Dumbed down consumer electronics: Adding DTV channels
in [Design]
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From: Joel Koltner on 4 Aug 2010 22:24 Joerg wrote: > We also split stuff up so partial reads would be useful and someone > could piece it back together at the other end. Sometimes when I hear > kids bemoan that the 5Mb/sec broadband at their parents' house is > sluggish I wish they could experience that old modem stuff just once. Back In The Day... Some Commodore 64 terminal programs would display the data being downloaded and play music in the background to keep you vaguely entertained, I guess -- I remember doing some 180k transfer (effectively an entire 5.25" floppy disc -- how incredibly puny that seems today!) at 300bps... took rather awhile, especially with the early file transfer protocols such as Xmodem that would transfer a small chunk (say, 256 bytes) and wait for a positive acknowledgment before sending the next block. I was duly impressed the first time I saw Zmodem by Chuck Forsberg -- it would just stream and stream and stream data continuously, simultaneously waiting to hear back from the downloader if any blocks needed to be re-sent or whatever. On a clean phone line, your 2400bps model would really get you 240 bytes per second. ---Joel
From: Joel Koltner on 4 Aug 2010 22:26 Joerg wrote: > Should have seen me haul firewood with the Mitsubishi :-) > Shhhht, I didn't say nuthin' ... :-) > Sometimes it baffles me. I know realtors, self-employed engineers, > small home-based sales guys, restaurant owners ... no backup plans > whatsoever. Always flying seat of the pants. Then one sunny day ... > beep ... click. "George, I can even get my car out of the garage!" .. > "Yes, you can" .. "No, I can't" .. "Ok, I'll come by and get it out" I took your advice and purchased a spare DSL modem/router/WAP given that my wife works at home and all. $50 is cheap insurance... Although we don't have a regular phone line, so if the DSL itself dies, she'll be heading for the nearest Starbucks, I suppose. :-) ---Joel
From: Joerg on 5 Aug 2010 10:42 Joel Koltner wrote: > Joerg wrote: >> Should have seen me haul firewood with the Mitsubishi :-) >> Shhhht, I didn't say nuthin' ... > > :-) > >> Sometimes it baffles me. I know realtors, self-employed engineers, >> small home-based sales guys, restaurant owners ... no backup plans >> whatsoever. Always flying seat of the pants. Then one sunny day ... >> beep ... click. "George, I can even get my car out of the garage!" .. >> "Yes, you can" .. "No, I can't" .. "Ok, I'll come by and get it out" > > I took your advice and purchased a spare DSL modem/router/WAP given > that my wife works at home and all. $50 is cheap insurance... > Make sure there is also a dial-up modem and the dial-in numbers written down somewhere near it. I don't use that feature (yet) but my router has a RS232 connector to which you can let it fall back if it can't get a DSL connection. Someone at the manufacturer (SMC) must have really had their thinking cap on. > Although we don't have a regular phone line, so if the DSL itself dies, > she'll be heading for the nearest Starbucks, I suppose. :-) > A Starbucks will be quite a drive from your home :-) I don't know if you guys are subscribed to one of the 3G phone networks but an engineer from a client said he can also use his access to 3G with a laptop. By plugging in a USB thingie, which in your case might need an antenna hack so a nice yagi can be connected. Of course I don't know how long the backup power on those towers will last. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: Joerg on 5 Aug 2010 12:05 Joel Koltner wrote: > Joerg wrote: >> We also split stuff up so partial reads would be useful and someone >> could piece it back together at the other end. Sometimes when I hear >> kids bemoan that the 5Mb/sec broadband at their parents' house is >> sluggish I wish they could experience that old modem stuff just once. > > Back In The Day... > > Some Commodore 64 terminal programs would display the data being > downloaded and play music in the background to keep you vaguely > entertained, I guess -- I remember doing some 180k transfer (effectively > an entire 5.25" floppy disc -- how incredibly puny that seems today!) > at 300bps... took rather awhile, especially with the early file transfer > protocols such as Xmodem that would transfer a small chunk (say, 256 > bytes) and wait for a positive acknowledgment before sending the next > block. > > I was duly impressed the first time I saw Zmodem by Chuck Forsberg -- it > would just stream and stream and stream data continuously, > simultaneously waiting to hear back from the downloader if any blocks > needed to be re-sent or whatever. On a clean phone line, your 2400bps > model would really get you 240 bytes per second. > The real modems were a bit more efficent than 240bps net :-) But even at 2400bps one had to watch it. When using the German telecom monopoly back then they charged us around a buck per minute on international calls. Luckily that was split into 10-15 cent slivers so you could listen in and try again and again until you got a connection with only modest crackle on it. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: Joel Koltner on 5 Aug 2010 12:17
Hi Joerg, "Joerg" <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:8c00ubF6uhU1(a)mid.individual.net... > Make sure there is also a dial-up modem and the dial-in numbers written > down somewhere near it. I don't use that feature (yet) but my router has > a RS232 connector to which you can let it fall back if it can't get a > DSL connection. Someone at the manufacturer (SMC) must have really had > their thinking cap on. Routers with dual WAN connections seem to be getting popular as well... I guess some people sign up with both, e.g., DSL and a cable modem, and even if one goes down it's no big deal... and when they're both up, they obtain additional bandwidth. (E.g., http://www.draytek.us/draytek-dual-wan-solution.html) For us, a 3G backup is pretty good idea. I've tethered my phone to a laptop in the past, although my wife's phone is old enough that it doesn't support that very readily. The USB dongles certainly work well but they want rather a lot of money for them monthly... ---Joel |