Network Geography and Topology...

So, it should be simple: just plug all PCs into the router/modem that is connected to the internet, either with wires or wireless and full internet connectivity on all PCs.

But then geography comes into play. The router/modem is in the kitchen, the desktops are upstairs, and static cabling is simply not an option. So the problem is connecting an old 750MHz PC running Linux so that it can be accessed remotely (don't want an extra keyboard, mouse, video hanging around) to the upstairs desktop PC running MS Vista, without the expense of a wireless network adapter.

I tried adding a spare router and using the Vista PC as abridge, but it didn't seem to work and raised the average power consumption anyway. But an answer lies in a simple Ethernet crossover cable and Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing.

Setting up ICS is easy, although it sets up the PC as 192.168.0.1, so it may be necessary to change the IP address of the router/modem or Vista throws out a very unhelpful "can't do it 'cos I just can't!" errors.

Then the Linux network connector has to be set up. This is straightforward (delete the old one connection, and add a new one), although automatic IP address allocation using DHCP appears to be needed.

And that is it. Just need to try and set up the dreaded XDMCP ...!

Countdown...

There is a very strong possibility that by the end of the month I will be a dad. I've been preparing for it for nearly nine months (obviously), and very much looking forward to it. But it is still just a little bit scary...!

Design Patterns...

Looks like a good source of information here:

http://sourcemaking.com/

Will have to get round to reading it at some point...!

Routings...

So, image you have a happy wireless network which allows you to connect happily to the internet from your desktop machine.

But you also want to connect to a wired network which contains a Linux machine which won't connect to the wireless network for reason of not having a wireless adapter.

Easy you may thing, just connect the desktop to both networks and off you go. And it is that easy except that the connection from the Desktop to the internet via the wireless network is lost.

This is because the routing tables are set up to go through the wired network first, so the machine fails to find the internet (that is only my guess, but it certainly sounds plausible and the solution fits).

So, we just need to update the routing tables. These are displayed from an elevated command line with:

route print

And should show the active routes, with the network destination 0.0.0.0 as the two gateways. So all we have to do is to change the metric of the wireless network so it is less than that of the wired network with a command like:

route change 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 metric 25 if 9

where if is the interface number of the wireless adapter from the Interface List, and metric is less than that of the wired adapter.

Easy...

A Constellation of Mobiles...

... courtesy of Coldplay at Wembley. We were up with the gods, which afforded a fantastic view of a really excellent gig. Plus points to Jay-Z and Girls Aloud who supported admirably, minus points to all those who left before the last song as my 7months pregnant wife insisted on staying till the end; and full marks to her!

Community Spirit

I have just posted this at: http://discussions.nokia.co.uk/discussions/board?board.id=pcsuite and thought I'd better save it here for posterity:

I have just spent several days trying to work out how to get Nokia PC Suite working on my Windows Vista machine, when it installed first time when I had no problems on my old XP laptop. On the Vista machine, every time I installed it (and I tried several times), I would start PCSuite.exe and get an error [Loading Language Failed] and get no further...

So, it turns out that (for me anyway) the problem is with registry permissions and ownership. To fix it, I had to run regedit.exe and go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Nokia and take ownership of the whole folder: right clicking Permissions...Advanced...Owner, and making Administrators the current owner.

I also made sure that all the folders under this one had Group names SYSTEM, Administrators (both with Full control) and Users (with Read only control).

And lo and behold, it now works...!

I'm not a Windows expert, so I'm sure someone else will have more details, but I've not seen this written down and hope it helps...!

Apart from the 3 days of installation effort, the software looks good... Enjoy!

Right of Navigation...

Nice article here from Griff Rhys Jones about the rights (or lack therefore) for canoeists to navigate English and Welsh rivers. It is also interesting in that he isn't the gung ho white water type; he just enjoys a gentle flat water paddle.

Also, a really poor reply to the article here, from someone who claims to be a canoeist, but given he thinks improving access will lead to 'anarchy', I'm not convinced by his credentials...

DAB is the answer...?

Interesting article here about why the switchover to digital radio is a bad idea. And a pretty well reasoned one at that: I've never quite figured why the government thinks analogue FM transmission is a bad idea when analogue radios are so ubiquitous, and DAB ones so rare.

You can only guess that the government of the day will say its a great idea right up until the point they cancel the switchover and common sense once more prevails...

Where The Wild Things Are...

This trailer is fantastic! I don't remember ever reading the book as a kid, but I'm looking forward to the film...

Connected Again...

After a month away, we now once more have broadband. And we've missed it! It has meant that we have done more useful things with our time, like so stuff in the garden. But it has meant difficulty with email, TV listings, consumer reviews, shopping, and other trivial stuff.

We had nothing for three weeks, then we got a telephone line and 56k dial-up. I'd forgotten how slow it was, and now all websites are content rich, assuming you all have fast broadband, making it (effectively) even slower to use.

But now, thanks to Virgin, we have a fast broadband connection of approximately 100 times the speed of the dial up. And I shall promise to try and use it less and do more worthwhile things, but I'm very glad to have it back....