DD-WRT has been going for some time now and it is in effect a complete replacement firmware for your router. Virgin Media supplied the D-Link 615 Rev 4 and I found this to be very slow, very restrictive and missing some important features. Instead of buying a new router, I went with DD-WRT instead. You can head off to the Main site for DD_WRT and find the files for your own brand of router.
Posts tagged wireless
DD-WRT Router Firmware replacement
Foscam FI8905 IP Camera
Recently I was in need of some CCTV for the home, I had a few choices on this, such as buying a complete kit for £300 which comes with 4 camera’s and a base unit to record everything. As I already have a Synology NAS Box which comes with Synology Surveillance Station, a feature to connect an IP camera and record 24/7, I thought why not buy myself a IP Camera? Looking through the list of supported camera’s, on that was listed was FOSCAM. The next stage was to figure out how much to spend and which one to buy.
All-In-One PVR – does one exist?
Underneath my TV is a collection of boxes, each with a different purpose in life and it was this that got me thinking – why is there not a combined all-in-one device that does all of these functions and more? What devices then are under there? The first is the cable tuner but this can be swapped out for a Freeview HD recorder for example. Freeview by the way is the UK Free to air channels and there is 50 TV channels and 24 radio stations. Next up is my DVD player, this is not used as much these days but always handy to have. Last on my list is my media player, this can handle movie’s streamed from my NAS box and such. My Goal device would be all of these combined into one box that connects to the network – but, do this thing exist?
Ekahau HeatMapper WiFi Site Survey Tool
You can probably pay people good money to produce a detailed drawing of your wireless coverage but there is a way to do this yourself using a free tool called Ekahau HeatMapper – this is better then having your tiny little wireless signal meter and randomly going around a building seeing how many bars you have. The software is not automatic and you have to do a lot of the work yourself, clicking as you walk around but the end result is very good.
Cisco AP541N Wireless Access Point DHCP Issues
At work we have 6 Cisco AP541N wireless access points, these are aimed at the small business and is a dual band access point. The problem we had though was that although the clients could see the wireless, they would never get an IP from the Server and thus not connect. I did some googling around and I struggled to find any reason for this behaviour and when I did find something that pointed back to the Cisco Site – I had to jump through many hoops to even get the that post or information. I did finally get this sorted and this post shall explain what I did and why it was broke.
Upgrading the Network to gigabit
While I already have a gigabit network running, there is not enough ports to allow all the computers to connect via gigabit which means some are locked to 100mbit and the rest are on wireless (a mixture of Wireless N and Wireless G speeds). Converting your network to gigabit gives you a boost in speed and the cost is very low these days as you will see. A Quick recap on what I already have – I am on 50mbit / 5mbit Cable Internet via Virgin Media which is connected to a D-Link 615 Router (Supplied by Virgin media as part of the install) which features Wireless N Speed but only 4 ports at 100mbit. I have a 5 Port Netgear gigabit Switch which is a bit dodgy on the 5th port – this means I can only have 4 computers (or NAS Boxes) max that is on Gigabit.
ASUS AiGuru SV1 Skype Phone
You can get Skype on your computer and you can even get Skype on your mobile phone plus there is various telephone looking methods but this device looks more like a conventional desk phone. It was introduced back in 2009 and I must be honest and say that I had not seen this device anywhere during this time. The price for this unit seems to be about £200 ($275) but this might be the touch screen version (this one I am reviewing is not touch screen).
Smallest Wireless N Adaptor
TrendNet Launched a wireless USB Dongle of the sizes normally found for Bluetooth and this means is hardly sticks out at all. Ideal for notebooks currently packed with 802.11a/b/g, the device is super-compact, measuring a mere 0.59 x 0.74 x 0.28-inches. When plugged into a USB port, the adapter only extends out 0.3-inches from the edge of the computer.
Choosing the right media device
(Betamax for the win)
Technology moves on and people try and find easier and better ways to manage and watch media, be it video, pictures or even music on there TV. It was not that long ago that it was quite simple, you bought a DVD Player that suited your price range and features, plugged it into your TV and you can now go out and buy movies on DVD. Storing 100′s of Movies presented an issue and there had to be a better way – and now there is, media streaming devices come in many shapes and sizes as well as cost and functions – this post serves as a grounding on what to look for.
Pogoplug gets a Wireless adaptor
The pogoplug only came with a RJ45 adaptor on the back which meant it could only been used with a wired connection which also meant it had to be close to the router or switch (unless you wire in some long cable of course). Pogoplug have introduced a wireless USB adaptor and if you already own a Pogoplug – you can get it fro FREE.
