Customer Pulls Gun on Comcast Tech

No, it wasn't me. And for the record, I usually find the on-site techs much easier to deal with.

Customer Pulls Gun on Comcast Tech

And an Alarm Clock, too

I was thinking about how my phone had replaced my alarm clock this morning. I had an alarm clock that I used for the better part of 25 years. A while back, my daughter was playing with it and broke the snooze button. It kinda stressed me out - change bad!!!! I replaced it with a similar one, but I never use the alarm functionality on it. I still like to glance at the time in the middle of the night, but I suppose I could get use to doing that on the phone, too.

In just 20 years, a 200x reduction in volume, 1000x in weight, and 20x the speed & resolution! pic.twitter.com/BOEihvHLR5
— Bill Gross (@Bill_Gross) July 29, 2014

Group Policy

Random comment... I love Group Policy.

It is a wonderful tool for lazy admins.

Tech Challenge of the Day

I'm trying to learn some Linux, so I've got Ubuntu installed on an old Dell Mini 10v. That seems to be working well.

The problem is trying to get SSH access over the internet to it. I've got a Comcast/Xfinity SMCD3GNV (Cable modem, wireless access point, router, phone) along with the Asus RT-N66U wireless router. The SMCD3GNV has the public IP on the WAN interface and a LAN interface IP of 10.0.0.1. I can login to it and make changes.

My RT-N66U gets a 10.0.0.2 address from the SMCD3GNV on its WAN port. I've got it configured to have the 192.168.1.1 address on the LAN interface. My clients connect to the RT-N66U - including the Ubuntu box.

I've done some research and apparently I want my SMCD3GNV to be in bridge mode. I called Comcast and they said they put it in bridge mode. I'm not convinced it is actually in bridge mode. When they put it in bridge mode, the WiFi light should stay off according to one article I read. Unfortunately, it occasionally blinks and the admin web page has an icon that is green, but the mouse-over says "Status: Not Connected ; 0 computers connected."

I've tried all sorts of tom-foolery with the port forwarding, DMZ, static addresses, etc. I've tried to take the Asus out the mix by plugging the Ubuntu box into the SMCD3GNV and enable port forwarding to it. Still no joy.

Per this post, if you go into debug mode and enter this: $("#pageForm1").show(); at the console, you can see the Bridge Mode button.

I was going to work on it some more last night, but the storms knocked our cable out. It just was not meant to be. Maybe today or tomorrow or the next day...

iCloud Backup

My iPhone and iPad frequently complain that my iCloud account is full and that they cannot complete a backup. I always ignored it as I don't have anything on my devices that isn't backed up some other way. I saw this HowToGeek article via LifeHacker. It made me realize there is no reason to send my pictures/videos to iCloud when Dropbox is capturing them anyway. Duh. Problem solved.

Triathlon

I completed a triathlon yesterday. I ran, swam, and mowed.

Blog Comment Spam

Blogger cleans them up, but I get tons of comment spam on this ID-51 post. I have no idea why that one is so popular with the spam bots.

Windows Server 2003 EOL

Hey you! Yes, you! The one still running XP. Your Windows Server 2003 goes EOL in July 2015.

Xiegu X108: Many More Pictures

More pictures of the X108 along with unedited labels.

Custom glass protection board.

Transmit mixer ($8)

32-bit ARM microprocessor

BPF module part

Large dynamic low noise preamplifier

Chassis + install aluminum

Bottom

Microphone ALC unit

Imported stereo jack

Transceiver mixer section

The audio output unit

IF section

Front Panel assembly

146.52

The case for monitoring 146.52 simplex:

"If every Ham in the world (or at least the USA) took the time to monitor and make calls on simplex, there would be a more universal feel to the VHF allocation rather than tiny little cells and haunts or local repeater groups."

Via K0NR