We Are Nerd. Resistance is Futile.

[vin_petrol]

Ooh, just put my new 3G data card in my laptop and connected to the internet via 3G. 384 kbps, it reckons. I'm not convinced. But then again, connecting here in the office isn't really a fair test, as our local 3G cell does get rather a lot of use!
I should be getting the VPN software installed later today, and then (in theory) I can SSH to our Unix boxes from anywhere in Great Britain where I can get a decent 3G signal, or anywhere in the world with a 3G signal and a roaming agreement with Orange. Soon I'll be able to declare "bah, they've sent us crap XML" from halfway up a mountain.
This shiny new network future seems to have come at a price though. It's broken my office wireless LAN connectivity :-)

Comments

[cyberspice.livejournal.com]

This shiny new network future seems to have come at a price though. It's broken my office wireless LAN connectivity

That'll be dodgy Windows network stacks. Windows seems incapable of supporting different routes to the same IP address. Of all the things I *didn't* know about a Mac and have come to love is the network switching support in OS-X. I can just switch profile, for example switching from wired to wireless networking, and everything just stays running...

[rich-r.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest that - we have to tell the handful of sales people who use laptops to turn off wireless before connecting by cable to the LAN, or just use wireless only (and accept that there's crap coverage in some rooms). Windows XP it seems just doesn't like it.

I notice that Dell, Toshiba, HP and Sony all have little 'helper' programs that disable the wireless card when they detect a cable connection. Shows that they discovered this flaw in Windows XP some time ago.

[cyberspice.livejournal.com]

That's really quite poor though. I can, with my iBook, connect to a wireless network and then share that via the cable to another computer that doesn't have WiFi. Or, in reverse, ad-hoc a wired connection to a wireless device. Both with a couple of clicks of the gui.

[rich-r.livejournal.com]

You can have LAN and WiFi both on - as long as they're not the same network. So you can share a connection, but XP seems to get very confused if you have both on.

If you arse around with the network affinity settings, you can (in theory) make it stop trying to route over one or the other. But if you remove a car (ie disable it and re-enable it, like you might with a WiFi card to save power for instance) - the settings go back.

Unfortunately my Mac doesn't have wireless :( It's got the aerial of course, but no AirPort card in the slot.

[blue-condition.livejournal.com]

Indeed, I've even seamlessly switched on a VPN connection under OS/X and everything kept running. I was Mucho Impressed.

[vin_petrol]

That'll be dodgy Windows network stacks

Indeed. Someone from IT Support has been round and fiddled with it and it now (vaguely) works. I have to kinda "throw a big switch" to go from Wireless LAN to 3G, and then point and click some more to activate the VPN. It's clunky, but it does work.

It all feels very poorly thought out though. You think someone at M$ at some point a few years ago might just have said "I see a future where people might have more than one type of network connectivity on their PC..."

[ms-siobhan.livejournal.com]

eh?
its the work of electrickery and witchcraft I tell you
should see you and the delectable Miss Dark for lunch tomorrow - yay!!

[vin_petrol]

Yes, I should be out for lunch with you two gorgeous women ;-)

[ms-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Marvellous!

[cyberspice.livejournal.com]

Hey, if I ended up in that job in Leeds, it could be two gorgeous ones and and a fat ugly one.

[vin_petrol]

Nah, I'm already the fat ugly one who meets them ;-)

[steer.livejournal.com]

You could just leave a lifesize cutout of yourself at your desk with a speech bubble saying "The fault is with the other carbon based lifeforms who interface with my perfect code."

That way you'd never have to show up ot work!

[vin_petrol]

Ooh, that's a good idea. The flaw is that the other carbon based lifeforms who interface with my perfect code are generally too stupid to see where the problems are. I often have to write long emails explaining the shortcomings of their systems. The cutout couldn't do that.

[cyberspice.livejournal.com]

That sounds horribly familiar...

[vin_petrol]

A typical Vin day seems to often include an email which reads:

Cluess person wrote:
> Site llooked crap cos ov databse issues.

No, I think you'll find that the database was fine. The actual problem was
<insert carefully written technical explanation here>
which would have been obvious had you read the error messages my code generated for you, read the documentation I wrote for you, and THOUGHT ABOUT IT FOR A MORE THAN 2 NANOSECONDS!

*sigh*

[blue-condition.livejournal.com]

You'll be pleased to know that I got so nadged off with O2 that I'm "coming home" to Orange in the next few days.

[vin_petrol]

Ooh, quick, hang on, let me use a buzzword I heard in the last marketing event:

May you have increased emotional proximity to the Orange brand! :-)

[sunflowerinrain.livejournal.com]

The World is Your Oyster^WOffice!

[vin_petrol]

It is indeed. I tried it last night and it all worked really well. I can now fiddle with my beloved Perl programs wherever I am!