Category: www.nickhodge.com

Legacy posts from the old blogging engine

GPRS Munging

Posted from: Macintosh Ti PowerBook, running MacOS X 10.2.3 with Bluetooth (simpler, more integrated than Windows XP) using Optus GPRS (also more and better integrated than Windows XP). Just double-checking that this works. Seems to drop out a little quickly…

In all this talk of 1980s music, I keep forgetting that Crowded House’s Don’t Dream Its Over was released in 1987, therefore making it a 1980s classic. Neil “dontated” the song to the NZ Tourism Board in their advertising campaign for New Zealand. “In 5 days you’ll feel 100%”. Too right!

GPRS

Posting this entry via Bluetooth, GPRS. Wireless, Baby. Yeah!

GPRS connection setup time is really quick; there is no overhead of normal modems (handshaking) – but its still a little slower than ISDN setup time. It feels about as fast as a 56K modem connection, so its still not super-fast, but much more acceptable than the 9.6Kb you normally get with the data-over-voice cellular style connection. With my Bluetooth adaptor, the connection between the laptop and the phone is wireless. It creates a virtual COM port you address like a normal modem, and works without the directionality of IrDA. The plan I am on from Optus is 1c per KB (that’s a Kilobyte). There are other plans, and I’ll feel out my usage. The idea is to use it minimally and just to stay in contact.

Once you have connected, you have essentially a TCP/IP pipe – just like an Ethernet/Cable Modem/PPP style connection. VPN, email etc all work just like a normal dialup connection. Albeit a little more expensive.

DOS attack

After over a week, the site is back. Last October, the period of downtime was due to DNS configuration issues. This time, its a collection of cascading problems: all to do with the hosting provider’s data centre turned off my server due to a Denial of Service attack. In fact, look at the logs the downtime was exactly 10 days – to the hour and minute.

I do keep backups, and these were restored on Saturday 15th March. If I had time earlier in the week, this would have been completed sooner. But it was just one of those things that happens in the IT industry. Having a contigency plan is highly important.

In the interim, I’ve been to Adelaide and Perth (hi Cari!), purchased a new mobile phone (Nokia 6310i: Bluetooth and GPRS) and had a typical Adobe crunch-week. Lots going on, brain going at a million miles an hour.

The “idea” with Bluetooth and GPRS is to get faster wireless internet access from anywhere. Including the back of a taxi. I calculated that in recent weeks I have spent over 8 hours in taxis — perfect time to get online and grab/respond to a couple more emails. Is this the first signs of addiction?