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Wireless success and KVM
Oct. 18th, 2006 09:37 amI realise I haven't been updating as often as I really should. The new job has taken up much of my time, of course. I'm posting from work in an experiment.
I installed a Netgear wireless card in our living room laptop last night. The one we had (not Netgear, but another model which shall remain nameless) only gathered a Low or Poor signal from the router in the study. The Netgear immediately got a "Very Good" signal and continued in that vein. Success!!
The only trouble with these wireless cards in general seems to be that the native software controllers that come with them do not generally work very well on this laptop. They can't control the card even with the correct keys and the like entered in. When I change them to be controlled by the Windows software, everything falls into place and it works.
Now I might find this to be a conspiracy from Redmond to make its own software triumphant over all. However, I'm wondering whether other people have had the same problem with their laptops and wireless cards (if any). Anecdotal evidence supporting (or to the contrary) would be welcome. If it's the laptop, we can ditch it for a better one, I think. If it's just a general problem with wireless network cards and their idiot software packages, then we just live with it.
I'm well on the way to getting my Sun Ultra 10 working on the same monitor, keyboard, and mouse as the Windows desktop in the study. Leg room is severely limited under the desk as the Sun is to the left and the Dell is to the right. Will try to work on that over the weekend. I've got a patch box on order that will take the Sun KB/mouse plug (one 8-pin mini-DIN) and split it into two 6-pin mini-DINs that are the same as a PC. This will let me ditch the Sun keyboard (which is pretty much a pain) and the mouse (which looks like a bar of soap on a steel plate, as it needs a dedicated mouse pad to work), and not have to change the kb/mouse combo when switching boxes.
One final thought: I was complaining that my online time had shrunk compared to my jobless bliss before 18 September (I've been employed one whole month now). I have successfully contracted my online life so that I can barely keep up with it. I need to contract it a bit more (but probably not livejournal) and I'll then have time to have a real life.
I installed a Netgear wireless card in our living room laptop last night. The one we had (not Netgear, but another model which shall remain nameless) only gathered a Low or Poor signal from the router in the study. The Netgear immediately got a "Very Good" signal and continued in that vein. Success!!
The only trouble with these wireless cards in general seems to be that the native software controllers that come with them do not generally work very well on this laptop. They can't control the card even with the correct keys and the like entered in. When I change them to be controlled by the Windows software, everything falls into place and it works.
Now I might find this to be a conspiracy from Redmond to make its own software triumphant over all. However, I'm wondering whether other people have had the same problem with their laptops and wireless cards (if any). Anecdotal evidence supporting (or to the contrary) would be welcome. If it's the laptop, we can ditch it for a better one, I think. If it's just a general problem with wireless network cards and their idiot software packages, then we just live with it.
I'm well on the way to getting my Sun Ultra 10 working on the same monitor, keyboard, and mouse as the Windows desktop in the study. Leg room is severely limited under the desk as the Sun is to the left and the Dell is to the right. Will try to work on that over the weekend. I've got a patch box on order that will take the Sun KB/mouse plug (one 8-pin mini-DIN) and split it into two 6-pin mini-DINs that are the same as a PC. This will let me ditch the Sun keyboard (which is pretty much a pain) and the mouse (which looks like a bar of soap on a steel plate, as it needs a dedicated mouse pad to work), and not have to change the kb/mouse combo when switching boxes.
One final thought: I was complaining that my online time had shrunk compared to my jobless bliss before 18 September (I've been employed one whole month now). I have successfully contracted my online life so that I can barely keep up with it. I need to contract it a bit more (but probably not livejournal) and I'll then have time to have a real life.
