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Yakman66
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Name: Eric
Country: United States
State: California
Birthday: 4/9/1981
Gender: Male
Occupation: Engineering
Industry: Engineering
Message: message me
Member Since:
4/8/2003
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| For some reason I can never seem to sleep the night before I go back home from a business trip, especially one that is more than 2 weeks long. A few hours ago I sat down on my hotel bed perfectly ready to sleep and all of a sudden my mind gets flooded with all sorts of thoughts and images of where life has taken me and where it is going. It's like something in my subconscious which has finally gotten used to living in this foreign environment has come to a sudden realization that this is not my real life and that real life is something that (for better or worse) I'm going back to.
For some reason this time I've started thinking about all the different types of people I've known since I was a little kid. I remembered the kid in preschool that always had green snot dripping out of his nose that we'd play He-Man with.... the kid in 3rd grade that stole a really cool giant magnet that my mom had bought for me for a science fair project and made up a bullshit story about how his uncle bought it for him after my friend told the teacher that he had stolen it (can you can tell that I am still somewhat bitter about this?).... the girl that I had a crush on in 9th grade who then moved away in the 10th... all the people in my dorm that I didn't really get to know that well in my freshman year in college because I was completely afraid of talking to new people.... the old lady on the airplane that told me all about her son and his Japanese wife (because she thought I was Japanese).... and especially all of the complete idiots and extremely small handful of brilliant people that I've met since I've started working.
Once you think about this many people I think you begin to understand them more. All of the people that I've really disliked in the past don't seem all that bad anymore (yes, even magnet kid). I'm actually pretty glad now that I met all of those people. Of course all of this could just be because I'm up 4 hours past my bedtime. I could wake up in the morning and see things the same I did before.... oh well, I guess there's always the next business trip.
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| I am in desperately in search for a lackey at work. I've looked through many resumes in the last month and I must say I've been extremely disappointed by the "talent" that is available through our system at work. Thus I am expanding my search. If you know anyone looking for a job and fits the basic requirements below please send me a resume.
Basic requirements:
1. Know Linux (know it well)
2. Have a clearance (i don't have time to wait for you to get one unless you are brilliant or something)
3. Ability to live in the middle of nowhere for a few weeks next year.
4. Ability to do what I say without question (okay. maybe not a requirement, but i did say i needed a lackey)
Things on your resume that will get you major points:
1. previous field experience
2. deep understanding of networking (Cisco crap, routing protocols, multicast, OSI model)
3. experience assembling things
4. evidence of ability to work with stupid people
Things on your resume that won't get you points from me (or will deduct points)
1. any mention of Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint experience (-1 point for each instance)
2. "M.S. Systems Engineering" (i have no respect for people in my own department)
3. certifcations : CCNA, MCSE, A+, blah, blah, blah (i don't care)
4. long wordy resumes (i am borderline illiterate)
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| I recently got a new Dell Latitude D420 at work to replace my D400. I figured that I'd write a 3 year exit review for the D400 followed by an initial impressions review of the D420. Nobody will probably read this, but I'm posting it for my own records. I'd also like to point out that I would link back to my review from 3 years ago, but I just realized that xanga won't let me search my own blog. I bet you have to pay for that.
Dell Latitude D400 - 3 year review
Basic Specs:
Pentium M 1.4ghz
12" LCD (1024x768)
1gb ram
40gb 4200rpm hard drive
integrated Intel 855gm graphics
Dell wireless 1350 802.11b/g (Broadcom chipset)
about 4 pounds
I had the D400 for 3 years and I must say that I've really been avoiding having to use it for the last year or so. When I first got it the fit and finish was pretty good for 3 years ago, but after 2 years the poor thing was really starting to wear out. Perhaps taking the thing through airport security 70+ times and tons of meetings artificially wore it out quickly, but I really think this kind of abuse should be expected of something that Dell advertises as a business laptop. The most notable evidence of this wear was that the screen would flop around significantly when opening the screen. I would show this to people and they wouldn't think it was bad. Maybe I'm spoiled by my Thinkpad, but it was definitely way better when it was new. I have a couple small quality niggles. I found that the trackpoint mouse buttons had their silver paint worn off after just a month or two of usage. Why Dell makes the mouse buttons out of one color of plastic and then PAINTS the stupid button silver/grey is beyond me. For the past 3 years I've had to live with people pointing out the stupid worn buttons. Another complaint is that there are a few large dust specks that have permanently crept underneath the screen. This is just a minor annoyance. I'm not one of those people who immediately returns a LCD screen or computer because they find 1 dead pixel. My last quality issue is with the stupid rubber/silicone feet that are on the bottom of the computer. Those stupid things have fallen off about 4 times. Once one falls off your computer no longer sits flat on a table... and you better hope you find it so you can superglue it back on. You get dumb looks when you ask IT to order them for you (and they'll just fall off again anyway). Dell seriously needed to use better adhesive on these things.
The main reason that I had been avoiding using my D400 was that the battery was completely worn out. I was lucky to get 1 hour of battery after using it for 2 years. In comparison I could get almost 4.5 hours on battery when it was new. After 2.5 years the battery failed completely. This is normal for lithium ion batteries so I'm not going to dock any points. (You might be asking why my company didn't just replace the battery when I reported that it didn't last very long anymore. Well, i was told that I couldn't get it replaced because it still worked. WTF?!)
Performance wise the D400 has held up well over the last 3 years. 1.4 ghz is still plenty for everyday office tasks and I never really felt that I needed more than 1gb of RAM. There were times that I would run a virtual machine in VMware which would eat up some RAM, but I could always get by if I just closed some programs running in the VMware host OS.
Day to day usability of the D400 was pretty good. My personal laptops have been a Thinkpad T40 and T43 and I had really gotten used to using the trackpoint nub in the middle of the keyboard for mouse control. (I have no idea what Dell calls it, but I will call it trackpoint) Because I can keep my fingers on the home row for typing I find that using the trackpoint is faster and much more accurate than using the touchpad, but that is just personal preference. I tend to set the trackpoint sensitivity fairly high so I can move the pointer at furiously fast speeds. I have this weird habit of asking people at work about the trackpoint and I haven't found a single person at work that uses this feature. Their loss I guess.
When I got my D400 three years ago I basically had two choices for a company laptop: Dell Latitude D600 or D400. I would say that 95+% of people at work would choose the D600. The D600 is similar to the D400 except it has a 14" screen vs 12" and has a built in (rather than external) DVD drive. My main reasoning for picking the D400 was: 1) the 12" on the D400 screen was the same resolution as the 14" screen (for our company's standard configuration), 2) I rarely use the DVD drive and 3) If I could save 1.5 pounds of weight over the D600 then any sacrifices made in 1 and 2 would be worth it. I can say that after 3 years I still feel good about my decision.
Over the last 3 years a lot of people have criticized the lack of a built in optical drive, but they usually shut up when I point out that they only use the DVD drive to watch movies on their COMPANY laptop. I honestly don't use the optical drive much at all. I leave it plugged into my dock station so it is aways there when I'm at my desk, and when I need it in an undocked situation I can still use it with minimal pain.
I've also had people point out that they enjoy having more screen space on their 14" D600. This inevitably ends in me spending about 5 minutes explaining how both screens have the same resolution and how 14" isn't any better than 12" at 1024x768 unless you were blind.
Dell Latitude D420 - Initial impressions
Basic specs:
Core Duo 1.2ghz Ultra Low Voltage
12" widescreen LCD 1280x800
1.5gb RAM
60gb 1.8" hard drive (same drive as iPod 60gb)
integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics
Dell wireless 802.11a/b/g (Broadcom chipsset)
3.2 pounds (w00t!)
I've had the D420 for a bit over a month now after my D400 was declared replaceable after a series of problems (crashed hard drive being one of them). The D420 has little in common with the D400. The main difference is obviously the wide 12" screen. With the 12" widescreen dell was able to physically make the D420 smaller than the D400. The two computers are about the same width, but the D420 is much shallower in depth due to the wide screen. Because of the physical size difference, the D420 is about 20% lighter than the D400. The other huge difference is the move from a standard 2.5" hard drive to an 1.8" hard drive. This 1.8" drive is pretty much the same drive that is used in the iPod.
Quality wise I have to say that I like the D420 way better than I remember liking the D400. My screen floppiness problem with the D400 is completely fixed due to the decreased size of the D420's screen and Dell's use of real metal hinges in the D420. Body flex is almost nonexistent and the whole thing just feels more solid. Only time will tell whether or not it holds up over the next few years.
Performance wise I would say that the D420 is comparable to the D400. Having dual cores sounds like it would be way faster, but I haven't really noticed much difference in processing speed. What I have noticed is that the hard drive on the D420 is way slower. Our company has a program that runs daily to back up our computers and I've noticed that while it's running (scanning the hard drive for new files) the ability to open programs and files seems to slow to a halt. I know it isn't a problem with CPU usage because usage never goes above 30% while it is running. I understand Dell's need to go to a smaller 1.8" hard drive to accommodate the smaller physical size, but I'm just pointing out that the 1.8" hard drive standard has a long way to go to catch up.
Usability wise the 1280x800 screen in a 12" wide screen format is just about perfect. It is also way brighter than the screen on the D400. I have always complained about the low 1024x768 resolution on the D400 and 1280x800 on the D420 is certainly a giant step in the right direction. My only issues so far have been that all of the USB ports are on the back of the D420 and that there is no RS-232 port to speak of. Like the 1.8" hard drive, the USB port placement on the back was probably just a sacrifice that had to be made for size sake. Dropping the serial port is truly an atrocity. Now I need to carry around a usb to serial converter whenever I need to configure a router or switch in the lab.
I am tired now so i'll finish off this post later. If i have time i'll make this post even longer with comments on my Thinkpad T43.
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| Recently I've been spending a lot of time learning how to deploy wireless networks. Over the last year or so I've had the opportunity to gain a ton of real world knowledge about the basic RF priciples (power, attenuation, multipath, LOS, fresnel zones, beamwidth, gain, etc). I've also had the opportunity to play with a lot of really cool stuff and work with a lot of really cool people who really know their stuff about all manner of things RF.
Right now I'm designing a commercial radio based network that will hopefully cover at least a 15 mile radius and have 10+ nodes. After looking at all the commercial products that are available, I can honestly say that I'm disappointed with what is available. Wifi has no range at all.... I mean sure you see people going tens of miles with 802.11b but they are doing point to point links with FIXED endpoints and tremendously high gain directional antennas. Wifi is useless when you start talking about mobile area networks. Sure you can start scattering wifi access points everywhere, but that requires a lot of infrastructure. Then there's WiMAX. It is screaming fast, but the range isn't all that great either when you start using omidirectional antennas... and the receive sensitivity that I've seen on products is horrible too. The other things that are really lacking is commercial development of wireless mesh and true ad-hoc networks. Everything I've seen is still based on master/slave relationships where there is 1 master and everything else is a slave. Not only does it basically cut your bandwidth in half, but you also limit your range because you always have to be within x distance from the master.
I've recently found a great little piece of freeware. It's called Radio Mobile and it helps you plan radio network deployments. It is basically able to pull in high resolution elevation data for an area you want to deploy your network and uses a very sophisticated radio propagation model to visually show you how your network will be affected by the terrain. I've probably spent about 20 hours in the last 4 days playing with it. It is really that neat.
Anyway, other than wireless network stuff I've been doing a lot of research on things like cryptography, linux based network filtering (esp. iptables and kernel patches ), embedded linux platforms, and multicasted video streaming.
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| I figured that I wouldn't have to do much travel for the rest of the year after spending a total of 14 weeks out at White Sands, but now I find myself out on my 6th day in DC for a demo at the Pentagon. (Side note: The Pentagon is a lot smaller than I thought it would be.) Within the next 3 weeks I'll be in Fort Wayne (yuck), Scottsdale, Mesa, and Albuquerque. I have to say that 80% of this travel is pointless. Pretty much the same thing can be accomplished over the telephone. The only travel I am looking forward to is Albuquerque because I actually like the people in Albuquerque.
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