earful. That by itself is enough to make me want to leave. Add in the fact that I'm stuck at Level 0 tech support ( when I really want to be doing programming or web design ) with pretty much no chance for advancement, and I think that you can see why I feel like I'm going a little bit more insane every time the phone rings.
We don't really have that problem here because there's only one support number.... the one that I answer all day long. x_x
The thing is though, that sometimes our techs will ask for something that seems silly, like a network diagram, or for a description of how the radios are setup. To some people, these questions might seem silly, but what really gets me are the people that are on the phone don't have a clue as to a) where any of that info might be or b) if they even have that info. If you don't know how your network is setup, how are we supposed to help you fix what your problem might be? People always seem to assume that the problem is the device that's failing or looks like it's causing problems, but often the problem can be two or three devices up the chain. That's why we ask for network diagrams ( and I think that's why we don't get them: because the person on the phone has already decided where the problem is, so they won't listen to us when we say the problem is elsewhere ).
You have to remember as well, the tech that you're on the phone with has no way of knowing if you've done what you said you've done. I can't count how many times someone says that the problem is with the hardware, and not how they configured the radio, yet defaulting the settings are re-doing the setup fixes the problem ( it's the magic that you get from being on the phone with tech support! ). Focusing on where you think the problem is can blind you to other possibilities, and that is part of the job of people working in tech support: to explore those other possibilities to make sure that everything is covered.
Have you ever asked for a support ticket? If the company isn't using some sort of system like SugarCRM which allows them to create and manage tickets, they should be.
Where I work, I'm Level 0. I'm pretty much the secretary for the tech support department ( a position that is great for destroying sanity ). Basically all I do is get a rough description of the problem the customer is having before transfering them over to Level 1.
For the most part, having a system setup to handle cases has been a great help, and not just because it lets me transfer people quicker. It lets us know what has been tried in the past, and what other techs may have done. It's also helpful when a customer has twenty tickets with the same problem, and they call up once more needing help with something they should really be able to figure out on their own.
This isn't directed at you, personally. This little mini-rant is directed at all of the people with little to no network administration education trying to setup and run a wireless ISP ( or worse, people who think they understand wireless ).
As a side note, the company I work for manufactures wireless radio equipment, AP's and CPE's and such. What bothers me ( and all the other techs ) is when someone calls in and we could fix their problem in about two minutes... if they did what we told them to do. If you're not going to listen to what tech support is trying to get you to do, don't call. Yes, sometimes we'll ask you to do things that seem stupid or inane ( ie, power cycling ), but we're doing it for the benefit of both of us. If this is a brand new problem that you're working on, does it really matter if doing something simple like that fixes it? We're not trying to demean or make you feel stupid. We are trying to help you fix your problem. That is what we are paid to do, and why you're calling us. Where I work, we don't follow or read from scripts ( although I do, because all I do is answer the call and transfer it to level 1). Basically: if you're not going to work with us to help us solve your problem, don't call. There are other people who are willing and happy to work with us to solve their problems, and we'd rather talk to them anyways.
And no, asking for a network diagram isn't a stupid thing to ask for. If you don't have your entire network sketched out somewhere, you shouldn't be running a wireless ISP. You wouldn't believe how often having someone sketch out their network makes them realize the reason they're having a problem is because they have two or three loops going.
Yeah, 1.6TB is nice for a backup solution, but those drives are probably going to be priced way out of range for nearly anyone who needs that kind of storage. Seriously, when you compare the pricing for hard drive/ram/any other storage media to tapes, it's pretty ridiculous.
Nobody uses 9" real to real tapes these days. That's because the tapes to backup anything more than a few hundred GB is ridiculously expensive. At my work we were looking at getting a tape backup system, but decided against it because the tapes are way too expensive.
And here I was, thinking Tim Hortons was a Canadian only franchise, but apparently they're expanding into the northern states. Not entirely sure how I feel about that.
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And using proper software to blank out the disks, and then donating the hardware to your local charity/school/whatever is too hard?
Don't want to sound troll-ish or anything, but to me that just seems like a waste. My dad runs the computer club at the high school he works at, and he's always getting computers ( everything from old 486 desktops to somewhat new servers ) from businesses and local universities, which he cleans up, puts Windows 98 on and gives them to local elementary schools for their computer labs. Just because you have no use for the equipment doesn't mean other people can't find a good use for it.
If the equipment has sensitive data on it, then I'm fairly sure that it's possible to erase the data to a degree that makes it cost-prohibitive for anyone not working at a government lab with specialized equipment to recover it.
I think that Batman/Gotham Police hadn't managed to round up all of the escapees from the last movie, and most of them gravitate towards the Joker ( I think the Bat said something to this effect to Harvey Dent ).
I was pretty certain the remotes were actually for the ships they were on.
I think it was a moment of brilliance when the criminal stood up and told the guy "Give me the remote, and I'll do what you should have done ten minutes ago"... and then throws the remote out the window. It was one of those "Oh shit, he really should have done that ten minutes ago, shouldn't he?"
The Batman VS Joker scene in the inerrogation room really reminded me of Tyler Durton from "Fight Club", especially the scene from the bar basement.
Laughing at getting beat up, and having a grand plan that is mostly just wanting to create chaos/anarchy.
This requires more study, and several billion dollars of government grants.
Get our top scientists on this post-haste!
Who knows what grand marvels can be unlocked with this new 'hot fire'?
In Soviet Russia, fire burns you!
Wait.
In Soviet Russia, you burn fire!
Goddamnit.
In Soviet Russia, alcohol fires you!
Arg! Let me come in again.
What about using the sun to cook it? Something like that large mirror-magnifier-assembly-thing from the movie Sahara ( apparently a similar structure was built in Spain to generate 11 Megawatts of electricity )
That's always the case when upgrading network equipment. There's always going to be a bottleneck somewhere, an upgrade just moves the bottleneck. Even if you upgrade everything all at once, there will still be a bottleneck, it might just take you a while to find it ( or use up enough bandwidth to notice it ).
Er.... Yes. I wasn't entirely sure, it's been a while since I've done much math stuff.
Except pretty much all packages of buns and hot dogs that I've seen are all even numbers, which means that you'll reach the lowest common denominator pretty quickly ( although, regardless of even or odd numbers, eventually you'd reach the LCD ).
However, this may be what they're counting on, people buying for larger groups ( or in bulk so they don't have to go out and buy hot dogs/buns as often ).
Then again, I'd rather just have pizza.
You missed that part there. The oath doesn't say that all doctors will not perform surgery. The oath is saying that a doctor will get someone who knows what the hell they're doing to perform the surgery. This is why there are specialists, doctors who are well versed in a particular aspect of medicine ( cancer, eyes, the respiratory system, spinal surgeons, general surgeons, etc ).
So when you go to see your family doctor about something, if you need to have your eyes checked out, they'll send you to a Optometrist/Ophthalmologist, they won't try and figure out what your glasses prescription should be.
Just out of curiosity, has anyone else had problems with Gmail and the 'Newer Version' of their UI with RC1? Firefox 3 RC 1 would eat up all my avaliable CPU and about 400,000k of memory when ever I opened GMail. Switching to the 'Old Version' fixes it. Using XP, all the fun patches, same thing happens on several other computers here at work.
Seeing as how the current cycle time on the bike is one hour, I doubt you'll be doing much road tripping.
It looks like the motorcycle is intended more for in-city commuting ( ie, getting somewhere quicker than your segway can get you there ). I have to say though, if they could increase the battery power so you could go on four or five our trips before needing to power up, I'd love to take that thing on a road trip.
But you're most likely right, there probably isn't anything you need to worry about up there.
Well, it really depends on how those nine houses are laid out. It's possible, use a sector antenna ( or two ). The FCC rules state that the more directional an antenna, the more powerful it's allowed to be ( or something to that effect ). So if you can use a sector antenna, you can tilt it down and not only get better coverage, you also don't have to worry about noise or interfernece from the area not covered by the sector antenna.
That's really the biggest issue with omni antennas. Since they're not only broadcasting but receiving in a 360 radius from the antenna, they pick up more noise and interference that you'd see with a more directional antenna.
Basically, unless you have no choice, go with a sector antenna. Even then, if you can, use a couple of sector antennas and you'll probably see some improvement. Of course, the only way to really be sure of what kind of improvement you'll see is to either try it, or to use a spectrum analyzer. You'd be surprised how easy it is to spot exactly what's causing trouble when you use one ( a spectrum analyzer ).
https://tranzeo.com/
For 500 meters, you can use the 802.11a or 802.11bg ( TR-5a series and TR-6000 series respectively ) without too many problems, as long as you have good line of sight. If there are a few trees, then the 900MHz stuff might be a better idea, but if there's a forest or a lot of buildings between your friend and your dad, you're boned. Just make sure that regardless of what kind of radio you get ( and regardless of what manufacturer you buy from ), use an antenna with as narrow beamwidth as you can get, ESPECIALLY for the 900MHz. For a point-to-point install, omni antennas are not your friend. Yagi or dish antennas might be a bitch to setup, but you'll have very little noise or interference.
Disclaimer: yes, I work for this company, but I really don't give two hoots if you use our stuff. Just make sure you get the right equipment ( ie: NO OMNI ANTENNAS ). I can't believe how many people think that omni antennas are a good idea ( especially for 900Mhz, ouch ).
There isn't a high turnover where I work, but I think that's because we're not a high-volume call center. Our tech support department is just four guys, and we're not always busy. So the techs that handle the calls ( I pretty much always just answer and forward, I'm either too lazy or there are other calls waiting so I can't talk long enough to help the customer ) are pretty knowledgeable.
Although I do believe I'm going crazy, because where I work, tech support issues all the RMA's, but that's it. Once they arrive, they're handled by our production department who don't seem to care at all about radios that need to be fixed, they're more focused on getting more radios out the door. Which sucks, because when someone sends in a radio and we've had it for three months because production is too lazy to fix/test it, I'm the one that gets an earful. That by itself is enough to make me want to leave. Add in the fact that I'm stuck at Level 0 tech support ( when I really want to be doing programming or web design ) with pretty much no chance for advancement, and I think that you can see why I feel like I'm going a little bit more insane every time the phone rings.
We don't really have that problem here because there's only one support number.... the one that I answer all day long. x_x
The thing is though, that sometimes our techs will ask for something that seems silly, like a network diagram, or for a description of how the radios are setup. To some people, these questions might seem silly, but what really gets me are the people that are on the phone don't have a clue as to a) where any of that info might be or b) if they even have that info. If you don't know how your network is setup, how are we supposed to help you fix what your problem might be? People always seem to assume that the problem is the device that's failing or looks like it's causing problems, but often the problem can be two or three devices up the chain. That's why we ask for network diagrams ( and I think that's why we don't get them: because the person on the phone has already decided where the problem is, so they won't listen to us when we say the problem is elsewhere ).
You have to remember as well, the tech that you're on the phone with has no way of knowing if you've done what you said you've done. I can't count how many times someone says that the problem is with the hardware, and not how they configured the radio, yet defaulting the settings are re-doing the setup fixes the problem ( it's the magic that you get from being on the phone with tech support! ). Focusing on where you think the problem is can blind you to other possibilities, and that is part of the job of people working in tech support: to explore those other possibilities to make sure that everything is covered.
Have you ever asked for a support ticket? If the company isn't using some sort of system like SugarCRM which allows them to create and manage tickets, they should be.
Where I work, I'm Level 0. I'm pretty much the secretary for the tech support department ( a position that is great for destroying sanity ). Basically all I do is get a rough description of the problem the customer is having before transfering them over to Level 1.
For the most part, having a system setup to handle cases has been a great help, and not just because it lets me transfer people quicker. It lets us know what has been tried in the past, and what other techs may have done. It's also helpful when a customer has twenty tickets with the same problem, and they call up once more needing help with something they should really be able to figure out on their own.
This isn't directed at you, personally. This little mini-rant is directed at all of the people with little to no network administration education trying to setup and run a wireless ISP ( or worse, people who think they understand wireless ).
As a side note, the company I work for manufactures wireless radio equipment, AP's and CPE's and such. What bothers me ( and all the other techs ) is when someone calls in and we could fix their problem in about two minutes... if they did what we told them to do. If you're not going to listen to what tech support is trying to get you to do, don't call. Yes, sometimes we'll ask you to do things that seem stupid or inane ( ie, power cycling ), but we're doing it for the benefit of both of us. If this is a brand new problem that you're working on, does it really matter if doing something simple like that fixes it? We're not trying to demean or make you feel stupid. We are trying to help you fix your problem. That is what we are paid to do, and why you're calling us. Where I work, we don't follow or read from scripts ( although I do, because all I do is answer the call and transfer it to level 1). Basically: if you're not going to work with us to help us solve your problem, don't call. There are other people who are willing and happy to work with us to solve their problems, and we'd rather talk to them anyways.
And no, asking for a network diagram isn't a stupid thing to ask for. If you don't have your entire network sketched out somewhere, you shouldn't be running a wireless ISP. You wouldn't believe how often having someone sketch out their network makes them realize the reason they're having a problem is because they have two or three loops going.
Yeah, 1.6TB is nice for a backup solution, but those drives are probably going to be priced way out of range for nearly anyone who needs that kind of storage. Seriously, when you compare the pricing for hard drive/ram/any other storage media to tapes, it's pretty ridiculous.
And here I was, thinking Tim Hortons was a Canadian only franchise, but apparently they're expanding into the northern states. Not entirely sure how I feel about that.
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!
Damnit, it's supposed to be in-your-face-Bender-style-yelling, Slashdot, stop complaining.
Just out of curiosity, what kind of radios did your company use? Only asking because I work for a company that sells WISP style 2.4 and 5Ghz radios.