[Dave Rice]

On Saturday I got a pair of genuine Huawei “rabbit ears” antenna. The results are in after a weekend of random speed testing.

Speeds are significantly slower with them installed. They cost 10 – 15 mbps in either direction, approx 33% reduction. The connection is rock solid though, wish I could say the same of TalkTalk’s FTTC.

[Dave Rice]

No, I have two networks at the moment!

This is the 4G network using the Three supplied Huawei B535 and it’s just being used for day to day internet access by laptops, phones and the TV. The B535 is a bit basic but TBH has just about everything you’d need and a Pi can fill the gaps in to a certain extent.

My “business” network is still on TalkTalk FTTC and that’s where the NAS sits. But you’re quite right, the Synology could also fill those gaps in even better. This is what I’ll be doing over the next few months, migrating bits over, starting with the WiFi.

But for now I had to get a PiHole up and running on the Huawei, the ads are just ridiculous. That exposed the lack of DNS server options on the B535, but if you’re up to sorting out a PiHole that isn’t going to phase you.

[Dave Rice]

OK, first gotcha found when setting up a PiHole for it, as far as I can see you cannot change the DNS server in the DHCP settings.

Not a problem as I just got the PiHole to take over the DHCP duties and turned it off on the router.

[Dave Rice]

iOS drives me nuts.

[Dave Rice]

My DS218+ is 5.4w when the HDDs are in hibernation, 17.23w if going full blast.

As for “what they are” they are far far more than a basic file server. These are proper serious business class servers and after the initial purchase probably all of the apps you’ll want are free and properly supported. The self diagnosis and reporting is extremely extensive.

[Dave Rice]

Yes, I quite like that. At the Eden project they sell clipboards and coasters made by sanding off the surface mount chips and varnishing what’s left.

Might be an idea for the steam punk case I’ve still not got around to.

[Dave Rice]

Yep. I’ve had my first problem with a dodgy key (at initial activation) but considering I must be 50+ keys by now I’ll risk £1.59

Price really is no guarantee of service, either way! I always go for the instant delivery senders and pay by PayPal.

[Dave Rice]

What you want is a linked facial recognition system 😉

Chuck them out, blacklist them then the pubs down the road get notified if they approach their front door cam. When they cross the threshold a prerecorded message tells them to eff off 😀

[Dave Rice]

Not quite that old LOL. A 43″ LG with a Scart, USB, Component Video and VGA ports alongside 3 x HDMI but no brains. Sky box, DVD Player, Amazon TV and Chrome Cast all gone along with an old mini HiFi. The sound bar is better than the TV but not quite as good as the HiFi, but it’s more than good enough so out she goes.

I have a free Google Mini on the way but doubt I’ll be shouting at the telly (outside of Peston) which has it’s own voice control anyway (turned off). In fact I’m not sure what it’ll be used for but thought I’d better start finding out for £zero. I never intend having a camera in the house and have a shield over the laptop webcam.

[Dave Rice]

Well stop using Windows then and you’ll have nothing to moan about 😆

The Windows licence you used ties it to hardware. There are other licence models available but of course they all cost money.

And “Linux” doesn’t necessarily update everything in one go. I think you mean what the Distro includes in its repositories get updated with one command? VNC tells me there’s a new version available but the usual RPi update methods don’t touch it. Neither does UniFi on any Distro unless you specifically do something manually about it i.e. add the repo and that isn’t necessarily straightforward. Then there’s apt, yum, or whatever.

Having dealt with upgrading 25,000 machine estates, sometimes in emergencies, the last thing you want is uncontrolled updating of this, that and everything in one go. You’d never get that through Change Control and the back out plan would take weeks to work out for each individual app and dependencies.

All o/ses have their strengths, weaknesses and foibles. If the Linux Distro model “X” suits you rejoice, but it won’t suit everyone.

A Comparison of Linux Software Update Technologies link One telling line “apt and yum based updates may require luck
or other methods for reliability”.

[Dave Rice]

What a load of nonsense IMO, of course we’d be listened to. If the EU wouldn’t listen to us why then would any other country in the world? How many times have we been told they need us more than we need them? The phrase is just reversed then reversed again to suit the argument of the day.

Much like Schrodingers Prorogation which has nothing to do with Brexit until it’s deemed illegal. Then that is seen as an attempt to stop Brexit. I guess that is what Populism is all about, get that dog whistle out.

Just because someone was a Remainer and has changed their mind doesn’t give them some God like powers to predict the future. It’s just another opinion. Perhaps I should trot out the many Leavers that have changed their mind in the face of reality? It’s pointless doing so.

“Short term hit” is another throw away phrase and as loaded as “Clean Brexit” is with obscurity and misdirection. How short, what will be the hits and how deep will they be? If you’re going to say these things back them up with some credible projections.

On our local TV Boris points out to the sheep farmers of Exmoor, of which apparently his family are one, they currently don’t sell to the USA. The implication being that a No Deal devastation of their current market will be replaced by a new market in the USA. No mention of the current ban on any red meat from the UK to the US nor of any timescales for over turning that. He must also know from his own family farm that it’s a precarious business and not likely to last long enough to seriously worry the Kiwis. The recent deal with Japan has been mentioned by other ministers, they fail to mention the projection that at best it would replace a mere 3% of the market. But people believe these sound bites that are put to them and seem more credible by the implication that he’s in the same boat. I seriously doubt he’s ever had his hand up a sheep’s back end at lambing time.

The NAO has worries about 40% of the medicine supplies in the Govt’s plans. Turns out the Govt figures only include the NHS, they have no idea about the situation for the 24,000 care homes. Hmm didn’t hear Gove mention that.

Industry doesn’t recognise Gove’s assertion (in reply to Keir Starmer) that the major sectors are “ready”. Indeed they cannot understand how he can possibly have got that opinion after their meeting. That was to journalists of all persuasions, not politicians.

It’s just blatant lie and deliberate obfuscation one after another and they must know it’ll unravel and explode in their faces. But I find politicians work like that, do anything to get over the line and worry about the consequences later. Much like the Leave campaign really.

[Dave Rice]

Ah right, it’s the phones that natively support WiFi calling.

Three used to have an app, which was dead handy at my Aunty’s place in Cornwall, but they’ve dropped it. You chose your own WiFi network white list.

[Dave Rice]

It’s not Windows. The O/S is known as DSM (Disk Station Manager) and is basically Linux under the hood, not that you ever see it.

It’s like Android for servers. There’s an app store that’s full of free stuff that covers most of the bases. They have a deal with LetsEncyrpt! to easily secure any internet interaction with a certificate. And a thousand and one other things.

DSM is common across all the hardware, mostly they can all run the same apps but like an Android phone, some models will run some apps better than others. The exception is those with an Intel CPU (they mostly have ARM) which can run some “business” specification things like Active Directory (reverse engineered by Samba), QEMU for the VM server, managed Backups and the BRTFS disk format. I guess the base software for these requires x86 instructions.

You can also create a very capable multi site, multi vendor CCTV system with Synology units. Borough Market does exactly this. From my point of view this is very useful as you can side step in house IT who can put all sorts of things in your way if you use Windows. You get 2 free camera licences with each box.

Next thing to sort is the Plex server app and my new 4K TV. Yep, I’ve finally moved from a non Smart TV. There are now no boxes attached to my TV, apart from the sound bar (which I can also Bluetooth for Spotifiy duties).

[Dave Rice]

Not just VOIP Ed, I believe they want broadcast TV to go the same way.

We’ve just changed the TV to a Panasonic Freesat model and all the apps we want built in. There are now no boxes beneath the TV!  We’ve had Amazon Prime through an Amazon TV box for a while, but Netflix has been a revelation. The £21.50 I pay Sky for a pretty basic basic package will cover those two and a chunk of the family Spotify account.

[Dave Rice]

I’m not sure why you aimed a comment about the Labour party at me. I am not a Labour voter unless it’s worth it tactically. Buy I agree with you, Labour is a mess.

With regards to your binary Must Leave vs Must Remain nobody ever campaigned on the basis of No Deal, quite the opposite. We were told how easy it would be. Whilst disappointed we were leaving I would have been content with a Deal. Indeed I still cannot see what is so wrong with TM’s transition arrangements, because that is what they are and so often lost in the Hard Brexit clamour. They are not the end state.

Talk of vassal and slave states is clearly dog whistle politics now joined by “surrender” and calling anything you don’t like humbug. Is this really all Leave have left in the arguments? The transition arrangements weren’t hard enough for our liking so we’ll ramp up the rhetoric and division in the country instead of attempting a compromise.

As Ed says, in the state of a disorderly Brexit it doesn’t actually solve anything it all. Be careful what you wish for, the tactics of the wilder end of the Conservative Party are causing real issues in this country that may take a generation to resolve. When this all goes spectacularly wrong the backlash will be just as bad. In the current climate I can see violence taking place, indeed it’s already started with Jess Phillips, and someone is going to get badly hurt if not dead again.

If that happens it will be down to the behaviour of our so called Government who have lost control of everything, including their own destiny, by their own actions. Instead of learning from the mistakes they double down on repeating them. Until the Conservative Party has finally torn itself apart in it’s own 30 years pyscho drama it seems this is all we can expect. The “responsible party” they are not.

[Dave Rice]

So you’ll be automatically attached to a public WiFi network without your knowledge? What the hell!

That’s enough to keep me clear of O2.

 

[Dave Rice]

Remember how many points TM was ahead last time?

What a disgusting show from Johnson last night, it’s clear compromise is not on the table so he won’t get what he craves. As I’ve said many time the harder the Leave side gets the stronger they make the opposition. Every trick, prorogation, early election, has been seen for what it is. All they have left is bluster.

This language is dangerous. The word humbug (deceptive or false talk or behaviour) used against someone facing death threats is atrocious. It may play to his populist audience but they aren’t enough. If there is another death this time he is done for and Brexit with it. The public will finally have had enough.

[Dave Rice]

It’s just a mobile phone contract so there’s no landline to take over. Just cancel your TT when it’s up.

[Dave Rice]

It’s here. Just setting it up alongside me, 27D 17U.

Moved it upstairs into a windows so it’s got more chance of seeing the mast (which peeps up over the railway embankment 900 metres away).

That’ll do me. Might get some cheap “rabbit ears” antenna to see if it improves but that will be icing on the cake. That was on the laptop, my Moto 6 is slightly slower.

Wifi wise, 1 floor away and both 2.4 & 5 are -65db, which is fine, however the Ubiquiti is significantly better at -38 for 2.4 and -55 for 5. I don’t think you’re average 3 bed semi will have any issues.

The unit looks neat, it wouldn’t be out of place in most homes. It’s slightly smaller than a BT HomeHub and has the same orientation and socket placement. The Power and WPS buttons are top and centre.

If you’re happy with the default SSID and PW there is no setup required but you are encouraged to change these and the admin password.

Now to get to grips with what it can do!

EDIT – the Smart Home mobile app is worth installing. It gives you a real time 4G signal strength indicator amongst other things.

EDIT 2 – the firmware is the same as the B311 so no modem mode. It has all the tools you’ll need to run a network at home and most small businesses. DDNS, DHCP IP Allocation, Port Forwarding and DMZ, it’s all there.

I have a spare Draytek so I’m going to test my theories on using the DMZ, which I can do without interfering with the rest of the family. I only want the Draytek for VPN & VLANs, which I could live without and use the Synology for the inwards VPN server (or even a PiVPN). However it’s also useful to test customer network theories.

For now I’m going to configure a PiVPN with PiHole and get it on the B535 because the adverts are driving me nuts!

I may have some decisions to make as to how I treat the business side of my network, but 4G is a keeper – no doubt about that.

[Dave Rice]

Bristol is now awash with Noodle bars, I think it’s no coincidence that they’ve grown in number with the Chinese students.

[Author]

Posts