Daynote ,Svenson

MM-lvii     Saturday

2000-02-26

It is back to freezing. Lightly, just -3°C, but still. Actually the weather is fantastic now, open sky, not a cloud to be seen and a mild wind. That means sun which drives up the day temperature; all the way to 12°C. The forecast is for more of the same tomorrow. Joy.

Shopping again. This time the Zip drive arrived (it has been sitting in the shop since Monday but the shop isn't open when I am home during the week).

I work in the garden during the afternoon, mostly pruning the Firethorn bushes. Perfect weather for garden jobs. When I stop my hands are full of punctures from the thorns. These are very though and long, piercing even the thick gloves I am wearing.

A long time ago (almost two years) I had a network at home. It was a 10BaseT network with one hub and never more than three computers connected. It wasn't set up as it should either, being more of a "see if I can do this" job than anything else.
Then about a year ago I started moving computer stuff up to the attic. I did break up the network and never bothered to connect the computers up again. Part of the reason is that I am only using two computers daily one on the attic (Miona) and one in my bedroom (Harper) and I cannot string a wire between them (unless I disconnect it every time I close the trapdoor to the attic). On the attic I have been assembling some new boxes but they never were there to be used so once finished the moved out and a new box took its place. Another part is lack of time (why invest time in something that is not going to be used)
Now I have Oswal semi permanently installed so I tried to put up a network between Oswal and Miona. Without much success up to now.

The network card in Miona is an older Intel (Ether Express or something) card, ISA and with 10BaseT and 10Base2 connectors (RJ45 and coax). It worked on the old network (under OS/2) but now, with Win98 it didn't want to cooperate. I pulled it out and replaced it with a new D-Link 10/100 card and this installed without problem. So I have a network again. Just 2 boxes with Win98 connected via a 100BaseT hub (5 ports).

The biggest problem actually was finding a power outlet for the converter for the hub. Like most external toys these days the power converter is a single block that plugs directly into an outlet. I am using outlet strips, some with an on/off switch. Being bigger than a standard plug this prevents you from using the outlet(s) just beside it. I need 11 separate outlets (2 computers, 2 screens, 2 sets of speakers, 1 modem*, 1 hub*, 1 Zip drive, 1 desk spot, 1 clock-radio) I have 6 fixed outlets and two strips of 4 outlets each (each strip steals an available outlet for its own input of course. The result is that I have only one outlet free and, due to a power-brick I cannot use it. When I want to download images from my camera or when I am testing a box I have to unplug some other device first.
I know someone who would call this a Pifle.

Adios