[Richard]

I only use the second router in switch mode not using the WAN port, disabling the DHCP, giving the LAN side a LAN address and getting three extra ports at the end of the wire, the four wires back to the mother ship router. There should be no loss of speed that way unless the network is overloaded. As far as I know a range extender picks up the Wi-Fi signal and acts as a sort of relay. Whereas the ex-router acts as a switch providing a new access point if its Wi-Fi is enabled.

[Richard]

Yes Bob, it is quite easy. You will have to give the old router an IP address that matches with the new network by logging into it before you connect it to any other network. Then you will be able to log into it when it is connected. You might like to turn off the Wi-Fi if it not being used.

Do turn off DHCP before you connect it to the network and do not use the WAN port.

[Richard]

Impatience with recovery is a genetic trait built into the female of the species and probably into others as well.

Still if the patient is well enough to complain it means that they are making good progress, so in a back handed way it should be a good sign.

It is helpful when the hospital manages to give you the full documentation. I looked up the details for my wife’s last treatment and printed out the instructions.

Avoid using your voice for 7 days.

That answered why her throat was so excessively sore and her voice was not really working, with the lesson learned things settled down.

I found the exercises I was given excellent and managed to continue with them for longer than initially needed. They went so well that when I went back to see the physiotherapist she signed me off rather than dragging me back and forth for hydrotherapy for which I did not really have the time.

The fact is that doing the exercises correctly and following all the instructions is the fastest way back to improved (hopefully) normality. (Having said that I realised that sorting out garden tools and trying to start a two stroke petrol device 4 days after an operation was not wise. I managed to stop before any damage was done when I remembered the three week wait before light work, six weeks before even light gardening.)

On second thoughts, perhaps being impatient is not a genetic thing after all, – though do watch out for post operative depression. Your daughter and granddaughter could be a valuable pair of assistants, though the improvement in comfort might ease the gloom.

[Richard]

I also have a dual band non ISP router complete with a guest option that I have never used. Wi-Fi is a challenge in the house and less than reliable. I have to use wired access for almost everything except my daughter’s and my mobiles which are usually close enough to the router to use Wi-Fi. An Amazon Fire Stick in the bedroom is about as far away from the router as it is possible to go. To connect it via Wi-Fi I used a redeployed, otherwise discarded ISP router. It is situated close enough and on the same level to bypass the walls’ conflict with Wi-Fi, though it is an inelegant solution that might repay re-examination. Mobile service cannot be relied on to work in the house, though texts can usually struggle through.

[Richard]

For fun I might go for the one that Dave referenced, http://tinyurl.com/ybkb2lfn 

Though its power might be a bit of a limitation as a full replacement. Apart from that like Dave I don’t have a need for a rip snorting behemoth. I might restart some slide and negative copying so something with a little more oomph for image editing could find a use and replace my now nearly 8 year old PC. Though I might well be stopped from looking before I found something to really grab my interest.

[Richard]

Dave, hair shirt or close to brain fade territory? It reminded me how much information I have not used in a long time. The hub less hub was a challenge, but a hub or switch might have been cheaper and certainly a lot easier.

After the discussion above I looked at a bit of my set up and realised that my hub could be retired. I could make use of existing spare switch ports thus saving the tiny amount of power that the hub had been using.

[Richard]

The issue of what changed when and why is always a challenge. Normally you do not have to update when the regs change unless you are already doing work when changes might need to be incorporated.

My concern was that following the Grenfell fire the various regulations, fire, plus building, plus ecological and environmental were found to have come up as questionable bed fellows if not actually well short of needs. I was hoping for a swift sign of progress towards clarifying what is in and what is out. I would be less confident about doing any work to meet what are the supposed standards at the moment. The goods may well have been tested under a framework that was possibly shot full of holes. While the likes of Celotex and Kingspan were originally passed, they no longer look a good choice,for anything even if the insulation space available is small, where they were said to be most useful.

Is fire rated material really able to meet my field conditions and not just the original laboratory self test experimental ones?

Should fire risks now be addressed by use of best available rated (guess and god rated materials?) backed up by a sprinkler system or other active suppression method in higher risk locations.

Sadly the investigations appear to be heading into the long grass of too many special interest groups pulling for their often political special interest, so I no longer expect any real progress to sort out the almost wild west set up that has been revealed. For the record I am referring to the complex interworking of differential competing, overlapping and often ill defined standards I am not referring to the work of the various fire authorities whose hair is now being pulled out in frustration at the mess they face.

[Richard]

There was an issue years ago about the upper and lower ‘some things’ filters(?) in the registry. Have you tried a search for the issue as I vaguely remember this being a more frequent issue back in the days when they were more popular. I do also remember the question of drives failing one or other lasers though it might have been an issue of dust obscuring the laser’s ‘sight’.

[Richard]

I do not know if facing Celotex or Kingspan with plasterboard bonded with plaster on each side not flamable glue and installed horizontally would be safer than a vertical installation with air space behind it but they have lost my confidence. A fire resistant plasterboard with a non-combustible insulation creating a false ceiling could be considered subject to height considerations and of course fire resistance. Is the door going to be insulated? Once more a non combustible insulation lining could be both useful and cost effective. Gaps do allow both draughts and rodents easy access though some ventilation could be advisable. Is the door powered or manual, adding to the weight via insulation or resistance due to draught proofing might make it harder to operate. Adjustment of the counter balances might be needed. If the door and frame are old would they even be reliable enough to support the additional work or would a better engineered replacement provide a better payback, all aspects considered?

I was surprised our garage kept to a minimum of just below 10 Centigrade when outside is was minus 4. We run a very old fridge out there (43 years old) and I had wondered if we could source a current model replacement, but it is a bit tight for the environmental conditions. However, additionally I am not happy to run a plastic backed fire hazard out there waiting to incinerate cars and the house.

[Richard]

I tried to think of cases where a splitter would be of use and I failed completely. I am not even sure that anyone sells hubs any more now that small switches are so much better in all ways, yet still highly cost effective. Amazon is listing switches from less than £7 and as far as I could see, no Ethernet hubs, though many USB hubs, they are not the same thing.

Ebay had this interesting write up http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/Ethernet-Hubs-Vs-Network-Switches-/10000000177629216/g.html 

I have an 8 port 100Mbps switch in the lounge it is over kill since I am only using 5 ports at the moment, but it was thrown spare when I replaced it with a 9 port Gigabyte switch up stairs . There is also a dumb hub serving some printers there. A displaced old router is also used as a Wi-Fi extender as the house walls are not Wi-Fi friendly and the router was spare. Subject to checking the wiring layout the hub could possibly be replaced by ports on the down graded router-to-a-plain-switch (DHCP is turned off and no WAN connection).

In the office the ‘live’ router has 4 Gigabyte ports, one is connected to a five port Gigabyte switch so out of the 9 total ports only 7 became useful only 1 is currently spare.

If I was starting over now, the network would be very different, needs have changed, hardware has advanced and in many cases become cheaper and more capable, for example the old hub was originally the centre of the upstairs network 20 years ago and cost considerably more than a modern switch.

[Richard]

BL I tend to agree, if you are buying a new one – go large. However, in this case I understand Dave has offered to supply one as a starter. The cost difference between 5 and 8 ports is very small. I have a 4 port router plus a 5 port switch in my office. I could really do with an 8 port switch, I currently have one spare port left to which I connect anything that I want to work on. It is usually used the portables for their backups and updates,  they take long enough when wired, via Wi-Fi they are just too slow. For slow speed devices that are not too chatty, e.g. many printers* a 10Mbps hub can be a cheap option and can still support a PC or two at a push.

*Not all buildings reliably ‘get on’ with Wi-Fi to support wireless printers.

[Richard]

I am pleased by the efforts of your granddaughter and by the physiotherapist. I am appalled by the failure of the hospital.

Each time I had a spinal operation, (easier operations in many ways) the physiotherapist came round before and after to make sure that all was well and to give little homilies about doing things the right way in future, ‘we do not want to undo the work or create future problems do we?‘ Or some words very much to that effect. The nurses should only have backed up what the physiotherapist in the hospital set up. Including making sure that the ward furniture was set up to support each patient before they were ‘done’. Getting into and out of chairs and bed is very important and without proper training and support the wrong movements can do untold things to create pain. I trust you were given written guidance and diagrams about how things should be – why do I feel neither you or Gert got none of this sort of thing?

I trust that the latest physio has put things back on the road to recovery, some ‘body training’ is usually needed to allow for the best possible recovery and the avoidance of future problems. Will there be any physiotherapy follow up? I am pretty certain there should be.

[Richard]

Glad it worked for you, I had the 1 year RAC cover on the new car but it expired a little while before my ‘event’ and no one told me. For some reason the RAC had the wrong details on their records… In the end no harm done.

[Richard]

I have called the AA twice in the past 18 months for different vehicles. The first time the old one went into limp home mode when I had the granddaughter in the car and we were between the two houses on a blooming awful snowy day. They came after about 30 minutes and sorted me on my way. I had managed to get someone to take the granddaughter so panic was over.

The second time the new car suffered a battery failure, well 2.5 volts was a bit low and this was only a few weeks after driving for a couple of hours to Cambridge and back. I came off the phone, poured a cup of tea and the AA arrived, before I had even taken a sip. They got it started, pronounced the battery shot as it did not appear to want to recover. Anyway I drove round a bit before going to the Kia garage. They knew our past years have not been as bad as for some people, but could have been a whole lot better for us. After a bit of checking and looking they sent me on my way with a new battery, so accolades all round. Oh and I did get my cup of tea while the machine was running in fast idle mode to kick some life into the battery. Since then I have had the old car fixed and had no more troubles with either of them.  Which reminds me I must run my wife’s car ASAP or that will be the next one in trouble, she is still recovering from the combined effects of what was wrong before plus severe anaphylaxis while undergoing a hospital investigation, cause so far still unknown. She must chase that one up.

[Richard]

I was really pleased to hear that news package. I know that these days they do not like to keep patients in bed for a second longer than necessary. Too much laying about and muscles go down hill with alarming speed. Healing is far faster when the patient moves about. Back in the 1960s the hip patients were laid up for ages and the bed exercises were not much use at all. The nurses then were concerned that some would struggle to walk again and rehabilitation physiotherapy took weeks. Now the physiotherapist really wants to know the patient can move about and, perhaps with some minor supervision get to the bathroom etc. You are in for a few days of fun as hopefully Gert learns what it is like to be able to move with less pain or perhaps even without pain. I hope this latter is the case.

You both have spring and summer to look forward to enjoying, so get ready.

Just don’t catch the currently ‘popular’ bug(s) from anyone, it can really spoil the fun.

 

[Richard]

You are hopefully correct. It did sound one hell of a drive about the countryside yesterday starting far too early in the morning and that was one of the factors behind my concerns.

[Richard]

I understand he will be busy and worried, but I am starting to feel concerned about Bob. Does anyone else share my misgivings?

[Richard]

You should be able to check the specifications for those materials and the processes for back filling and consolidation. If there was a substantial leak I would be more worried about the subsoil being disturbed and any back fill taking time to settle and become firm enough not to suffer further shifts causing dips and bumps. Shoving a bit of tarmac in, feels like a cheap and not properly standards specified job. Tarmac can be firmed down with the right treatment, it is ‘sticky stones’, but I doubt it comes anywhere near to the specifications for type 1 or type 2. I do not want to give you the wrong specifications for them, but a read round the subject should help. I did understand that a temporary back fill was often applied to jobs to allow for ground ‘normalisation’ after earth works, before a permanent solution was substituted. There are some rules (designed to protect the guilty) about post work settlement, so if you are worried now is the time to chase the issues.

[Richard]

Yes last week’s update did feel like Tuesday brought forward, but then the real Tuesday arrived. It was a big one full of fixes for the sorts of stuff you almost certainly did not want to have roaming free. I usually get an extra, advanced warning of updates arriving via the server and backup options I run. I know to watch out, down tools and head for the tea break while it does its thing. The last time I checked I could postpone a restart for a variable time period, but I prefer to wrap things up and restart anyway. Though today being tired, I did manage to interrupt a back up that was partway through, rather than waiting so it is redoing that now.

[Richard]

Those early morning starts can be a challenge, at least it appears that the weather did not get in the way as it might well have done. I am guessing it was a journey rather than  just round the corner to get to the hospital and in the dark misty drizzly early morning that can be tough. It sounds as though you spend a great deal of time in the car for one reason or another so this is one day that all the practice paid off for you. Take care and keep your spirits up, I really hope that the procedure results in the pain relief that was sought.

[Author]

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