Computer geekage
I'm not a big fan of computer hardware, but network cabling and switch configuration is actually pretty fun. I spent yesterday trying to set up a server with a CDRW. It essentially won the battle, though there may be another before too long. I originally thought it might be drivers, but it turns out it won't boot to the drive either -- even though it recognizes in BIOS it blocks on read for minutes if there's a CD in the drive -- suggesting it might be cabling or jumpers or settings or something. Or hardware failure. I've tried dicking with most of those, but eventually it got frustrating, so I moved on to something else. Computer hardware irritates me. Too many avenues for error, and not nearly as much flexibility as I'd like.
Today I was dicking with cabling and network configuration. I really like cabling. There's not much that can go wrong with a CAT5 (or 5e) cable with RJ45 plugs on both ends. It's really pretty straightforward. For funky applications you can even dick with the pinouts for some fun. Making adapters is pretty easy, and ultimately it's all just wires, so flexibility is very high. With a couple of home-made adapters ($2 parts) I can route just about *anything* through existing wiring, from RS232 and speaker audio to PS2 (keyboard/mouse) and VGA. Probably USB, too. Very flexible.
IP networks are like their cabling in a way: Designed for flexibility. IPV4 has a pretty big address space -- though we're definitely reaching its limits -- but RFC1918 allocates some large address blocks for private networks, and between these and some careful NATing you can make some extremely flexible network configurations. Add on top of that the fact that you can actually stuff multiple IP subnets on the same physical ethernet segment and it just starts getting silly with flexibility.
So I guess I'm just rambling now, but the net result is that today is a much less frustrating day than yesterday was....
(LJ Spellchecker genius of the day: NATing -> Panting)
Today I was dicking with cabling and network configuration. I really like cabling. There's not much that can go wrong with a CAT5 (or 5e) cable with RJ45 plugs on both ends. It's really pretty straightforward. For funky applications you can even dick with the pinouts for some fun. Making adapters is pretty easy, and ultimately it's all just wires, so flexibility is very high. With a couple of home-made adapters ($2 parts) I can route just about *anything* through existing wiring, from RS232 and speaker audio to PS2 (keyboard/mouse) and VGA. Probably USB, too. Very flexible.
IP networks are like their cabling in a way: Designed for flexibility. IPV4 has a pretty big address space -- though we're definitely reaching its limits -- but RFC1918 allocates some large address blocks for private networks, and between these and some careful NATing you can make some extremely flexible network configurations. Add on top of that the fact that you can actually stuff multiple IP subnets on the same physical ethernet segment and it just starts getting silly with flexibility.
So I guess I'm just rambling now, but the net result is that today is a much less frustrating day than yesterday was....
(LJ Spellchecker genius of the day: NATing -> Panting)