Finally we've got round to this whole idea of a domestic wifi network, prompted by the myth that broadband is available at this postcode. Personally, I'll believe that broadband is available at this postcode when it's actually installed and running, but til then I remain sceptical.
The little wifi widgets came this morning, theoretically allowing us to network the two pcs and the laptop. Of course, my pc wants absolutely nothing to do with any of this. I installed the software, plugged the widget into a spare USB port, and watched as it completely failed to complete its installation. I tried to finish it off manually, but got a list of about twenty files that my poor, pre-senile computer appears to have mislaid. Y'know, they were in c:\windows\system when it last looked but obviously someone's moved them… Pfft.
I'm now going through the pointless exercise of downloading a new driver, which I predict will make absolutely no difference at all to the inability of my pc to accept the existence of my wifi widget, which it persistently claims does not exist.
This is why I hate Windows, and Microsoft, and ugly beige boxes, and why I yearn for a Mac…
Of course, if all this does work, it will mean I'll be able to IRC from the laptop… in bed. And I'll be able to go work in the garden. Wifi is the way forward, absolutely. I just need to beat that fact into my pc's stupid, stupid little brain-substitute.
Pass me the cattle prod. Let's see if threats of violence can do the trick.
Update: Progess! I attempted to update some files, totally failed, yet at some point in the process the widget got over its strop and is now displaying a green light, indicating that it's connected to the other computers. Except I can't actually find the other computers. More ferreting required.
Update on the update: w00t! We got it to work! Turned out that at least part of the problem was my firewall. Being stupid, I forgot I had one and thus forgot to turn it off. So I turned it off, got the wifi to work, and then turned it all back on again and everything's fine. Still need to get the laptop sorted in terms of internet connectivity and IRC, and then I really will be away!
It's the only way to fly. I've been WiFi'd on my notebook for almost 2 years now, my beige PC is so alien to me now it may as well belong to someone else.
Gary Turner [gary@garyturner.net]
Of course, if we ever do get all wifi'd up I'll never get out of bed ever again. I'll have to rename my blog 'bedblog' or somesuch. 😉
yup. totally magnificent. bedblog, kitchen blog, you name it.
but then bewilderment when it doesn't work on the train: flip the lid, where's Google, oh yeah 🙁
followed by misery when you get to work one day and find your Powerbook screen has been damaged in transit fuck-knows-how; followed by more bewilderment when quoted the cost of a new Powerbook to have it repaired; followed by resignation as you sit there now, tied to a desk and looking at a beige-framed external Acer LCD monitor, cos that cost less than half of what the Apple display costs.
I too have slipped the bonds of modem cables and Ethernet, wandered free in the bedroom and lounge…
andrew [andrew@andrewbarnett.com.au]
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