Yawwwwwwn

[altivo]

Can't stay awake any longer.

Nanowrimo word count: 45472 words (1823 today)
Sponsor me!
Story draft available here.

Not even halfway through the story I need to tell, and already approaching 50K. It doesn't have half the funnies and jokes I intended, either. I can see this is a long term project.

OK, a question for the computer folks. I know next to nothing about wireless networking, never having had occasion to use it at all. I picked up a little device very cheaply that can function as a tiny netbook, complete with wireless connection, stripped down Linux operating system, and up to 2GB of solid state "disk" storage on a SD chip. I haven't had the best of luck getting connections with it, however. We have no wifi in our house, obviously. Neither does the library where I work. Yesterday, though, we went to lunch in Woodstock where there is free, open wifi advertised on the square and inside the restaurant. It could see the network, identified it as "Open" using the same SSID that is listed on all the signs in the area, but failed to connect even after repeated attempts. Then we stopped at the Woodstock Public Library because Gary want to get some audiobooks, and the gadget did connect easily and immediately to the wifi there. Why can it connect to one open link yet not to another? Repeated this test again today as we passed through Woodstock with the same results. Successful connection at the library, failure on the square.

Comments

[altivo]

I think Far has the answer below. The router expects some sort of "I accept" cookie to be created through a browser when it presents a terms of use document. Since the Z2 has no web browser, it can't comply.

[moonhare]

Interesting, and not something I've had to deal with. I wonder if that would that make an iPod or iPad incompatible if not using Safari or would Applications like Echophone or BBC News supply said info?

We have a patron or so a day come to the desk and ask why they can't connect. They usually tell me that they can connect at home or at the local bistro, but even entering our password doesn't help them here. I hate to touch patrons' pc's but sometimes we can luck our way through things.

[altivo]

Well, as I said, I'm far from knowledgeable about wireless protocols. I can tell you that they aren't simple, and that there have been dozens of revisions, upgrades, and added "security" features since the concept was first introduced. This makes it likely that older software or hardware could have trouble making connections to newer routers that have all the latest security features enabled and will not "step back" for compatibility with the older stuff. Encryption levels keep increasing as the hackers find ways to break them, so if a router only accepts, say, 256 bit encryption and the user's device can only handle 128 bit, you get no connection or some other spurious error message.

I have avoided wireless networking for a lot of reasons, and this is one of them. The earlier devices were also prone to radiate a lot of radio noise on frequencies other than the ones they were designed to use. That seems to have been reduced considerably in recent designs. There are also health concerns with microwave exposure, though of course the industry laughs at them. Historically, those who make money from a technology always insist it is safe, but sometimes this turns out not to be so with long or frequent exposure. The history of x-rays is enough to show us the validity of this concern.

It's clear that our new director is bound and determined to have wireless in the library, whether I'm willing to support it or not. In self defense, I'm going to have to learn about it even though I refuse to spend my time debugging it. I know she's been talking to the same outside technical consultant who manages the wireless system in Woodstock (where I just succeeded in using this little toy.)