[ILUG] Naive ADSL/WiFi questions (long (sorry!))?

[Ian O'Connell]

On 22/06/07, paul at clubi.ie <paul at clubi.ie> wrote:
> On Fri, 22 Jun 2007, Ian O'Connell wrote:
>
> >> > what world do you live in? last time i talked with an engineer
> >> > in one of the larger isp's here after getting elevated from a
> >> > support desk to a network engineer i was informed that ping
> >> > times and latency are entirely unrelated....
> >>
> >> Guess what, they were right.
>
> > So ping isn't a tool for determining network latency then?
>
> Nope.
>
> It measures something else, something which does not have a direct
> correspondence to network latency. Maybe that network support dept
> weren't as stupid as you thought...
>
being clarified elsewhere....

> > If you've only one machine, then you could ghost the xp partition
> > or create a bart bootable xp environment. But for most senarios 1 -
> > 10 gigs is trivial.
>
> 10GiB would be 1/6th of the disk space on my laptop.. (the slimline
> laptops tend to use tiny disks, which tend not be quite as big as
> disks you're used to. You're falling victim to one-size-fits-all
> thinking; thinking that your experience applies globally).

One of mine is  slimline laptop also, and 10gig would be 1/3'd of the
space, so i made a bart BE cd and wiped windows off. Problem solved.

>
> BTW, the /latest/ revisions of my laptop are now available with
> *SMALLER* "disks" - the flash-drive D420s.
>
Nifty, gotta be way more power efficent

> > So your view is that if you do have an engineer on site you
> > shouldn't let him test the setup? Or at least if it causes you some
> > amount of inconvenience you'd send him away even though its
> > possible there is a hardware/fault outside your control?
>
> No, I'd let him use my browser or open ssh/telnet if he needed access
> to some external network kit.
>
> To setup my own laptop, well it's trivial these days with NWAM and
> NetworkManager. You dont need an engineer, you just need a very few
> basic settings.
No i'm not suggesting you need an engineer to assist you, but if you
have one there, why not just let the guy off to do his thing? the guy
isn't going to love sitting about as you go off and configure your
machine. Then he won't be sure whats at fault his setup or yours.
Sometimes its easier to let them do it, it makes it clear where the
fault is.

>
> > Sorry but if we had an engineer on site to do something and i told
> > my boss i didn't want to sully one of my machines with an os so he
> > could do the testing then it broke.... i think i'd quickly find
> > myself in a lot of bother....
>
> You do what you want, I'll do what I want. I don't have to conform to
> your world-view, you shouldn't /expect/ me to.

No, i only replied in these posts at all as i believe tim was wrongly
told by all and sundry how wrong he was. You can do what you want, i
don't agree with it necessarily, but free will is a great thing.
>
> (Course, that makes me a "zealot".. sigh)
>
> > Have i not specified plenty of times that it only applies if
> > windows did indeed come with the machine? and explictatly state
> > that i wouldn't advocate buying it?
>
> So how then would I keep it around for engineers and firmware
> updates?

I stated at every point that its handy to reduce hassle/effort under
certain circumstances, obviously if you've to buy it thats alot of
hassle, and install it more hassle, defeating the point to begin with
:)
>
> >> Again, you're presuming your world is the same as everyone elses
> >> here.
> >
> > Last time i checked we do all live on the same planet.
>
> We don't all experience or even perceive it in the same way though.
> Some greek guy made that point a long time ago...

True, but its still the same world, and external influences like isp's
are applicable to most. Regardless for the sake of a few gigs or a
dvd/cd i don't see the point in riding yourself entirely. But to each
their own.


-- 


Ian.