Yes I am eyeing this up - it's small neat, useful, and if underpowered can still be converted to a great e-reader/wordprocessor.
And combined with a DSL Linux key that runs inside Windows CE? A clean install everytime if you want. The techie in me is drooling.
Tuesday 21 September 2010
Thursday 2 September 2010
Powerline networking
Networking without wires? This is certainly old news to most, not particularly secure and has some interesting range issues.
Falling in between wireless and old style wired is th new technology that lets you network your PC over your power cables, using the electrical cables already embedded in the walls to run a network. Not surprisingly, as a true techie, I had to try this.
We've got issues using wireless thanks to interference and location, so when we want to run a PC outside the office it has always involved running a long network cable round to where we want to work. Not ideal, particularly with two cats who view cables as long lengths of string. We bought the version with built-in AES, and set up a stand alone network.
The bad? It can't be plugged in to an extension lead. The good? Plugged into a wall it took about 5 seconds to set up. You literally plug an adaptor in to the socket, plug an RJ45 cable into it, and into your network hub/switch/router, plug another one in where you want to run the PC, and put an RJ45 cables from the socket to the PC. Effectively every power outlet in the house is now a network port.
A moment's thought reveals security issues, particularly if you have exterior power sockets or have ring networks shared with another flat*, but these are less than wireless would suffer, and it doesn't replace the need for antivirus and firewalls on the PC. However it removes the need for cables, is slightly more secure than wireless, and is very easy to use.
We're planning on setting it up as a second network, not linked to our main one, for light/fun use on gadgets like consoles which we can't use on the commercial network.
The only problem a real techie may have? Running out of power sockets...We may be doing some more DIY this weekend.
*We checked with one adaptor plugged into the PC first to see if it picked up any other networks. If you think it might, you may want to try this.
Falling in between wireless and old style wired is th new technology that lets you network your PC over your power cables, using the electrical cables already embedded in the walls to run a network. Not surprisingly, as a true techie, I had to try this.
We've got issues using wireless thanks to interference and location, so when we want to run a PC outside the office it has always involved running a long network cable round to where we want to work. Not ideal, particularly with two cats who view cables as long lengths of string. We bought the version with built-in AES, and set up a stand alone network.
The bad? It can't be plugged in to an extension lead. The good? Plugged into a wall it took about 5 seconds to set up. You literally plug an adaptor in to the socket, plug an RJ45 cable into it, and into your network hub/switch/router, plug another one in where you want to run the PC, and put an RJ45 cables from the socket to the PC. Effectively every power outlet in the house is now a network port.
A moment's thought reveals security issues, particularly if you have exterior power sockets or have ring networks shared with another flat*, but these are less than wireless would suffer, and it doesn't replace the need for antivirus and firewalls on the PC. However it removes the need for cables, is slightly more secure than wireless, and is very easy to use.
We're planning on setting it up as a second network, not linked to our main one, for light/fun use on gadgets like consoles which we can't use on the commercial network.
The only problem a real techie may have? Running out of power sockets...We may be doing some more DIY this weekend.
*We checked with one adaptor plugged into the PC first to see if it picked up any other networks. If you think it might, you may want to try this.
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