May 26 2008
Sadly it appears that the once useful linuxdoc.org website has been hijacked by one of those awful domain squatters who seem to want to sell mortgages, holidays and houses. I tried today to check out an old “howto” I had bookmarked and was greeted by a completely new site – as below: At first I …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2008/05/26/linuxdocorg-hijacked/
May 16 2008
According to some dubious stats from a web company, this site now ranks at number 4,880,077 (on a scale of usage where Yahoo, Google and YouTube are apparently first second and third). But I shouldn’t really complain. The same stats say that the position is “up 16,958,547 ranks over the last three months”. Now that …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2008/05/16/what-it-is-to-be-popular/
May 05 2008
A recent email exchange with the friend who originally suggested that I take a look at the NSLU2 got me thinking about the machines we currently take for granted. In his email he outlined that he had consolidated a set of services previously run on a couple of old desktops (a Dell and a Shuttle) …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2008/05/05/slugs-arent-really-slow/
May 04 2008
I bought myself another slug recently so that I could have one dedicated to internal work and the other used for public facing webs. I wasn’t really comfortable with having my network backup and apt-get mirror on the same beast as a public web. I know from experience that public facing systems are vulnerable and …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2008/05/04/a-problem-slug/
Apr 07 2008
Following a recommendation from a friend of mine, I have recently been playing with a Linksys NSLU2. This device is no larger than a paperback book yet packs some remarkable capabilities. It was originally designed by Linksys (Cisco) to act as a “Network Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives” (hence NSLU2). Externally, the rear …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2008/04/07/slugs-as-pets/
Apr 06 2008
A google search for “loadlin” produces a sponsored link for “Inflatable lilos”. Strangely no references to insects or food however.
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2008/04/06/google-oddness/
Mar 01 2008
On a mail list I subscribe to I have recently been involved in a discussion about the restrictions sometimes placed on users of WiFi hotspots or hotel networks (to say nothing of the restrictions placed on corporate networks). Some of the suggested solutions involve tunnelling ssh connections over http(s). Other solutions assume that the network …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2008/03/01/ssh-through-http-proxy/
Jan 19 2008
The guys at gnucitizen have posted details of another vulnerability in the BT home hub (and related Thomson routers). This vulnerability allows a remote attacker to reconfigure the router using the UPnP functionality which is turned on by default. UPnP is an authenticationless protocol designed to allow local devices to reconfigure the router – typically …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2008/01/19/another-vulnerability-in-the-home-hub/
Jan 13 2008
I have just stumbled upon a very good resource listing specifications of the hardware and software revisions for the PSP. I would have found this site most useful when I was researching how to format video for the psp last year. The site is at www.edepot.com/reviews_sony_psp.html
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2008/01/13/psp-hardware-and-software-specs/
Jan 06 2008
I’ve just changed my mobile phone for the first time in nearly three years. I know this makes me unusual, particularly as I am normally a gadget lover, but to me a phone is primarily intended to be communication device. I don’t really need it to be a camera, or a music player, or a …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2008/01/06/aint-standards-wonderful/
Dec 31 2007
David Malki ! is an interesting character who creates some wonderful cartoons from images drawn from his collection of 19th-century books and periodicals and from other early rare books held at the Los Angeles Central Library. He publishes a collection of his cartoons at wondermark. I recommend that you spend some time flipping through his …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/12/31/the-war-against-hair-gel/
Dec 30 2007
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I found several references to successful reflashes of the BT hub to a genuine Thomson 7G image on a variety of sites. None of those sites gave instructions as to how to do this if you run a linux PC. So I have documented how I did it …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/12/30/reflashing-the-bt-home-hub-from-a-linux-pc/
Dec 15 2007
Some of my earlier posts have referred to the “homehubblog”. The author of that blog seems to have had his domain name stolen from under his feet. The address given now links to an estate agent site. I know that there are robots out there just waiting to pounce on domains which come up for …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/12/15/homehubblog-goes-off-line/
Dec 15 2007
My contract with BT has now expired and I am shortly to move my ADSL connection to one of the Entanet resellers (TitanADSL). All the Entanet resellers I have read about get good reviews. I picked TitanADSL because they offer additional webspace and mySQL databases on top of their broadband service. With luck my IP …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/12/15/leaving-bt-broadband/
Nov 30 2007
I’m sorry. I know I really shouldn’t do this, but I loved this so much I watched it three times in succession. It’s vicious, it really is. And best of all, it was apparently made on a Mac.
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/11/30/if-microsoft-made-the-iphone/
Nov 25 2007
I last wrote about the BT Home Hub (HH) nearly a year ago. Looking back, I spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to get BT “support” to even bother to read, let alone understand, my problems. Eventually I gave up in disgust. Here I was fortunate because I had substituted a genuine Thomson ST780 …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/11/25/more-on-the-bt-home-hub/
Feb 08 2007
I knew this one would run….. The Register notes that BT believe they have done enough to comply with the GPL by publishing the code here. But the Free Software Foundation remains unconvinced. In my view BT should respond more positively and work with the foundation to meet the requirements of the GPL. We’ll see.
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/02/08/update-on-the-reg-about-bt-and-the-gpl/
Jan 22 2007
I mentioned the Home Hub Blog in an earlier post. That author of that blog (amongst others) has been trying to find a way to unlock the Hub so that it can be used on ISPs other than BT itself. Unfortunately, BT seems to have tied the beast down (and ties it further with each …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/01/22/bt-home-hub-and-the-gpl/
Jan 17 2007
Since my last post at the end of last year I have been testing my ST780 with a variety of alternative VOIP providers whilst at the same time trying to get BT to sort out my connection. I also lodged a formal complaint about the appalling level of technical support with the BT complaints department …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/01/17/another-update-to-correspondence-with-a-corporation/
Jan 04 2007
Recently you may have seen adverts in a wide variety of publications for a USB turntable. This product is aimed at people (like me) who have a collection of old vinyl recordings but no longer have the means to play them as they have moved to CD and/or digital recordings. Most of the turntables I …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/01/04/vinyl-to-digital/
Jan 02 2007
In my searches for more information about the BT Home Hub and its configuration I have come across a couple of good sites. The Home Hub Blog is an interesting collection of notes about the author’s attempts to unlock the Hub so that it can be used on other ISP’s networks. This is the reverse …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/01/02/bt-home-hub/
Dec 31 2006
BT support finally called me back again today (two days late, but hey) and again attempted to transfer me immediately to the Broadband Talk support department. Before I allowed them to do so, however, I made certain that the person I was talking to fully understood my problem. I believe she did. But she confirmed …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2006/12/31/update-to-correspondence-with-a-corporation/
Dec 30 2006
I have just found a rather nice tool for querying my Thomson DSL modem. It is rewrite of a tool originally written for windows by A. Matthoefer. The author of the linux version is Timo Boettcher. The tool compiled cleanly and worked first time with my ST780WL. It should work equally well with the BT …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2006/12/30/dmt-for-linux/
Dec 29 2006
Recently I have been experiencing a small problem with my BT broadband connection. I should point out that in general my experience wth BT’s broadband offering is very good. Whilst not the cheapest around, the quality and reliability of the connection are better than I have heard reported from friends and colleagues with other ISPs. …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2006/12/29/correspondence-with-a-corporation/