Alfa antenna not recommended for Mac

I recently purchased an Alfa 1000mW 1W 802.11b/g USB Wireless WiFi Network Adapter from (also known as ASUW036H) from Amazon.  I posted a review there but it has not appeared, and I'm not sure it will, so I'm repeating the main points here.  The bottom line is that while it works, it is not easy to install and it won't work on future versions of the Mac OS.

Recently, the signal from my home wifi antenna has been inadequate for my Mac. Whether the problem is with the Mac AirPort or the Verizon modem is not clear.  With Verizon on strike, I don't think that anyone is going to come out to diagnose that side of the problem, so I bought this antenna.  It works, but installation on Mac OS 10.6 is far from easy.

For the record, there is a video on YouTube, and you can download the driver from the alfa web site (here) but I got the instructions on the CD that came with the antenna.  That was harder than you might think, since the CD was a non-standard size and would not work with the Mac CD slot (I had to use an external CD drive).  The instructions themselves involve the following steps.
1) You have to download the driver, as a rar-encrypted file, from a third-party site (here).  I had to use another computer, since the Mac's internet connection was not working properly.
2) You have to unpack the .rar file.  To do this, I downloaded WinRAR, which came with the StartNow computer virus (see previous post).
3) The package can then be installed on the Mac, but must be activated using line commands entered onto a terminal window.
4) Finally, the RealTek software has to be run.

It works.  The antenna receives enough signal that internet works fine.  This is an important point, and I'm happy for it.

But there are two more negatives.

First, I found that upon restarting, the device is not recognized.  The command

sudo kextutil -t -v /System/Library/Extensions/rtl8187l.kext

has to be repeated each time the computer is rebooted (anyone with a better solution, please comment). 

Second, this device will not work with future versions of the Mac OS.  From the alfa web site:
AWUS036H is not compatible to Mac OS 10.6.7 and later version, due to the chipset manufacture has stopped its driver update for this particular model. In countermeasure, we have verified that our AWUS036NH, AWUS036NEH, AWUS051NH, and AWUS036NHR are compatible to Mac OS 10.6.8.

To be fair, I should point out that this is as much Apple's fault as Alfa's.  There are many other antennas that don't work with the Mac.  I suppose that the best solution is to use a repeater rather than an antenna.

DirectNIC

I have been using DirectNIC for my domain names for a while (see the problems I had in May), and service has been good. Thursday, I discovered that stevemount.org was not getting redirected to www.life.umd.edu/labs/mount/ and discovered the reason. DirectNIC is based in New Orleans. The impressive thing is that they had provided service that long (and it was restored by Saturday morning). So, DirectNIC has done a much better job of pre-storm preparation and post-storm recovery than our government. Their experiences are all described on a blog (The Interdictor) that includes many photographs taken from downtown New Orleans during the storm and since, and a lot of on-the-ground reports that provide a unique perspective. The DirectNIC homepage indicates that they are migrating sites to new servers (presumably not in New Orleans). Their heroic efforts in the meantime have certainly earned my loyalty.

Sharing information -- I'm grateful for tips on Roomba repair.

We got a Roomba (robot vacuum cleaner) about six months ago. It does a remarkably good job of cleaning and it's very entertaining (a bit like I imagine having a pet trilobite might be) but I'm discovering that it's not a lot less work because it requires much more maintenance than our vacuum cleaner. This is where the power of blogs comes in (see my previous post). After opening it up for (necessary, not scheduled) cleaning, I found that I could not get it back together! The reason turned out to be lint/dust/hair packed tight into the brass hole of a removable cap. This I removed with my awl on my pocket knife, but only after convincing myself by reading "Kevin's blog," what the problem was. I could not find information with nearly so much useful detail in anything that came with the Roomba or on the irobot web page. I guess the point is that blogs are great. Given powerful search tools, we can all provide each other with useful information without having to put a lot of effort into structuring that information ahead of time.

Newark airport and home

I have yet to post my comments on Rio, so this is a bit out of order, but brief. I cannot remember the last time that I was away for this long (19 days), and I appear to have passed some sort of threshold regarding familiarity. American money looked a bit odd at first, and I stalled my car the first time I tried to drive it because the clutch action was unfamiliar. I also noticed things in my house that I stopped seeing years ago.

10-15 years ago, when Janet and I were traveling back and forth between New York and Miami, Newark airport resembled a bus terminal with planes. Changing planes there yesterday, I can report that it looks much nicer than it did. The overall appearance and shopping are certainly improved, but I am not sure that it functions any better as an airport. The air train between terminals is great, but is treated as a closely guarded secret -- in any case there was no announcement about it on the plane, nor any signs in customs, in the ticketing area or at the entrance to the terminal where I went to look for a shuttle bus. While waiting, I noticed that the terminal had a strong wireless signal, but the server was apparently down (my browser was redirected to a dead URL: "hotspot.concoursecommunications.com can not be found").

The biggest problem with Newark is that it has much longer lines at security than any of the roughly two dozen airports I've passed through in the last few years. It took me nearly an hour to get through the line in terminal A and I saw a similarly long line in terminal C. Fortunately, I had three hours to make my connection, but I saw airport personnel tell the parent of an 11 year old who was going on unattended that he had to wait in the line, even if it would mean missing his plane. This person eventually just went up the front of the line, and endured the verbal abuse of another passenger while he waited to see his child clear security. The fact that he had an international connection didn't seem to matter. This is not a good airport to make connections.

Why boycott Exxon? Note to the oil industry: we might trust you if you stopped lying!

On Sunday morning (July 10) the phone rang and someone asked me to participate in a poll. I was asked the usual demographic questions, what TV I watch (none) and what I read (just about everything). Then, I was asked whether I remembered specific advertisements (no). Finally, I was asked, for each of several oil companies, whether I thought they were doing a good job, whether I trusted them, whether they cared about the environment, etc.. What became clear to me is that I don't trust any of them on anything. The reason is that they have all signed onto what can only be described as a bald-faced lie: that the jury is out on global warming. So far as I knew, no oil company had registered its dissent from this statement. I felt sure that they are all lying, and I don't trust any of them.

Of course, there is a sense in which all science is unproven. Maybe the earth is flat, maybe the sun orbits the earth, maybe God created the world on the 23rd of October, 4004 BC, maybe I don't exist, maybe you don't exist and maybe Bill Clinton has been a faithful husband. However, by any usual and reasonable meaning of the words "shown" or "established", global warming due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases has been shown to be an established fact. So long as the oil industry continues to lie about that in a completely up front, in-your-face way, why should we believe them about anything? Why should we believe them about their activities with regard to human rights in Nigeria, Myanmar or Ecuador? Why should we believe them about oil reserves? The fact that somebody was paying for the poll I participated in, and the fact that oil companies are paying for the ads whose effectiveness was being measured, tells me that the oil industry cares about being believed. If so, I have a piece of simple advice. Stop lying.

It's been five days since I got that phone call and I finally had some time to check my facts. While the position of the industry as a whole is very clear, and very objectionable, there appear to be real differences among companies. "Even though it believes that more research is needed" (quoted from here, which is dated 1998) Shell's own web site on climate takes a very realistic tone ("We believe action is required now to lay the foundation for eventually stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere in an equitable and an economically responsible way.") and Shell presents responsible science at several places on its web sites (e.g. here). On the other hand, a search for the word "greenhouse" on the Exxon web site yields no hits at all and environmental groups have announced a boycott of Exxon/Mobil in particular (Google news), in part because of their Orwellian efforts to influence not only public opinion but also government policy (Google news). The poll made me aware of my ignorance of differences between oil companies and the boycott made aware of some of those differences. I'm glad to have had the chance to investigate, and I will be boycotting Exxon.

Domain name problems

You might be having trouble with the links on my web pages. Here's why.

Three years ago I purchased SteveMount.org, SteveMount.com and RNAinfo.org through Network Solutions. Each of these domains is redirected to other sites. The idea is that these URLs might be more stable than the URLs on the servers that host them, so I'll be able to move the site later if necessary. I am in the process of moving the "hosting" of these sites to directNIC. I switched because Network Solutions charges three times as much, but the immediate trigger was when the Network Solutions servers went down for a few hours last week. I did a bit of research, and directNIC comes highly recommended. I asked them before switching whether there was any way for redirection to continue uninterrupted, and was given the following reply: "The current hosting settings of the domains will not change as the domains transfer over." This turns out not to be true, so stevemount.com was down for a few hours today, and the others will probably go down soon. I've changed the links on my most active pages, but I can't change them all, so if you are having trouble, here's the key:

stevemount.com currently goes to stevemount.outfoxing.com
stevemount.org currently goes to life.umd.edu/labs/mount
RNAinfo.org currently goes to life.umd.edu/labs/mount/RNAinfo

Samsung's obscure menu for text entry

I'm playing with my new phone and one of the first things I wanted to do was send pictures to the real world. The 169 page Samsung a670 user's guide is silent on this subject. Verizon's FAQ page says

Can I send pictures/videos to an e-mail address?
Yes. All you have to do is type the email address on the addressing screen of your picture/video messaging phone.

However, I could not figure out how to add letters to the address field (which is designed for phone numbers). I found the answer online (in a column called "Mobile Tech News") which said

Update: Good news! One of our readers cracked the code on entering an email address via "ABC."

Steve Eschenberg says, "In order to enter an address via "ABC," push the left soft key/option button, scroll down one notch to "123", then hit the right navigation key (next to "OK"). The deal is that you can scroll left to right within the options that you scroll up and down to get to!

This is truly amazing. To get "ABC" I have to select "123" and then activate a menu that is not shown by hitting the right navigation key!


I now have picture taken with my phone on my computer.


Thank you Steve Eschenberg!

Verizon wireless: The best of service, the worst of service

When Janet and I got cell phones a few years ago we selected Sprint because of their true nationwide calling plan (no roaming charges). Janet was still in Miami and we knew that we would both be originating calls from a variety of places around the country often. However, the service to key spots, like my office, is not good. Calls are of poor quality, or the phone doesn't ring at all.

So we're switching to Verizon. Unfortunately, it looks like service is going to be terrible in another sense. Last Saturday, we spent an hour at their store on Wisconsin Ave. without speaking to a sales person. There were two people whose job it was to take our names and control access of customers to the sales staff. These people seemed to have little else to do. To avoid wasting time again we decided to order phones and sign up over the web, and seem to have successfully done so. However, it was hard to get information. At one point, we got a salesman on the phone but he hung up on us when he learned that we weren't going to place our order with him ("I work for commissions," he said). It's clear that Verizon has no idea how to run a business when it comes to customer service or sales. This is reminiscent of trouble I've seen at AT&T and USAir. I fear the worst but there is no good alternative. With any luck Verizon wireless will be bought out sooner rather than later and the company that acquires their transmission system will treat us better!