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Well, been back 3 weeks now but only just got the photos uploaded!.
Fantastic week, very memorable - good people to be away with.
My Photos are here : http://photos.steveseymour.com/sweeden1
Other Photos are here : http://photos.steveseymour.com/sweeden2
Steve Seymour September 25th, 2007 23:09:38
For work I have an O2 3G data card. Whilst this normally works fine, it can also be quite expensive - charged per MB of data transfer. O2 don't do an "unlimited" tarrif (or rather one, with a high acceptable usage limit) - they still seem to think that 400MB of transfer could be all you would need in a month.
T-Mobile recently announced their Web-n-Walk service which is their data offering. Its available to add onto a monthly account or on it's own for £30 per month - unlimited (well, 3GB on the Plus service or 10GB on the max service which is £44 per month). However, I don't want to be come a T-Mobile customer with a monthly fee. They also have a Pay as you Go (PAYG) offering where Web-n-Walk data is enabled by default. The key thing is there is a maximum charge of £1 per day. T's & C's say you should only use it in a phone (not in a laptop etc) and the limit is 40MB per day - measured monthly. Thats still 1.2GB per month. Not too bad .... Also, PAYG requirements are to make a call or use a service every 180 days to keep the SIM active.
So, I sent off for a SIM card (all of 50p) via the web, added £5 of credit and put the SIM in my o2 data card. Created a new profile to use the APN name "general.t-mobile.co.uk" - no Authentication, and it connected first time. I only had 1 bar of coverage on 3G at home however the download speeds were very impressive! I shall continue to try it out over the next few weeks instead of my o2 card - perhaps it may end up worth taking out a monthly contract if it continues to perform well.
Steve Seymour July 7th, 2007 20:01:19
Recent work equipping Comms room's for a client required the sourcing of some 16Amp adaptors - namely Y-Cords and splitters.
RS were ridiculously expensive for these and therefore I did some searching on the web to find an alternative.
The company I ended up using who charged very reasonable prices was "Essential Supplies" - on the web at http://www.essentialsupplies.co.uk/
The 16 Amp commando range of adaptors I used were - http://www.essentialsupplies.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_16A_Adaptors_93.html
Steve Seymour June 29th, 2007 13:00:00
Whilst working for a client in Chippenham recently, I was using the local Starbucks to do some preparatory work. As I per normal, I logged into the T-Mobile hotpot there to get online, collect mail etc. Part of the work I needed to do required me to use the Windows PPTP VPN Client. It connected fine however I was not able to actually connect to anything. Some web pages worked, replication would start but not complete, remote desktop would connect but not login. All symptoms of TCP/IP MTU issues. (See Wikipedia "Maximum Transmission Unit - MTU")
MTU within windows can be manipulated for LAN Interfaces fairly easily - this quite often has to happen for ADSL Broadband connections etc - see Google.
However, manipulating this for PPTP VPN connections was slightly more tricky to work out however a big of searching found the details. The registry key requiring modification is :
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NdisWan\Parameters\Protocols\0]
"TunnelMTU"=dword:000004b0
"ProtocolType"=dword:00000800
"PPPProtocolType"=dword:00000021
Full details at : http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;826159&Product=winxp
I found an MTU of 576 (decimal) was what was needed for PPTP at T-Mobile hotspots. I then also found a reference to this at "The Air Source" (although in relation to Linux configuration)
Attached is a .reg file that creates the above key and sets the MTU to 576.
Steve Seymour June 20th, 2007 11:00:00
Useful tool ...
This package provides ThinkPad Keyboard Customizer Utility for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows XP users.
ThinkPad Keyboard Customizer Utility enables predefined assignments for:
- A Windows key and an Application key on the ThinkPad keyboard.
- Audio volume control buttons, mute button, ThinkPad button/Access IBM button, Suspend/Hibernate, Wireless Radio Control, EasyEject, Full Screen Magnifier, and Presentation Director on the external keyboard.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-44185
Steve Seymour March 28th, 2007 14:35:31
During our recent re-decoration at home, I decided now was the time to run a new arial feed from the roof around to our back room so we could have decent freeview reception on our TV there. My desire to do this properly led me on a search for -
1. Quality coax cable
2. F-Type crimp connectors (F-Type make a much better connection than normal arial connectors)
3. Crimp Tool
4. Cable Stripper
RS Components had most of the bits but seemed very expensive but a little more digging found me -
http://www.tvaerials.com
where I bought ...
| 1 | Black Clips |
| 20 | CRIMP "F" Connector |
| 1 | PROception Screened Outdoor 2 Way Splitter |
| 1 | Webro 100m WF100 Black Coax Cable |
and ... http://www.dataconnectsolutions.com
where I bought ...
Order Inventory:
Product: F-Crimper for RG6/59 and CT100
Product Code: DCS-106H Price: £7.65
Product: Coaxial Cable Stripper RG6/59
Product Code: DCS-312A Price: £3.75
Product: F-Connector Termination Aid
Product Code: DCS-224D Price: £2.00
All the things I needed to sort out my cabling! (The Termination Aid is a fantastic tool!) Comments (2)
Steve Seymour March 26th, 2007 21:15:00
Well, we have recently had the challenge of finding a good plumber in Harefield to help us out with capping a pipe and twisting a tap. Simple jobs when you have the right tools and know how! After trying various people from a Yell.com search ... no luck. We even had plumbers who promised to come but never did.
However, we were passed a tip by my mum who had seen a van driving around locally with signage for "www.oddjobmen.com". My first thought was - I hope their work is better than their website!
I gave them a call on 020 8428 0557 and they said they could pop around the next day. After checking out the requirements, getting the parts and coming back the next day they got the job done brilliantly. They have even popped back and re-sealed a tap that we were a bit worried was damp/leaking. Great service and thoroughly recommended.
They are based in watford and seem happy to cover Harefield, Northwood, Ruislip etc. They also do a lot more than just plumbing so give them a call.
Steve Seymour March 26th, 2007 21:10:02
A few notes on installing VMWare ESX Server 3.0.1 on an IBM Blade HS20 (Type 8843) when you have an onboard LSI 1030 Adaptor. We are using the LSI to do hardware RAID 1 on 2 local Mini SCSI disks then a DS4300 SAN for the VMFS storage.
The reason for writing this down ... Ive been struggling with it all week! ... and I don't want someone else to have the same problems. Im very familiar with VMWare - including the ESX range having installed it multiple times in various situations ... however, never on a IBM BladeCenter.
After various aborted attempts to complete this install, this is the final set of working steps. The biggest problem I had until now was that the ESX Install could see the SAN Space but NOT the local mirror - even though it had the correct driver etc.
1. Use the latest version of ESX - in my case, 3.0.1 - rather than the 3.0 CD we had to hand
2. Ensure all Blade Center firmware is totally up to date - for the Chassis 8677 - http://www-304.ibm.com/jct01004c/systems/support/supportsite.wss/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-54597&brandind=5000020
3. Ensure all Blade Firmware - including the LSI controller are totally up to date
4. Login to your Fibre Channel Switches and DISABLE the ports for the blade you are working on - remember to do both switch modules!
5. Use the ESX CD (real CD - not ISO otherwise you will have to do some funky stuff to make the CD contents availbale via HTTP/FTP/NFS) and boot the install - I used graphical but it doesnt really matter.
6. Choose the LSI device to install on - I was happy to use the default layout
7. Reboot at the end of the install and install the license file, set the hostname, IP - other basic config settings.
8. Re-enable the Fibre ports for the blade
9. Follow the guide "Implementing VMware ESX Server 2.1 with IBM TotalStorage FAStT" (linked at the bottom) to provision a LUN on your SAN for VMWare. - Note - the doc is aimed at ESX 2.1 but the SAN config advice is still valid. (Key thing is setting the host type on the HBA's to be LNXCL)
10. Reboot the ESX Server
11. Load the VI Client, login, go to Configuration. Check Storage adaptors now show up the HBA's and the allocated LUN from the SAN (note - if you have dual path - it will show up twice - this is ok.
12. Now go to Storage, Add Storage, Disk/LUN ... your LUN from the SAN should show up, choose it and Next, Next through the setup. I would suggest naming the Storage something sensible to make it clear where and what it is. Also, rename the local storage.
Steve Seymour March 17th, 2007 18:33:35
So this morning we had breakfast at the Front Porch Cafe and drove off down to the keys. We stopped off at tonights accomodation - Island Bay Resort - to drop off luggage and take a break. What a fantastic little privately owned place. Its a set of small villa's each containing bed, bathroom and kitchen. Its directly off the US 1 (like most things on the keys!) Both Sue and I agreed it would be a great place to come back and stay at one day to do the rest of the Keys,
Our next stop along the keys was the Dolphin Research Center. At $19.50 (discount coupon on website) each, at first we weren't sure as it just looked like a single building just off US 1. However, once you go through the entrance, it opens up a little behind directly onto the sea. They have about 10 pens out in the sea containing a total of 19 dolphins - including 3 young calf's. There are regular sessions (training, play, feeding etc) which are all narated and unlike somewhere like SeaWorld, you are only a meter or so away from the Dolphins. The staff there were brilliant and we both felt that this was definitely a highlight of the trip. Especially seeing the young dolphins. The DRC is essentially a charity and they clearly care a lot about their work and the animals.
Now well into the afternoon, we jumped back in to the car to head down to Key West - the last of the Florida Keys. We took a walk to watch the (rather cloudy) Sunset from Mallory Square then walked down to the Southern most point - apparently closer to Cuba (90 miles) than to the Florida mainland. After a drink in Willie T's and dinner at Turtle Kraal's, we drove back to Island Bay resort at about midnight for a good nights sleep! Long day and lots of miles!
Steve Seymour January 13th, 2007 04:59:00
After a short 45 minute flight delay on Thursday, we arrived in Miami Airport mid afternoon, collected our car and headed toward Miami Beach. Only about a 20 min drive, the first challenge was what to do with the car! No car park for the Hotel so you are pretty much forced to hand it over to the Valet parking guys for the priviledge of $24 for 24 hours. We are staying right on Ocean Drive at the Colony Hotel, one of the original Art Deco hotels of the area. Nice clean room although a little bit of a squeeze with 2 double futon style beds!
After a wander around South Beach and a visit down to the sea, we headed west away from the front to find some food. Nice mediteranean style restaurants were to be found down Espanola Way - we ate at an Italian called Hosteria Romana - Good food and friendly staff. Time for a bit more wandering and a few drinks on the front before calling it a night - I had got to the tired and clumsy stage, nearly knocking over my drinks!
Yesterday was spent exploring South Beach. After breakfast at the News Cafe, we started off exploring. We quickly found out that it was actually Art Deco weekend. An annual event put on by the Miami Design Preservation League. We were going to do a Walking tour with them anyway but as it was a special weekend, their timing was a little later than usual. Nowhere in advance had we found any mention of this weekend however it did explain the lots of small vendors tents that had started to appear along the front!. Before the tour, we wandered toward Lincoln Way Mall - the pedestrianised shopping Mall of the area. The Art Deco style continues in this area with large colourful sculptures and constructions. We did manage to discover the Apple Store - Art Deco Style :-). The tour was supposed to be 90 mins but in reality was 2 hours 20mins! Very informative and she managed to keep everyone's attention. It involved walking around the areas of South Beach and actually going into the lobby's of some of the hotels and buildings. Very impressive and we'd recommend the tour as a good way to get some of the understanding of the Art Deco style and era.
Given we only had the one full day in the area, we decided to jump in the car and drive over to Coral Gables and the Venetian Pool. Bit chilly but we did spent about 90 mins there enjoying the location and going for a swim! Next we headed over toward downtown Miami, parked the car and jumped on the MetroMover. This is a free train type service that links all the downtown Miami Areas and is an easy way to see some of the sights. Lots and lots of building sites and a few very impressive looking buildings. Think Canary Wharf but bigger :-).
We then drove back to the hotel to spend the evening enjoying the Art Deco Weekend Parade, the various stalls and a few bottles purchased from the Mini Market. After a quick burger at Jonny Rocket's, we met up with Adam and Collette for a few drinks then carried on back toward the hotel stopping along the way at another restaurant/bar that had a fantastic Live Sax player. Next stop, Florida Keys! ...
Steve Seymour January 13th, 2007 12:24:19
