The virtues of dialup

If you have ADSL and it’s too slow, then this is for you.

I walked in this morning after leaving my laptop doing a set of updates overnight. It was about 1/3 finished, so I left it for half an hour to get done with the current update, to see how long the next one would take.

OpenOffice 2.0.4 — 7.5 hours — oh, well. Tonight, then. ^C.

BorderNet, it seems, have given up on the government’s remote access subsidies, waiting until July when a better plan comes out, maybe. Meanwhile, I’ve given Active8me a ring.

Their prices aren’t so crash-hot, but they look like they can install within about a fortnight, & like BorderNet it’s an appliance-style device rather than a funn card and lots of MS-Windows-specific special software & drivers. We’ll see.

Comments

sen said…

probably because they were found out to be dodgy, see below link.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21743191%5E16123%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

17 May, 2007 13:41

Leon RJ Brooks said…

Pity, the link comes up 404.

23 May, 2007 09:53

Rob said…

Actually, Clear Networks http://www.clearnetworks.com.au - has better pricing and more flexibility (including capped plans). Activ8 are taking 3 months on installs, Clear are doing them in about 2/3 weeks from application.

04 June, 2007 08:08

every-application-is-part-of-a-toolkit at work

I have a LibreOffice Impress slideshow that I wish to turn into a narrated video. 1. export the slideshow as PNG images (if that is partially broken — as at now — at higher resolutions, Export Directly as PDF then use ‘pdftoppm’ (from the poppler-utils package) to do the same). 2. write a small C program (63 lines including comments) to display those images one at a time, writing a config file entry for Imagination (default transition: ‘cross fade’) based on when the image-viewer application (‘display,’ from the GraphicsMagick suite) is closed on each one; run that, read each image aloud, then close each image in turn. 3. run ‘Imagination’ over the config file to produce a silent MP4 video with the correct timings. 4. run ‘Audacity’ to record speech while using ‘SMPlayer’ to display the silent video, then export that recording as a WAV file. 4a. optionally, use ‘TiMIDIty’ to convert a non-copyright-encumbered MIDI tune to WAV, then import that and blend it with the speech (as a quiet b

new life for an old (FTX) PSU, improved life for one human

the LEDs on this 5m strip happen to emit light centred on a red that does unexpectedly helpful things to (and surprisingly deeply within) a human routinely exposed to it. it has been soldered to a Molex connector, plugged into a TFX power supply from a (retired: the MoBo is cactus) Small Form Factor PC, the assorted PSU connectors (and loose end from the strip) have been taped over. the LED strip cost $10.24 including postage, the rest cost $0, the PSU is running at 12½% of capacity, consumes less power than a laptop plug-pack despite running a fan. trial runs begin today.

boundaries

pushing the actual boundaries of the physical (not extremes, the boundaries themselves) can often remove barriers not otherwise perceived. one can then often resolve an issue itself, rather than merely stonewalling at the physical consequences of the issue.

Plantagenet Penguinista

Search This Blog