Dragonboy IT & Electronics Journey

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Linksys - Compact Wireless-G USB Network Adapter with SpeedBooster



Linksys normally came with a good product. I generally like their products. Easy to use and all Operating Systems generally accept their networking product i.e. Linux, Windows XP, etc

This Compact Wireless USB is no exception. The product looks simple, and the Installation is a breeze. Put the CD, click on the next next next, and complete. Finding the access point is also simple.

The only problem with this product is to maintain the wireless connectivity. In my testing, behind 2 walls, this USB product have problem. The connection got lost in the middle a few times in a day.

My Router is Linksys Wireless Router-G Broadband Router (WRT54GL) . This router works fine with the PCMCIA and PCI model. Only with this USB model, the connection is not stable.

My best bet is with the antenna or input power, the PCI model have antenna, and the PCMCIA have a stronger bandwith while the USB only have 5v :P. So the input power is not strong enough.

So if you have a lot of Walls, dont use this product, you better get the PCMCIA card (notebook) or PCI card (Desktop). Those works better than this USB. For now, I have returned this USB product within 1 week due to the "connectivity" problem.

Price is: USD 59.99

Easy to Install: 5 Stars

Connectivity: 3 Starts

cya

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Opera Mini vs Iphone Browser

You have heard about the "Hi, I am a mac, and I am a PC" How about "Hi, I am an Opera Mini. I am an Iphone"

http://www.operamini.com/beta/video/


Its pretty interesting, hopefully I would be able to see more of this type of advertisement. Since sometimes I am sick with the "Hi, I am a mac and I am a Pc" advertisement.

I do not see the Windows counter attack advertisement.

So hoping to see more of this :P


cya.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Linksys Wireless Router - 4MB Flash

Since I am moving back to USA again, the 1st thing that I need to find is a router. So I went to Fry's and Best Buy to look for Linksys Wireless Router.

Since I have managed to install a custom firmware on my other router in Singapore, I will definitely want to have a new custom firmware on my router here.

Eventhough I knew that Fry's and Best Buy have a refund policy after 2 weeks, I do not want to waste a trip to go back and fight :). So the easiest way to make sure that I will get the correct router and model number is to print out the list of Linksys Router Version number.

Why do I need to do that?
The new Linksys Router come with a 2 MB flash. So the custom firmware dd-wrt will not be fit into it. The Old Linksys Router comes with a 4MB flash.

If I buy a 2MB flash, the Micro DD-WRT is the only version that I can use. I will not be able to use the standard version of DD-WRT. (needs 4 MB Flash). -> The standard version offers more options like ssh

So I print out all the list as a .pdf and save it to my Phone (O2 XDA IIi) . No Paper, I save a tree :P.


My first thought that it will be easy to find those router with 4 MB flash. I was wrong. Damn, it is so hard and finally I only manage to find 1 Router that have 4 MB. The rest of them are new stocks i.e. 2 MB flash.

Here is the one that I manage to buy:
WRT54GL version 1.1 with 4MB flash.

Those are my experience in Best Buy and Fry's.

If you need to buy a router, and interested with custom firmware, go to this website to check out the version and flash size:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WRT54G#WRT54GL

Print out the list and buy it :).


cya.