Robert Cole’s Weblog » humour and idiocy combine to create that which is my life

fucking linksys

16 November 2008 By robert 0 In Stupidity, tech

So, I’ve been having this issue for about 6-7 months now. Some quick info on my current network setup:

DSL modem –> 802.11n Airport Extreme –> Linksys WGA600N 802.11n Gaming Adapter –> Switch –> 802.11g Airport Express (over ethernet)

This allows me to run the Airport Extreme in native n mode, and retain network availability with g devices by creating 2 networks - one n-only from the Airport Extreme and one bg from the Airport Express. This also positions the Express behind the entertainment center in the living room, allowing me to connect it and use airtunes. It also connects the Mac Mini that is connected to my TV via 802.11n with the rest of the network.

The problem so far, however, has been that airtunes has never worked. And by not working I mean I could see the remote speakers in iTunes. I could select them. But as soon as it tried to actually do anything, it would sit there and try for about 30-40 seconds and then time out. It worked fine from the Mini. It worked fine if I hopped onto the bg network. No dice through the WGA600n.

In my troubleshooting, I tried various things - checking the firmware on the WGA device (still at 1.0.0 from December 13 2007), enabling and disabling various options - including the mysterious “Extra Wireless Protection” option that according to the linksys documentation doesn’t exist. Nothing produced useful results. Sometimes I would get a bit excited when it would connect (after an extended attempt, always), but the audio would repeatedly drop out and it was a crapshoot if it would actually connect ever again.

Tonight, however, I was reading around some hints on people with spotty airtunes ability, and found someone that enabled IPv6 on their network, and that fixed their issue. However, their issue involved strictly Apple gear, which generally all supports IPv6 well. Knowing linksys though, a lightbulb went on in my head and I decided to take a look. Of course, IPv6 was enabled by default in OS X 10.5, so I disabled it.

Bingo. Immediate connection, no drops. Apparently the WGA600N doesn’t like to handle IPv6 traffic, even though it’s just handing it over from wireless to wired.

After so long of fighting with it, it’s a bit of a relief. I was very near to just saying fuck it and dropping some cash for a new 802.11n airport extreme. Or an AppleTV. I still was having a hard time justifying either of those though, when it *should* work.

gas savings vs. time cost of money

13 October 2008 By robert 0 In random thoughts

I was recently reading an article about driving 55mph vs. driving 70mph to save money. I posted a portion of this as a reply but thought I’d re-post here because it’s not something I’ve actually considered before (at least not with real numbers - I’m more of a 70mph regardless of the price of gas person anyhow).

Example:
60 miles @ 70mph @ 30mpg
60 mi / 70 mph == 0.857 hr
Gasoline usage @ 30mpg = 2 gal
2 gal / 0.857 hr == 2.333 gal/hr

60 miles @ 55 mph @ 35 mpg
60 mi / 55 mph == 1.091 hr
Gasoline usage @ 30mpg = 1.714 gal
1.714 gal / 1.091 hr == 1.57 gal/hr

Therefore, with a time factor, your gas usage has increased 48%. This wouldn’t matter for any real world examples though, because you don’t travel based on time, you travel based on distance. One doesn’t go arbitrarily an hour to get somewhere, but rather a set distance.

For instance, say I am getting paid $25/hr. If I set my personal time cost of travel to my wages, then it’s $25/hr for travel time. That means that the difference in driving 70mph vs. 55mph is $25/hr * 0.234 hr, and a savings of $5.88.

Therefore, my bad habit of speeding to work didn’t cost me more, because at $4/gal for gasoline it may have cost me $4/gal * 0.286 gal = $1.14. That means I actually saved $3.74 by speeding.

The only time speeding *doesn’t* save you money is if your time is considered to be almost equal to the cost of a gallon of gas. Personally I don’t know anyone who would work for $3 to $4 per hour, or consider their time to only be worth that much. That is why the whole argument of slow down to save money is bunk, in my opinion. Perhaps its useful if you are on a fixed income and have no other use for your time, but for me and almost everyone I know, time does matter and the quicker I get home or where I’m going, the more time I can spend with my wife, friends, and family.