Re: [GTALUG] Securely wiping SSDs

[James Knott via talk]

On 3/23/24 22:02, Anthony de Boer via talk wrote:

And on disposal, the golden standard has always been physical destruction.


I don't know if it's been mentioned, but what about the shred command?
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Re: [GTALUG] .local question (Off Topic: how did you acquire a /24?)

[James Knott via talk]

On 2/27/24 17:30, Evan Leibovitch via talk wrote:
You might be surprised, but prices have actually been dropping for IP 
addresses over the last few years. Much cheaper now than through the 
COVID heyday.


That may be because more & more traffic is moving to IPv6.


Also - how does one use them behind a residential ISP?


Probably the way I use my /56 IPv6 prefix.  I route it.

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Re: [GTALUG] Odd Ethernet Behaviour

[James Knott via talk]

On 2/6/24 19:58, Peter King via talk wrote:

All advice appreciated!


Check the cable.  If it's flakey, to use the technical term, it may work 
at only 10 or 100 Mb.  However, negotiation takes place at 10 Mb, so the 
NIC thinks it has a good connection.


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Re: [GTALUG] "AI" on getting correct technical answers

[James Knott via talk]

On 1/17/24 18:54, Kevin Cozens via talk wrote:
I'm lucky(?) so far in that every time I ask about things like FibeTV 
I find out that my area of Markham doesn't have fibre available.


Maybe not to the home, but likely to the neighbourhood.

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Re: [GTALUG] landline power [was Re: "AI" on getting correct technical answers]

[James Knott via talk]

On 1/16/24 11:27, mwilson--- via talk wrote:

Help-desk people are forbidden to hang up, but if the customer terminated
the call it would count as a problem resolution, and therefore a good
thing.


Several years ago, I was doing some work at a Bell customer, hooking up 
an Adtran router to Bell ADSL.  One site went well, but I couldn't get 
the other site going.  I called Bell's support and got someone who 
insisted I click on the Start button.  Last I checked, Adtran routers 
didn't have a Start button.  The guy (in India) couldn't get off his 
script and do anything, so I asked to escalate.  He then hung up on me.  
The customer called her Bell rep, who said to call Bell's French line 
and I'd get someone in Canada, who could likely speak English.  I was 
then able to resolve the issue.  It was a Bell wiring error and I was 
able to finish the job, after they corrected the error.


BTW, I used to do both 1st & 3rd level support at IBM.

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Re: [GTALUG] landline power [was Re: "AI" on getting correct technical answers]

[James Knott via talk]

On 1/16/24 10:21, Steve Petrie via talk wrote:
My last Rogers interaction last week, had a Rogers sales rep ending 
his call to me, by shouting that I had just wasted his valuable time 
(because I had told him the technical reasons why I would rather pay a 
$18 / month Bell Canada premium, over the Rogers monthly service 
price, to keep my ROCK-SOLID RELIABLE Bell Canada service.


Why do you think it's rock solid?  The days of CO powered phones are 
pretty much long gone.  You probably have a pair of wires going out to 
somewhere in the neighbourhood, where it converts to fibre. Those have 
been around for years.


Also, I suspect that Rogers guy was likely working for a contractor.  I 
can tell you a story or two about Bell "employees", who were in India.


BTW, I have worked mostly in the telecom industry, going back to 1972 
and have done work for or with Bell, Rogers, Telus, MTS and others.  
Most recently, I was doing some work in the Rogers office, on Wolfedale 
in Mississauga.
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Re: [GTALUG] landline power [was Re: "AI" on getting correct technical answers]

[James Knott via talk]

On 1/16/24 07:16, Evan Leibovitch via talk wrote:

CO-powered phones are still available


Are they still CO powered?  Both Rogers and Bell are moving to VoIP over 
fibre to the neighbourhood.  There's an old Bell box near me, where the 
lines for the homes could connect to the cable.  It's been busted flat 
for years.

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Re: [GTALUG] landline power [was Re: "AI" on getting correct technical answers]

[James Knott via talk]

On 1/16/24 02:45, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

They try to hide the fact that their "home phone" service is over
VOIP.  For one thing, I think that they have dedicated bandwidth so
saturating your internet service won't break your phone service.


Compared to the bandwidth customers have, VoIP doesn't even amount to 
trivial.  For example, I get 1 Gb down and 50 Mb up from Rogers. A "toll 
quality" call requires 64 Kb in standard TDM systems (1 DS0).  With 
VoIP, the CODEC can require less bandwidth.  G.729a requires only 8 
Kb/s, though I doubt they're using that much compression.  Also, voice 
calls can be given priority over regular data.


By comparison with my 50 Mb/s upstream, the old TDM phone system had 24 
DS0s in a DS1 (T1) and 28 DS1s in a DS3 (T3) for about 45 Mb. That's 672 
phone calls!


With cell phones, the trend is the other way, with better than toll 
quality CODECs, often called HD voice.  VoIP phones can also use the 
better CODECs.
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Re: [GTALUG] Toronto Public Library website

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-11-08 08:49, Warren McPherson via talk wrote:

What is going on with the library website?
There was a CBC article that said there was a ransomware attack, but 
it's been down for a week and it's hard to imagine why it would take 
so long to recover unless their infrastructure was much weaker than I 
would expect.


It's been mentioned in the news recently and they expect to be up within 
a week.  Perhaps recovering from a ransomware attack is a bigger job 
than you imagine.


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Re: [GTALUG] (very off topic) torque spec of impact wrench

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-11-03 14:18, Don Tai via talk wrote:
After a winter my front tire lug nuts would not budge. My mechanic 
used his air ratchet to break them free, then told me to use just a 
little antiseize on the threads. I haven't had any issues with winter 
corrosion after that, For every Youtube video stating don't use 
antiseize there are others that recommend it.


Many years ago, I actually broke a stud on my mother's car, when trying 
to remove the nut.

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Re: [GTALUG] sigh, hardware resources?

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-10-13 14:52, Don Tai via talk wrote:

or maybe 500mb ram..

500 milli byte?  That's 4 bits!  
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Re: [GTALUG] US urged to ban RISC-V

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-10-11 03:44, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

Land of the Free?


What else would you expect from the Repubs?  They're attacking freedom 
from many directions.


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Re: [GTALUG] October Meeting Announcement!

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-10-09 17:15, Kevin Cozens via talk wrote:

On 2023-10-09 13:46, Alan Heighway via talk wrote:

*Time:* October 10th, 2023 7:30 PM Eastern Time

*Join us on Big Blue Button:* https://blue.lpi.org/b/eva-zjc-gjy-kgl 
.


Someone needs to check that date. The announcement is for a meeting 
held yesterday. 


Ummm...  According to my calendar, Oct. 10 is tomorrow.
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Re: [GTALUG] looking for a general purpose boot media to keep in case of distasters

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-20 13:50, bitmap wrote:
IME the bootable linux systems are typically read only. Sure you can 
install anything transiently. Once you connect to the internet, 
configure the repos, add keys, update the package lists, possibly run 
an update of the whole system, and idiosyncratic troubleshooting per 
distro/release/platform. Then you can install something, probably. 
But, if you reboot, it is all gone and you have to do it all over 
again. And when it comes to repairing the system there is a lot of 
rebooting.


I might try it if you are saying the open suse behaves in a different 
way than the others, but are you?


This one does what you want.  I just installed Wireshark on it and it 
survives a reboot.


https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/iso/openSUSE-Tumbleweed-KDE-Live-x86_64-Snapshot20230920-Media.iso.mirrorlist
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Re: [GTALUG] looking for a general purpose boot media to keep in case of distasters

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-19 23:22, bitmap via talk wrote:
Is there some kind of general purpose image that has a variety of 
programs, maybe even foundational documentation on board, etc, that is 
designed for this? There are images like clonezilla to solve specific 
problems but that's another story. I would like a multi tool on hand. 


Some distros have live images.  I know openSUSE does.

https://download.opensuse.org/distribution/leap/15.4/live/
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Re: [GTALUG] brands matter; Lenovo's brands

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-19 11:45, Alvin Starr via talk wrote:

DEC actually provided lots of support to Linux.
Very early on there were ports of a 64 bit version of Linux to the 
Alpha processors.

There was also a tiny variant that was the boot bios.
Possibly the biggest booster of Linux in DEC was Jon Hall 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Hall_(programmer)


IIRC, the DEC Alpha was the first 64 bit CPU Linux was ported to. There 
was an article about that (written by Jon Hall IIRC) in the Linux Journal.

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Re: [GTALUG] brands matter; Lenovo's brands

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-17 17:02, David Mason via talk wrote:
As one of those academics (in Computer Science, no less), I use a 
Macbook Pro


One of my cousins is a nuclear physicist (studying neutrino 
oscillations, no less).  He uses Linux, both on his notebook and on the 
"big iron" supercomputer he uses.


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Re: [GTALUG] brands matter; Lenovo's brands

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-16 02:51, Evan Leibovitch via talk wrote:

I have an MBA in marketing.


That's OK.  We all have our faults.  
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Re: [GTALUG] Repair & Replace

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-14 20:54, Peter King via talk wrote:
Next time I'll keep a small Windows partition as a hedge against 
problems. I have one on my X1 Carbon, and it works just fine, leaving 
Arch Linux alone.


I don't know about now, but you could get recovery disks while the 
ThinkPad was still under warranty.  There would have also been a 
recovery partition that you could have just left there, until you needed it.


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Re: [GTALUG] Repair & Replace

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-14 10:08, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
- do buy a model that supports Linux (look at the PSREF to see if 
Linux is listed as an OS). Otherwise, Linux will probably work, but 
not for support. 


FWIW, I bought my ThinkPad E520, about 12 years ago and it works fine 
with Linux.  I also bought one (R31 IIRC) over 20 years ago, when IBM 
was still making them.  It also worked fine.  Back in the late 90s, I 
worked at IBM Canada, as an OS/2 product specialist, where most of my 
work was on ThinkPads.  They actually encouraged us to work with Linux 
on company time.  I would periodically receive packs of various Linux 
distros in my mail slot and we'd try them on various models.  The only 
issue I came across was I had to edit a file, to get the computer to 
work with token ring.  In my experience, ThinkPads in general work well 
with Linux.  Of course, there may be exceptions I don't know about.  
However, if you're worried about having Linux on a computer for warranty 
purposes, then just save an image of the disk and put it back on before 
such service.


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Re: [GTALUG] Repair & Replace

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-13 19:01, William Park via talk wrote:
I didn't know Lenovo does warranty repair without the original Windows 
on it.  This warranty issue is one reason that I don't do "dual-boot" 
from the original disk.  I always add another Linux disk. 


Don't they sell some models with Linux on them?

https://www.lenovo.com/ca/en/d/linux-laptops-desktops/?orgRef=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F
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Re: [GTALUG] Debian Linux as-a-router Guide

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-09 22:08, Alvin Starr via talk wrote:
I was thinking in terms of features.  As a (lapsed) CCNA, I agree 
they can be "fun" to configure.



I was thinking in terms of product quality.
I have seen switches with up to 10% of ports with problems.
It also seemed to me from that outside that to get a Cisco certificate 
all you needed was to have the support phone number memorized.


I haven't experienced that issue and I have worked with quite a few 
devices.  I also have an 8 port Cisco switch here on my network.  I also 
have a Cisco 2600 series router, which I bought when I was working on my 
CCNA.  Also, I can assure you getting certified takes a lot more than 
memorizing phone numbers.  You have a timed test, in front of a computer 
and you have to get a passing grade in multiple sections, covering 
various topics.  Also, the wording of the questions means you have to 
give them a lot of thought.  Over the years, I have been certified for 
Novell Netware 3.x, OS/2 Warp 4 and CCNA.  The CCNA test is by far the 
most difficult.  One thing that annoyed me was the test covered some 
obsolete topics, such as frame relay, but MPLS was not even mentioned.  
The last time I saw frame relay was about 20 years before I got my 
CCNA.  Also, they should have also been covering shortest path bridging, 
in addition to spanning tree.  There were a few other things where they 
could have covered something a bit newer, with less emphasis on older stuff.


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Re: [GTALUG] USB to Ethernet Dongles WAS: Debian Linux as-a-router Guide

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-09 13:06, o1bigtenor via talk wrote:

I was fortunate enough to buy a house from a developer when all that existed at 
the time of purchase was a sales office and a hectare or two of dirt. So I was 
able to do custom wiring. Requesting almost every room wired with RJ45 was so 
unusual it took me almost a full afternoon to explain it to the contractor. 
Then they brought in a commercial team that tried to sell me massively 
overpriced Ethernet switches. But I ended up happy with the result, though I 
have no idea if it will affect the house's resale value.
I wouldn't trust an electrician to do it, unless they have Ethernet 
experience.  My Ethernet wiring was done by Rogers, when I first got a 
cable modem, in the late 90s.  They did a nice job, including fishing 
through walls, etc..  I provided the plain CAT5, as 5e wasn't common 
back then.

Gret for you but did they use cat 5 or 5e wiring. Today you might need
cat 8 (6 and 7 seems to have been obsoleted - - - dunno).
I would have dragged in conduit then you would be very future proof -
- - with just cable runs you will have to redo every 20 odd years.


Gigabit was designed for plain CAT5, before 5e was available, so that's 
all you need, unless you're going above 1 Gb.  There's no such thing as 
CAT7, according to IEEE specs.  Even if there were, it would be a waste 
of money.


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Re: [GTALUG] Debian Linux as-a-router Guide

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-09 15:10, Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:

Being closer to Cisco is not an advantage in my books.

No kidding. 


I was thinking in terms of features.  As a (lapsed) CCNA, I agree they 
can be "fun" to configure.
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Re: [GTALUG] Debian Linux as-a-router Guide

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-09 09:23, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

Do you mean as a server or as a client?


Client.  I don't run DHCPv6 on my LAN.  I use SLAAC.  Rogers provides 
IPv6 via DHCPv6-PD.  I switched from a Linux firewall/router to pfSense, 
as SuSE Linux didn't support it.  I have no idea if it does now.


Also, thanks to some genius at Google, Android devices don't support DHCPv6.

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Re: [GTALUG] Debian Linux as-a-router Guide

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-08 14:49, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
More to your point, it may be convenient for your router to have more 
than two ethernet ports. Giles' box only has two, yours and mine have 
four. (Giles's box sure is cute.


Mine has 4.  The other day, I mentioned I received a catalog from 
Qotom.  I posted it on Digital Home Canada, as it's too big for me to email.


Here's the link: 
https://www.digitalhome.ca/threads/qotom-mini-pc-catalog.295008/


As you can see, they have a LOT of models.  Some have 2.5 Gb Ethernet 
ports and 10 Gb SFP ports.


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Re: [GTALUG] Debian Linux as-a-router Guide

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-08 11:50, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
I've been using PCs as my gateway machine for perhaps 25 years. I've 
been lazy and only changed when forced to (and sometimes slow at 
that). I've always run some Red Hat distro (RHL, CentOS, Fedora). 


I had been using an HP compact desktop computer for years, initially 
with SuSE but later pfSense, but then it died.  I replaced it with a 
Qotom mini PC, which works well and takes a lot less power.



I don't have multiple LANs or VLANs.  People with home-made routers
   seem to like those things.


You might want a guest VLAN/SSID.  I have my firewall configured so that 
the only thing a guest can do on my network is ping the guest VLAN 
interface.  Beyond that, they can only access the Internet.  I even 
point them to Google's DNS server, instead of mine.


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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 18:10, o1bigtenor via talk wrote:
There are are audible differences between CODECS - - - likely few 
people can tell the difference.


If you can't tell the difference between some CODECs there's something 
wrong with your ears.  As I mentioned, some are designed to squeeze as 
many voice channels as possible out of a given bandwidth.  They are 
quite noticeable, compared to the standard G.711 CODEC and the wider 
ones can provide a noticeable improvement.  Even with CODECs for music, 
you can sometimes catch an artifact of the compression.  One example of 
this I have come across is the Beatles "A day in the life.".  There is 
one soft stretch where the audio is dead centre between the left & right 
tracks, which I can hear on the CD, but not with the MP3 version.


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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 17:41, Karen Lewellen via talk wrote:


When Fibe tv came along, bell did not, has not insured that audio 
description   will work there either. 


Is Rogers available to you?  They have several accessibility options 
with their Ignite TV service.

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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 17:57, Karen Lewellen wrote:
In spite of my order for analog land line service, noted in writing by 
Bell accessibility, on March 15, a bell technician installed VoIP 
here, getting permission from  a sighted moving helper, and not 
speaking with me as  the account owner


Do you use a cell phone?  If so, do you have any problem with it?

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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 15:13, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
Reading the original post would remind one that Karen has already had 
multiple interactions with Bell. Most have been negative, and she has 
referred to some as "retaliatory". In other words, these paths have 
been tried and failed.


How do you know it's Bell's problem.  All we know is something
changed when she moved.



She has had multiple interactions, but were they with that department 
and not just the normal help(?) line?


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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 15:13, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
I have fibre in my neighborhood (less than 20 years old), and yet I 
still have a supported POTS line wired through my house that works 
with old phones.
So we know Bell is able to supply a D-to-A facility in at least some 
modern locations. If Karen's new location cannot do this then IMO 
they're breaking backwards capability. Maybe it's Bell, maybe it's the 
wiring in her building, but it's not Karen. In any case this situation 
arguably contravenes Canadian laws on accessibility IMO unless Bell 
can find an all-digital solution that addresses Karen's needs.


Yep, this is a point I have been making.  Bell will have fibre to 
somewhere in your neighbourhood and copper from there.  This has been 
done for years.  What difference do you expect between this and a copper 
pair all the way back to the CO?


It still goes back to how connections are made and the bandwidth etc..  
Bell has to provide a standard toll quality circuit.  That used to be 
over copper all the way from the CO.  Now it could be from a terminal in 
a home, as I have with Rogers.  Either way, it's still a toll quality 
connection.  Here's an article about the G.711 CODEC, which describes 
what's expected from a phone circuit, no matter who provides it and 
how.  Even ancient analog systems provided similar.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.711
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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 14:19, James Knott wrote:
Doesn't Bell have a department for helping people with medical issues? 
Seems to me they used to.


There's this:
https://www.bell.ca/Accessibility_services

They might be able to help better than the average Bell tech.

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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 14:11, Evan Leibovitch via talk wrote:
My main thesis here is that technical speculation based on 
insufficient input is doing little to solve Karen's problem. But since 
we're all speculating, mine is that an all-digital solution exists but 
that Bell does not want to spend the money to do it.


That seems to fall into the wishful thinking category, from someone who 
doesn't understand the technology.


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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 13:27, Evan Leibovitch via talk wrote:
Forgive me for insisting that technical curiosity take a back seat to 
the real-world medical needs of people. But I will insist. This is a 
real problem, not an experiment nor a business decision.


Doesn't Bell have a department for helping people with medical issues?  
Seems to me they used to.


Indeed, that is Bell's problem that it MUST solve. If the transition 
has broken backwards compatibility (to use our lingo), they must fix 
the breakage. Their current digital-to-analog solution may work for 
many users (such as my landline) but clearly isn't sufficient for 
Karen's needs.


How do you know it's Bell's problem.  All we know is something changed 
when she moved.  I defy anyone to listen to a good analog line and 
compare it to a digital line and tell me what the difference is, other 
than perhaps better quality audio on the digital line.  You can consider 
things like level, frequency response, phase shift, noise, distortion 
and more.  Incidentally, when digital trunks started to be used, people 
complained they were too quiet!  They were used to all the noise that 
accompanied analog calls.


BTW, many years ago, I used to measure those things on various circuits, 
including the CBC radio feed in Northern Ontario.



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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 13:41, Alex Kink wrote:
I thought what is going on here is that she moved to a new location 
where the service is different for her needs compared to what it was 
at the previous location.


I'd forgotten about the move.  There might be some other factor that 
hasn't been mentioned.

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Re: [GTALUG] Debian Linux as-a-router Guide

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 13:36, Scott Allen wrote:
I'm sure OpenWRT can do them just as well, once configured. I haven't 
looked at OpenWRT lately but I previously got the impression that many 
add-on packages and even built-in features didn't include GUI 
extensions. Configuration of these had to be done from a console.


Does it support DHCPv6-PD?  That's the reason I switched to pfSense, as 
my Linux firewall/router didn't.  I understand things may have changed 
in the 7.5 years I've been running pfSense.



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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 13:35, Dhaval Giani via talk wrote:



So far the engineering-based problem-solving I've witnessed in
this thread has amounted to "you can't get there from here".
Explaining how Bell's system works now does zero to solve Karen's
technical issues, let alone the quality of the customer-service
response to her actions to date.


No, a lot of the questioning has been about - this is what is 
happening. So where is the gap?


As someone with a lot of experience in telecom, I do not understand what 
her problem is.  If I can't understand it, I can't fix it.  I can 
understand CODECs that might cause distortion, I can understand having a 
crappy phone, but I cannot understand why she thinks an analog line is 
what she needs, when it's unlikely she's had a real analog line for many 
years.
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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 13:31, Evan Leibovitch wrote:


And if Bell is no longer able to provide the service she wants.


Wants? WANTS?!?

We're not talking about call-display here. This is about connectivity 
for medically-necessary equipment.


See my comments about blind people and Teletypes.  The same may apply here.

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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 13:21, Alvin Starr via talk wrote:
You should see the fun when you get connected to the off shore support 
people trying to diagnose a problem with a party line.
I bet you 75% of the people on this list don't even know what that is. 


This is one reason I prefer Rogers.  All their support people are in Canada.

I remember party lines, as we were on one when I was a young kid.  I 
also remember when 7 digit dialing came in.  Incidentally, back in 1975, 
the first time I went to Armstrong, Ont. in my work, it was just after 
they switched from 2 to 5 digit dialing!


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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 13:00, Alvin Starr via talk wrote:

I have a rural cottage with a pulse dial phone on a party line.


I can pulse dial over my Rogers connection.  Yep, I actually tried it, 
with the box that provides my Internet connection and home phone.


Also, what's available in cottage country might be years behind what's 
in the city.

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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 12:35, Evan Leibovitch wrote:



This is about what Bell is not providing, even though other
companies do. However, this is current technology, not obsolete,
which Karen seems to need.


I call shenanigans on that perspective.

Given the nature of our group it is natural that some here will see 
the issue as merely one of choice and pace of technology, but IMO it 
must be seen as a broader issue of problem-solving. If Karen's 
accessibility needs require analog service in 2023, then that service 
is not obsolete merely because it's convenient for Bell to declare it 
so. In making a transition to digital it is Bell's responsibility to 
either:


  * provide a complete working solution to Karen's needs that can be
accomplished purely digitally
  * use whatever means required internally to maintain (what is seen
in her home as) analog service

Given its regulated monopoly in last-mile connectivity, the onus is on 
Bell to provide a solution to the problem that it caused.


And if Bell is no longer able to provide the service she wants. When I 
started in telecom, I was a bench tech and spent my days overhauling 
Teletype machines.  Suppose Karen needed a Teletype machine?  She will 
not find anyone able to provide that service, as it's been obsolete for 
a long time.  I chose that example, because deaf people would often use 
Teletypes to communicate, using the old 300 baud modems.  Teletype 
machines are long gone and dial up modems aren't used much these days.  
So how would anyone get that service? They wouldn't.  Technology has 
moved on and there are now better ways for blind people to communicate.


Getting back to phones, in electrical engineering there's something 
called transfer function.  With this, you assume you have a black box 
and measure the input vs output and compare things like level, frequency 
response, distortion and more.  If 2 black boxes produce identical 
response, they will sound identical, regardless of what they're made 
with (this is a concept that audiofools have a problem with).  In an 
earlier message, I discussed a bit about the technology and CODECs, 
specifically the G.711 CODEC.  If 2 devices have that CODEC, they should 
sound identical.  This leads me to what I've been struggling with all 
along.  That is what is she hearing that causes the problem?


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Re: [GTALUG] Debian Linux as-a-router Guide

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 12:27, Scott Allen via talk wrote:
With OPNsense, you can check if a new release is available from the 
router's GUI itself and updating appears to be straightforward, either 
from the GUI or the console.


It is likewise very easy to update in pfSense.  All I have to do is open 
the dashboard and it automagically checks the update status.


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Re: [GTALUG] Debian Linux as-a-router Guide

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 12:48, Scott Allen wrote:

On Thu, 7 Sept 2023 at 12:21, James Knott via talk  wrote:

it supports routing protocols such as OSPF & BGP

https://www.linuxtechguy.com/2020/11/27/dynamic-routing-using-ospf-on-openwrt/
https://docs.daper.io/networking/bgp/openwrt/


I don't doubt OpenWRT can do those things, but can they do them as well 
as pfSense?  You even said you were considering pfSense because of all 
it's features.


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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 12:13, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
The CRTC is a cruel joke for consumers. It's far too industry-friendly 
and has allowed Robellus to get away with awful shenanigans and 
anti-competitive behavior for decades. While it offers a path to 
complain,  I would not expect 
such a complaint to be answered in a timely manner or to your 
satisfaction.


I fully agree with Don that this is a human rights issue, and 
following that path will likely achieve better results than fighting 
Bell on their turf.


Again, can the CRTC force Bell to provide obsolete service?  What if 
Bell has abandoned or removed the copper cable to her neighborhood? What 
if they've removed the necessary equipment from their office? How are 
they supposed to provide the service?


I am no fan of Bell however, expecting them to provide an analog phone 
line back to their office, when everything is moving to IP over fibre 
may amount to nothing more than wishful thinking.


BTW, here's something I worked on around 15 years ago.  There is a hydro 
control centre, located in Mississauga at the corner of Lakeshore Rd. 
and Winston Churchill Blvd.  They had a need for multiple analog phone 
lines, to connect dial up modems to.  Bell could not supply those lines, 
so the company I worked for provided the equipment to do it, connected 
to a T1 line and I was the one who installed the equipment to provide 
those analog lines.  Even then, some special equipment was needed, as 
Bell's DMS 250 switch wasn't configured to provide the type of analog 
lines required.


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Re: [GTALUG] Debian Linux as-a-router Guide

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 11:33, Val Kulkov via talk wrote:
On Thu, 7 Sept 2023 at 11:06, James Knott via talk  
wrote:


A friend of mine is moving to pfSense or OPNsense, from OpenWRT.

I am curious what OpenWRT didn't provide that pfSense or OPNsense do 
provide.


Quite a lot.  pfSense (OPNsense is a fork of pfSense) is closer to the 
"real" routers from companies like Cisco.  For example, it supports 
routing protocols such as OSPF & BGP, which you are not likely to find 
in consumer grade routers.  On my own network, I have 4 Ethernet ports 
on my router, with one connected to my WAN.  One is my main LAN, which 
also has a VLAN for my guest WiFi.  I also have a test LAN and another 
connected to my Cisco router.  I run IPv4 & IPv6 and can also use 
OpenVPN for remote access.  I have a DNS resolver, which goes directly 
to the root DNS servers, an NTP server, connected to 3 stratum 1 servers 
and 3 stratum 2 servers. It provides stratum 2 to my LAN.  It can do a 
lot of other things that I haven't even bothered with.  I have a  
separate access point for WiFi.


There's really no comparison.
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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 11:51, Don Tai wrote:
Karen is not alone. Accommodations are needed for the good of the 
greater society. I also see this in our election system as well. We 
must not leave anyone behind. We are smart, we just need to find an 
adequate solution.


I am having trouble understanding what her issue is.  She complains 
about whatever service is provided, claiming that she has to have an 
analog phone line.  As I mentioned, the entire phone network has been 
digital for decades, more recently over IP.  The basic "toll quality" 
digital call uses a G.711 CODEC, which has been in use for over 50 
years.  This provides a standard voice channel, with specified frequency 
response and noise level, etc..  She has no doubt had many, many calls 
using it.  There is no difference in G.711, whether delivered via TDM or 
IP.  It's a standard CODEC.  Why is she hearing something different?  As 
I mentioned, other CODECs have been used.  The 2G and 3G phones used 
CODECs designed to squeeze multiple channels into the bandwidth of an 
analog cell call.  These could cause audio distortion.  These days, the 
trend is in the opposite direction, with the CODECs providing better 
than toll quality calls.  You may see terms such as HD Voice with them. 
This provides greater bandwidth than toll quality, over both "land line" 
and cell phone calls, which means more life like and natural call quality.


Now, assuming she is able to get an analog line.  It is unlikely to go 
back to the Bell office and will terminate somewhere near her home.  
There is absolutely no difference in what is delivered, as it will be 
copper to the point where the call is converted to digital with G.711 or 
better CODEC.  Same with services that are digital to the hojme, either 
over fibre or coax cable.  Digital is digital is digital, with the only 
difference being IP or the old TDM.  So, where is her problem occurring?


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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 11:25, Don Tai wrote:

The next step is the CRTC:


Do you honestly believe they can force Bell to bring back obsolete 
technology?  First off, they'd have to provide a copper pair back to the 
office, when everything else is fibre.  Then, they'd need the equipment 
that can handle it, which may have been scrapped already, etc.


Maybe someone from Bell can clarify this, but I doubt that will happen.
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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 11:29, Don Tai wrote:
Bell faces human rights complaint over allegations of inaccessibility 
for blind customers

https://globalnews.ca/news/9373449/bell-human-rights-complaint/


This is about what Bell is not providing, even though other companies 
do.  However, this is current technology, not obsolete, which Karen 
seems to need.


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Re: [GTALUG] Debian Linux as-a-router Guide

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 10:39, Val Kulkov via talk wrote:
Then, you can run OpenWRT as a VM. OpenWRT has everything you'll ever 
need in a home router, and more.


A friend of mine is moving to pfSense or OPNsense, from OpenWRT.
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Re: [GTALUG] Debian Linux as-a-router Guide

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 10:20, Giles Orr via talk wrote:
Please don't suggest pfsense: I'm well aware of it, and it may well be 
better. But I'm very adept at managing Debian, and initially at least 
I intend to try to set this up. If it turns out to be direly 
difficult, pfsense may happen later. 


I used to use SuSE Linux for my router/firewall, but had to switch to 
pfSense as Linux didn't support DHCPv6-PD, which is used to provide IPv6 
from Rogers.  You'll also find it's a much more capable router/firewall 
than you're likely to put together with Linux.


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Re: [GTALUG] Cheap possible router PC?

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 10:14, Giles Orr via talk wrote:

I'm going to post twice about this ... but this email is simply about
a good deal and possible router PC:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0C2HLRV41

Tiny (9x9x5cm), colourful (LED strip at the base, could definitely
live without), 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Intel 12th Gen 4-core N95, 3x HDMI,
2x Ethernet - $188 all in with free shipping (notice the large $84
coupon you need to apply).  It's also available with more RAM and/or a
bigger SSD.  Seemed like a good deal to me - feel free to comment ...

Mine has arrived, and I had no trouble at all installing Debian 12
headless on it (it comes with Windows 11 if that's your thing).



Funny you should mention that.  The other day, I received a catalog for 
Qotom mini PCs.  I posted the catalog on Digital Home Canada here:

https://www.digitalhome.ca/threads/qotom-mini-pc-catalog.295008/

As mentioned in that post, I have one of those, which I run pfSense on.
BTW, I had no idea they had so many models.  


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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 10:35, Karen Lewellen wrote:

may I ask what method of suicide will be best then?
From what you say, in spite of the aquired brain injury I currently 
experience, and its medical documentation, my being able to use analog 
phone service until less than a year ago,  and the like, my body is 
too much trouble to keep alive, no longer can communicate with the 
outside world safely, do my job, etc without the seizures all VOIp 
services cause me..with tests to support this.
Seems like a fine time to go according to you,  since according to 
you,  I cannot achieve what I have done just fine, even with the 
physical resources for it here in my house, or existing analog 
customers being around 


First off, I cannot comment on your health issues.  However, I can 
comment on telecom issues, having worked in the field for over half a 
century.  The world is moving to IP for just about everything and that 
over fibre.  Carriers, such as Bell or Rogers, run fibre out into the 
community, in some cases converting to copper in the neighbourhood and 
more and more often directly in the consumer's home or office.
Second, I first came across digital audio, for phone service in 1975 and 
it's been growing ever since.  A bit about me, I started working in 
telecom in 1972.  I spent 23 years working for CN Telecommunications, 
CNCP and Unitel, as the company ownership changed.  Most of that time I 
worked as a technician, but for my last 5 years, I was in planning, 
where I planned the installation of telecom equipment, both in the 
office at 151 Front St. W. as well as customer sites in downtown 
Toronto.  Even back then, everything I worked on was 100% digital.  That 
was almost 30 years ago.  Since then, my work has been largely services 
provided over IP, including voice.  It been years since I've seen voice 
provided over anything other than IP.  Even some of the old Time 
Division Multiplex (TDM) services were emulated over IP.


As someone with all that experience, I cannot conceive of anything that 
would contribute to your issues, other than possibly getting a CODEC 
that tries to minimize bandwidth to the point that it causes noticeable 
distortion.  With the bandwidth available now, there's no reason for 
such CODECs to be used.


Regardless, I wouldn't be surprised if Bell is unable to provide what 
you want.  I know Rogers can't.  Even if Bell were able to provide it, 
your calls would be analog only as far as their office, if that far.  
Everything beyond would be digital, likely over IP.



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Re: [GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-09-07 10:06, Karen Lewellen via talk wrote:
I do have a doctor's note documenting my medical need for analog 
service, something bell refused to read and Teksavvy refused to share 
even with permission. 


Doctor's note or not, analog service, back to the central office, might 
not be available.  These days, "analog" service is generally provided 
over IP.  The old analog phone line is largely history.


BTW, at some point, all phone service is carried over a digital 
connection and has been for many years.  The only question is where the 
conversion takes place.  For decades it was in the central office.  Now, 
it could be in your home, as my home phone over Rogers is, or it could 
be out on the street somewhere.


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Re: [GTALUG] internet service speed test tip

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-08-25 00:26, Kevin Cozens via talk wrote:

The problem turns out to be the web page itself.


Some thing is either very wrong with the web page, you need a better 
browser or something else was running in the background that affected 
performance. My "slow" AMD FX8320 computer is able to use the Rogers 
speed test page and the numbers I got are about what I expected to 
see. One should not need a "fast" computer just to run a speedtest.


The only reason I just thought of is that perhaps your internet speed 
is exceptionally high and that makes the speed of your Internet 
connection sensitive to the browser and your computer system.


This is my result on Rogers, using Firefox:
https://www.speedtest.net/result/15165848176

My package from Rogers includes 1.5 Gb down & 50 Mb up, but my hardware 
limits it to 1 Gb.  Of course, some bandwidth is lost to the various 
overheads, etc..


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Re: [GTALUG] [offtopic] Opinions on Freedom Mobile, please

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-08-03 18:32, BCLUG via talk wrote:

What phone do you have?  Bear in mind, not all plans support it.


Pixel 4a.


I have a Pixel 6.  It's under SIMs, near the bottom of the list.
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[GTALUG] Lenovo Canada’s ‘Doorbuster’ sale offers up to 63 percent off on laptops

[James Knott via talk]

There was a recent thread about a Lenovo ThinkPad.  This might be of 
interest.


https://mobilesyrup.com/2023/08/02/lenovo-canadas-doorbuster-sale-offers-up-to-63-percent-off-on-laptops/ 


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Re: [GTALUG] [offtopic] Opinions on Freedom Mobile, please

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-08-03 04:31, BCLUG via talk wrote:
I wish I could remember the procedure I followed to enable WiFi 
calling, but am drawing a blank.


What phone do you have?  Bear in mind, not all plans support it.


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Re: [GTALUG] [offtopic] Opinions on Freedom Mobile, please

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-08-02 15:50, BCLUG via talk wrote:
Is that due to 5G itself, or the paucity of devices supporting it, 
hence lack of congestion?


Also, honest question for those more knowledgeable: does a doubling of 
frequency (i.e. 1700MHz to 3500MHz) equate to a doubling of bandwidth?


One other factor is the higher the frequency, the shorter the range, so 
the higher bands need more cell sites to provide the same coverage.


This article has a table of the various bands Rogers uses.  The lowest 
frequency band is 600 MHz and the highest is 3.5 GHz.  Some bands are 
shared between 4G and 5G and others are not.  There are also remnants of 
2G and 3G listed.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Wireless#5G_NR

The band numbers correspond to this list of the various cell bands.

https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/connectivity/5g-mobile-wireless-cellular/frequency-bands-channels-fr1-fr2.php
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Re: [GTALUG] [offtopic] Opinions on Freedom Mobile, please

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-08-02 15:50, BCLUG via talk wrote:
Is that due to 5G itself, or the paucity of devices supporting it, 
hence lack of congestion?


It's due to the amount of bandwidth available on that band.  The 3.5 GHz 
band is much wider than the others and the mmWave bands (not yet 
available in Canada) are much wider still.


Also, honest question for those more knowledgeable: does a doubling of 
frequency (i.e. 1700MHz to 3500MHz) equate to a doubling of bandwidth?


No, it's the amount of available bandwidth.  The same bandwidth, on the 
different bands would provide similar results.  Of course, the more 
users, the more it gets shared.


Typically, the higher bands have more bandwidth than the lower ones.

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Re: [GTALUG] [offtopic] Opinions on Freedom Mobile, please

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-08-02 13:43, Alvin Starr via talk wrote:
To the best of my knowledge TLS and SSL are not subject to problems of 
NAT translation but I could be wrong.


As I mentioned, one of the advantages of UDP encapsulation is seamless 
transition between the cell network and WiFi calling.  If you 
enapsulated TLS, you'd get the same benefit.  BTW, isn't SSL long 
obsolete, replaced by TLS?


Were Chuck's calls intercepted?  I know Diana's calls were, but they 
were analog back in those days and very easy to intercept.  A heck of 
a lot of stuff uses IPSec and I haven't heard of it being broken.

There was the infamous call to now Queen Camilla.


I hadn't heard anything about that, but then again I have absolutely no 
use for the monarchy, so I try to ignore them as much as possible.



There are still a number of security holes in the Cell phone system.
For example.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellphone_surveillance


Those aren't about IPSec.  They are other issues, which could also apply 
to VoIP apps and other traffic.  BTW, I'm currenly reading a book 
"Pegasus", which is about a spyware app.  Very interesting.


https://mississauga.overdrive.com/media/8224018

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Re: [GTALUG] [offtopic] Opinions on Freedom Mobile, please

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-08-02 13:20, BCLUG via talk wrote:
High throughput (approaching theoretical maximum for the underlying 
carrier) and very fast to re-establish connections when moving from, 
say, WiFi to LTE.


With VPNs that use UDP encapsulation, there's no connection to 
re-establish.  Every UDP packet stands alone.  It's also irrelevant what 
network the packet originates on.  I discovered this years ago, while 
sitting in the Linux Cafe (anyone here remember that?).  I was connected 
via the store's WiFi and then noticed an open WiFi in the 
neighbourhood.  I could switch connections without dropping the VPN.  I 
was using CIPE VPN at the time, IIRC.
This is also why you have seamless roaming between WiFi calling and the 
cell network, with VoLTE or VoNR.


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Re: [GTALUG] [offtopic] Opinions on Freedom Mobile, please

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-08-02 11:57, Alvin Starr via talk wrote:
If you're worried about security, you might not want to do that. The 
cell phone calls are encrypted with IPSec, but those VoIP provides 
use plain SIP & RTP.  At least that's what Fongo does.


That's why god invented SIP-TLS and SRTP.
Its a good thing that my VIOP povider supports this.


One one other thing they do is encapsulate the IPSec in UDP.  This is to 
get through NAT, as IPSec is broken by it.  It also provides seamless 
connection when moving between WiFi calling and the cell network.


Cell phone calls may be encrypted with IPSec but its not a match for 
moderately well equipped hackers.

Ask King Charles.


Were Chuck's calls intercepted?  I know Diana's calls were, but they 
were analog back in those days and very easy to intercept.  A heck of a 
lot of stuff uses IPSec and I haven't heard of it being broken.


Once your call hits the PSTN your open to snooping from any number of 
sources.


Plain PSTN is rapidly disappearing.  Everything is moving to VoIP in 
some form.  I have "POTS" from Rogers, but it's VoIP from the box that 
sits on my shelf.  I have no idea whether they use encryption with it.


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Re: [GTALUG] [offtopic] Opinions on Freedom Mobile, please

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-08-02 09:57, Evan Leibovitch wrote:


Also, Videotron is a regional company, which has to roam on
another carrier outside their areas. Acquiring  will only slightly
improve that.


I don't grok that. Freedom has a national network of towers (including 
the closest one to my home) and has agreements with other carriers 
outside their area.


Isn't that what I said when I mentioned roaming on another carrier? 
Freedom may have towers in various cities across the country, but how 
much overall coverage to they have?  Rogers is the only company that is 
actually coast to coast, but even they don't have full coverage.  For 
many years, Bell and Telus have roamed on each other's networks for 
years, even though they both have towers in some areas.


You may recall, back in the 90s, when 2G was starting up.  There were 
new networks, such as Microcell (parent of Fido) and Clearnet. They 
would have towers in the major centres, but roamed on other carriers 
elsewhere.  Fido, for example roamed on Rogers.  They also had to use a 
"backpack" between the phone and battery, to access the Rogers analog 
network, as their GSM phones wouldn't work on the Rogers IS-136 digital 
network.  So, roaming on other carriers has long been a "tradition" in 
Canada.    There were also several virtual carriers that relied 
entirely on other carriers.  Sears is one that comes to mind, along with 
Petro Canada and 7 11.  Many of them used the Microcell network, which 
meant they had to move to Rogers or Bell/Telus when away from the 
Microcell network.


I don't know what's happening with Freedom on the subway, between being 
bought by Videotron and Rogers taking over the BAI network, but all 
carriers will have 911 access, as required by law.


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Re: [GTALUG] [offtopic] Opinions on Freedom Mobile, please

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-08-02 09:35, Alvin Starr via talk wrote:
I have been working on a plan to move my mobile number to a voip 
carrier and then just use the handset in a way that does not expose 
the number that the carrier uses.
That way I can move between carriers at will and I can have a full set 
of call features without having to take the stupid plans the carriers 
offer.


If you're worried about security, you might not want to do that. The 
cell phone calls are encrypted with IPSec, but those VoIP provides use 
plain SIP & RTP.  At least that's what Fongo does.


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Re: [GTALUG] [offtopic] Opinions on Freedom Mobile, please

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-08-02 05:57, BCLUG via talk wrote:
And one thing I really appreciate is that Wind Mobile would throttle 
users when they hit their data caps instead of charging a fortune for 
overages. I'll always appreciate that.


Did they throttle the users?  Or their phones?  

I'm on Rogers and they also slow down the data beyond the cap. There is 
no extra charge for exceeding the limit.  However, at 35 GB, I have 
never hit the cap.



I'm curious why you're interested in 5G?

I thought it was mostly something more useful for the mobile service 
providers (higher capacity per tower, etc.) and the slight increase in 
speed seen by devices wasn't really significant. Of course, I could be 
wrong, and your situation might be enlightening. 


On the lower bands, 5G provides a small improvement over 4G. However, 
there are new, 5G only bands.  For example, Rogers has service on 3.5 
GHz, which provides a significant performance improvement.  I've seen 
over 400 Mb with it.




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Re: [GTALUG] [offtopic] Opinions on Freedom Mobile, please

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-08-01 23:13, Don Tai via talk wrote:
customer service, such as small changes in plans, not good. Sometimes 
spotty service in areas that should be strong (in Toronto), not all 
phones can be used with Freedom, my son gets more data for his hard 
earned buck, otherwise it works ok. I don't know the difference in 
speed between 4G and 5G.


We'll have to see how things go with Freedom, with Videotron buying 
them.  5G is considerably faster than 4G on the 3.5 GHz "C" band. On 
lower frequencies, 5G provides a small improvement over 4G.

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Re: [GTALUG] [offtopic] Opinions on Freedom Mobile, please

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-08-01 23:09, Evan Leibovitch via talk wrote:
Furthermore Freedom is the only telco usable in the Toronto subway, 
with service in all stations and two Line-1 tunnel sections (Vaughan 
to Wilson and St.George to Yonge/Bloor).


Rogers has bought out BAI's network, the company which had been 
providing cell service in the subway.  They will have some service in 
place by Sept., though it will take longer to cover the entire subway.  
Bell, Rogers and Telus have all said the BAI network was inadequate for 
them to use.  Rogers has committed to sharing their network with 
competitors, but the discussion is how.  Bell & Telus want an ownership 
share, which is not what Rogers has in mind.  Rogers will be providing 
4G & 5G, but BAI had been providing only 3G and some 4G, IIRC.  Also, 
Videotron is a regional company, which has to roam on another carrier 
outside their areas. Acquiring  will only slightly improve that.

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Re: [GTALUG] Dual boot

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-07-27 19:55, Gron Arthur via talk wrote:

Does anyone see an issue with a setting up a dual boot?


I've been running dual boot for years on my ThinkPad.

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Re: [GTALUG] Favorite desktop manager?

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-07-26 14:44, Michael Hill via talk wrote:


I loathe GNOME.


 Kinda goes without saying here, no?


I've refused to use it since the first time I tried it.
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Re: [GTALUG] computer hardware testing tools.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-07-18 13:54, o1bigtenor via talk wrote:

If you're buying ones that are rated at some 600W or so (1500 VA - - - -
which should be watts but somehow isn't)


AC power is always rated in volt amps.  Because of power factor, you 
can't use watts.


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Re: [GTALUG] computer hardware testing tools.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-07-18 11:09, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

1. When you unplug a heavy (inductive?) load, like an ordinary
electric kettle.  That seems to be normal.


Kettles are not inductive, at least not significantly.  They're a 
resistive load.  A motor is an inductive load.

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Re: [GTALUG] computer hardware testing tools.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-07-14 19:30, Scott Allen via talk wrote:

- A single run of the required 12 gauge cable is cheaper and easier
than running two 14 gauge cables.



Or use 3 wire cable.  Also you use the hot side from opposite phases for 
the red & black wires.

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Re: [GTALUG] computer hardware testing tools.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-07-14 18:58, Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:

I was surprised to find out the code for kitchen outlets has changed at
some point from having 2x15A circuits to each counter outlet pair,
to having 1x20A to each outlet pair.  That seems like a downgrade,
although sure saves some space in the panel.


My condo was new 30 years ago and it has the 2x15A circuits.
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Re: [GTALUG] computer hardware testing tools.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-07-13 17:14, William Park via talk wrote:
However, you can't easily test serial, parallel, USB, network, and 
other I/Os, because you can't easily control both side of connection.


Actually, when I was a technician for CN Telecommunications, back in the 
70s, we had test sets for doing that with serial connections. Of course, 
these would be connecting different locations, sometimes across the 
country, not within an office.  Later on, there were Bit Error Rate 
Testers (BERT), for high speed connections.


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Re: [GTALUG] computer hardware testing tools.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-07-12 18:18, Karen Lewellen wrote:

no one spoke of printer cables.
Serial connectors are 9 pin, parallel cables are 25 pin.  while old 
style printer cables use  25 pin as well, there is no, or not to my 
personal experience a 9 pin connector at all for those printer cables.
as a side note allot of external speech synthesizer hardware used 25 
pin connectors. and lpt port allocations as well. 


I thought you mentioned a parallel port in your first message and in a 
reply to me you said "connects via serial port on the computer, to a 
parallel port on the back of the reading edge".  I suspect you got 
confused because while printer ports, on computers, are 25 pin, serial 
ports, while currently 9 pin, used to be 25 pin.  I then mentioned 
gender, so you could tell one from the other by touch.


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Re: [GTALUG] computer hardware testing tools.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-07-12 13:19, Scott Allen via talk wrote:

Yes, It requires a 9 pin to 25 pin serial port connector cable. Not a
serial port to parallel port cable that you referenced. A serial to
parallel cable would be somewhat custom and likely expensive, since it
would have to contain active electronics to convert serial protocol to
parallel protocol.


Also, the old style 25 pin serial cable and the printer cable have 
opposite connector genders.  The serial cable has a female connector and 
the printer cable has a male connector.


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Re: [GTALUG] computer hardware testing tools.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-07-12 11:17, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

Let me be a little more explicit about that, with an example.  A computer
can mostly work but have a failing serial port.  Then the component to
look at is the serial port, not the whole computer.  The serial port will
usually work or not work.


The other part of this is serial & parallel ports aren't often used 
these days, having been supplanted by USB.  Why bother testing something 
that's not likely to be used?


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Re: [GTALUG] CVT-RB: another video mystery

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-06-20 15:06, Lennart Sorensen wrote:

My understanding was that on a CRT it needed a bit of blanking time in
order to have time to change the magnetic field so the beam could start
at the begining of the next line.  Whether you used composite sync or
seperate H and V sync didn't matter, it still needed the time.


Yep.  Here's what Wikipedia says:
"The VBI was originally needed because of the inductive inertia of the 
magnetic coils which deflect the electron beam vertically in a CRT 
; the magnetic field, 
and hence the position being drawn, cannot change instantly. 
Additionally, the speed of older circuits was limited. For horizontal 
deflection, there is also a pause between successive lines, to allow the 
beam to return from right to left, called the horizontal blanking 
interval . 
Modern CRT circuitry does not require such a long blanking interval, and 
thin panel displays  
require none, but the standards were established when the delay was 
needed (and to allow the continued use of older equipment). Blanking of 
a CRT may not be perfect due to equipment faults or brightness set very 
high; in this case a white retrace line shows on the screen, often 
alternating between fairly steep diagonals from right to left and 
less-steep diagonals back from left to right, starting in the lower 
right of the display."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_blanking_interval#Vertical_blanking_interval_in_digital_video

It was also possible to display video on an oscilloscope, which used 
electrostatic deflection.  The scope would just need a trigger pulse, 
which didn't have much width.


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Re: [GTALUG] CVT-RB: another video mystery

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-06-19 18:04, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

Except varous things exploited them.  Like whacking on GPU registers only
during blanking intervals to avoid tearing.


You may recall the Sinclair ZX80, which had a performance mode which 
killed the video.  If you wanted a display, you got much less performance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX80
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Re: [GTALUG] CVT-RB: another video mystery

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-06-20 10:50, Lennart Sorensen wrote:

https://www.fpga4fun.com/files/HDMI_Demystified_rev_1_02.pdf  gives a
nice explanation of how it worked in HDMI 1.3.  2.1 just got rid of the
dedicated clock to free up a 4th signal pair.


Other than a small bit about lip sync, there is nothing about syncing 
the signal in that.



Sure but HDMI and compressed video of IP have nothing in common really.
Vastly different bandwidths and purposes.


First off, that RTP article mentions video, not just audio.  While the 
details may differ, the principles remain the same,  that is the framing 
is embedded in the data.  Don't confuse transport with signal.


In the case of my IPTV, the exact same signal is delivered to my TV, as 
I would receive over the old digital system.  And they both use HDMI to 
reach my TV.


By comparison, consider the audio in cell phones.  Way back in the dark 
ages of "1G" phones, the signal was analog.  Then came 2G, with a few 
different methods (CODECs) of converting the audio to a digital signal, 
with a major goal being to reduce the bandwidth, to the point where 
three or so digital calls would use the same amount of spectrum as one 
analog.  The difference between 2G and 3G, which used the GSM CODEC, is 
with 2G, the data was a continuous stream, but with 3G the exact same 
audio was transmitted in packets, though not over IP.  Saving bandwidth 
was still a goal.  Then, with 4g and lots of bandwidth available, the 
goals shifted from saving bandwidth to providing a better quality call.  
IP was now being used to carry the calls.  Through all this, the goal 
remained the same, that is to carry a voice conversation.  With the 
digital systems, the sync was carried along with the call data, even 
though different CODECs might have been used at different times.


Again, there is absolutely no need for blanking intervals with digital 
TV.  I suspect Hugh's question arises because he is using an analog 
monitor, if I read his post correctly.  Then analog framing, including 
blanking interval, has to be created.


BTW, it is possible to have analog video without blanking intervals.  
Back in the 70s, I used to maintain some video terminals where the sync 
was fed directly to the monitor, instead of being combined with the video.


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Re: [GTALUG] CVT-RB: another video mystery

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-06-20 09:23, Lennart Sorensen wrote:

Supposedly HDMI is using some of the blanking space to send audio,
so I guess it has some use.


Is this documented anywhere?  Sure the audio is sent over the cable, but 
why should there be such a thing as a blanking interval on a digital 
system?  The blanking interval was used to sync the camera and TV.  
There is absolutely no need for that with a digital signal.  Of course 
there is a sync method with digital, but that could be contained in the 
data.  When you have a digital signal, multiplexing of different data, 
including sync, is trivial.


Read about Real Time Protocol for info on how this is done for audio and 
video over IP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_Transport_Protocol


HDMI is sending uncompressed frames


I have Rogers IPTV.  The TV comes over IP via the cable.  That would 
most certainly be compressed, as was the digital TV I had before it.  
There are HDMI cables between the Rogers box and my A/V receiver and 
from the receiver to my TV.  Are those cables carrying uncompressed 
video?  I doubt it, considering the signal Rogers distributes originated 
with ATSC from the broadcasters.


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Re: [GTALUG] CVT-RB: another video mystery

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-06-19 18:04, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

Is such compression part of what HDMI carries?  For computer monitors?
Almost all compression used in video is lossy -- not what I want for a
computer monitor


I don't know the details of what HDMI, but compression would generally 
be done near the source.


I still don't think there are blanking intervals with digital video.  
However, since you're using an analog monitor, blanking would have to be 
recreated for the analog signal.


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Re: [GTALUG] CVT-RB: another video mystery

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-06-19 14:47, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

One silly wast of bandwidth is blanking intervals.  That mattered for CRTs
since steering the electron beam took time.  It should not matter for
LCDs.


That doesn't make sense, especially when you consider how the digital 
system works, with things like I, P and B frames.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_compression_picture_types

As you mentioned blanking intervals are a relic of analog TV, dating 
back before WW2.  There is absolutely no need for them with digital TV.

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Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-06-01 15:30, James Knott wrote:
I still have the 2nd one.  It's a Sharp EL-545, which also still 
works.  I guess it's pushing 25 years old or so and it also still 
works.  It came with a thick instruction book.


Correction, 35 years.

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Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-06-01 12:32, James Knott wrote:
then a couple of Sharp calculators, the first of which used batteries 
and the 2nd light powered.


I still have the 2nd one.  It's a Sharp EL-545, which also still works.  
I guess it's pushing 25 years old or so and it also still works.  It 
came with a thick instruction book.


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Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-06-01 15:05, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

I remember seeing the initial ad campaign.  A big price drop from other
calculators.  But it only had 4 functions.  I had been given a scientific
calculator by then, if I remember correctly.  Oddity: floating point but
no scientific notation -- crazy.


Yep, it was a 4 banger.  Fixed point at 2 digits.  It also took a fair 
effort to press the keys, IIRC.  A couple of years later, I bought a 
couple of their desktop calculators, from a surplus place in the 
states.  SD Sales?  Even though they were made in Toronto, I still had 
to pay duty to bring them across the border.




| BTW, as I mentioned the other day, I still have a slide rule from my high
| school days.  It's a Pickett Microline 120 and it still works 56 years later!
| By the time I got to Ryerson, I was using a calculator.



Pickett was a good brand.  I really didn't like plastic slide rules
because they were jerky to operate: stiction.




Well, what do you expect for $2?  
Anyway, I was just a kid starting high school at the time. Incidentally, 
there's a bit of a story about my first day in electricity class, which 
is what I bought that slide rule for.  On the first day of class, the 
teacher was talking about resistance and how all conductors had it.  I 
then asked "What about superconductors?".  He'd never heard of them 
(this was Sept. 1967, when few people had).  I knew about them, because 
I had read about them in an encyclopedia that I had at home.  So, the 
next day, I brought in that volume to show him.  IIRC, superconductivity 
was discovered by a German physicist in 1914, when he inserted lead wire 
in liquid helium.


My grade 12 electronics teacher had a big, multi-scale slide rule, which 
could handle reactance (capacitance & inductance) directly.


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Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-06-01 12:22, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

I loved calculators but I actually rarely need them.  I've stopped
buying them.  But not before I bought too many.

The first calculator I bought was a used Sinclair.  You, Stewart, will
know of those.  Amazing but very cheaply built.  It didn't last and I
no longer have it.


My first calculator was a Rapidman 800, which sold for about $100 at 
Eaton's, IIRC.  My next one was a Novus Mathematician, which used RPN 
and then a couple of Sharp calculators, the first of which used 
batteries and the 2nd light powered.  These days, I use an Android app 
called RealCalc.


BTW, as I mentioned the other day, I still have a slide rule from my 
high school days.  It's a Pickett Microline 120 and it still works 56 
years later!  By the time I got to Ryerson, I was using a calculator.


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Re: [GTALUG] an odd question about well on going service factors.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-05-30 17:49, Karen Lewellen via talk wrote:
While this answers my specific question, your comment  about sharing 
services  creates a different one.
If you have a large house  with more than one television, it is often 
the case that this second television has its own cable box, say to 
allow other members  of your household to  watch what they wish.
How is indeed  sharing the Internet with the basement of your house 
different? 


2 points.
First, it's all one family.  Also, with Rogers, you pay for each extra 
cable box, on top of your monthly bill.  I live alone, unless you count 
my cat.  I have 3 boxes and pay extra for 2 of them.

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Re: [GTALUG] an odd question about well on going service factors.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-05-30 17:27, Karen Lewellen via talk wrote:
If it is illegal, how can so many rental structures provide it as 
apart of their tenancy? 


Multi unit buildings, such as an apartment building may have the 
appropriate agreement.  The only way I have experienced that was with 
cable TV and that was a long time ago.  I currently live in a condo and 
pay all my own utilities, other than water.    Someone sharing their 
personal connection is a violation of the contract.  I believe I posted 
a quote from Rogers a while ago.

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Re: [GTALUG] an odd question about well on going service factors.

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-05-30 14:30, Karen Lewellen via talk wrote:

Hi folks,
Tapping into your genus once again.


These two might be related.

My landlord is including access to his Fibe TV account, he already 
provides internet as a part of my rent.


At this moment Bell and I continue to fight, land line wise and 
otherwise. they seem to be preventing Teksavy from helping me


As I mentioned before, sharing services with a tenant is a violation of 
the terms of service.  Maybe Bell is being nasty about it.


Perhaps a way around this is to use one of the voice over IP providers, 
who will supply a terminal that looks like a plain phone line.



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Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-05-29 18:15, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

Computers were not in classrooms until long after my time.  A very few
school boards had a very few computers near the end.  I admired the
Curta Calculators advertised in Scientific American -- the only hand
held digital calculators at that time.  I carried a slide-rule in high
school but almost nobody else did.  I also carried a fat Swiss Army
Knife -- that would get you expelled now.  I didn't duel with either.


I took Fortran in Gr. 12.  The computer was nowhere near my school. It 
was in the board office and my teacher would take our pencil mark cards 
to compile our "programs".  I don't know that any program was actually 
run, only compiled.


I also used a slide rule in high school.  It was required in some of my 
classes.  I bought one for $2 at Shoppers Drug Mart, when I started Gr. 
9.  I still have it in my desk drawer and it still works!  


I have also long been in the habit of carrying a pocket knife.  The only 
issue I had was when I tried to board a flight, forgetting I had it, and 
was told I couldn't carry it with me.  I was able to mail it home though.

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Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-05-28 21:41, Stewart C. Russell via talk wrote:
TIL that Chromebooks brick themselves when they hit a hard-coded date: 
the date when Google stops providing updates:
https://coloradosun.com/2023/05/26/colorado-schools-chromebooks-churn-outdated/ 



The article's about Denver Public School District, who are finding a 
whole lot of their Chromebooks bought during pandemic are running out 
of life. The environmental and cost impacts are huge.


Do they actually "brick"?  Or just not get any more updates?  I have 
never heard of this before.  I've run all my Android phones past their 
best before date and they just keep on going.  It's usually the battery 
that does them in.  Why would Chromebooks be any different?  I suspect 
if this was true, it might get the government annoyed.


Here are a couple of articles about it:
https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en#zippy=%2Clenovo
https://www.maketecheasier.com/chromebook-expiration-date/
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Re: [GTALUG] how many addresses possible

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-04-30 18:53, o1bigtenor via talk wrote:

You likely quite disbelieve me - - - you are welcome to check for yourself.
I would be quite happy to be proven wrong!


Unless you're using DHCP, that device wouldn't be usable.  What is it?

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Re: [GTALUG] how many addresses possible

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-04-30 17:55, o1bigtenor via talk wrote:

I just spent over 1/2 hour looking at a number of SoCs (3) and microcontrollers
(also 3) and I can't find one where I can give it this 'classless'
address you're
talking about.


Is there nowhere to set the subnet mask?  Either with / notation or 
a.b.c.d.  If you can set the address, you should be able to do that, one 
way or the other.


For example, a typical network would be a /24.  It could be expressed as 
10.0.0.0 /24 or 10.0.0.0 255.255.255.0, depending on the equipment.

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Re: [GTALUG] how many addresses possible

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-04-30 16:20, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

| If you're on Rogers, you get 2 IPv4 addresses.

As far as I know, only if you turn off the router function of your 
Rogers-supplied
box (modem/router/AP/...).


Yep, you have to use bridge mode.

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Re: [GTALUG] how many addresses possible

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-04-30 15:40, Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:

Yeah I certainly get a /56 IPv6 block from my ISP along with a single
IPv4 address.  Works nicely.


If you're on Rogers, you get 2 IPv4 addresses.

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Re: [GTALUG] The good old days of oreilly.com

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-04-30 13:11, David Mason via talk wrote:

I had purchased several books over the years.

I can successfully login in to members.oreilly.com 
, but it shows 0 purchases.


Mine are there and available for download.
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Re: [GTALUG] The good old days of oreilly.com

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-04-30 12:04, sciguy via talk wrote:
I am having very little luck poking around. And to correct what I said 
earlier, searching specific titles leads me to a "403" error 
(Forbidden), not a 404 as I had said. I searched on Programming Perl, 
which I have the second and fourth editions, and got a "403" when I 
clicked on the title. The message below reads: "Your free O’Reilly 
trial has ended, making this content unavailable to view. For 
unlimited access to all O’Reilly has to offer, purchase a membership 
here." I also notice that on the titles I see, there are no "purchase" 
links, just "read" links. It sounds like for the $50 or so monthly 
fee, you can read anything you like. Still not sold on the idea, but 
clearly they have changed their marketing model.


Search on Google for the book title.  Also, you can try 
https://members.oreilly.com/ and log in with your ID and password.

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Re: [GTALUG] The good old days of oreilly.com

[James Knott via talk]

On 2023-04-30 11:19, sciguy via talk wrote:

Hi folks

I hadn't logged on to Oreilly.com in several years, and today I had a 
reason to do so. I had been a frequent purchaser of Oreilly books at 
one time, and recently I had become interested in their Raspberry Pi 
Cookbook, and decided to used my old login to their site and see if it 
was offered there. The search only led me to a 404, and that it 
wouldn't show me anything unless I paid a subscription fee. WTF?


I recall I had had a number of PDF bookmarks to previous purchases of 
other titles of their books. All gone. Sorry if I was out of the loop. 
I was hoping to just order the book; preferably a PDF. Is Amazon in 
control of everything now?


I have also bought a lot of their books.  They are apparently still 
there, but you can't get to them from their home page.  You can find 
them, if you search on a title.


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