science, technology

Meanderings about science, technology, computers, networking, space, energy … anything techno (except techno music).

vultures (or Rogers)

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So we’re back with Shaw / Rogers after a brief stint with TekSavvy.

A few weeks ago we had switched over to TekSavvy for internet, TV, and phone.  Then we got a bill from Rogers for S2477.86 – almost 25-hundred dollars – a cancellation fee.  We signed up a year ago to a faster service and, apparently, inadvertently, signed a 5-year agreement with them.

Fine, except that the 5-year agreement was a contract that, somewhere in fine print, stipulated a fee of 50% of the remaining contract if we cancel.  FT and I were on the phone for an hour trying to sort it out.  In the end, FT decided to reinstate the internet and cable TV so as to avoid paying that fine.

So, although TekSavvy seemed to be a good company with which to sign up, we are now stuck again with … Rogers <say it with disdain> … for another four years.  Vultures!

Bennu on Earth

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NASA is at it again, bringing back rocks from space, trying to figure out where we (and Earth) all came from.  About a cup landed via parachute in the desert in the US.  They also say there’s a 1/2700 chance that we’d get hit by this half-kilometre rock sometime in 2182.  When I say “we”, that doesn’t include you or me.

By that time we’ll have lasers and space-flying cars and death-ray pistols to help us out, I think.  Or not.

new server

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After many months years, the new server is finally up and running.  It’s not ideal yet (pictures missing, databases not yet pieced together), but it is working.

You can see the old one under the desk next to the shredder.  The new one?  It is the HP Omen laptop.  Yes, a server on a laptop.  Not only that, but it is running on Windows.  What’s more, it isn’t XAMPP but, rather, Microsoft IIS 10!  We’ll see how it runs.

router number nine

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An upgrade to the ‘allansplace’ network has happened (finally).  The old router, a D-Link DIR-815, has been replaced by a new one, a Netgear AX1800.  Why the change?  The DIR-815 has been running for several years and so far hasn’t failed, but the wireless signal has dropped in power, and sometimes the SSID has disappeared completely.  So, if you notice a faster connection, this is likely the cause.

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garage thermostat

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It seems ‘cloud-connected’ thermostats are all the rage these days.  Google doesn’t own enough personal information – they want to dissect how we heat our homes, too.  I went to Rona, Canadian Tire, Lowe’s, & Home Depot to find a manual thermostat suitable for the garage – that is, one that goes down to zero degrees.  Finding one that goes that low is not as easy as it sounds.  They’re all made for the insides of homes and only go down to 10°C at best.  I absolutely don’t want to keep the garage at a toasty 15°C in the dead of winter – just keep it above zero.

I finally one at Home Depot.  It’s made for electric baseboard heaters, overkill for this application, but it goes down to 0°C.  Now I see that Canadian Tire has the same one, but I dismissed it at the time because I didn’t know if a baseboard heating thermostat would be compatible with a forced-air type.

Yes, you can use a baseboard heater thermostat to drive a forced-air furnace but not the other way around.  The line voltage on a baseboard heater thermostat in North America is 240VAC/60Hz or sometimes 120VAC.  A forced-air furnace thermostat line voltage is 24VDC, I think, and does not handle any significant load – just a basic on-off thing to trigger a relay switch in the furnace.

So now I have a garage that will not freeze and will be nice enough to work in during the bitter, cold months.

Fujitsu P7120 parts

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How hard is it to get parts for older PCs?  Hard.

I’ve been in need of a power button & LED board for my Fujitsu P7120.  I’ve been searching for the past year and haven’t found one until now.  PCHub.com says they have one for US$36.  I’ve ordered from them before, and they seem to sell reliable stuff.  I wonder how long it would take to deliver.  Then again, I’ve been needing one for a year and a half, so I guess it doesn’t matter.