Silly geek things

I've purchased an ASUS RT-N66R wireless router for my house. At nearly $200, it's probably more than your average Net-using citizen requires, but I'm not a typical user. It runs a Linux kernel (handy!), it has three antennae and can easily light up any device in a standard house. E.g., my little phone can get a strong enough signal at the opposite end of the house to run Netflix. Of course watching movies on a tiny screen is straining for these old eyes, but if I need to watch Doctor Who while lying in bed, I have the bandwidth to pull it off.

Yay me.

Anyway, the stock OS load is decent and if you have no need to mess with computers and their parts, you'll be fine. I'm not fine, though. Tinkering is my game and this gadget is a tinkerer's jewel. I'm contemplating changing to an new version of Tomato or DD-WRT, but until then I needed a couple of network tools that weren't available on the stock ROM. To fix that, you'll need to do a couple of things, essentially, enable the download tools, add a drive and install the software packages you need.

To do that on an ASUS RT-N66U, you need to insert a USB thumb drive into the back of the router and then dismount it by using a browser to go to the router's address and logging in. On the left hand side, select the "Network Map" icon, then select the drive icon that shows up center bottom section (the USB icon). From there, click on the "Safely Remove disk: Remove" button. This will di/smount the newly inserted USB stick.

Now you'll need to telnet to the router and format the drive that you've just installed.

dmesg at the command prompt will tell you where the USB ended up (bottom slot is probably /dev/sdb and the top USB slot is /dev/sdc).  In my case it was /dev/sdc. 

Check the partitions by issuing

admin@RT-N66U:/# fdisk -l /dev/sdc

Disk /dev/sdc: 8004 MB, 8004304896 bytes
35 heads, 21 sectors/track, 21269 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 735 * 512 = 376320 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System
/dev/sdc1               1       21270     7816688   b Win95 FAT32

 you'll probably see one partition, so let's delete it.  

admin@RT-N66U:/# fdisk /dev/sdc

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 21269.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
   (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): d 1
Selected partition 1

 Create a new disklabel:

Command (m for help): o
Building a new DOS disklabel. Changes will remain in memory only,
until you decide to write them. After that the previous content
won't be recoverable.


The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 21269.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
   (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

 Now create new partition:

Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-21269, default 1): Using default value 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-21269, default 21269): Using default value 21269

Now check your work:

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdc: 8004 MB, 8004304896 bytes
35 heads, 21 sectors/track, 21269 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 735 * 512 = 376320 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System
/dev/sdc1               1       21269     7816347  83 Linux
Write your changes to the stick:

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table
admin@RT-N66U:/# 

Now format the stick:

admin@RT-N66U:/# mke2fs -b 1024 /dev/sdc1
mke2fs 1.38 (30-Jun-2005)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=1024 (log=0)
Fragment size=1024 (log=0)
977920 inodes, 7816344 blocks
390817 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=1
955 block groups
8192 blocks per group, 8192 fragments per group
1024 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
        8193, 24577, 40961, 57345, 73729, 204801, 221185, 401409, 663553,
        1024001, 1990657, 2809857, 5120001, 5971969

Writing inode tables: done                       
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 28 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first.  Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.

admin@RT-N66U:/#  

You're done.  Now you need to enable the Download Master software by going to the router's web page and clicking on USB applications and selecting the install option.  Optware has been installed.  You can now use the ipkg application like any other package manager and get useful tools for your router.  I installed openssh, openssh-sftp-server, nmap and tcpdump by using the following command:

ipkg install ckagename>

You can get a list of packages by using

ipkg list

and looking for what you need.  

Back in time...

I have been reminded that I haven't been posting much and that I've not been putting much music, either (thanks, Beany).  I hope remedy both with this post.

I have been wandering back into time in my musical tastes of late; alternative radio and I started haunting college campuses about the same time. Until I left for school, I was a typical mid-western metal-head with the tastes of the times: Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, etc. with a strange fascination for Rhythm and Blues that I picked up after seeing the Blues Brothers movie. Punk was barely on my radar, but I liked some of the stuff that I'd heard and the music scene in Minneapolis at the time was phenomenal. More on this later.

I had a roommate that came into our room one night and declared, "You gotta hear this!" He set down a 6-pack of beer and the new R.E.M. album, Murmur. Fascinated by the sound, we just played the album (real vinyl, kids!) over and over, flipping from one side to the other and back again, marveling in a sound we'd never heard before.

There are few albums that have grabbed me like this has and it still has a pull on me 30 years later. I've been wandering through collections and I've been listening to all the old R.E.M. that I have and thought I'd let you hear what's grabbed my ear as of late:

This TV appearance on the Letterman has crappy sound, but it truly captures the energy of the Hibtone recording of this song. It's a lean, muscular punk version that is nothing like the shoe-staring, dreamy version recorded later for the album.

 The other YouTube video from the same Letterman show - South Central Rain, but it didn't have a title at that time. It's funny now, but this song sounds so much like Modern English's I Melt With You:

The last video was a song included on their first compilation album, Dead Letter Office. Ages of You is a sweet little pop song that R.E.M. has apparently tired of, but this song is one that scratches my brain in a happy spot and I include the song in this live video (it's the first of three songs) because it again shows the energy of a young band and their sound at a less placid tempo.

The Trucker is Dead. Long live the Trucker.

I have been destabilizing my stable, as it were. I started out this year with:

• A K2 mountain bikecycle (as Stevil would say)
• A Brompton (S6L)
• A Schwinn something-or-other as a winter bike
• A Pugsley
• A Big Dummy
• A 58cm 700c Long Haul Trucker

I have sold the K2 and the LHT to purchase the LHT shown above.  This one is a 56cm 26" wheeled Disk Trucker.  The reason for the swap was to find a better fit; the 58cm was a nice-riding bike, but it was too tall for my stumpy legs and would cause me too much grief when it had loaded panniers on it.  This one seems to fit me better and I hope to load it up and go away for a while with it.  It certainly calls to me...

Jim at Hiawatha Cyclery was kind enough to bird dog one before the next shipment was to arrive at the middle or end of September.  His eagle eyes and cat-like reflexes snagged this beauty when two mysteriously appeared at QBP.  The bike arrived and was lovingly assembled by Mongo and then Tubus racks were applied.  This is a change for me as I'm quite a fan of the Surly Nice Rack.  Well, the rear racks anyway.  The front rack seems to be over-engineered and is a real test to install.  It was probably for the better, as I'd heard that the front rack wouldn't fit over disk brakes on the Truckers.

Before the arrival of the DT, there was a point where I had a non-functioning K2, the LHT was being ridden by a potential purchaser, the Brompton had developed a mystery skip in the rear cog, the winter bike was disassembled and the Pugsley was giving me fits with the brakes after changing the tires.  A velostential crisis was looming: I was running out of bikes!  My trusty Dummy was still ridable, but really, I was starting to panic (a little).

Then it seemed as if the clouds parted and all was right again in my personal velosphere: the mystery was solved on the Brompton (loose hub), the brakes were righted with a another set of hub maintenance and brake tightenings, I discovered the weirdness on the K2 and fixed that (a middle chainring that was a collection of dolphin fins and shark's teeth -- repaired by replacing it) and the potential buyers both committed to purchasing the LHT and the K2, thus garnering the funds to purchase the new Disk Trucker.

As an aside, the problems with the Pugsley began after I replaced the standard Larry/Endomorph combination with a set of Black Floyds.  Boy howdy.  These things really change the character of the bike and turn it into a real street-rod.  I'm loving them muchly and if you find yerself riding less demanding terrain, these will make your fat bike roll easier by an order of magnitude.  Sweet new tennie-runners for the Pug.

I can't honestly think of any more bikes that I need, but I wouldn't pass up a chance to get a set of his-and-hers gaspipe Raleighs.  Or a Salsa Fargo, I like the Fargo.  And a beach cruiser.  Or maybe a...

AHEM

Sorry.  Got a little carried away.  Number of bikes you have plus one and all that, you know. 

Heh.

Yeah. Well, anyway, it seems my crisis has been averted and all is well again in Veloland.

Keep the rubber side down, and we'll see ya out there.

Beer time!

We're meeting at Harriet Brewing (one block south of Lake on Minnehaha) on Thursday, August 2nd. The taproom opens at 16:00. It's a great place; the beers are good and the food truck on site will be Anchor Fish and Chips.

Presidential candidate insults both long-time ally and local blogger:

Romney book: Britain is a tiny island that makes stuff nobody wants

Posted By Joshua Keating Thursday, July 26, 2012 - 12:16 PM Share

ahem:

Sure, they're no Dressage horses, but we like 'em.

Beers for Bloggers, anyone?

Now that it seems that Summer here has finally descended from the copper-smelting temperatures of the past month, does anyone feel like getting together for a beer?  Wheelie, dahling?  OB?  VPete?  Msr S. Shak?  Others? 

Bromptoneering

To bromptoneer:  
(v. int.) 
1. to explore by English folding bicycle. 
Ex. We exited the train and began to bromptoneer around Milwaukee. 

 (v. tr.) 
1. to sightsee while mounted on an English folding bicycle.
Ex. We bromptoneered the city upon arrival. 

Wiser and more adventurous folks than myself defined the word bromptoneering not by coining it and submitting it to the OED, but by traveling to distant places and riding their little bikes. Grabbing adventure and using 16 inch wheels to make it bow to their will, these forerunners defined the word before my attempt to qualify and quantify it.

My charming bride and I have begun to follow in their noble footsteps and below are some pictures of escapades had in distant locales whilst astride the Brompton.

THE BEGINNING:

Mrs. said one sultry summer evening last year, "We'll be travelling to New England next year, why don't we get the Bromptons now?" I was unable to come up with an reason to counter her suggestion, so we were off to Calhoun Cycle to pick up a pair of little bikes:

(The little bikes as purchased) 

A month later, we were in Door County, Wisconsin and found out that you could cover a sizable distance (30 miles) comfortably on these little bikes as we biked the interior of the peninsula (sadly, no pictures available). Biking the deserted interior roads while avoiding the outrageous traffic along the main coastal roads was indeed more pleasant and safer.

THE INITIAL RUN:

Your host is a college hockey fan, and I attempt to join friends to watch the Frozen Four where ever the tournement lands; this year it was Tampa, Florida.  I packed the bike in a cover and was able to check it as regular luggage on the journey to the Sunshine State.  My attempts to leave the airport by bike were met with denial as there was nothing but 6 lane, high speed traffic around the airport.  I did see people biking, but that was after I was in the bus to the hotel.  The first night was as I expected FL to be, hot and muggy and the biking wasn't horrible, but, crikey, it was hot.  Storms passed by that night and for the rest of my time there the weather was utterly magnificent.  I biked around and the drivers were alert and courteous, which I also found surprising.

(obligatory palm-like tree tropical shot)

THE AWAKENING:

B.A.D.A.S.S. called for a group ride in Milwaukee at the beginning of May. The Brompton And Dahon Adventure and Survival Society was formed by Masons or Shriners or some collection of people with funny handshakes and hats. Why they let others in, I don't know, but the Mrs. and I, along with a collection of others, were summoned from On High to Eastern Wisconsin by train to the home of the Brewers, Laverne and Shirley and Allen Bradley. We did not miss the call.

 (Brommies take to trains like fleas to Mastiffs)

We joined a pub crawl already in progress,

 (not Heaven, but just a drill)

and we went to bars after that and then we had our pictures taken by a couple of Milwaukee's finest as the slowly trawled by in their cruiser and then we had dinner and went to bed.  A big day...

We then crawled the waterfront and were amazed by the coolness of Milwaukee:

(Lake Michigan)

 (a watertower)

We then biked to the station and made it back home amazed at the city and looking forward to another visit.

to be continued...